The problem of now

[C C]

https://aeon.co/essays/the-metaphysical-...in-the-now

INTRO (excerpts): Many spiritual teachers have emphasised the notion of being fully present ‘in the now’. Proponents of meditative practices of various sorts tout meditation as a way of immersing oneself fully in the present moment, and not attending to the past or future. The spiritual teachers (including prominent authors) and proponents of meditation typically point to many benefits of being fully present in the now. As the influential contemporary author Eckhart Tolle puts it in his book "The Power of Now" (1997): "Since ancient times, spiritual masters of all traditions have pointed to the Now as the key to the spiritual dimension."

Some, however, don’t leave it at that. They don’t simply argue for the advantages of presence in the current moment on the basis of psychological or other practical benefits. Rather, they point to the ‘singularity’ of the present moment: the idea that the now is all we have (temporally). [...] The view being considered is that, although it might seem to us that other times – past and future – are appropriate targets of attention, we can come to understand (intellectually and affectively) that in a fundamental sense (perhaps difficult to specify), there is only the now, and thus our attention should be focused on it. Our appropriate target of full attention, then, depends on and arises from singularity.

The importance of the now is arguably a key idea in various religious, mystical traditions. Many spiritual teachers [...] have emphasised it... (MORE)

[Syne]

Meh, I've never seen Eckhart Tolle have an original thought. He just peddles in recycled ideas.

[Yazata]

Well, the past doesn't exist any longer and the future does't exist yet. So an argument can obviously be made for the metaphysical position that now is all that really exists. The now is real, the past is a memory and the future is an anticipation. I'm inclined to think that myself in some of my moods.

[Syne]

The metaphysical unrealness of the past or future doesn't seem to justify them not being "appropriate targets of attention". Now, there is something to be said about not obsessively dwelling on either, to the detriment of the present, but we often learn by reevaluating the past and succeed by planning for the future.

As far as their realness goes, memories and physical records of the past have a definite realness, albeit the map is not the terrain itself. The future is a projected map, with even less realness than the past...unless you subscribe to the notion of eternalism.

[Secular Sanity]

Well, the past doesn't exist any longer and the future does't exist yet. So an argument can obviously be made for the metaphysical position that now is all that really exists. The now is real, the past is a memory and the future is an anticipation. I'm inclined to think that myself in some of my moods.

I'm down for enjoying a fleeting moment but I've always thought that nothing happens at once and "at once" is not everywhere.

Where did this "now" take place? How fast was this "place" traveling through space?

"Now is not only a cognitive illusion, but also a mathematical trick, related to how we define space and time quantitatively. After all, if the present is a moment in time without duration, it can’t exist."

"Take a look around. You may think that you are seeing all these objects at once, or "now," even if they are at different distances from you. But you really aren’t, as light bouncing from each one of them will take a different time to catch your eye. The brain integrates the different sources of visual information, and since the differences in arrival time are much smaller than what your eyes can discern and your brain process, you don’t see a difference. The "present"—the sum total of the sensorial input we say is happening "now"—is nothing but a convincing illusion."

There is No Now

[C C]

Well, the past doesn't exist any longer and the future does't exist yet. So an argument can obviously be made for the metaphysical position that now is all that really exists. The now is real, the past is a memory and the future is an anticipation. I'm inclined to think that myself in some of my moods.

I'm down for enjoying a fleeting moment but I've always thought that nothing happens at once and "at once" is not everywhere.

Where did this "now" take place? How fast was this "place" traveling through space?

"Now is not only a cognitive illusion, but also a mathematical trick, related to how we define space and time quantitatively. After all, if the present is a moment in time without duration, it can’t exist."

"Take a look around. You may think that you are seeing all these objects at once, or "now," even if they are at different distances from you. But you really aren’t, as light bouncing from each one of them will take a different time to catch your eye. The brain integrates the different sources of visual information, and since the differences in arrival time are much smaller than what your eyes can discern and your brain process, you don’t see a difference. The "present"—the sum total of the sensorial input we say is happening "now"—is nothing but a convincing illusion."

There is No Now

Reifying one's irregular, supposed microseconds in duration subjective "now" as an ontological fact that even the rates of sub-atomic events have to conform to seems to border -- on what? Not solipsism, since there would be no self-independent external world for the belief to relate to. But something along that line in terms of our egos.

However, the latter isn't even applicable since this commonsense thought orientation of ours (treating a subjective now as objective) isn't even subliminal in terms of its implications. Because everyone from people on the street to academic experts doesn't even care about or consider the consistency of such at a conscious level, except rarely, much less apprehend the situation subconsciously.

[Zinjanthropos]

What is now for a photon? Is it a timeless particle, beginning, end, existence all rolled into one now?

[C C]

What is now for a photon? Is it a timeless particle, beginning, end, existence all rolled into one now?

That (timelessness) is what is typically projected upon it. But if one doesn't believe in panpsychism, then a photon lacks any experience of itself and what it interacts with or has relationships with. Which is to say, it lacks cognition of changes, anyway.

[Leigha]

From the perspective of mental health, ''worrying'' over the past or tomorrow only leads to anxiety. You can't change what you did or didn't do ...yesterday. Nothing wrong with ''planning'' for the future, but training one's mind to focus on the present, is probably most effective to living a more peacefully productive life.

That said, learning from past mistakes are essential to not repeating them, and I think you can develop a healthy balance between focusing on the now, and remembering the past/planning for the future.

[Zinjanthropos]

What is now for a photon? Is it a timeless particle, beginning, end, existence all rolled into one now?

That's what is typically projected upon it. But if one doesn't believe in panpsychism, then a photon lacks any experience of itself and what it interacts with or has relationships with. Which is to say, it lacks cognition of changes, anyway.

If they lived an average human lifetime then how many of our years could an intelligent species survive if they spent 90% of their lives on a spacecraft moving 99% of the speed of light? How far could they travel? Would they only be limited to so many galaxies because of expansion?