The Random Comic Strip

The Random Comic Strip

Words to live by...

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and to rest afterward."

[Spanish Proverb]

Ius luxuriae publice datum est

(The right to looseness has been officially given)

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

Apparently, the crossword puzzle that disappeared from the blog, came back.


Monday, December 7, 2009

A Brief Moment in Time

I muse about time now and then (I almost wrote "from time to time"). What is it? Does it even exist? Do we move through it or is it like a current in which we are swept along?

Some say, and I agree, that we live in a 4 dimensional universe. The 1st dimension being time. Because, without time, can anything exist?

I also muse that things do not happen as we perceive them. They happen because we recall them. What we call the present doesn't actually exist. It is the future and then it is the past. There is no now.

There is a puzzle, an enigma, which is expressed as a question:

Where is the man when he jumps from the window?

If you answer "on the ledge" then you are wrong because that is before he jumped.
If you answer "in the air" then you are wrong because that is after he jumped.

An event happens outside of time. We know it happened or that it is about to happen but that is all. The now, the present, must exist between these two but it cannot be observed. In the time it takes to record it in our brains, it has become the past. If it cannot be observed, does it exist?

Or is it that only the present exists and that past and future are illusions? Mere memories and suppositions.

4 comments:

IB said...

Thanks for making my brain hurt. And so early in the week. Bastard.

Michael said...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I think I agree with you said. Illusions and all a matter of temporal perspective.

By the way, I was trying to plan posts beforehand during the weekend since I was feeling very inspired, and then I forgot to save the brilliant list I did on Excel. I have writer's block now and can't seem to retrieve those ideas. Arg!

Michael.
Do you hate it too?
"If you're going through Hell, keep going."
Holy Holism!

Douglas said...

IB, and now you know what I go through every day...

Michael, I hate that block.So I learned to scribble a quick one liner on a notepad or start a post in Wordpad... I hate Excel except for accounting purposes...

Michael said...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I think I agree with you said. Illusions and all a matter of temporal perspective.

By the way, I was trying to plan posts beforehand during the weekend since I was feeling very inspired, and then I forgot to save the brilliant list I did on Excel. I have writer's block now and can't seem to retrieve those ideas. Arg!

Michael.
Do you hate it too?
"If you're going through Hell, keep going."
Holy Holism!