The Theory of Now

A Discourse of Time

     I asked a friend one day if believing that the past can't be changed carries with it the interesting paradox of accepting that the future can't be changed either.

     Now, one can argue that the future hasn't happened yet and man obviously has a choice as to what to do with his life and I wholeheartedly agree with this viewpoint.  But I began to wonder if I believed that the past can be changed.

     At first I thought, of course not.

     Then I remember picking out a book and flipping to a random page and reading a little bit.  The book turned out to be The Tao of Phyisics, by Fritjof Capra, and the section I read has had me thinking about time in a whole new in fashion.  It states that in Einstein's Theory of Relativity, time and space cannot be seperated.  It makes sense: If I occupy this space I am effected by time, nothing I can do about it.  But the book takes this idea a little further and says that since time and space cannot be seperated, it can therefore be assumed that things that effect space differently also effect time in a different manner.  Therefore, time flows at different rates at different parts of the universe.

     It makes sense: when I feel I'm having fun it seems that time is crusing by, seemingly at hyperspeed, while when I'm bored, time seems to inch along.  I know, these are emotions.  But consider the objects that are around when time slips into these radically different currents.  When I'm having fun: chess or other boardgames, sleeping, hiking, playing sports, snowboarding, camping, reading, watching movies, speaking with friends.  When I'm bored or not having fun: working (especially the last hour), driving, waiting (for anything), plane trips.  These are all examples of what makes my time flow faster or slower, each with distinct objects in which I am in close contact.

     The flow of time is subjective, identifiable only in retrospect.  However, we recognize a unifying, ever-flowing pace of the universe (based on our sun and the earth's rotation, at least), the omni-present Now.

     In accepting the Theory of Now it can be assumed that regardless of these preceptions of the flow of time, there  is a universal pace and that everything is structured around a perpetual line of events, the timeline.  It also assumes that nothing has happened beyond this focal point we call Now and that we are given the choice to make of it whatever we please.

     Let's think for a moment just how far back that timeline really goes.  Think about the 1970's, and the different hair styles and dances, about the 1640's and the first european settlements of America, about the prehistoric ages of the world and the times even before the earth had been created, about the unraveling of the universe and wherever it came from.

     Now, think about how all of these events, no matter how miniscule, have come together in the creation of you!  Everything had to unfold in this particular way in order to create you and couldn't have happened any other way, because if it had, there is a possibility that you may have not been created.

     This kind of thinking assumes that the past had no choice in being what it is; our future, therefore, although non-existant, leads us to our next decisions or inactions based on the past, giving rise to the question of Fate, of whether we really have a choice at all in the actions we take.  The Theory of Now is flawed because it presents time as a completely linear entity, devoid of the possibility of choice.

      I believe that I control my future.  What does this kind of thinking entail about the past?

     My family has been in an on-going argument about events that surround my tenure at a Gallup, New Mexico Hospital, the events before, during and after.  What happened isn't as important as the fact that even though we went through that ordeal as a family, we still came out with different interpretations of what happened and when.  I'm not even sure what year that happened, and it happened to me directy.  If it weren't documented, I would never know.

     The past is just as subjective as time is to every individual, inadvertantly shaping who we are and what we choose to be.  The past, although already over, continues to change and morph as we grow and learn and change.  In this sense, the future must also be an amorphous intrepretation, a loose collection of our acheivements and aspirations.

     Time isn't a character of three dimensions: the past, the present, and the future.  We exist in all three phases at once, blending and orchestrating the grand symphony of our lives through what we've experienced, what's happening, and what we expect to happen.  There is no central Now, which can be pinpointed, except by majority confidence, no eternal timepiece of the universe that measures everything to the same standard.

     There's just the faintest suggestion that we are here.

Author's Note

Finished, yay nay?

Reviews

[Dianne]

Fascinating topic, Chris. I've been reading about relativity and studying theoretical physics for years. My own personal experience has shown me that the past can in deed be changed if I am willing to change my present. I know that sounds crazy, but I've seen and felt the changes. I don't really understand how it happens I only know that it does. I've seen personality changes in people when I chose to let go of my anger for their past behavior. Others have seen and commented on those changes too. I don't understand it but I am learning to practice it. Changing the past to create the present I want.

Dianne

[Laura E. Aranda]

This was such an excellent thrilling ending: !

Time isn't a character of three dimensions: the past, the present, and the future. We exist in all three phases at once, blending and orchestrating the grand symphony of our lives through what we've experienced, what's happening, and what we expect to happen. There is no central Now, which can be pinpointed, except by majority confidence, no eternal timepiece of the universe that measures everything to the same standard.

There's just the faintest suggestion that we are here

I can't wait to read more of your work
Cheers,lea