Existence
In my published book, A Rad Strain of Logic, I wrote a chapter about some of my earlier thoughts on Time. I wrote "Time is just a convenience of mankind." I remain in this frame of mind. I guess I am being fussy, __ but, I do not believe in Time per se. I think time is a fantasy, and I have not related much about the subject until now. Why? Because if we, mankind, just look around, it seems quite obvious for probably everyone__ some things were here before us, and some more things will probably be here after us... I call this Existence, or more formerly, Existence Duration. I am not just trying to rename time__ I am trying to show the differences between the fantasy of time, and the Reality of Existence.
About 2-1/2 to 3 billion years ago there probably was no carbon based life on earth. At least probably not humans, animals, and plants as we presently know them. (Yes I know, I am using time references of mankind. Our concepts of time is a sort of reality also; for mankind, but it also probably dies with mankind.) But anyway, go with it... imagine what the Universe and the Earth was like then. Maybe water, ice, gas vapors, matter, visible light, heat light, motion, and pressure. (There was also what we call electromagnetic, but for now that depth is not required.) These sort of things existed probably as a reality. We have evidence of various sorts, indicating our past, of Earth's history.
So there may have been rain of sorts, falling drops, in motion. There was probably lava flow once in awhile. Thus, I guess rivers or streams of molten material or other fluids. There may have been freezing and thawing. There probably was erosion from wind, and water and etc. There probably was chemical, atomic, and nuclear reactions.
Anyway, I can equate just about everything happening, as interactions of pressure causing positive and negative motion actions, of matter. But, more to the point, what was classically happening? I suppose there could have been rain falling. This rain could puddle in various clefts or depressions in rocks or earth. Depending on how wide and deep the holes, how much rain, how big the drops, the temperature, the wind, and such variables... determined the actions until the clefts and depressions were full. (It is impossible for any two or more holes to fill up exactly alike, if for no other reason... when there is two or more... they do not occupy the same location or they would be one.) Thus rain drops hit the rocks and earth with impact pressures. The weight of the water in the hole causes pressure on the containment boundaries. The surrounding walls press back against the water. Hence, historically speaking some holes fill, some don't, some overfill. All this just happens! Does one hole filling with water compare itself with some other hole filling with water? Does one hole think and conclude, I am behind, so I need to fill faster to catch up? Does the rain in one location say I am more than you; so my hole is going to be full first? Does the rain, the puddle of water, the containment matter, the air, the temperature__ care? Do all the existing components in and about... really give a damn?! There was no fast or slow, more or less... there was just whatever there was...
The holes exist, the rain exists, the pressure exists, what we call gravitation exists, space exists... and they go about doing what they do naturally, by the realities of nature. Time did not aid or abet, or deter the filling of a hole with water. Mathematics, language, the concepts of energy, work, speed, weight, volume were unknown and not needed for nature to do its thing. There were no emotions, feelings, hate, love, fear, quality, and etc... There is not any comparison between one action to another. Even if there is some awareness of one atom to another atom... they don't compete. They do what is natural for themselves, in and for, the conditions of nature that existed. The concepts of variables and measurement is not in evidence. There is, and must be an existence duration for nature to carry out its functions based on what it has to work with. How hot or cold, fast or slow, tall or short, dark or light, strong or weak, heavy or light, old or young, pretty or ugly, intelligent or ignorant__ are not considerations in a Universe of pre carbon based life. Things happed due to pressure, motion, matter, space to work, and a existence duration to carry out natural events. Existence duration is the alpha to omega of the Universe... and any actions that occur partially or completely between... just happen naturally.
If there were only two asteroids in an otherwise empty Universe... Would they be aware of each other? Would they be in motion? How would they know if they were in motion? If they were both sitting idle, how would they know they were sitting still? If they were in motion... one, or the other, or both; how would they know which condition, and the rate, and direction of the motion... How would they know how long they existed? This paragraph is a thought provoker, but realize it is just a fantasy scenario I thought about. It does, however, show that the concept of time, is meaningless, as a reality for the Universe... It really is just a comparison measurement of mankind!
Existence Duration is a requirement, to have a Universe, thus it is a reality. Time, the measurement, is not.
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Page Relevant Quotes
From Paul Davies book; About Time: "...wrote the Roman poet-philosopher Lucretius in his first-century epic De Rerum Natura."
"Time is of your own making,
its clock ticks in your head.
The moment you stop thought
time too stops dead."
(I make the assumption that this poetry was in Latin and required translation... and I like the poetry... but, it puzzles me about "clock ticks"? I was not aware there were clocks that ticked in the first century? According to: Time Telling through the Ages, by Harry C. Brearley © 1919: "How old is the sand glass? ... it is said to have been invented at Alexandria about the middle of the third century. That it was known in ancient Athens is certain, for a Greek bas-relief at the Mattei Palace in Rome, representing a marriage, shows Morpheus, the god of dreams, holding an hour-glass." "There is a general belief that Gerbert, the monk, who was the most accomplished scholar of his age, and who later became Pope Sylvester II, was the one who first took the important step of producing a real clock, and that this occurred near the close of the tenth century__ or to be more exact, about 990 A.D." There were other un-substantiated claims of earlier clock machines... but even any of these probably did not tick... and I would think they would more likely clunk. rad )
Also from Paul Davies book; About time: ""Sankara, the eight-century exponent of Advaita Vedanta, taught that Brahma__ the Absolute__ is perfect and eternal in the sense of absolute timelessness, and thus the temporal, though real within the world of human experience, has no ultimate reality. By following the path of Self-Realization through Advaita, a truly timeless reality may be attained: "timeless not in the sense of endless duration, but in the sense of completeness, requiring neither before or after, ... It is this astounding truth that time evaporates into unreality and timelessness may be envisioned as the Real ... that spells the uniqueness of Advaita."" (The part that caught my eye herein is "endless duration... requiring neither before or after... and timelessness may be envisioned as the Real..." rad )
"All measurement whether it is concerned with distance or time or weight or electric current or intelligence or beauty, is merely comparison with a standard." The Main Stream of Mathematics; Edna E. Kramer, Ph.D.
(I am going from memory here, but from a math book I have in storage in Washington State, it told of some ancient mankind period, possibly Babylonia, as not thinking of Time, as we mostly do now as an entity, but merely as relative measurement comparisons... ratios. rad)
