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It's a moot question.
There is no "before" and "after".
There is only NOW.
Prove me wrong.
BEFORE is what was apprehended by our previous thoughts and awareness. AFTER is what will be apprehended by our subsequent thoughts and awareness. NOW is what we are currently apprehending by our thoughts and awareness.
One of my kids, who was 5, pointed to the spiral wire binding on our calendar and said wow, that's a perfect thing to hold the calendar together. Look, it's like time. Every year is a circle, but it also moves forward a little.
Out of the mouths of babes. He also solved the which came first the chicken or the egg, but that's a topic for another thread. ;D
BEFORE is what was apprehended by our previous thoughts and awareness. AFTER is what will be apprehended by our subsequent thoughts and awareness. NOW is what we are currently apprehending by our thoughts and awareness.
Those are figments of mind, not reality. In REALITY, there is only NOW. You can't apprehend anything else, as it is non-existent. Apprehending non-existent is called fantasising. Even if you were, somehow, capable of getting into one of those dreams, you will still be in subjective NOW.
Those are figments of mind, not reality. In REALITY, there is only NOW. You can't apprehend anything else, as it is non-existent. Apprehending non-existent is called fantasising. Even if you were, somehow, capable of getting into one of those dreams, you will still be in subjective NOW.
Prove me wrong.
What kind of nonsense has led you to conclude the "nonexistence" of our life experiences before and after our current experience? I suspect it is the stupid series of nonsequitur "If-Thens" you have bought into hook line and sinker. You have denied your very existence in pursuit of enlightenment. Sad, very sad.
What kind of nonsense has led you to conclude the "nonexistence" of our life experiences before and after our current experience? I suspect it is the stupid series of nonsequitur "If-Thens" you have bought into hook line and sinker. You have denied your very existence in pursuit of enlightenment. Sad, very sad.
I really do not wish to argue with you, as it is pointless, but you do not understand a basic fact. All of your so called "life experience" etc, you are "experiencing" are IN NOW ONLY. I don't even care, if this will be considered a personal attack and I get my punishment, but whatever is in your head as memory, experience of the past, fantasy of the future - IS IN NOW. There is nothing else, but NOW. A child can understand this. No matter how you bend words and ideas, it is ALL in NOW. Nothing else.
The only way you can prove me wrong, is to be in two points at the same time - Now and "future or Past. AT THE SAME TIME. So you can experience both. The very moment you are in either, you are in NOW.
Doesn't the fact that we evolved to have a memory lend credence to the assumption that recalling the past is useful? How do you know things like; taste, pain, and feel? Because your memory is validation that you have experienced them previously. We could not survive if we had no ability to acknowledge the past. We get empirical knowledge from the past.
Doesn't the fact that we evolved to have a memory lend credence to the assumption that recalling the past is useful? How do you know things like; taste, pain, and feel? Because your memory is validation that you have experienced them previously. We could not survive if we had no ability to acknowledge the past. We get empirical knowledge from the past.
This is too pragmatic and practical for ukrkoz. He is disconnected from Reality by His indoctrination into an esoteric logic that employs a series of "If-Then" suppositions that lead him to conclude that everything is illusory (Maya). Once trapped in that denial of existence, there is no escape from it because what you and I call empirical knowledge is illusory to ukrkoz. There is no check of what He believes in anything we know empirically. That is why his call to "prove him wrong" is disingenuous. He acknowledges no such source of proof.
Let me explain what I mean.
I am referring to reality, or, what exists, only. I am not referring to unreal things like fantasy, memory, presumption, etc.
Everyone, who reads this, exists.
Everyone, who reads this, exists IN Reality.
Basic, unquestionable fact.
That existence in reality is what I refer to as NOW.
Another unquestionable fact, is if you exist, you are in NOW.
NOW is similar to geometric dot.
In geometry, a point is a location represented by a dot. A point does not have any length, width, shape or size, it only has a position.
In the same manner, NOW does not have any duration, any "size", any special expanse. It is an instance. It can not be measured in any commonly utilized units of measure, the so called temporal units included.
The way I visualize it in my mind is as follows: imagine a very sharp blade, with its point being the size of zero. Also, imagine and infinitely thin fabric of possibilities. Where that blade touches the fabric, that is NOW.
Or, imagine an infinite LP of possibilities. Where the player needle touches that LP, that is NOW.
Thread title also refers to "future" and "past", or before and after..
Neither one exists in Reality. What exists in Reality is NOW, the way it is.
"future" is set of probabilities, with potential to be exteriorized in Reality. There is nothing certain in "future", it is an assumption that a certain set of events will occur in NOW. Some of those events have a very high level of probability, like sun will rise in the morning. None of those possibilities are 100% certain. Some have very low level of probability, like me winning $100 billion in lottery or receiving inheritance from Ilon Musk.
"past" is nothing but a set of memories about NOW.
One will argue that - but here they are, the great Pyramids of Giza, that is "past" present!
No. They still are only part of NOW. You can talk to death about them being present there 4 000 years ago, but this will be only talk. The only way they are real is in NOW. The rest is called "history".
As an exercise, let's imagine that someone built a time machine. Gets in, turns it on, and lands in say 5743 BC. Through the entire travel and in the destination, that person will still be in NOW. He can call his destination "past" but it does not change the simple fact that, he is still in NOW, only different, from a NOW he departed from.
As I mentioned before, the only way to prove that, say, "past" or "future" exist, is to be in both points of reference simultaneously. But even then, you will simply deal with two NOWs as it will be NOW here and NOW there.
Now, what I postulate, and this expresses only my personal opinion, is that Reality, manifested in NOW, is instantly "assembled" and "disassembled" as observer "moves" through Reality. I have further theory, how this happens and how one may control Reality to his desires, but this is not part of this thread to discuss.
I haven't taken a deep dive into Thomas Aquinas in many years, but there is still a line of thinking that holds that consciousness creates reality. My awareness of the past creates it.
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This is too pragmatic and practical for ukrkoz. He is disconnected from Reality by His indoctrination into an esoteric logic that employs a series of "If-Then" suppositions that lead him to conclude that everything is illusory (Maya). Once trapped in that denial of existence, there is no escape from it because what you and I call empirical knowledge is illusory to ukrkoz. There is no check of what He believes in anything we know empirically. That is why his call to "prove him wrong" is disingenuous. He acknowledges no such source of proof.