Philosophical Time

I do not pretend to understand ‘time’ so that’s the reason I am putting some of my thoughts down on paper. Maybe if I just type as I think, something will come from the thoughts & when I have completed this blog and have ‘time’ to read it I will have a better understanding. Weird thinking I know..It might get better in ‘time’.
I am interested in science but do not consider myself a scientist by any stretch of the imagination. I have always (that’s a lot of ‘time’) been interested in the concept of ‘time’ since it’s something we all have. Each of us has a lifetime of ‘time’ extending from birth until death. This is a subject that I won’t try to address at this ‘time’ since it involves both physical ‘time’ on planet Earth and divine ‘time’ with God. As I type I see the word ‘time’ popping up frequently and the word ‘time’ will popup throughout this blog. Seems like us humans are pretty sensitive to ‘time’. Most say that they don’t have enough ‘time’ to get all the things done that need doing. Some few might say I have ‘time’ on my hands. The government will tell you that its ‘time’ to file your income tax. A Mom or Dad may tell their children to come home at a reasonable ‘time’. You know how it goes, on and on about ‘time’. Now that you get the point I am writing about ‘time’ I am just going to type the word time since it saves me ‘time’ with my keystrokes.
Remember we are still talking about ‘time’ but now I am simply typing time when I feel I can get away with it without causing problem in interpreting my thoughts. Time marches on….so here we go.
I don’t know how useful this will be but here are some canned definitions of time. (an instance or single occasion for some event, a duration, an interval, a period of time considered as a resource under your control and sufficient to accomplish something) and here is a good one, (a nonspatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future)
Now we have gotten past the formal definition phase lets go more into the Philosophical arena of time. If I should say that time is measured from the beginning to the end what would you think? You might say beginning of what to the end of what. You might think of your life in years, the beginning to payoff of a load, start to end of a race, etc. You might wonder if I am talking about time as we relate time here on Earth or in something in more absolute terms. I have no idea of what you would think…Just Think, it can be refreshing.
Earthly time is fairly straightforward in its most simplistic state. Most of us here on planet Earth agree on the general concept of time. We have implemented some highly scientific and precision methods of measuring time for practical day to day use. We have regionalized the earth into world time zones. We have established the concept of Greenwich meantime and all sorts of methodologies so that we can relate time in a reasonably standardized fashion anywhere on our planet. Even with this, Earth time is still a bit squishy with leap seconds & leap days and non-standard time zones offset 30 minutes vs. an hour. Just today, March 2nd 2010 NASA reported that the mega earthquake in Chili may have shortened the Earth day 1.26 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second.) A cosmologist at MIT suggested that in a few hundred million years the tidal friction may have slowed Earth’s rotation to make the day 25 hours long. So just when you think that Earth time is fairly straightforward these quirks pop up to confuse the situation. A very smart man named Albert once said that time is relative. If you want your head to spin, just read some of Albert’s papers on general and special relativity. Unhinge your mind and let it float in the three dimension space-time curvature and you will be glad you’re here on Mother Earth and only concerned about the minor quirks of Earthly time.
Now for some religion: I personally believe in God the Father, God the Son (Jesus the Christ) and God the Holy Spirit as the supreme architect of the universe. Some folks will say that time began when God created the universe. The Bible says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth….” and I believe that the Holy Bible is the inspired word of God. There are many passages in the Bible I don’t fully comprehend and probably won’t on this side of heaven. There is one verse, however, that I always go back to in Proverbs 3:5 which says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean of your own understanding.” So back to time and let me relate how I personally see creation “in the beginning” in relation to time.
MY SIMPLE VIEW ON CREATION (TOTALITY OF ALL THINGS)
GOD HAS EXISTED BEFORE TIME AS WE KNOW IT, CONTINUES TO EXIST & WILL ALWAYS EXIST.. I THINK OF GOD AND TIME AS A CONTINUOUS WHOLE WHERE TIME CANNOT BE SEPARATED.
"JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME YESTERDAY AND TODAY AND FOREVER" (HEB. 13:8)
"BUT TO US THERE IS BUT ONE GOD, THE FATHER, OF WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, AND WE IN HIM; AND ONE LORD JESUS CHRIST, BY WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, AND WE BY HIM." 1 CORINTHIANS 8:6
SO IN A NUTSHELL, CREATION IS THE RESULT OF A "CAUSE & EFFECT"
THE CAUSE IS GOD, THE EFFECT IS CREATION.
(THE TOTALITY OF ALL THINGS & GOD BREATHED LIFE INTO US.)
HOW GOD CAUSED THIS TO OCCUR ARE DETAILS FOR US TO PONDER.
THINK PROVERBS 3:5


I know, you say how could God exist before time. I put in a qualifier “time as we know it”, meaning it’s my opinion that our human mind simply cannot comprehend time in the sense of creation or “in the beginning.” A simple person like me thinks – oh, created from something that didn’t exist and into a space that didn’t previously exist. If you throw me, a human, into the equation it’s totally unmanageable for my simple mind to comprehend. God made me in his image and breathed life into me. I totally believe this and totally don’t understand the mechanics of how God accomplished this and don’t need to. Those who do not believe in a God creator will pull their hair out trying to figure out “in the beginning” and creation of human life. For me, I know it is God who created the universe and me & you. The same one God exists at this very moment in time as “in the beginning.” I have no additional insight in what or when the end time will be other than what is conveyed in Revelation. Will the end time be the collapse of the entire physical universe (whatever that is), a single or multiple galaxies, a planet or will there be a transition from the physical to eternal? What is eternity? Is it a place? Is eternity boundless and timeless? Is it the place where John wrote of that God would live with His people in a new heaven and a new earth where the old order of things passed away? Would this be in spirit or body as we know the body? We recognize a physical human body when we see one. Think about the spirit.
Let me go way out. Is the past, present and future real in the physical world or only in our mind and does time really exist? If time exists then where does it come from? Does God give it out and would we have a physical existence without it? Is time different in the physical vs. spiritual world, assuming that you believe in life after death? The Bible says in Psalm 31:15 that our times are in God’s hands. Some folks would say that the universe is expanding. Expanding to where and what was there before it started expanding there? Does the beyond exist or must it be created as the universe expands?
I’ll tell you, the more I think about time the more confused I get. I have taken Integral and Differential Calculus, Differential Equations, etc. although at this point in ‘time’ I don’t remember much of what was familiar to me at that ‘time’. I vaguely recall how one would integrate between minus infinity to plus infinity and in differential equations the derivatives of various orders. Infinity is an interesting concept where in mathematics it refers to a quantity without bounds or end. Infinity is certainly not a new concept. This concept has troubled and tantalized mankind since before Christ. Is space and time infinite, that does it mean without bounds or end? Can you actually reach or go beyond infinity or are we thinking in the pure math world when we talk about infinity? Hey, how about this negative infinity? Do things exist only at a certain point in time? What is the single smallest point in time? Can only one thing exist at a single point in time? Can one define where something is located without bringing time into play? Does time have dimensions and is it a thing in itself? Is time only a point in space relative to everything else in space? If one left that point in space could one get back to that point if one believes that the universe in expanding? Who’s on first base?
See why I am confused about time…..I think it’s time for me to stop writing and for you to consult with physicists, philosophers and religious leaders.
Please let me know what the learned folks tell you and help me to understand ‘time’. If they have any transferrable time available please get me some. By the way I read what I wrote and am still clueless.

The one thing I am certain of is time here on Earth is a precious commodity. Each day we must thank God and take full advantage of every second of time God has given us.

This isn't the start of a new blog (but it could be.) Think about what has been and can be accomplished in the division of time we call a 'second'. There are normally 60 x 60 x 24 = 86400 seconds in a solar day. I had better stop here else this will turn out to be a long discussion.

55th Chapter of Isaiah:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than yours and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Thanks,
Jim Sohn

The approximate ‘time’ here on the U.S. East Coast, North American Continent, Planet Earth is: Thirty seven minutes after midnight Eastern Daylight Time in the year of our Lord 2010