Mark Sheeky Artworks

Movement Through Time

Although it may appear that we are moving through time, we are not. In fact nothing is moving, everything in the Universe is and always has been stationary. All time is overlapped and present at once. The me of today is here and thinks it is today; the me of yesterday is here and thinks it is yesterday; and the me of tomorrow is here and thinks it is tomorrow.

No matter what the date or time of clock, it is always 'now'. People of the year 1900 thought that 1900 was now (which to us seems ridiculous, now is clearly now not then in 1900). The people of 1900 still think that 1900 is now.

If all time is overlapped, why does it appear moving? The apparent 'motion' we experience through time is a factor of memory and perception, processes in our brains.

If you remember easting breakfast about two hours ago and your clock, calendar, friends and other senses tell you it is 11:00am on Tuesday the 1st of March then that is what you consider to be 'now'. That does not mean that you are moving through time. The fact that you can remember or detect yesterday does not mean it has happened and that tomorrow has not happened. Time does not even go forwards.

Consider the following story:

1. I am eating bacon and eggs for breakfast on Monday.
2. I am eating cereal for breakfast on Tuesday. I remember eating bacon and eggs for breakfast yesterday on Monday.
3. I am easting toast for breakfast today, Wednesday. I remember Tuesday and Monday.

The story follows a simple path through time, but any one day would make logical sense as a day. If you only experienced Wednesday, day 3 it would seem valid. If the story ran backwards it would also seem valid, you might experience Wednesday first but having memories of Tuesday and Monday it would not matter if you were experiencing that day first or last or if all of the days were experienced at the same time.

If all time is present at once, why am I here now? Why aren't I in tomorrow or yesterday, or in the year 1900? The strange answer is that there is a you here tomorrow, there is another you here yesterday and another you here today. The you in yesterday thinks that 'now' is what you would call yesterday.

As stated before, no matter what the current time is you always consider it 'now'. All of the past and all of the future are here, divided only by physical effects that indicate different times, and (among other things) build the memories in our brains.

The you of yesterday is really a different person from the you of today, and that person is eternally stuck there in yesterday, thinking that what you call yesterday is now. The people of 1900 are still here, and all of the people of the future too.

Never again think of time as a road that we drive along. Everything in the Universe was created and fixed at its inception. The Universe is a stationary sculpture, a statue of many dimensions.