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Maitereya
bohemian

Registered: 03/24/06
Posts: 120
Last seen: 11 years, 4 months
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What is time?
#5440169 - 03/25/06 01:17 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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I want you to think about clocks and watches for a moment. We are of course slaves to them. And you will notice that your watch is a circle, and that it is calibrated, and that each minute, or second, is marked by a hairline which is made as narrow as possible, as yet to be consistent with being visible. And when we think of a moment of time when we think what we mean by the word "now," we think of the shortest possible instant that is here and gone, because that corresponds with the hairline on the watch. And as a result of this fabulous idea, we are a people who feel that we don't have any present, because the present is instantly vanishing - it goes so quickly.
the moment never stays. It is always becoming past. And we have the sensation, therefore, of our lives as something that is constantly flowing away from us. We are constantly losing time. And so we have a sense of urgency. Time is not to wasted. Time is money. And so because of the tyranny of this thing, we feel that we have a past, and we know who we are in terms of our past. Nobody can ever tell you who they are, they can only tell you who they were. And we think we also have a future. And that is terribly important, because we have a naive hope that the future is somehow going to supply what we are looking for. You see, if you live in a present that is so short that it is not really here at all, you will always feel vaguely frustrated.
But you, because you were so absorbed with the future, had no use for the money that you made. You did not know how to enjoy it. Maybe you invested it so that you would be sure that you would have a future in which something finally might happen to you, that you were looking for all along. But of course it never will because tomorrow never comes. The truth of the matter being that there is no such thing as time. Time is a hallucination. There is only today. There never will be anything except today. And if you do not know how to live today, you are demented. And this is the great problem of Western civilization,
You see, the truth of the matter is, as I have already intimated, there is no such thing as time. Time is an abstraction. So is money.
And human beings are so unbelievably stupid, that they confused money with wealth. And they don't realize that money is a measure of wealth, in exactly the same way that meters are a measure of length. They think it is something that is valuable in and of itself. And as a result of that get into unbelievable trouble, in exactly the same way time is nothing but an abstract measure of motion. And we keep counting time. We have the sensation time is running out, and we bug ourselves with this. And as we sit and watch the clock, supposing you are working, are you watching the clock? If you are, what are you waiting for. Time off. Five o'clock. We can go home and have fun. Yeah, fun. What are you going to do when you get home? Have fun? Or are you going to watch tv, which is an electronic reproduction of life which doesn't even smell of anything. And eat a tv dinner which is a kind of a warmed over airline nastiness until you just get tired and have to go to sleep. You know, the great society. This is our problem, you see. We are not alive, we are not awake. We are not living in the present.
"I have a future for you. This policy will enable you to retire in comfort at sixty five, and you will be able to look forward to that." And you are delighted. And you buy the policy and at sixty five you retire thinking that this is the attainment of the goal of life, except that you have prostate trouble, false teeth and wrinkle skin. And you are a materialist. You are a phantom, you are an abstractionist, you are just nowhere, because you never were told, and never realized that eternity is now. There is no time. What will you do?
So people who do not live in the present, have absolutely no use for making plans. Because you see ordinary people who believe in time, and who believe that they are living for their future, they make plenty of plans. Yeah. But when the plans mature, and they come off, the people are not there to enjoy them. They are planning something else. And they are like donkeys running after carrots perpetually that is attached to their own collars. And so they are never here, they never get there, they are never alive, they are perpetually frustrated, and therefore they are always thinking. The future is the thing with ______. Someday it is going to happen. And because it never does, they are frantic to survive. They want more time, more time please, more time. They are terrified of death because death stops the future. And so you never got there. You never have it. There is always, somewhere around the corner. Now please, wake up.
When Jesus said "Before Abraham was," he didn't say "I was," he said "I am." And to come to this, to know that you are and there is no time except the present. And then suddenly you see you attain a sense of reality. And you want always to be looking ahead for the things that you wanted to happen. You have to find it now.
-Alan Watts
long read but worth it. heres the full story
http://www.publicappeal.org/library/...o_eternity.htm
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Cherk
Fashionable


Registered: 10/25/02
Posts: 46,493
Loc: International
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Re: What is time? [Re: Maitereya]
#5440190 - 03/25/06 01:47 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Good writing by Watts, except
that here now isn't instanty vanishing, it never becomes the past as much as it never becomes the future it is all that is, it is eternal, everything else is an illusion
the illusion of time is what makes us perceive that here now is constantly changing
time goes forward as much as it goes backward
edit: I withdraw my except, Watts is one subtle dude
--------------------
I have considered such matters. SIKE
Edited by Smoker For Peace (03/25/06 01:50 AM)
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MystikMushroom
I RULE YOU!
Registered: 10/11/04
Posts: 400
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Re: What is time? [Re: Cherk]
#5440207 - 03/25/06 02:02 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Time is eternity in motion...
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Gomp
¡(Bound to·(O))be free!


Registered: 09/11/04
Posts: 10,888
Loc: I re·side [primarily] in...
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Re: What is time? [Re: Maitereya]
#5440471 - 03/25/06 08:41 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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time is a me?a?sure.. [+(d)]
and the speed of time, is one second per second, ... ..but 'mind you', it IS relative.. Q:to what? A:to an observer...
the one me?asuring.. ..as?sure!
"Be [not] assured! [Both, ..and then some!] .. " -Unknown :P
Growing!
--------------------
-------------------- Disclaimer!?
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Lakefingers

Registered: 08/26/05
Posts: 6,440
Loc: mumuland
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Re: What is time? [Re: Maitereya]
#5443272 - 03/26/06 04:32 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Maitereya said: .... And then suddenly you see you attain a sense of reality. And you want always to be looking ahead for the things that you wanted to happen. You have to find it now.
Burden, lightness, motion. Frighteningly freeing.
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Basilides
Servent ofWisdom


Registered: 02/10/06
Posts: 7,059
Loc: Crown and Heart
Last seen: 12 years, 8 months
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Re: What is time? [Re: Maitereya]
#5443288 - 03/26/06 05:04 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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The stacking of moments
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    "Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is. Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death."
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Gomp
¡(Bound to·(O))be free!


Registered: 09/11/04
Posts: 10,888
Loc: I re·side [primarily] in...
Last seen: 10 months, 23 days
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Re: What is time? [Re: Gomp]
#5444360 - 03/26/06 03:33 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Edited by Gomp (03/26/06 03:37 PM)
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netherstrain
Druidik Scholar

Registered: 03/13/06
Posts: 72
Last seen: 16 years, 11 months
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Re: What is time? [Re: Gomp]
#5445082 - 03/26/06 07:52 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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time is just a paradoxial bondage were everyone is forced to watch the minutes as they pass, as it's true nature is a never ending cycle comparable of that of a machine.
-------------------- All statements i make is purely bullshit.
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Spenny
S M I L 3
Registered: 02/06/06
Posts: 179
Last seen: 14 years, 9 months
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A reference point.
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MushmanTheManic
Stranger

Registered: 04/21/05
Posts: 4,587
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Re: What is time? [Re: Maitereya]
#5445505 - 03/26/06 10:27 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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"Time is what prevents everything from happening all at once."
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MystikMushroom
I RULE YOU!
Registered: 10/11/04
Posts: 400
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Quote:
MushmanTheManic said: "Time is what prevents everything from happening all at once."
Ah ha!
A truly enlightened quote!
True, everything that ever has, will, or is happening (or even potentially COULD) is already happening all at once. Time is a component of the diffrent individual perspectives the "oneness" uses to experience it'self...litterally to enable it to experience and limit itself into a place where singularity can exist.
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Maitereya
bohemian

Registered: 03/24/06
Posts: 120
Last seen: 11 years, 4 months
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ugghh. im not asking for a response to 'what is time?' im telling you an idea. 'what is time?' is just a title.
i wonder what the ratio is of people who read only the title, to people who read what i actually posted. im guessing... 6-2
heres a short and simple idea i stole from another thread that pertains to the idea of this thread.
There is the universe(everything) expanding into nothing therefore everything is limited to nothing and nothing is limited There is duality, everything has an opposite and it's nothing the past is everything the future is nothing the present is nothing becoming everything dwell in the past and become overwhelmed with everything dwell in the future and become empty with nothing exist in the present and become -smoker for peace
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ShroomDoom
Friend of the Medicine


Registered: 06/07/04
Posts: 4,435
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Re: What is time? [Re: Maitereya]
#5448372 - 03/27/06 05:28 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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--------------------
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leery11
I Tell You What!

Registered: 06/24/05
Posts: 5,998
Last seen: 8 years, 9 months
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Maitereya I thought you had written that....... I was all ready to give you extreme props 
great post though. I never thought about the ticks being small ........ hmm. neat. I will probably contribute to this thread in a bit, probably edit it to this response.
-------------------- I am the MacDaddy of Heimlich County, I play it Straight Up Yo! ....I embrace my desire to feel the rhythm, to feel connected enough to step aside and weep like a widow, to feel inspired, to fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human...... Om Namah Shivaya, I tell you What!
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doxhevex
If it fits inyour mouth, it'sEDIBLE


Registered: 03/20/06
Posts: 97
Loc: Pennsylvania...unfortunat...
Last seen: 11 years, 8 months
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Re: What is time? [Re: leery11]
#5450069 - 03/28/06 06:27 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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this reminds me of
"go with the flow"
you cant change time or alter it. so why argue it?
--------------------
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niteowl
GrandPaw


Registered: 07/01/03
Posts: 16,291
Loc:
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Quote:
MushmanTheManic said: "Time is what prevents everything from happening all at once."
Ya beat me to it.
Didn't Einstein say that?
-------------------- Live for the moment you are in nowDon't be bogged down by your pastDon't be afraid of what lies in your future
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kotik
fuckingsuperhero


Registered: 06/29/04
Posts: 3,531
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Re: What is time? [Re: niteowl]
#5451722 - 03/28/06 03:27 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
the moment never stays. It is always becoming past. And we have the sensation, therefore, of our lives as something that is constantly flowing away from us. We are constantly losing time. And so we have a sense of urgency.
you say "we" quite frequently, however its apparent you speak for yourself.
time is subjective to those who really think about it, and objective to those who accept it as law into their lives.
-------------------- No statements made in any post or message by myself should be construed to mean that I am now, or have ever been, participating in or considering participation in any activities in violation of any local, state, or federal laws. All posts are works of fiction.
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Maitereya
bohemian

Registered: 03/24/06
Posts: 120
Last seen: 11 years, 4 months
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Re: What is time? [Re: kotik]
#5452125 - 03/28/06 05:20 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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leery11: i wish i wrote this, but i do believe in it completely. and it has become a major idea in my recent philosophy.
mmm. i can only see page 2 replys, o well.
kotik: i didnt write this and alan watts spent years in tibet learning from gurus, im sure he is saying society as a whole. his writing does make it sound as if he were ripping on the people who havent figured out this concept.
people on this site seem to love the idea of subjective and objective. just an observation.
has anyone read that whole article?
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kotik
fuckingsuperhero


Registered: 06/29/04
Posts: 3,531
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Re: What is time? [Re: Maitereya]
#5452293 - 03/28/06 06:03 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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i believe thats the first time ive used those 2 words in a sentence, ever.
-------------------- No statements made in any post or message by myself should be construed to mean that I am now, or have ever been, participating in or considering participation in any activities in violation of any local, state, or federal laws. All posts are works of fiction.
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BlueCoyote
Beyond


Registered: 05/07/04
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Re: What is time? [Re: Maitereya]
#5453852 - 03/29/06 12:59 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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For me, the only time, which really exists is the everlasting moment. Therein one has to manage his life, learning from the shaddows of the past, looking into the bliss of future. I see the tricksters with the 'golden future carrot' for donkeys everywhere. Church. society, job...and I am sick of it, bashing them, wherever I stand and go. Those who live in the past or in the future too much, loose their grip on life.
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psyka
Praetorian


Registered: 06/09/03
Posts: 1,652
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I abandoned the notion of time for the idea of motion.
A clock doesn't record time, it records motion. And in order to traverse time, you have to manipulate motion.
-------------------- As the life of a candle, my wick will burn out. But, the fire of my mind shall beam into infinite.

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lysergicide
Aurora Borealis


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Re: What is time? [Re: psyka]
#5455890 - 03/29/06 04:47 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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just a measure of how we live our lives in constant rhythm... unfortunately for most people, they can never have enough.
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LittleBen
Feed Me A StrayCat

Registered: 08/31/02
Posts: 202
Last seen: 16 years, 7 months
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Time (spacetime) is the fourth dimension according to Einstein. I think its also a plasma, being that matter (all four of Einsteins dimensions) might be a supersized expression of ionized gas.
And a clock doesnt record anything.
-------------------- Gaia, as you awaken, I heal myself. As I awaken, you are healed.
Edited by LittleBen (03/30/06 04:35 PM)
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