The nature of time is a question that crops up in many systems of thought that are often classed as religions rather than philosophies, such as certian branches of Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism.
The common thread in many of these is that linear time is part of what in Vedic philosophy is called maya. The term refers to the phenomenological universe, what we believe is physical existence because it is what our senses tell us is there. The term is often translated as illusion.
With respect to time, the argument, in brief and lacking many subtleties, is that time appears linear to us because that is how we perceive it, as a connected series of instants that we pass through (forward or backward). Time, stripped of illusion, can be envisioned in many ways within the philosphies that consider time as we know it to be a product of our perceptions of the universe. Some of these can be positioned on a continuum between two diverse (but also reconcileable) perspectives: one, that it may not exist at all, and everything is eternal and unchanging; and two, that all time exists simultaneously, and that only our limited perception prevents us from seeing it all in a "now" of infinite choices.
Similar thinking about time can be found in both the attempts of many historical mystics, of many traditions including Christianity, to describe their understanding of the mystical or transcendant experience, and in a number of modern "New Age" thought systems.
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Date: 2005-06-05 11:17 pm (UTC)The common thread in many of these is that linear time is part of what in Vedic philosophy is called maya. The term refers to the phenomenological universe, what we believe is physical existence because it is what our senses tell us is there. The term is often translated as illusion.
With respect to time, the argument, in brief and lacking many subtleties, is that time appears linear to us because that is how we perceive it, as a connected series of instants that we pass through (forward or backward). Time, stripped of illusion, can be envisioned in many ways within the philosphies that consider time as we know it to be a product of our perceptions of the universe. Some of these can be positioned on a continuum between two diverse (but also reconcileable) perspectives: one, that it may not exist at all, and everything is eternal and unchanging; and two, that all time exists simultaneously, and that only our limited perception prevents us from seeing it all in a "now" of infinite choices.
Similar thinking about time can be found in both the attempts of many historical mystics, of many traditions including Christianity, to describe their understanding of the mystical or transcendant experience, and in a number of modern "New Age" thought systems.