How long is the present?

Recently i had a realization and my conception of 'time' changed. I had always viewed time on a linear scale in my mind.....this is wrong.
All that exists is what takes place in the present. Anything that happens within this unquantifiable epoch exists at once, then does not.
Symbolically it is like a point of light with shadows streaming off of it. The point of light being the 'now', and the shadows streaming off of it being events that happened in the 'now', but are no more.
So the question is- how long is 'now'?
Is 'now' quantifiable? Is it one second, or two maybe? Is it broken down to an infinitely small measurement of time? How small can a unit of time be broken down?
If someone says that x is the shortest amount, then i say x -1 is shorter.
So wouldn't time, existing only in the 'now', be eternal, in the sense that it cannot be negatively reduced to nothing? If so then the 'now' is eternal, in the sense that it does not have an ending...or beginning.

And one other thing. If the 'now' is all that exists, shouldn't it be really easy to choose to be happy within it, thus being a perpetually happy person?

Man, this stuff is weird.

reply to post by Romans 10:9
When I think of the present, I'm reminded of a poem by Arun Kolatkar called 'The Butterfly.'

There is no story behind it.
It is split like a second.
It hinges around itself.

It has no future.
It is pinned down to no past.
It's a pun on the present.

Its a little yellow butterfly.
It has taken these wretched hills
under its wings.

Just a pinch of yellow,
it opens before it closes
and it closes before it o
where is it?

reply to post by Kandinsky


what a fantastic poem! Never seen it before. Thankyou!

g

I think that "present" is not a constant. Not for all living creatures, not for people and not even for same individual. A thought that you just thought is already past. Even part of this though is already past. But every creature has different "CPU" time and different thought in same creature takes different time to complete. So there might be absolute minimal period of what individual feels as present time, and it is different between individuals. And it is not that important in reality.
In my opinion.
Edit: Fpellin.

[edit on 27-4-2010 by ZeroKnowledge]

Waaaayyy To deeeep!

As I'm typing this it's now the past???

The 'now' is relative to each person i suppose, but only in a symbolic sense. The 'now' would have to be an absolute quantity IMO.

And since said quantity can apparently be broken down negatively forever, and since said quantity doesn't seem to touch a beginning, it seems that it is eternal.

Originally posted by Romans 10:9
And since said quantity can apparently be broken down negatively forever, and since said quantity doesn't seem to touch a beginning, it seems that it is eternal.

Since it doesn't have a beginning, then how can any length of time be measured at all?

A conundrum for sure..

reply to post by Romans 10:9


The concept of time is inextricably linked to the space in which such time is measured. Hence, space time continuum. The present is Now and that now is wherever you are, which is right Here. We are all Now Here. Regardless of the past or of the future we are always Now Here. Where is that? Remove the space between Now Here and you get NowHere. We have always been NowHere, we are always going NowHere, and we will always be NowHere

The beauty of going NowHere, is that it lies in the Present. What a great gift to be Now Herein the Present! The beauty of being in the Present is that they are, in my humble opinion, moments that are Pre-Sent to us by us. Our future is a Pre-Sent moment sent to us by our thoughts and deeds in a past moment, and the circumstances we deal with are that which has been Pre-Sent. When understood in this way, it becomes necessary to consider our thoughts and deeds Now Here so that we may ensure our desired future is Pre-Sent to us by us.



[edit on 27-4-2010 by Jean Paul Zodeaux]

Well the present is always now. Time is a man made thing used to measure events that have already happened.

How long is the present?

JUST fast enough for you to have missed it.

Just then.

reply to post by Romans 10:9


infinite eternal universal
is now

now is always
but what&when is your awareness

awareness will you now know

vast array of emotion is experienced now, including 'happiness'
the polarity (+/-) experienced is choice
of the aware individual now

romans12:2

∞LOVE∞

[edit on 27-4-2010 by awake1234]

I do believe only "now" exists, but i dont think we have the knowledge or the capacity to grasp it yet.
That's why it's very confusing.

This is just one BIG day, sometimes the sun is shining on us, sometimes it's not. But this has been one BIG day.

Dinosaurs came into existence and died today, I was born today and so were all of you. The Earth was created today as well.

There has never been any other day but this one.

The 'now' seems to be a looping transitional edge...like a waterfall that falls into it's source.
It's some crazy sh*t to think about.

Originally posted by manbird12000
This is just one BIG day, sometimes the sun is shining on us, sometimes it's not. But this has been one BIG day.

Dinosaurs came into existence and died today, I was born today and so were all of you. The Earth was created today as well.

There has never been any other day but this one.

Lol, it's funny you say that. My cousin always says that. He's always like, "Think about it dude! It's just one big day! The sun is still shining regardless of where you are!"

"The present is eternal...
Grasshopper"

Oh I love this topic.

I remember when I first thought of this...I was fairly young...and I spent a considerable amount of time in trying to percieve the exact "present" time. I think the only thing it did was confuse me more


I still love the topic...but have come to a different understanding of time...as in it is a measurment...not something in itself. Time is just the measurement of change...so in my mind (and it is just an opinion or perception of mine...not fact)...the duration of the "present" depends on how long the event is.

The "present" can be as long as a day or as short as the time it takes for an electrical signal to go from one point to another.


At least that is my opinion...I'm sure it will change....on this topic it changes all the "time"

This reminds me of another thing i used to wonder about when i was like 5.

If you have a metal rod with the OD of a metal tube's same exact ID, will the rod fit into the tube?

Regardless of your answers i have come to the realization (you will too with enough thought) that NOTHING can be the EXACT SAME size.
Which is pretty weird too.

[edit on 27-4-2010 by Romans 10:9]

Great post my friend s+f

The Now is one of my favorite subjects. Like many have said before, I just think we have a misconception of what "time" actually is. We never experience anything outside of the present moment which just makes the past and future constructs of our mind. Once one realizes this, the worrying can cease. I wrote a lengthy thread on The Now which is linked below in my sig, enjoy and keep pondering!

Love this topic and the idea of the eternal Now!



Everything that happens now is happening now.
What happened to then?
We passed it.
When?
Just now!