the question is this
if time could be measured, clocks aside, how does yesterday measure compared to tomorrow
taking today as the point of reference?
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the question is this
if time could be measured, clocks aside, how does yesterday measure compared to tomorrow
taking today as the point of reference?
Yesterday is longer than tomorrow, although the same will not be true in the winter or spring.
We can't be sure, because time is largely subjective, if one takes the clocks away, but the days are equal in length. On a subjective basis, sometimes yesterday is huge, and other times tomorrow is the huge one, while yesterday shrinks into insignificance. There are people to whom both yesterday and tomorrow are tiny, because they don't have the intellectual capacity to remember or anticipate.
I could say that yesterday and tomorrow are the same null size, as neither currently exists; or I could say that tomorrow is bigger than yesterday, because yesterday has already happened and is now finite while tomorrow is infinite.
Subjective time never alters the ticking of the clock. Trying to imagine time as something besides a linear progression is a daunting challenge. Creep forward, creep backward, creep slower, creep faster. That is about as far as I can get.Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterL
All time existing in one moment is the alternative. I cannot imagine it but it sounds boring anyway. Everything is boring except having an identity. I don't want to sprawl around in bliss for eternity, at one with everything. I'll take a regular life, full of ups and downs. I want an afterlife cafeteria style: I'll have time but no devil, please. Give me a slice of prescience on the side, and a large bottle of understanding and two scoops of courage. Put that on my spirit card.
Physical time is a fascinating topic for me. I've been reading some physics books that have time as the subject. I didn't realize, or perhaps I just never focused on, the fact that gravity and time are intricately intertwined. As gravity increases, time slow down. This has profound implications for the study of black holes and for the Big Bang Theory. I haven't wrapped my head around it all yet, but I really find it to be thought-provoking.
Time surely has a different value for a Redwood forest, or any tree or plant or this type of thing, as it does for a human - as it also must have different values for different humans, the same as it would have different value for different mammals. . . In other words, a house cat or other cat would have a different view of time than an elephant - the same as a small mouse would have a different view of time (presumably) than a human being. . . Why? For one there is the fact that a lifetime of smaller animals is, in the seeming majority of cases, shorter than that of larger animals ( although certainly not all cases. . . for instance, the naked mole rat - which lives up to 31 years, significantly longer than domesticated cats or dogs. This critter is also very interesting for dis-ease resistance, and other such things. (http://www.naked-mole-rat.org/)
The metabolism, at least for mammals, and I would venture to say probably for others, seems to play a central part in all of this. . . At least it is quite connected - whether causal or not, may be not easy nor perhaps relevant to determine; among mammals, for instance, the highest metabolism critters function at a very quick speed. . . And - being able to move, act, or function in the world at an extremely high speed tends to make time pass relatively slower - in regards to other plants and animals - perhaps also in relation to more absolute, or closer to absolute, bodies of motion, such as the sun and stars. . . So we see that the white-toothed pygmy shrew's heart goes very fast, up to 1511 beats/min (25 beats/s). . . (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_shrew) [Really cute guy: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...s_etruscus.jpg
Other warm-blooded critters to consider in this are the bumblebee bat (smallest mammal by skull size; the above is, by weight) and the smaller hummingbirds. . . Hummingbirds tend to lose almost 25% of their body weight overnight - their metabolism requiring this much energy - as they rest or sleep on a tree branch - Really makes breakfast the important meal of the day in that case!
Considering how hummingbirds beat their wings so fast (also with high fast beats of the heart) we may surmise that they view time differently - to see how, do a though experiment from their point of view - or from a fly - and imagine how it would be to have a human arm swing through space toward them. . . Would the arm not be both gigantically large, as well as very slow? Well - try to swat a hummingbird with you arm - eventually you will succeed! If you do it enough times, but the first time won't be very easy!
So these are some things which come to mind, for me anyway - then again I could write at great length as to why slower moving, stillness, and this type of thing are much preferable in the world. . . When it comes to the world today - mind is the key to navigating successfully; and when it comes to the mind - slowness, and stillness of movement relate to health and accuracy, as well as speed of thought. . . and the rest. Even more so if one begins out with a high metabolism already. . .
As well as - so many things tend to indicate that letting go of all ideas of time. . . almost altogether -- Since I have been a child, I have been interested in the different modes of consciousness of critters - I had a common idea of hermit crabs. . . The great skill of such life forms - to me, was that they can wait, very patiently. . . indefinitely - same, of course true with reptiles and other forms. . . Later on - I came across Milarepa and others (and well recommend, although. . . well, only if you have good karma. ok.:)) And I won't get into it all - yet at the risk of betraying all the secret texts emphasis to keep them secret - :D I don't go for that, mystery mongering. . . it is deceitful in my view. . . Especially when. . . well - conflicting points of the songs - they also say to share and give away all, and everything. . .
Anyway - the greatest secret, of the greatest wisdom's, is that there is nothing to do . . . Nothing at all to do - !
This for many reasons - and it is there, everywhere in the ancient, wisdom traditions of humans - in every one of them, as I have found. . . Of course, there is sometimes something to do - and one may consider whether letting go of self, is the same as of time - in one text. . . Well - I will not get into that so much. . .
But we could see the same thing in so many critters, too - when you move - you attract attention, and so forth .. . So - for both prey and predatory animals, stillness is at so many, so many points throughout the day - engaged with full attention, and all of one's being. . . Where did we forget that? :) - An unnecessary question, completely; for when we can see that one action is the solution - Peace, stillness, etc - is the answer to the majority of our problems - then we should simply explore it -- take stock of where one is, and then do what is the best to do in that situation. . . And so for us, that is mostly stillness at this point.
To have the most potent and powerful explanation of this -- let us look no further than the current biological crisis. (I say not ecological, rather biological, for at this point, are they not about the same? Every biological being is affected by it, so it can equally be called a biological crisis. . .) So this ecological crisis - what is the solution to it? Leave nature alone. . . That is the solution -- Stop activity, stop consumption - stillness - non-action, and this is the particular answer to this particular problem. In an ancient Buddhist text it is described -- Non-action is one of the three gates to Nirvana. Anyhow - we can simply see that nature will heal - provided we learn this most-vital skill and practice. (Also, of course, the practice of stillness, exploring peace and happiness, love and wisdom - is also honored as the most fulfilling or rewarding of activities.)
Moondog said it especially beautifully - as I have felt, the most beautifully, perhaps I ever heard it - 'Learn to wait, and while you're waiting learn to concentrate.' A while back I spent about a month out in nature, with no writing or reading or other distractions. . . and can say, completely, it was one of the most fulfilling, rewarding experiences of my life, and also changed my life a great deal. Life is all about peace, the search for it - and definitely, peace is higher than anything else it's possible to experience. If I ever forget this, at some point or other, I'm always able to experience it again.
''the intellectual to remember or anticipate''Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterL
so what could be the reason for such a state?
I mean such statement never crossed my mind
because the ability to think is what makes us humans
as oppose to animals
who act in order to think
we think because we want to act,
While it is true that the ability to think differentiates humans from other animals, but there are some people who do not or cannot think about any time except the present and the immediate future. Surely you have encountered people who thought of nothing except eating, drinking and having pleasures. Beyond the fact that they are incapable of understanding the joy of less immediate pleasures, I have no idea why they are like that; although it probably is a physical disability.Quote:
Originally Posted by cacian
Time couldn't be measured and if that everyone could do to his behalf what he wants and if you decide to make tomorrow as a reference perhaps as an example you will die at night then no tomorrow should have.
As we always refer to in grammar that there is a general time never stopped comes out from past and continues for now, if we think so all verbs we use in our speech should be in present form then no any external environment factor should affect into our decision so just a thought comes up to my mind why grammar sometimes is universal? plotting what you can, life will not be approved or either comes to wishes of someone.
Yesterday or bygone days when there was no straight outcome or randomly passed how can deal with tomorrow so it is just philosophically passes and may to back return
If you are relating this with philosophy, it doesn't exist.