A Brief History of Timelessness - Matt Welcome.

∆-3 The essence of Timelessness.

The critical question.

Gentlemen, Question 1 -

"If matter JUST* exists moves and interacts -

- would this be enough to explain all that we observe

and attribute to 'time'?"

(* By 'JUST' I mean 'not' also, 'over a thing called time' - whatever that is meant to mean. See >> What is meant by 'JUST'.)

Back to >> ∆ Timeless v.Time distinctions (Rhetoric and Semantics).

The essence of Timelessness, the book , the videos, and pretty much everything on this site, comes down to one or two small but critical questions...

The first being...

"what, in simple terms, actually seems to exist?"

From here two simple, and easily checked suggestions are posited....

1- That matter and energy seem to exist, and,

2- That matter/energy, seems to be able to move, change, and interact.

And from here, becasue, although we have the "ideas" of a past, a future and time, but we do not seem to actually observe them, we reach the key, or critical question...

"If matter just exists ,moves, and changes... would this be enough to explain all that we observe and attribute to 'time'?"

If you can see the significance of this question and what it reveals you will see that we have no firm foundation for ever assuming Time, and it's 'mysteries' might exist at all. Particularly if you see that while our memories, and the world around us, seem to show that things exist and change 'over time', you realise that in fact our memories and the world around us only directly prove that things exist, and change.(See >> 'X'-plaining away 'The past'. )

Opinions about 'time'.

A clipping from the Daily Mirror (UK).

(click image for a discussion on 'time travel')

Opinions about time fall into three main categories. We are either sure that time exists, sure that it’s just an idea that mankind came up with, or think its something in between. - As the poll in the clipping above suggests, not only do a lot of people seem to think that time definitely does exist, but also that it might be something so ‘real’ that we could even possibly travel through it

To understand how the universe works, we risk unknowingly polluting the thing we are examining if we first ask 'does Time exist or not?', instead, consider the following path...

1 - We realise we are trying to understand 'how does the universe work?'

2 - So it makes sense to first define 'what do we actually observe?'

3 - We realise that what we actually directly observe is 'things existing, moving and changing'.

4 - So, before we add any extra and unseen 'things' to our understanding,(e.g.Time) we first ask 'is movement and change alone enough to explain everything we experience?'

If it transpires that matter just existing, moving and changing in accordance with the laws of physics, can explain the formation of things like planets and fossils, and,critically, the formation of our own internal 'memories', then there is no no need to make up the existence of some extra, mysterious thing called 'Time'.

And to be clear, by 'Time' here, we don't just mean a useful word to describe 'matter and motion', but 'Time' which consists of a past, a future, and a one way flow of itself between them, and something that some may say we could possibly 'travel through'.

The essence of timelessness.

"A theory is the more useful the greater is the simplicity of its premises, the more different are the kinds of things it relates to and the more extended the range of its applicability."

Albert Einstein.

The real key to starting to see how the universe could be timeless is to realise that although we may think otherwise, we actually have no good reason at all to consider that 'the past' exists in any way at all.

This sounds odd, but consider that your own personal reason for thinking 'the past' has any reality to it, is the memories that are physically inside your head now. And, as we shall see, these physical 'memories' could exist, just as they are, if matter can just exist and move, and change. Likewise, all the evidence in the world around us seems to at least prove 'the past' has some reality. But in fact all, that all the evidence proves is just that matter can exist, move, change, interact and so on. If you can suddenly see that although things clearly 'happen', there is no 'past' behind us in any real way at all, then You will start to see what 'timelessness' (for want of a better word) may mean.

Relativity.

The entire weight of Einsteins theory of relativity rests basically on one fundamental idea or observation, which is that - for any observer, anywhere in the universe, the laws of physics will seem to be consistent.

The rest of relativity is spun out from this idea, and explains how, and why it is that if this first postulate is correct, the laws of physics must basically be as relativity describes..

Timelessness.

The essence of the idea that the universe is ‘timeless’ also rests on one critical observation.

This key observation is,

That while the evidence in, and around us seems to prove things exist, and change, over time. In fact all the evidence only proves that things can exist, and change.

And not that an extra thing called time also exists.

Explaining how this may be true in all cases, and what all the consequences of this are is very tricky. Most people seem to cycle between thinking it's obviously true because 'man made up time anyway', and then coming up with situations where they think it can’t be true.

So, the rest of this web site, and the book it is based on just reiterate this concept and the conclusions it points to in different scenarios, to show how it seems to work in all areas.

If this statement is correct, then there is no reason to believe a past or a future ever exist any where, in any way. And, odd as it may seem, if there is no past or future, then time cannot flow between them. And if Time can’t flow, then it can’t have a direction, or an order, nor can it be a ‘dimension’.

In other words, the universe may be timeless.

The subtle key.

The very subtle key to seeing how this might be true is to realise that if you start by even asking the question 'does Time exist?', or worse still 'What is Time?' you may have already taken a first step down a seductive path that may always take you the wrong way.

To see how this may be true, and to make sure we understand the nature of the beast we are hunting, it's important to be aware of the lessons in the following story... A Cautionary Tale. Do Drongos exist?