The Concept Of Time

Time is an invention, a place holder of events, a calendar if you will.

It organizes us, and keeps us consistent. It also creates chaos, and stress and puts the rise and fall of the sun in an orderly fashion to which our bodies respond. Nature has it's own time, the Universe... I suppose, it does too.

Hard to fathom our world without time yet in the imagination…. I could get there.

It is the next day across the world east of me and west they are just rising.

So time is really, just what you make of it and how you choose to hold to it (DL)

Hi Rod,

I believe that what we call the 'imagination' ~ can be used as one of the portals into what a human being calls the time/space continuum. I can see your point "that time exists only in the minds of humans." The human mind has, in my humble opinion, done just that, created 'time' in the thinkers perceived reality. The imagination though is not what I see as the creator of the limiting aspect of time. Could the figment of time then be a perception and not an act of the imagination? I really like your idea and agree with a seperation theory. Seperation between human perception and the Universal axiom.

The word 'time' ~ if viewed by using another word 'omnipotent', and is expressed and defined as "Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful" (The American Heritage Dictionary), then I believe we are getting closer to an understanding of what we refer to as 'time' ~ the elusive concept of something which has been lost through a seperation induced by human perception, and in which can be found in the universal axiom.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to read your thoughts and share a few of my own on, The Concept of Time. See you on Facebook...my friend :)

I was interest in your ideas as I have been curious about the difference between the physical reality of time as opposed to the artifical constructs for measuring this phenomenon. I would respectully offer the following for your consideration:

The overreaching theme of all human existence and thought is centered in our continuing efforts to place ourselves in time—to mark and control our perception of existence by fixing permanent and unchanging static points within a constantly changing and dynamic universe. These imaginative efforts take place in a time continuum between absolute past and absolute future—the continually changing and moving flashpoint of the present.

Ideas?

1. Supposing that the universe is homogeneous doen't make it so. It is quite obvious that it isn't.

2. What do you mean by "the universe is whole"? See also point 5.

3. Supposing that the universe has no bound doesn't make it so.

4. I have no idea how the assumptions lead to the conclusion that time does not exist, but since the assumptions have some problems, the conclusion is not proven.

5. Time is not the same as time metric, just like a map of the world is not the world. The fact that time metrics are human and arbitrary doesn't tell us anything about time itself. Case 2 of the proof seems to arise from this flaw. And a statement like "the universe is whole" requires a careful defintion to avoid this trap.

6. "The universe began as a whole and we as humans segmented it" has two problems. First, it contains the flaw of my point 5. Second, it implicitly assumes the existence of time. Otherwise, the word "began" would have no meaning.

Rod,

On this subject matter, the existence of Time, I respectifully disagree with your theory.

As support for my thought is the seperation created by day and night.

Your very theory of the lack of Randomness shows that these acts (day, night) was due to an organized effort. In seperating the day from night the concept of Time was established for this Earth. Since we agree that our Solar System was not an act of Randomness but an effort of Organization we should be able to deduce that the concept of Time already existed and why it was implimented in the day and night scenario.

We can see similar, if not exactly the same, examples of Time frames in the Seasons. The Oceans morning and evening Tides.

It is my feeling and opinion that Time exist in the Universe, Cosmos as it is my belief that this World was an organized creation, not a random happening.

1. universe is one

2. life evolves within the universe, and becomes self aware

3. in its self awareness "life" creates two cubbyholes: the universe and myself.

4. in the "myself" cubbyhole, this "life" is now free to add as many constructs as its clever little mind can invent - "time" being prominent among them, "0" (zero) being another (that is currently my favorite).

Your suggestion that time exists only in our minds is correct in the sense that once we die, our universe collapses. Everything that exists has vanished, including time. However, I am not sure that I completely agree with your second observation regarding imagination making this concept real. Personally, I look at time as a measure (rather than a concept), a unit, a tool, something that came to life borne out of necessity. And just like a tool or measure, it can be changed, adopted, or simply ignored if not needed (as evidenced by some indiginous tribes whose language for example does not include words such as good bye, or tomorrow).

I am not in favor of great generalizations such as “humans do consider the universe as partitioned, but infinite.” Unless you have surveyed every race on every continent…:-)Literature shows that there is a sizable group of reputable scientists who have established working theories about our universe being finite.

Thank you,

Anita C.