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Philosophy 101
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The Past
| Philosophy 101 |
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The Past |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan 
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. What is it? How do you think of it if at all? When does it begin for you? . |
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Edward Grim Senior Member
since 2005-12-18
Posts 1154Greenville, South Carolina |
You really do ask the strangest questions. "Well I wish that you would cheat with someone, 'cause you're like diggin' holes in water and we know that can't be done." |
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Kitherion Member
since 2006-08-01
Posts 181Johannesburg |
The past begins at the end of the present, and is thus coontinuous and relatively unchanging. |
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moondogz Member
since 2007-05-01
Posts 397Great White North |
Time is an illusion, so in essence there is no past, only the now. The concept of linear time is a trick the ego played on us to distract us from our "Source." moon. |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
The summer I was 16, I worked as an Au Pair girl in Cohasset Mass. When I went back home I met the man I was to marry In Dec. of the same year. We were married for 47 years. I tend to think of things before and after that wonderfull changing year; 1948. "late" |
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Edward Grim Senior Member
since 2005-12-18
Posts 1154Greenville, South Carolina |
quote: I have to disagree with you on that. I was at a French film festival last night and since it was last night, it is the past; and I know that because right now I'm not at the film festival... but I was.  I think Kith for the most part nailed it on the head. But alas, when does the present end? The present is going on at all times.  "Well I wish that you would cheat with someone, 'cause you're like diggin' holes in water and we know that can't be done." |
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Stephanos
since 2000-07-31
Posts 3618Statesboro, GA, USA |
quote: I'm not convinced. I am aware that defining and describing time is like trying to catch smoke in a butterfly net, and yet it is still necessary. But unlike this excercise in futility with the net, our descriptions are partially true, else they wouldn't be as useful as they are. If you didn't understand what the "past" was, your language and everyday experience wouldn't be so immersed in it's recognition. You tell your friend that you "paid" his parking ticket. That's a whole lot different than "will pay", especially when it is due today. Saying that time is illusory is an Eastern approach that (in my opinion) simply relegates to unreality all complexities we don't understand. Individuality and being are no less suspect in an Eastern paradigm, yet I don't think you're ready to give them up. I think you were hinting at this when you said "ego". My point is, if it's a trick, it's a pretty good one, and one which you fall for (and will fall for, ) over and over again. If you didn't, you'd be falling for something far more beguiling.Don't get me wrong, The Hindus, Buddhists, and New Agers, all believe in something that is "true", but premature. God (as the book of Ecclesiastes says) has indeed set Eternity in our hearts, which creates the tension causing us to distrust present limitations. There will be a time when our relationship with time will be totally new and transcendent, but not yet. I haven't read much contemporary stuff on time, but Augustine's "Confessions" has a delightful wrestling segment where he tries to tackle this very question. Stephen |
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Edward Grim Senior Member
since 2005-12-18
Posts 1154Greenville, South Carolina |
I think the human body has to be the most definitive proof that time is not an illusion. How can our bodies age if there is no such thing as time? The past is the only part of time that is certain and definite. The present is fading away by the second and can change at any moment and the future is totally unobtainable. "Well I wish that you would cheat with someone, 'cause you're like diggin' holes in water and we know that can't be done." |
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moondogz Member
since 2007-05-01
Posts 397Great White North |
My point is, if it's a trick, it's a pretty good one, and one which you fall for (and will fall for, over and over again. If you didn't, you'd be falling for something far more beguiling.Very well put Stephen...I couldn't possibly convince you of something I'm struggling to comprehend myself. I will thought "toss" you a few quotes from the source of my belief system; "Truth is unalterable, eternal and unambiguous. It can be unrecognized, but it cannot be changed. The world of perception, on the other hand, is the world of time, of change, of beginnings and endings. It is based on interpretation, not on facts. It is learned rather than given, selective in its perceptual emphases, unstable in its functioning, and innaccurate in its interpretations. What perception sees and hears appears to be real because it permits into its awareness only what conforms to the wishes of the perceiver. This leads to a world of illusions, a world which needs constant defence precisely because it is not real. When you have been caught in the word of perception you are caught in a dream. You cannot escape without help, because everything your senses show merely witnesses to the reality of the dream." From the introduction to A Course in Miracles. moon. |
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Essorant Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada |
The past is the former shape. If a square turned into a circle, then the square is "past" into the shape of a circle. |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
. "Time is an illusion," Sigh . |
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Kitherion Member
since 2006-08-01
Posts 181Johannesburg |
Time cannot be an illusion, for as Ed said pysiological functionings are a key example to it's existance. Unless of course you are saying that aging is nothing more than an illusion, and that bodily changes just happen to pop out of the air (sigh, how I wish )?"Our Father who art in Heaven... Hallowed be thy name..." |
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moondogz Member
since 2007-05-01
Posts 397Great White North |
Huan Yi "Time is an illusion," Sigh Ha, ha...this gave me a chuckle. moon. |
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