Time. Linear or circular??

angelica

macgyver06 wrote:

i see what you are saying and you are right.

the wholeness... is-ness, beingness i like that

but its not fear i dont think... im trying to say.. if you are going to try and live in this society here in america... it could become very difficult if you get to deep... not that you shouldnt.... just be aware...

what im saying is probably bullshit... just look for someone on the same level... and hopefully they kept themselves in good condition so you can tolerate their presense

You definitely have a point. When we step beyond what is the generally accepted 'reality' we better have/find some major inner groundedness, and external supports....it's not easy...it's called the road less travelled for a reason! There is a huge void there, and many challenges to overcome. It can be done, still!

FinsburyParkCarrots

I went to see a brilliant lecture about this by Professor Romila Thapar, as part of the Darwin Lecture Series on Time, here in Cambridge in 2000: "Cyclic and Linear Time in Early India".


The lecture was published a few years later. You might be able to get hold of it.

Abookamongstthemany

All we ever have is now

Byrnzie

he still stands wrote:

Brick, are you saying that there's a party in your pants and that I'm invited?

There's always a party in my pants. It's like Ibiza down there. Get's a bit noisy at times though.

ClimberInOz

I'll post some more in depth thoughts when I get time...(sorry, but there is no way of making that statement with out turning it into a bad pun).

There is a definite linkage between time and space, and especially between relative position and time... Time dilation (time changes due to velocity) has been tested and proven. The faster you go, the slower time passes for you relative to a non-moving individual. Similar effects occur due to gravity.

So time is certainly not uniform. It is also possible that the 'direction' of time is linked to the second law of thermodynamics and the net increase in entropy. If the universe is cyclic, and collapses on itself, and if the second law of thermodynamics is reversed, then time may reverse with it.

Of course time may also be an illusion, or at least our perspective of it seriously flawed. I don't think that there is enough evidence for anything more than theories at this stage... but of course I could be wrong.

Byrnzie

FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:

I went to see a brilliant lecture about this by Professor Romila Thapar, as part of the Darwin Lecture Series on Time, here in Cambridge in 2000: "Cyclic and Linear Time in Early India".


The lecture was published a few years later. You might be able to get hold of it.

Cheers. I'll try and check it out.

macgyver06

angelica wrote:

You definitely have a point. When we step beyond what is the generally accepted 'reality' we better have/find some major inner groundedness, and external supports....it's not easy...it's called the road less travelled for a reason! There is a huge void there, and many challenges to overcome. It can be done, still!

your so fucking positive... and i think you're right.

10 stars.

angelica

macgyver06 wrote:

your so fucking positive... and i think you're right.

10 stars.

baraka

Byrnzie wrote:

So is time linear, or circular?

Interesting question, Byrnzie. I'm not sure how time can be circular. There is an arrow of time, and if the arrow of time was to change direction, then that would be a physical event, as such scientists want to figure out the math and logic behind that event.

If however the arrow of time has had the same direction since the big bang or whatever started it all, then it is a pointless theory, unless it changes direction.

Byrnzie wrote:

Is linear time a purely human construct?

I believe most scientists separate between what we perceive and what the physical reality of the situation is. I think that we do need a physical time dimension for mass to be able to move, and that this time is different from our mental time, the time we create by retrieving memories and experiencing time with our senses.

LikeAnOcean

Time doesn't exist.. it is just a map the human mind lays out to help explain a series of events.

For example, when you sleep at night, 8 hours goes by in the blink of an eye.. when we die.. billions of "years" will go by in the blink of an eye..

Want proof?.. we'll infinite went on before you were born in the blink of an eye.. Time is not a thing. Just a simplified human explanation of the order of things..

Everything is in the now.

When you die, will everything cease to exist? And if it goes on, how will you know it is and would it matter..

OK, my head is going to implode.

69charger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_(arrow_of_time)

Collin

69charger wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_(arrow_of_time)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_(arrow_of_time)

(link didn't work)

DixieN

I think about time a lot. An article I've read about time says that it has many properties of a fluid. Time definitely seems to have a directionality--the good old arrow of time that points forward. Time is apparently linear...nothing in the laws of physics keeps it from running backward, but run backward it does not do. I wonder if time is a function of the expansion of the universe. Were the universe not expanding, would there be "time"? If the universe were contracting, would time run backward?

It is true that we live in the now, and that the now is gone faster than we can perceive it. By the time you think of the concept "now," it is gone and it is another now, ad infinitum, until you are no longer electrically around to perceive another now, at which point *you* are gone, at least from the standpoint of being an observer of time.

The many worlds theory states that all possible universes exist concurrently. Maybe our living in the constant now is a function of that...we make choices, conscious and unconscious that put is squarely in one of the endless possibilities momentarily, so that of course we live constantly in the now, our consciousnesses in ever branching, changing worlds. Memories are of the trajectory that we have chosen to get us to a particular now.

I find the concept of time endlessly fascinating. Certainly, time is one of existence's greatest mysteries.

DixieN

LikeAnOcean wrote:

Time doesn't exist.. it is just a map the human mind lays out to help explain a series of events.

For example, when you sleep at night, 8 hours goes by in the blink of an eye.. when we die.. billions of "years" will go by in the blink of an eye..

Want proof?.. we'll infinite went on before you were born in the blink of an eye.. Time is not a thing. Just a simplified human explanation of the order of things..

Everything is in the now.

When you die, will everything cease to exist? And if it goes on, how will you know it is and would it matter..

OK, my head is going to implode.

To me, time has to exist. There is an order and sequence to things, but in order for that to happen, things have to change. In order for change to occur. That change, imo, is time. The reason you can walk into your bedroom repeatedly, go back to the same road repeatedly, etc., is because an opportunity has been created for you to do it. Otherwise, it seems to me, you'd be arguing that the universe is replicating physical things for you endlessly--like copies of your bedroom.

Time does not cease to exist because anyone is gone. Time is still going although your father might be dead, for example, as mine is. Time doesn't stop because you have gone under general anesthesia, although from your standpoint, it has ceased to exist, as you have yourself from your perspective. (My feeling upon awakening from general anesthesia for the first time was one of "awakening from the dead." Things had happened around me and to me that I had no knowledge of.) Our perspective of time is independent of time itself, though, I think.

When you die, everything will cease to exist--to you--kind of like when you're under general. The difference being, under general, the condition of being sentient/alive can be restored. When you're dead, you are permanently cut off from consciousness. However, everything will go on just fine without you. I don't think our existence wills a universe into existence, although this may somewhat conflict with my views on the possibilities of the many worlds theory. Under that theory, there may a certain volitional component that might come into play, if you believe choices bring you to one of the worlds. I suppose the other thought might be that you make no choices, but rather are propelled through possibilities, so to speak.

I think I'll latch on to that "my head's about to implode" thought right about now.

angelica

DixieN wrote:

I think about time a lot. ...

...It is true that we live in the now, and that the now is gone faster than we can perceive it. By the time you think of the concept "now," it is gone and it is another now, ad infinitum, until you are no longer electrically around to perceive another now, at which point *you* are gone, at least from the standpoint of being an observer of time.

Key here is the word "think". Thinking is linear, and conceptualizing concepts such as time is a linear process that stems from our left neocortex. The way to be present in the now is to use whole-brained function and perception, which is outside of and beyond logic, logistics and "thinking". Doing so is considered "Be-ing"...being at-one with the universe we are.....at one with.

The minute we step into "time" with thought, we detach from reality and therefore distort it.

angelica

...and yes, when we are one with our Presence and when we are Being, we have detached from our ego and sense of separation from the universe, and therefore we are detached of the "I", who observes. We are united with the unified field we are one with beneath our usual sense of separation and "I-ness". We go from being the drop of water, to real-izing ourselves as the ocean. Dramatic change of perception goes along with such a shift--one becomes real-istic.

chevychase

Spherical.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

LikeAnOcean wrote:

Time doesn't exist.. it is just a map the human mind lays out to help explain a series of events.

For example, when you sleep at night, 8 hours goes by in the blink of an eye.. when we die.. billions of "years" will go by in the blink of an eye..

Want proof?.. we'll infinite went on before you were born in the blink of an eye.. Time is not a thing. Just a simplified human explanation of the order of things..

Everything is in the now.

When you die, will everything cease to exist? And if it goes on, how will you know it is and would it matter..

OK, my head is going to implode.

8 hours is 8 hours. Earth travels 1/3 around the sun in 8 hours. A billion years is still a billion years. Time relative to what is the question.

Byrnzie

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

8 hours is 8 hours.

Not on acid.

ClimberInOz

DixieN wrote:

I wonder if time is a function of the expansion of the universe. Were the universe not expanding, would there be "time"? If the universe were contracting, would time run backward?

A very interesting idea (mentioned in a brief hstory of time perhaps??) is that our sense of time is related directly to the overall flow of entropy (disorder) in the universe (and thus indirectly to the expansion of the universe).

The second law of thermodynamics states that there can be no decrease in the amount of disorder in the universe. Some scientists have suggested that if the universe has an omega value of one (a mass sufficient to halt the expansion), the second law of thermodynamics will reverse, and with it so will the arrow of time.

I agree about time being fascinating. Give me a good scotch to sip, a beach to lie on, some stars to gaze at and an hour to ponder time and I am a happy man!