Is there a present?

[Man-of-science]

And I don't mean for joining here :p But hello to everyone anyway as this is my first post. I've enjoyed reading all your opinions and theories on here especially Not-so-lost, you have some very good ideas :cool:

Back on topic though. I know there is a lot of topics on time and i've looked through a lot and I can see many people have different perceptions of time. This isn't about WHH or TCC but just one small part of time.

When I think of time I think of a time line where if you traveled to any one point on the time line this would be your (and everyone around you) "present". Kind of a Newtonian view of time I suppose. So in short the "present" is down to each person's perspective.

However, many people seem to see time as there being an ever moving but definite present. So if people can go back in time although everyone around you see's it as the present the true time will still be 2009. So if you went back to the year 2000 and stayed there for a year the "present" time would be 2010. So kind of like a big almighty counter that continues counting as the universe gets older no matter where people travel across the time line.

So to sum up in one the present is the perception of an individual, in the other there is always a "true present" no matter where you travel along the time line. Sorry if this isn't very clear. :eek:

[HisNameIsRobertPaulson]

I look at it a little differently. To me there are two types of "present." (1) With respect to a given character...this "present" refers to the activities going on for them at that time. When we see a "flashback" we see what the "present" was like for that character during their flashback...same with "flashforwards." And (2) with respect to the main plot of the show...which isn't entirely clear. It seems that 2007 is the "present" and I guess that "present" in this sense is based on the furthest forward the timeline has progressed.

Ulitimately, the story has ALL been written and everything we see is a "flashback" within the story...we are just watching it unfold.

[notsolost42]

The present is where ever and when ever any given person is and changes all the time. Everyone is in the present.

[NoData]

I agree that the present is the perception of the individual. Past and Future are relative terms in the same way that Left and Right, or Up and Down are. There is no "true present".

[notsolost42]

I agree that the present is the perception of the individual. Past and Future are relative terms in the same way that Left and Right, or Up and Down are. There is no "true present".

Exactly! There is no true present because it always changes!

[MagicoA]

what i wonder is by the end of this series will they ever reach our present? which by then will be 2010

[New Age Messiah]

There is no "true present".Quite the opposite. There is nothing BUT true present. It's ALWAYS right now. It's ALWAYS been right now. There's never been anything that wasn't right now.

The universe isn't getting older, time isn't passing, the universe is constantly brand new, time is constantly now.

[Panda]

Quite the opposite. There is nothing BUT true present. It's ALWAYS right now. It's ALWAYS been right now. There's never been anything that wasn't right now.

The universe isn't getting older, time isn't passing, the universe is constantly brand new, time is constantly now.

In some way that is how I experience it as well. There is nothing but now. The rest are thoughts.
If I think about what I did yesterday or last year, or what I would want to do in an hour or next month....I am thinking......I am thinking about things that are not now, It means that I think in the presen, or now about something from the past or the future.....but it is nothing but thinking. As now there is notching but now there is no past there is no future. I may have thoughts now about the future or about the past but than it are still nothing but thoughts.

[New Age Messiah]

I may have thoughts now about the future or about the past but than it are still nothing but thoughts.Thoughts, this is what I think about them anyway, are past energies stored conceptually, making their way up through your soul, into your mind. The soul is a circualtory system, like weather patterns.

You have stored energies,clouds, and they keep coming into your mind and you experience "thinking" as those energies cloud your mind.

Once you have released all the stored energies, your soul circulatory system is unclouded and you are able to "be" Now, in perfect circulation with all.