Time is the abstraction of a fundamental experience. The past and the
future are part of our existence in the present. We need to anticipate
correctly what will happen in the near future. The past and the future
are mental images of the present. Why we need a good grasp over the
events of the past.
A basis for comprehending the present and the near-future.
A side-effect of the faculty of increased predictability.
The ability to tolerate foreseeing a turn for the worse.
The subconscious perception of time in non-verbalising
species'. Time, space and distance are creations of our
mental faculties. We constantly refer to memory-traces
from the past.
THE PAST:
The past is gone. The events, and, often, even the people, as well as
the circumstances that were part and parcel of the events of the past
and gave these past events their logical coherence, or, even, a sense
of inevitability as we look back at what happened, are gone. We can
only reconstruct the past with the help of our mental faculties of
the present.
THE PRESENT:
The present is a combination of the past and the near-future.
The only reality we can inter-act with is the reality of the
present moment. As long as we are alive, we interact with the
environment and the situation "as it exists now", but, in order
to interact intelligently and productively, we have to make use
of our memory-traces about what has happened in the past, as
well as our ability to anticipate what is likely to happen in the
near future.
However, the imagery that lets us remember some of the events
that have taken place in the past, represents a contemporary
reconstruction of these past events; on the basis of memory-
traces and awarenesses that have been recorded and
synthesised throughout our life-time. Similarly, a useful
anticipation of happenings and events in the near
future is based on the ability to analyse, in the present,
a number of events in terms of cause and effect relationships,
as well as the ability to recognise the occurrence of a familiar
event as it begins to take place.
THE FUTURE:
Does time really exist as a fundamental constant of the items of
existence and events we see and interact with in our social and
natural environments, or, do we have to come to the conclusion
that the concept of time is purely a man-made abstraction? Is
the perception of time essentially similar to the ability to see
colours; an ability to abstract a large number of common
denominators from the many categories of experiences
we have been able to build-up as a result of the numerous
items of awareness that have found a place in their appropriate
and often complex categories of classification?
Or can our mind transcend the physical limits of time and space,
so some may see the future. I believe the future is made of many
possibilities, and the viewer would see only one of hundreds of
possibilities. All base on the choices people make in the present.
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