Does the present exist ?

[MissMaCo]

Last night, I was talking with some friends about that :

we stated that :

the past existed and still exists in our memories
we know that the future will happen cause part of our past is a future (of a past moment)





But does the present exist ? At the moment I'm typing this, I think I'm in the present, but actually, I'm already in the past, right ?

We can't grasp the present, right ?







So, what do you think ?

That I'm still hangovered ? mmmh...maybe

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

do you see the way that tree bends?
does it inspire?
leaning out to catch the sun's rays
a lesson to be applied
are you getting something out of this all encompassing trip?
you can spend your time alone, redigesting past regrets, oh
or you can come to terms and realize
you're the only one who can't forgive yourself, oh
makes much more sense to live in the present tense
have you ideas on how this life ends?
checked your hands and studied the lines
have you the belief that the road ahead ascends off into the light?
seems that needlessly it's getting harder
to find an approach and a way to live
are we getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
you can spend your time alone redigesting past regrets, oh
or you can come to terms and realize
you're the only one who cannot forgive yourself, oh
makes much more sense to live in the present tense
-pearl jam, present tense

 

[MissMaCo]

 

[melon]

The present is the only thing that reliably exists. What you do with it is another story. Since the present becomes the past with each passing second and the future becomes the present in equal intervals, it is sometimes hard to quantify what the present is, I guess. Regardless, the past no longer exists and the future does not exist at all, until it is transformed into the present.

Melon

 

[Doozer61]

well said, melon!

 

[MissMaCo]

The only thing we're sure of, eventually, is the past. Or maybe we dreamt it ?

 

[melon]

No, we aren't sure of the past. We tint the past in inherent human subjectivity and bias. If we were sure of the past, then there wouldn't be any debate on historical events.

We are only certain of what we experience in each passing moment that we call the "present."

Melon

 

[MissMaCo]

God, it's frightening

 

[melon]

Nah it isn't. I think we all spend too much time overanalyzing what we otherwise take for granted. I say just go with the flow...

Melon

 

[MissMaCo]

Melon, will be accept to be my therapist ?

 

[MissMaCo]

will YOU ?

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

this thread is too deep for me.

 

[foray]

You gotta read Hannah Arendt's Life Of The Mind, she writes about this very subject. It will be in any bookstore or library.

foray

 

[Lancemc]

the way I understand it is that there is NO past of future. There is only the present. Because once a moment has passed, it no longer exists, and what is about to happen hasn't yet happened so it does not exist. Ouch, ok, that's enough for one day.

 

[cell]

must have been some night out lol...

 

[A_Wanderer]

The present does not exist, there is no such thing as absolute time and likewise there is no absolute present.

 

[foray]

Once you start thinking of time as past, present and future, you think of it in linear terms whereas contemporary physics is teaching us that this is not true of "Time".

foray

 

[nbcrusader]

I'm still trying to figure out the sound of one hand claping.

 

[alexvilagosh]

I was actually thinking the exact same thing a few weeks ago. My friends thought I was cracked.

The present is a continuous stream.

 

[MissMaCo]

a stream of conciousness...

 

[Lancemc]

We're binary code
A one and a zero.