What is time?

A philosophical exploration into the known unknown

Introduce yourself!
Variation of 2 truths and 1 lie
All three statements are true
about yourself, however 2 are
no longer true, only 1 is still
true.
Guess which statement is true about the person today.
We can get to know each other and begin to think about
time! We change through time. The past self for which
those two statements were true does this person still
exist?

Questions
For time to exist, does time require
events?
Do you think that only things in
the present exist, or do you think
things in the past and future also
exist?
Do things in past, present, and future exist in different
ways? Can we interact with the past, present, and
future?
Are these interactions the same?

The Shape of Time

Time is a line. A is the

present. Before A is
the past, after A is
the future.
But time might not
be a line. How
would the world
work, if time took
on these other

Buddhism (~400 BC - now)

The consequence preexists in the cause, the future in the
present We can, by examining the present, predict with absolute
certainty what will happen in the future, for the future is merely the
hidden present. For this reason temporality becomes a mere
illusion. (182) David J. Kalupahana
-Time doesnt actually exist. Our faulty mental faculties cause the
experience of time. In reality everything, past present future, exists
at once.
-Because everything exists at once, we can dig through the present
to find clues and figure out what will happen in the future.
-Have you ever predicted the future correctly by using clues of
present?

Buddhism (continued)
Time assumes the position of Maara, the personification of death.
(185) David J. Kalupahana
-Time is connected to death.
-To transcend the illusions of the mind
(such as the experience of time) one
becomes enlightened and thus
immortal
-Let go of all attachments
-Cease to see duality (subject-object)
-Annata: non-existence, not-self

What would it be like to have

no self?
No duality -- what would it be
like to not see yourself
separate from the other?

P.D Ouspensky (1878-1947)

Russian mathematician who contributed to
psychology, religion, and philosophy
Time is actually a spatial dimension, but we cannot
see it as space
Why? Chickens. Beings with more complicated
brains than ours might see us like chickens.
What do you think it means for time is be actually
space?

Ouspensky (continued)
We know the world consists of solids, but we see and touch only
surfaces. We never see and touch a solid. The solid--this is indeed a
concept, composed of a series of perceptions, the result of
reasoning and experience.
(Tertium Organum 98)
-We know solids
because we can retain
memories of each side of an
object and piece them
together into a mental
understanding of a 3-D thing

Ouspensky (continued)
-Other animals might not have this ability of memory. A cat sees the
world in 2-D. A slug sees the world in 1-D.

How would walking around a disk appear to a cat?

Ouspensky (continued)
Animals sense the third dimension as something transient, just as
we sense time (Tertium Organum 103)
We experience 3-dimensional space but are unable to piece them
together in a way to see that time is a spatial dimension.
What does it mean if time is a spatial dimension?
Moments of different epochs, divided by great intervals of time,
exist simultaneously, and may touch one another
(Tertium Organum 254)
Does this sound like fictional mumbo-jumbo to you?

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Theory of General Relativity: Time is a spatial dimension & Gravity is
warped space-time
What does this mean?
If you live in a two-story
house on the top floor,
you will age faster than
your neighbor below by
about 10 nanoseconds in
one year," Igor Pikovski,
quantum physicist

Quantum Mechanics (~1900 - now)

Quantum theory has been formulated based on asymmetric concepts
that reflect the fact that we can know the past and can only predict the
future. But the concept of probability is independent of time, and
from a physics perspective it makes sense to try to formulate the
theory in fundamentally symmetric terms
-Ognyan Oreshkov, quantum physicist
Do you think only past events can cause
future events?
How would you think of your life differently
if the future can cause the present and the
past?

Implications
If time is actually space
and future events cause
what is happening now
Does it mean everything
had already happened?
Do we have free will?

Further Discussion
Epistemology: the study of knowledge; is it possible
to know anything for sure?
Ouspensky, Einstein, and the Buddha were humans
after all.
Quantum mechanics is based on theories, made by
humans, and experimental results, observed by
humans.
Humans are flawed.

If we cannot believe in anything,

what should we do?

If you believe time is a spatial dimension

Why is there so much suffering and injustice inherent to the universe?
Can God fit into this picture?
Can the fact that everything has already happened be comforting?
If it is comforting to you, do you think it would be comforting to
everybody?

Can determinism and free will both be

true?