∆-About the 'raindrops' cover.

Ripples form and fade, as do memories, history books, rock formations and the fossils they hold... just slower.

Looking at any circle of ripples in this picture, you can clearly tell where a raindrop must have fallen, and deduce 'how long ago' - even though the photograph was taken after the event. If evidence existing 'just here now' is enough to convince us 'the past' also exists are we over analysing what we see?

(place holder photo from net - to be replaced with own photo)

Figure 1‑1 Ripples caused by raindrops are an example of 'history' existing all at once, while also constantly dissipating.

To get a feel for what it means for the entire universe to be running timelessly, consider a single drop of rain hitting the surface of a large, still pond. The drop of water creates a circular ripple that spreads out at a steady speed in all directions from the point of impact.

While we think of 'History' as being some kind of record of the past, or the past itself, these ripples can be seen as an events 'history' - but also for what they are, a 'record' of the event in a sense, and a collection of matter in-formation that is all just 'dissipating' here, and now. In other words, while we think we see proof of 'the temporal past' all around us, in fact we just see stuff here now, all around us - doing whatever it is doing, but not proving that there is 'also' any kind of temporal past.

The energy and motion that make up this ripple (which is just the energy and motion of the falling rain drop being dissipated in the lake) can never be ‘lost’, where could they go to be lost?

The identity of the event or the ring of ripples, or ‘consequences’ do get more and more diffused In fact the consequences become as infinitely diffused as the laws of physics dictate. As the event spreads out into its surroundings and as each part of the ‘event’ meets with different kinds of objects or conditions in its path, it is becoming less and less identifiable as being one particular ‘thing’. Although it seems likely that the matter and energy that make up the original raindrop do get completely and utterly, randomly and irreversibly intermixed and lost (energy being matter etc) we shouldn’t let this total loss of identity obscure the fact that the total amount of energy and matter is always constant.

If you look at an actual pond where it is raining you can watch the thousands of circular ripples constantly created on the surface of a pond, and see the actual formation, dispersion, interaction and complete ‘loss of identity’ of all the ‘events’ of the raindrops hitting the pond and follow all the consequences that these events ‘become’. You can also see very clearly how every rain drop does indeed create a record of its impact and does indeed have a ‘history’. But that each history is a real and moving, directly observable thing that spreads-out, dissipates and loses itself in its surroundings.

There is no reason why the matter that is used to hold and carry the ‘ripple’ from one rain drop should only ever do this one job exclusively, instead all of the matter, in the raindrop and the pond, is also constantly being called on and used to be part of other ‘events’ or ‘histories’… You can see this in the picture where various ripples interact and diffuse. The evidence of each raindrop’s integration, and dis-integration, is seen to appear and disappear. Not into a ‘temporal past’, but just into its physical surroundings. And nowhere do we find a real reason to conclude that as well as this process, ‘the past’ also exists ‘somewhere’ in the universe, or that it would be needed for the world to seem, and appear just as it constantly does to us.

As you watch this, or any other event, a record of what you see also forms physically in your mind. This record may be more organised and stable, but it too appears, and is disappearing. When we consider the 2 records of the event – the actual ripple in the pond, and the record in our mind - for some reason we conclude that there must also be a ‘third’ record. A record ‘in the past’. But is it possible we are wrong? And that for the world to appear as it does everything just needs to be happening ‘somewhere’, and it only needs to be happening ‘now’ - and not ‘over time’… whatever that is meant to mean.

>> 1-About the book, and this website.

See also ...Star light and Raindrops.