You might consider time to be such a fundamental feature of our existence that there really is nothing profound or meaningful that we can say about it. Maybe time, like space, simply is. Many have even argued time out of existence altogether. For example, if we were to split it up into three components: the past, the present and the future, then we can examine each in turn.Article continues after advertisement
Those who deny the reality of time will say something like this: The past has happened and is gone; all we have left of it is the record of past events (in our memories, or in books, photographs, or on film), all of which can only ever form a part of the present moment (when we access those records). But the events themselves no longer exist. In contrast, all there is of the future is our predictions, hopes, and beliefs about what might happen, which are again states of our minds in the present. Regardless of whether the future is predetermined or not, it has yet to exist.
That leaves the present moment itself; surely “now” is real. But although we “feel” that our now is a solid, changing moment steadily sweeping through time, converting the future into the past, it is nonetheless just an instant and as such does not have any duration. The physical definition of “now” is not a minute long or a second long, the time deniers will argue; it is the edge of the shadow between light and dark, between what is to happen and what has happened. It has no thickness. The constantly changing present moment is no more than a dividing line between past and future and so does not have a tangible existence of its own.
