Subjectivity of time continued
I haven't set up my computer yet, so no picture. Sorry! No, you're not entitled to a picture every day! It's a PRIV, not a RIGHT! Listen, your anger is not my fault! Oh... wait... i'm not at work...But i just replied to a very interesting discussion over at our slow, leisurely forums, and realised that i never continued writing about the subjectivity of time. But Andrew talked about St. Augustine's Confessions, from which i quote book 11:
Is it possible, O Lord, that, since thou art in eternity, thou art ignorant of what I am saying to thee? Or, dost thou see in time an event at the time it occurs?We sinned, we confess and regret it (and the consequences of the sin of others), we enjoy communion with God in the present, and we look forward to the future, which holds more complete communion with God.
That Saint Augustine was one smart fella, even though he has an annoyingly pretentious writing style. "Thee", "shalt", "from whence". Come on! Give it a rest... it's the Oh-oh's for cryin' out loud!
But what is time? Does our sinful condition somehow contribute to our perception of time? Were we in perfect (wholly complete) communion with God, we would be absorbed in contentedness? Not needing or wanting to contemplate yesterday or the future, only the perfect glory of God of the MOMENT? However, on earth we seem to observe time progressing for everybody at the same rate. Time passes for the content and discontent alike. And ignoring the past and future does not make them cease to exist.
I guess i'll finish by contemplating the MOMENT. The "moment" is really the past. Not only do all my senses detect things that happened in the past (nerve impulses, sound, and light all travel at non-infinite speeds) but my nervous system takes time to process the information. So we're all irrevocably living in the past. Dang it. I knew there was a reason i can't throw away my knit neckties.
So where does my "moment" exist? I guess it's just where my consiousness catches up to the "real world" - whatever reality God gives it. I wonder if short people or people with quick reaction time (can process the "real world" faster) live less in the past than me? How can we communicate or even understand that the other exists if we're living in different moments? What if my "moment gear" skipped a cog and i was suddenly living a half second out of synch with the "real world"? That would suck. Good thing that doesn't happen. Not as far as i know, at least.
Can anyone read this???
Hello???????
oh no...
at least the internet responds to me. I'm off to start at Book One of my homie Saint Augusteezy's Confessions.
hmmm…I’m not sure how to respond, but I am out here listening! I feel sorta dim when I read what you write sometimes! On the other hand, I’m not much of a visual learner, so I don’t think I really take it all in! We’ll have to chat! ok- bye!
-- Beth - 29 May '04 - 22:33Beth, you’re not dim! I think you’re really smart, especially when we talk about God and Christianity.
and no, i’m not kidding, i really think you’re really smart.
-- juanito (Email) (URL) - 01 June '04 - 02:05