Does Time Exist?

When we speak of time to which aspect are we speaking? We have an intuitive sense of chronological time that been impressed upon since birth. It has also known as clock time. How long takes it take to travel to Des Moines? In physics we use terms such as velocity, which is the distance traveled divided by the amount of clock time the event took. This is under the same conditions (i.e. the same gravitational realm). Einstein disputes the notion of absolute time, which is relative to the observer and thus the term time has to be qualified. Physicists have awarded this measure of time the Fourth Dimension to fit it in with the three spatial dimensions. They can then describe an event in terms of these four dimensions and do so mathematically.

There is a mechanism rooted in our mind that instinctively sees time as a flow. Through recurrence, we see a past, present, and a future. There is cause and effect. If we do this, this will happen. The sun will come over the horizon at a precise point in clock time. All living creatures have evolved this mechanism in order to enhance their chances of survival. Quantum mechanics and its principle of uncertainty have dispelled absolute cause and effect into a series of probability tables for what might likely occur. 

EGOIC FUTURE

We have a mind created conception of time. The mind uses our senses to interpret the stimuli the outside world brings to it. We have built a response to seeing the world change around us in steps. One step logically follows another. The glass falls and then it breaks and not the other way around. This is a consistent feature of our view of the natural world. We begin to anticipate and expect certain events by the way events are happening right now due to the repetitive and consistent laws of nature. The concept of the future has just been created. 

St. Augustine remarked that perhaps time is measured in the mind. We use time as a tool to help us in our everyday worldly pursuits. It adds order to a sensed chaotic existence. If we watch the clock in anticipation to an upcoming event, the time appears to move more slowly. Our attention is on the moving of the clock hands. We have created an expectation of that movement from one click to another. This expectation distorts our senses and then our mind created sense of time. Christmas never seems to come fast enough for the children waiting for the day that they get to open their presents.

“If you are in the future, then ego seems to be very substantial. If you are in the present the ego is a mirage, it starts disappearing.“
- Osho 

There needs to be recognition of where this concept of time is viewed  from. We perceive it in the present moment. We perceive the future and past from the only time that exists, the present moment. It can even be referred to as the timeless moment. Maybe time does not really exist. Right now is the present, timeless moment.

EGOIC PAST

The concept of the past is also deep rooted in our mind. We can see events that happened to us in the “mind’s eye” almost as clearly as we see what is in front of us right now. By putting our attention (our mind) on the memories stored in our mind, the present moment seems to fade away. This is the allure to those who find their present moment to be unacceptable. Just as the imagined future can be an escape, the ego can use the past to initiate emotions that it desires to enhance itself. Since the past can be described as stored memory bits, the mind can view their memories in any light that it wants The ego of the mind can even change the way the events that actually occurred to suit its only purposes. The bit of memory that was filed has been edited. Just like your computer, the recalled image that comes up is edited one with the original pushed back and not as easily accessed. In psychological terms this can referred to a repression. This happens everyday in normal conversation. Two persons disagreeing on what happened to both of them yesterday. It is indeed a matter of perspective but one, or both, of their egos might change their memory of the event that took place to enhance their own egoic presence. Putting it in simpler terms, to feel better about themselves.   

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha

...The unconscious has no time. There is no trouble about time in the unconscious. Part of our psyche is not in time and not in space. They are only an illusion, time and space, and so in a certain part of our psyche time does not exist at all.
Carl Jung