Here and Now

Here and Now

Of all realities, time appears to be the most commonplace. It is universally accepted as being a vital and intimate aspect of our identity. Our entire persona: our actions, thoughts, fears, emotions, hopes, dreams and wishes are the products of our memory. To expand, they were shaped by the ways we reacted to various situations and how we responded to different influence. Our relationship with others is also contingent with the past, for we perceive the presence of people through the impressions we acquire through prior interaction. The past in turn has an impact on the future, for the accumulation of our developed hopes, dreams and wishes are translated into proposed action. With all of this emphasis on what has been and will be, we often lose touch with what is. It is unacknowledged by man that all forms of time, where it be the near or distant past or future, were or will be wholly relevant in but one present instant. It is this precise moment that holds the value of eternity and through its appreciation we can achieve consummate bliss.

The present is supreme in a sense that it exists not only on a mental plane, but on a material one as well. In fact, the present itself materializes the mindset of every creature, as it transforms thought into action. It is the bearer of opportunity, the true determinant of value and ultimately the only true form of time. The past and probable future are useless and utterly inconceivable without the present, for they would never manifest. In a way then, time as most know it does not exist. 1rst century philosopher St. Augustine reached a similar conclusion after pondering extensively over the question of time.

A day contains 24 hours; during the first of these hours the rest do not yet exist; during the last of these hours the first no longer exist.... A single hour contains minutes that vanish as they pass. Whatever minutes have passed no longer exist, and whatever still remain do not yet exist. If...

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