There is no objective now. If there are subjective nows, there's infinite ones equally existing across all of spacetime.

Discuss the November 2022 Philosophy Book of the Month, In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes.

To post in this forum, you must buy and read the book. After buying the book, please upload a screenshot of your receipt or proof or purchase via OnlineBookClub. Once the moderators approve your purchase at OnlineBookClub, you will then also automatically be given access to post in this forum.
Forum rules
This forum is for discussing the book In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All. Anyone can view the forum and read the post, but only people who purchased the book can post in the forum.

If your purchase has not already been verified (i.e. if you don't already have access to post in this forum), then please upload a screenshot of your receipt or proof or purchase via OnlineBookClub. Once the moderators approve your purchase at OnlineBookClub, you will then also automatically be given access to post in this forum.
Post Reply
User avatar
Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
The admin formerly known as Scott
Posts: 5765
Joined: January 20th, 2007, 6:24 pm
Favorite Philosopher: Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
Contact:

There is no objective now. If there are subjective nows, there's infinite ones equally existing across all of spacetime.

Post by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes »

This is a discussion forum topic for the November 2022 Philosophy Book of the Month, In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All.


Important: If you disagree with any of the below statements, please specify in the replies which is the very first statement with which you disagree.

Likewise, if you aren't sure you understand one of the below statements, please specify in the replies which is the very first statement that you aren't sure you understand.



There is no objective now. That fact is a scientific fact proven repeatedly by scientific experiment, namely in regard to scientific tests of Einstein's theories of Special Relativity and General Relativity. In Einstein's physics, the lack of an objective now is called the relativity of simultaneity.

To illustrate, I'll point out this fact: Something that is in your now isn't (usually) in someone else's now even if they themselves (from your perspective) are in your now. In fact, your whole life and death can be in someone else's past even if their whole life and death is in your past.

Despite that verifiable scientific truth, many humans, if not most or all humans, have this seemingly intuitive but false sense that there is some singular shared universe-wide observer-independent now (which they may call 'the now' or 'the present moment'), spanning all of a vast thing called space, that existed as a sort of universal stage even before humans and any biological life existed, in which all events happen, and thus in which life and humanity itself evolved, meaning that huge vast alleged space with its singular objective now existed without life or conscious subjects, and we just popped up within it at some point while the universal clock was ticking away. That is all an illusion. There is no objective now. There is no singular shared now. There is no objective time in which things evolve. There are no points in objective time at which something could pop up or happen.

Einstein's discoveries revealed that the idea of an objective now is an illusion, thereby confirming something that many wise logical mystics, many meditators, and many philosophers had realized and taught in their own ways for thousands of years: Subjectivity precedes nowness and time, not vice versa. Granted, alternatively, there is perhaps a sense in which presence itself, including by extension a form of emergent or pseudo-temporal nowness, is identical to or an aspect of conscious subjectivity itself, but then that is not a temporal presence; Rather, that consciousness, or conscious presence, would thus be a deeper truer realer subjective non-temporal presence from which the spatial and temporal emerge and to which the spatial and temporal relate.

In any case, without a doubt, there is no objective now. Likewise, there is no singular shared subjective now. Because that kind of singularity is not how subjectivity works, at least not if we reject solipsism. Conscious observers who are in your perspective in the distant past or the distant future are just as conscious as you; and, objectively speaking, their present and their now is currently happening just as much as yours is currently happening, no more and no less. Objectively, you are no more in a present or the present than someone in your distant past or in your distant future is in a present or the present. Objectively, your present does not happen before theirs or after theirs even though in your reference frame their present is after yours or before yours. Things being before or after is like things being left or right. The universe has no left side or right side, and it has no past and no future. A certain cupcake or a certain event such as the birth or death of the Sun is neither on the left side nor the right side of the universe, and is neither objectively in the past nor objectively in the future because objectively the universe has no left, no right, no past, and no future. Indeed, as already said, Einstein's physics proved that your whole life and death can be in someone else's past even if their whole life and death is in your past. Assuming their are some observers scattered on planets in other galaxies than the Milky Way, then there are observers in our past who have the death of our Sun in their past. That's in the same way that someone on our left could be on their right, or neither to their right nor their left at all, but directly in front of the time.

Insofar as there are any subjective nows, then there are infinite subjective nows scattered across all of spacetime (including what you see as the distant future and the distant past), all equally existing, none more objectively now than any other. Your left is someone else's right; Your future is someone else's past; and your time is someone else's space. Your up is someone else's forward or back, and your down is someone else's up.

Consider nowness and presence for a bit. What is nowness? In the same sense there is no "the left", there is no "the now". But yet for any conscious being their is a now and a here. Each conscious being has this solipsist-like experience of themselves being the center of 4D spacetime--the center being the singular here-and-now. That solipsist-like experience of specialness--of being the single true here-and-now in all of 4D spacetime--is something Einstein described as "a stubbornly persistent illusion".

You always move forward in time (from your perspective) only in the sense that your nose always points forward in space (from your perspective). But objectively there is no front-half or back-half of the universe just as there as the universe has no past half or future half. If the block universe was a loaf of bread, there is no way cut it such that all the events on one of the two pieces happened objectively before all of the events on the other piece. There is objective chronological order to the events because there is no objective time nor chronology; those are subjective observer-dependent illusions, like leftness, upness, forwardness, and downness.

There is no single objective here versus not-here in spacetime. There is no objective here in spacetime. But there are infinite subjective heres in spacetime, scattered across all of 4D spacetime, corresponding to each differently located conscious observer.

Likewise, on the one hand, scientifically, no point in spacetime is the center, neither of time (i.e. now) nor of space (i.e. here), and thus there is no singular presence, and objectively there is no now. Yet, on the other hand, conscious presence is the one and only thing conscious beings know exist with absolute certainty. And, by rejecting solipsism, we thus find that there are infinite equally existing conscious presents scattered across all of timeless eternal 4D spacetime.

Objectively, nothing happens; there is no change; and there is no time. Objectively, everything eternally exists all together without time. Objectively, the universe is a block universe of unchanging timeless spaceless eternal 4D spacetime.

Intersubjectively, if we consider all conscious subjective views all at once, then everything everywhere and everywhen is happening all at once, at least as observed by conscious observers from anywhere and anywhen in 4D spacetime. In that sense, all of reality, including the whole 4D block universe, is being simultaneously created all at once. That is 'all at once' in the pseudo-temporal way of fundamental non-temporal subjective conscious presence rather than temporal presence.

In terms of your subjective perspective as a specific-aged singular conscious being out of infinite such beings, you are the center of 4D spacetime, meaning where you are is the stationary here-and-now in 4D spacetime, through which you as all things move at speed C (the Constant) which through time is 1 second per second. Thus, from your perspective as a conscious subjective being, you are both (1) the center of the universe, and (2) the very thing to which your relative reference frame is most fundamentally relative to. As such, you yourself as the conscious observer are that relative to which it is measured how close something is, whether it is past or future, left or right, etc. is all based on and relative to you and your subjective experience, not over a lifetime but in a mere fleeting here-and-now in which you self-referentially find yourself. When you say "it is now" or "it is raining now", you are the 'it', or are least you are that which the definition of 'it' is most fundamentally relative to.

The mysterious thing we often call consciousness, or call awareness, or even call The Hard Problem of Consciousness, is in a way merely just a description of the intimate and inherently subjective feeling of presence itself and by extension nowness itself. It's the inherently subjective sent that it somehow really is now right now, which comes with the false sense that somehow that past is somehow objectively not now and that objectively the future is somehow objectively not now, all of which is impossible since there is no objective now. That is an inherently subjective and consciousness-dependent feeling almost impossible to describe, and presumably fully impossible to describe to philosophical zombies (i.e. a hypothetical person lacking true consciousness). Yet, all conscious beings are excruciating familiar with it. It is that thing which we each know exists more than we can know anything else. It's what makes your unique here here and your unique now now. There is no now without it; in other words, without you, the real you. That is what makes the illusion of time so persistently stubborn.

Presumably, a philosophical zombie would not find time to be so stubbornly persistent of an illusion.

By definition, a philosophical zombie wouldn't have that vivid inherently subjective experience of nowness and presence itself that all conscious beings do and only conscious do. That inherently subjective presence presumably isn't merely be a byproduct of consciousness but in a way is consciousness itself or at least an aspect of the experience of consciousness itself.

In Newton's false debunked physics, conscious individuals are tiny little things in a vast and seemingly infinite objective space that as tiny little things pop up at point in that objective time in a tiny little place and exist for an objectively infinitesimal amount of time in that time and at that place, as if a little tiny side note in a vast cosmos with objective time. But that's all false nonsense. Thr universe is not a vast 3D space in which you are an infinitesimal thing. That kind of universe doesn't exist. There is no objective time; and, without subjectivity, there is no time at all, not even the consciously imagined illusion of it. Thus, you are not and cannot be some infinitesimally short-lived thing that popped up in time and will then quickly disappear, after which time itself will keep moving on with you. That is all an easily debunked illusion. The illusion of time cannot and will not move on without consciousness, meaning the conscious presence that is the real you.

There is no objective time. And, without conscious subjects, there is no meaningful presence at all. You are the subject to which the subjective is subjected. It's an illusion that your present is the present, or that there is an objective present at all, but it is thanks to consciousness--to you--that your present is a present.

You are not infinitesimal in time. Rather, in a very important and meaningful way, you are time. Or, more accurately, you are the real and much more fundamental thing from which unreal time emerges. If you--the real and fundamental thing--didn't exist, the emergent illusion (time) wouldn't exist either because it couldn't exist. If time is an aspect of a dream that is dreamt, you are the dreamer. Even an otherwise unreal dream can have a form of relative reality if the dream is consciously dreamt, but then its relative reality depends on and emerges from the more fundamental reality of the conscious dreamer. Time is only ever as real as a consciously dreamt dream, and thus in that way it is never as fundamental or real as you, the conscious presence. If time is an apple, you are the apple tree, and the dreamy apple is just a part of you.

There are infinite apples, and all apples are in a way an illusion, but the tree--meaning you, the real you--is very real. And, it's only thanks to you and I--the tree--that all these dreamy apples can exist at all.

You are not some infinitesimal near-nothing in an infinite pile of real apples, or even within a single apple. No, the apples are the illusion, and you are the apple tree. And, by extension, you are, in part, also all the dreamy emergent imagined apples.

You don't live in a vast space or a now that pre-existed you as some kind of vast stage on which you get a brief background role as an extra before you disappear forever. No. You are that now. The stage and its time emerge from you, and the only audience is you. They start with you, and they end with you. And, undeniably, in terms of what my book, In It Together, calls the real you, you are eternal and timeless. You do not grow within time and space, because there is no objective time and space within which to grow. No. You are the undeniably real thing from which the dreamy emerges. You are the presence. Time grows from you.

You are the eternal and real tree; time and space are just dreamy apples sprouting from you.



---
If you disagree with any of the above statements, please specify in the replies which is the very first statement with which you disagree.

Likewise, if you aren't sure you understand any of the above statements, please specify in the replies which is the very first statement that you aren't sure you understand.

If you understand and agree with all of the above, but have any questions or comments about anything, please do post your questions and comments as reply. I'll do my best to answer and reply to all questions and comments. :)



---

Relativity of Simultaneity: Einstein showed that different observers cut different-angled slices of the block universe as their 'now'. Thus, your entire life and death can be in another observer's past even if your entire life and death is in their past. In other words, your future can be in the past of someone who is in your 'now' or even in your past.
Relativity of Simultaneity: Einstein showed that different observers cut different-angled slices of the block universe as their 'now'. Thus, your entire life and death can be in another observer's past even if your entire life and death is in their past. In other words, your future can be in the past of someone who is in your 'now' or even in your past.

An analogue for Einstein's 4D block universe is an unchanging eternal 3D loaf of bread. Observers living in the 3D unchanging eternal loaf of bread would experience a world with 2 dimensions (2D) of space and 1 dimension (1D) of time. Just like in our real 4D universe, what events are considered simultaneous is relative to how one slices it. Likewise, what is considered past versus future is relative to how one slices it. There are infinite ways to slice it, and no way of slicing it is more correct than any other. Different observers slice it differently, and neither is more or less right than the other.
An analogue for Einstein's 4D block universe is an unchanging eternal 3D loaf of bread. Observers living in the 3D unchanging eternal loaf of bread would experience a world with 2 dimensions (2D) of space and 1 dimension (1D) of time. Just like in our real 4D universe, what events are considered simultaneous is relative to how one slices it. Likewise, what is considered past versus future is relative to how one slices it. There are infinite ways to slice it, and no way of slicing it is more correct than any other. Different observers slice it differently, and neither is more or less right than the other.
the-block-universe-as-bread.png (166.63 KiB) Viewed 1602 times



---
The book is available for purchase from all major book retailers in both ebook and hardcover format.

View on Barnes and Noble | View on Amazon | View on Books-A-Million | View on Bookshelves
My entire political philosophy summed up in one tweet.

"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master."

I believe spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline) manifests as bravery, confidence, grace, honesty, love, and inner peace.
User avatar
Sushan
Book of the Month Discussion Leader
Posts: 2221
Joined: February 19th, 2021, 8:12 pm
Contact:

Re: There is no objective now. If there are subjective nows, there's infinite ones equally existing across all of spacet

Post by Sushan »

The exposition presented here is an exceptional illustration of the non-existence of an objective "now." It is a notion reinforced by scientific experiments, particularly those examining Einstein's theories of Special Relativity and General Relativity. The lack of an objective now, as described in Einstein's physics, is referred to as the relativity of simultaneity.

Your thought-provoking composition sheds light on the complexities of human perception and understanding of time and space, while revealing the subjective nature of our experiences. It is indeed fascinating to see how our innate sense of a singular, observer-independent "now" is debunked through the insightful analysis of scientific truths and philosophical contemplation.

Drawing from a diverse range of disciplines, including mysticism, meditation, and philosophy, the piece effectively demonstrates how subjectivity precedes nowness and time. The eloquent narrative reveals the intricacies of our comprehension of time, which, as shown, is deeply intertwined with our consciousness.

Furthermore, your comprehensive analysis dispels the illusion of an objective time, emphasizing the relativity of our experiences and the importance of conscious subjectivity. The synthesis of scientific knowledge and philosophical inquiry in the composition makes for a compelling read, as it challenges the reader to question the very foundations of their understanding of time and space.

The essay also underscores the multitude of subjective nows, illustrating the unique experiences of conscious beings across the vast expanse of spacetime. This exploration of the subjective nature of nowness and presence is a testament to the power of human consciousness, which serves as the linchpin of our understanding and experience of the world.

In conclusion, the compelling argument put forth in this intellectual piece unravels the enigma of time and space, demonstrating the illusory nature of an objective "now." The synthesis of science and philosophy offers an enlightening perspective that encourages readers to reconsider their understanding of reality, urging them to appreciate the role of consciousness in shaping our experiences.
“There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers”

– William James
User avatar
Proof Readar
Premium Member
Posts: 10
Joined: March 21st, 2023, 1:12 pm

Re: There is no objective now. If there are subjective nows, there's infinite ones equally existing across all of spacet

Post by Proof Readar »

Though, I've not across any of Einstein's theories. However, I do agree with the fact that time is defined by how an individual has defined it. My past might be another individual's present, and vice versa. I love this topic as it is thought-provoking.
Onyango Victor
Premium Member
Posts: 10
Joined: January 2nd, 2024, 7:38 pm

Re: There is no objective now. If there are subjective nows, there's infinite ones equally existing across all of spacet

Post by Onyango Victor »

Eckhart Aurelius Hughes wrote: March 28th, 2023, 12:01 am This is a discussion forum topic for the November 2022 Philosophy Book of the Month, In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All.


Important: If you disagree with any of the below statements, please specify in the replies which is the very first statement with which you disagree.

Likewise, if you aren't sure you understand one of the below statements, please specify in the replies which is the very first statement that you aren't sure you understand.



There is no objective now. That fact is a scientific fact proven repeatedly by scientific experiment, namely in regard to scientific tests of Einstein's theories of Special Relativity and General Relativity. In Einstein's physics, the lack of an objective now is called the relativity of simultaneity.

To illustrate, I'll point out this fact: Something that is in your now isn't (usually) in someone else's now even if they themselves (from your perspective) are in your now. In fact, your whole life and death can be in someone else's past even if their whole life and death is in your past.

Despite that verifiable scientific truth, many humans, if not most or all humans, have this seemingly intuitive but false sense that there is some singular shared universe-wide observer-independent now (which they may call 'the now' or 'the present moment'), spanning all of a vast thing called space, that existed as a sort of universal stage even before humans and any biological life existed, in which all events happen, and thus in which life and humanity itself evolved, meaning that huge vast alleged space with its singular objective now existed without life or conscious subjects, and we just popped up within it at some point while the universal clock was ticking away. That is all an illusion. There is no objective now. There is no singular shared now. There is no objective time in which things evolve. There are no points in objective time at which something could pop up or happen.

Einstein's discoveries revealed that the idea of an objective now is an illusion, thereby confirming something that many wise logical mystics, many meditators, and many philosophers had realized and taught in their own ways for thousands of years: Subjectivity precedes nowness and time, not vice versa. Granted, alternatively, there is perhaps a sense in which presence itself, including by extension a form of emergent or pseudo-temporal nowness, is identical to or an aspect of conscious subjectivity itself, but then that is not a temporal presence; Rather, that consciousness, or conscious presence, would thus be a deeper truer realer subjective non-temporal presence from which the spatial and temporal emerge and to which the spatial and temporal relate.

In any case, without a doubt, there is no objective now. Likewise, there is no singular shared subjective now. Because that kind of singularity is not how subjectivity works, at least not if we reject solipsism. Conscious observers who are in your perspective in the distant past or the distant future are just as conscious as you; and, objectively speaking, their present and their now is currently happening just as much as yours is currently happening, no more and no less. Objectively, you are no more in a present or the present than someone in your distant past or in your distant future is in a present or the present. Objectively, your present does not happen before theirs or after theirs even though in your reference frame their present is after yours or before yours. Things being before or after is like things being left or right. The universe has no left side or right side, and it has no past and no future. A certain cupcake or a certain event such as the birth or death of the Sun is neither on the left side nor the right side of the universe, and is neither objectively in the past nor objectively in the future because objectively the universe has no left, no right, no past, and no future. Indeed, as already said, Einstein's physics proved that your whole life and death can be in someone else's past even if their whole life and death is in your past. Assuming their are some observers scattered on planets in other galaxies than the Milky Way, then there are observers in our past who have the death of our Sun in their past. That's in the same way that someone on our left could be on their right, or neither to their right nor their left at all, but directly in front of the time.

Insofar as there are any subjective nows, then there are infinite subjective nows scattered across all of spacetime (including what you see as the distant future and the distant past), all equally existing, none more objectively now than any other. Your left is someone else's right; Your future is someone else's past; and your time is someone else's space. Your up is someone else's forward or back, and your down is someone else's up.

Consider nowness and presence for a bit. What is nowness? In the same sense there is no "the left", there is no "the now". But yet for any conscious being their is a now and a here. Each conscious being has this solipsist-like experience of themselves being the center of 4D spacetime--the center being the singular here-and-now. That solipsist-like experience of specialness--of being the single true here-and-now in all of 4D spacetime--is something Einstein described as "a stubbornly persistent illusion".

You always move forward in time (from your perspective) only in the sense that your nose always points forward in space (from your perspective). But objectively there is no front-half or back-half of the universe just as there as the universe has no past half or future half. If the block universe was a loaf of bread, there is no way cut it such that all the events on one of the two pieces happened objectively before all of the events on the other piece. There is objective chronological order to the events because there is no objective time nor chronology; those are subjective observer-dependent illusions, like leftness, upness, forwardness, and downness.

There is no single objective here versus not-here in spacetime. There is no objective here in spacetime. But there are infinite subjective heres in spacetime, scattered across all of 4D spacetime, corresponding to each differently located conscious observer.

Likewise, on the one hand, scientifically, no point in spacetime is the center, neither of time (i.e. now) nor of space (i.e. here), and thus there is no singular presence, and objectively there is no now. Yet, on the other hand, conscious presence is the one and only thing conscious beings know exist with absolute certainty. And, by rejecting solipsism, we thus find that there are infinite equally existing conscious presents scattered across all of timeless eternal 4D spacetime.

Objectively, nothing happens; there is no change; and there is no time. Objectively, everything eternally exists all together without time. Objectively, the universe is a block universe of unchanging timeless spaceless eternal 4D spacetime.

Intersubjectively, if we consider all conscious subjective views all at once, then everything everywhere and everywhen is happening all at once, at least as observed by conscious observers from anywhere and anywhen in 4D spacetime. In that sense, all of reality, including the whole 4D block universe, is being simultaneously created all at once. That is 'all at once' in the pseudo-temporal way of fundamental non-temporal subjective conscious presence rather than temporal presence.

In terms of your subjective perspective as a specific-aged singular conscious being out of infinite such beings, you are the center of 4D spacetime, meaning where you are is the stationary here-and-now in 4D spacetime, through which you as all things move at speed C (the Constant) which through time is 1 second per second. Thus, from your perspective as a conscious subjective being, you are both (1) the center of the universe, and (2) the very thing to which your relative reference frame is most fundamentally relative to. As such, you yourself as the conscious observer are that relative to which it is measured how close something is, whether it is past or future, left or right, etc. is all based on and relative to you and your subjective experience, not over a lifetime but in a mere fleeting here-and-now in which you self-referentially find yourself. When you say "it is now" or "it is raining now", you are the 'it', or are least you are that which the definition of 'it' is most fundamentally relative to.

The mysterious thing we often call consciousness, or call awareness, or even call The Hard Problem of Consciousness, is in a way merely just a description of the intimate and inherently subjective feeling of presence itself and by extension nowness itself. It's the inherently subjective sent that it somehow really is now right now, which comes with the false sense that somehow that past is somehow objectively not now and that objectively the future is somehow objectively not now, all of which is impossible since there is no objective now. That is an inherently subjective and consciousness-dependent feeling almost impossible to describe, and presumably fully impossible to describe to philosophical zombies (i.e. a hypothetical person lacking true consciousness). Yet, all conscious beings are excruciating familiar with it. It is that thing which we each know exists more than we can know anything else. It's what makes your unique here here and your unique now now. There is no now without it; in other words, without you, the real you. That is what makes the illusion of time so persistently stubborn.

Presumably, a philosophical zombie would not find time to be so stubbornly persistent of an illusion.

By definition, a philosophical zombie wouldn't have that vivid inherently subjective experience of nowness and presence itself that all conscious beings do and only conscious do. That inherently subjective presence presumably isn't merely be a byproduct of consciousness but in a way is consciousness itself or at least an aspect of the experience of consciousness itself.

In Newton's false debunked physics, conscious individuals are tiny little things in a vast and seemingly infinite objective space that as tiny little things pop up at point in that objective time in a tiny little place and exist for an objectively infinitesimal amount of time in that time and at that place, as if a little tiny side note in a vast cosmos with objective time. But that's all false nonsense. Thr universe is not a vast 3D space in which you are an infinitesimal thing. That kind of universe doesn't exist. There is no objective time; and, without subjectivity, there is no time at all, not even the consciously imagined illusion of it. Thus, you are not and cannot be some infinitesimally short-lived thing that popped up in time and will then quickly disappear, after which time itself will keep moving on with you. That is all an easily debunked illusion. The illusion of time cannot and will not move on without consciousness, meaning the conscious presence that is the real you.

There is no objective time. And, without conscious subjects, there is no meaningful presence at all. You are the subject to which the subjective is subjected. It's an illusion that your present is the present, or that there is an objective present at all, but it is thanks to consciousness--to you--that your present is a present.

You are not infinitesimal in time. Rather, in a very important and meaningful way, you are time. Or, more accurately, you are the real and much more fundamental thing from which unreal time emerges. If you--the real and fundamental thing--didn't exist, the emergent illusion (time) wouldn't exist either because it couldn't exist. If time is an aspect of a dream that is dreamt, you are the dreamer. Even an otherwise unreal dream can have a form of relative reality if the dream is consciously dreamt, but then its relative reality depends on and emerges from the more fundamental reality of the conscious dreamer. Time is only ever as real as a consciously dreamt dream, and thus in that way it is never as fundamental or real as you, the conscious presence. If time is an apple, you are the apple tree, and the dreamy apple is just a part of you.

There are infinite apples, and all apples are in a way an illusion, but the tree--meaning you, the real you--is very real. And, it's only thanks to you and I--the tree--that all these dreamy apples can exist at all.

You are not some infinitesimal near-nothing in an infinite pile of real apples, or even within a single apple. No, the apples are the illusion, and you are the apple tree. And, by extension, you are, in part, also all the dreamy emergent imagined apples.

You don't live in a vast space or a now that pre-existed you as some kind of vast stage on which you get a brief background role as an extra before you disappear forever. No. You are that now. The stage and its time emerge from you, and the only audience is you. They start with you, and they end with you. And, undeniably, in terms of what my book, In It Together, calls the real you, you are eternal and timeless. You do not grow within time and space, because there is no objective time and space within which to grow. No. You are the undeniably real thing from which the dreamy emerges. You are the presence. Time grows from you.

You are the eternal and real tree; time and space are just dreamy apples sprouting from you.



---
If you disagree with any of the above statements, please specify in the replies which is the very first statement with which you disagree.

Likewise, if you aren't sure you understand any of the above statements, please specify in the replies which is the very first statement that you aren't sure you understand.

If you understand and agree with all of the above, but have any questions or comments about anything, please do post your questions and comments as reply. I'll do my best to answer and reply to all questions and comments. :)



---


relativity-of-simultaneity.png



the-block-universe-as-bread.png




---
The book is available for purchase from all major book retailers in both ebook and hardcover format.

View on Barnes and Noble | View on Amazon | View on Books-A-Million | View on Bookshelves


The concept of subjective "now" is intriguing and aligns with some interpretations in physics and philosophy, such as the theory of relativity. It suggests that each observer experiences their own unique "now" within the fabric of spacetime.
Devis Ombeto
Premium Member
Posts: 12
Joined: February 15th, 2024, 8:26 am

Re: There is no objective now. If there are subjective nows, there's infinite ones equally existing across all of spacet

Post by Devis Ombeto »

This clash between intuitive human perception and scientific reality raises philosophical questions about the nature of time and how our minds construct a coherent understanding of the temporal dimension. It's an intriguing intersection where science and human experience often diverge.
Kemunto Nyatundo
Premium Member
Posts: 10
Joined: February 15th, 2024, 6:03 pm

Re: There is no objective now. If there are subjective nows, there's infinite ones equally existing across all of spacet

Post by Kemunto Nyatundo »

Drawing inspiration from theories such as Einstein's theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, this concept suggests that time is not an absolute, universally ticking clock but rather a malleable and subjective phenomenon. It prompts contemplation on the interconnectedness of events across spacetime and the intricate web of individual experiences woven into the fabric of reality.
Post Reply

Return to “Discuss "In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All" by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes”

2023/2024 Philosophy Books of the Month

Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise

Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise
by John K Danenbarger
January 2023

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul
by Mitzi Perdue
February 2023

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness
by Chet Shupe
March 2023

The Unfakeable Code®

The Unfakeable Code®
by Tony Jeton Selimi
April 2023

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
by Alan Watts
May 2023

Killing Abel

Killing Abel
by Michael Tieman
June 2023

Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead

Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead
by E. Alan Fleischauer
July 2023

First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough

First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough
by Mark Unger
August 2023

Predictably Irrational

Predictably Irrational
by Dan Ariely
September 2023

Artwords

Artwords
by Beatriz M. Robles
November 2023

Fireproof Happiness: Extinguishing Anxiety & Igniting Hope

Fireproof Happiness: Extinguishing Anxiety & Igniting Hope
by Dr. Randy Ross
December 2023

Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream Through an Immigrant's Eyes

Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream Through an Immigrant's Eyes
by Ali Master
February 2024

2022 Philosophy Books of the Month

Emotional Intelligence At Work

Emotional Intelligence At Work
by Richard M Contino & Penelope J Holt
January 2022

Free Will, Do You Have It?

Free Will, Do You Have It?
by Albertus Kral
February 2022

My Enemy in Vietnam

My Enemy in Vietnam
by Billy Springer
March 2022

2X2 on the Ark

2X2 on the Ark
by Mary J Giuffra, PhD
April 2022

The Maestro Monologue

The Maestro Monologue
by Rob White
May 2022

What Makes America Great

What Makes America Great
by Bob Dowell
June 2022

The Truth Is Beyond Belief!

The Truth Is Beyond Belief!
by Jerry Durr
July 2022

Living in Color

Living in Color
by Mike Murphy
August 2022 (tentative)

The Not So Great American Novel

The Not So Great American Novel
by James E Doucette
September 2022

Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/National Suffragette And Her Speeches

Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/National Suffragette And Her Speeches
by John N. (Jake) Ferris
October 2022

In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All

In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All
by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
November 2022

The Smartest Person in the Room: The Root Cause and New Solution for Cybersecurity

The Smartest Person in the Room
by Christian Espinosa
December 2022

2021 Philosophy Books of the Month

The Biblical Clock: The Untold Secrets Linking the Universe and Humanity with God's Plan

The Biblical Clock
by Daniel Friedmann
March 2021

Wilderness Cry: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe

Wilderness Cry
by Dr. Hilary L Hunt M.D.
April 2021

Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute: Tools To Spark Your Dream And Ignite Your Follow-Through

Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute
by Jeff Meyer
May 2021

Surviving the Business of Healthcare: Knowledge is Power

Surviving the Business of Healthcare
by Barbara Galutia Regis M.S. PA-C
June 2021

Winning the War on Cancer: The Epic Journey Towards a Natural Cure

Winning the War on Cancer
by Sylvie Beljanski
July 2021

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream
by Dr Frank L Douglas
August 2021

If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your Buts

If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your Buts
by Mark L. Wdowiak
September 2021

The Preppers Medical Handbook

The Preppers Medical Handbook
by Dr. William W Forgey M.D.
October 2021

Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress: A Practical Guide

Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress
by Dr. Gustavo Kinrys, MD
November 2021

Dream For Peace: An Ambassador Memoir

Dream For Peace
by Dr. Ghoulem Berrah
December 2021