 
                        20080529.00

     The discovery, at least in my own mind, that the time
continuum as a series from past infinity to future infinity
is untenable, if only because it makes no provision and has
no explanation or definition for the present, leads to
further questions:

1) What are the mental processes or relationships that
predispose to this ultimately untenable temporal scheme?
and

2) Does the imagined infinity of space lead to a similar
anomaly?  and

3) What are the mental processes or relationships that
predispose to this ultimately untenable spatial scheme?
and

4) Is the limit imposed by the curvature of space
correlative with the limit imposed by the velocity of
light?

                   ====================

     An answer to the first question seems to me so obvious
as perhaps not even to warrant exposition:

1.a. I discover in myself the capacity for perceiving
rhythm, i.e. regularly occurring events, exemplified by the
pulsing of the blood, the respiratory  cycle, the beat of
music, by the diurnal sequence of night and day, by the
cycles of the moon - the month, of the sun - the year with
its sequence of seasons.

1.b. I discover in myself the propensity for iteration.  I
can always take another step, I can always count another
object. There is no end to the sequence of natural numbers.
There is no limit to iteration, except fatigue (which
doesn't count) and in the absence of a limit to iteration,
infinity is unavoidable.

1.c. It is the boundless quality of iteration which
precludes a temporal definition of the present. A present
devoid of duration is meaningless. But a present invested
with duration is subject to immediate subdivision and
disassembly into its constituent parts.


2.a. While the intuition of time is rhythmical, and hence
iterative, the intuition of space is continuous. While the
absence of interruption in time leads quickly to boredom,
the contemplation of the continuity of space is uniquely
satisfying. That is why I delight in the view of distant
landscapes from a mountain top, in the view of the
apparently limitless ocean from the water's edge.

2.b. The experience of space requires (entails) movement,
which by its nature is not instantaneous. It takes time for
me to walk from one place to the next. Hence there arises
the conjunction of space and time.

2.c. The experience of space is defined by time. Distance
is measured by how long, how many milliseconds, seconds,
minutes, hours, or years a traverse at a given velocity
will require.

2.d. The experience of time is quantified in space. To
watch the movement of the hand of the clock is to observe
the passage of time.

     My understanding of both time and space, each in its
own way, is a reflection of the characteristic of my mind.
The circumstance that my understanding of time and space is
effective is further corroboration of the obvious: that my
mind is also a component and manifestation of nature.

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Copyright 2008, Ernst Jochen Meyer
