MORE ON TIME

I sometimes think about time as a car that I'm driving down the road. If I look out the back window, or rear view mirror as it were, I am looking into the past, where I was just moments ago. I can see quite a long way into the past and if I close my eyes (Which is a bad idea while driving) I can imagine millions of moments from my past. I often revisit the past to see old friends, family, events that I hold dear, etc. I can also visit/relive pain and regret from the past. It's very uncomfortable. Perhaps that's why they say one shouldn't live in the past.

If I removed my rear view mirror, I wonder what would happen. Since my past usually gives me a frame of reference, I would think it quite difficult to not have it available. But clearly there are a plethora of things I don't consciously remember from the past and I seem to get by without them. Yet, what if all that experience and past history is locked away and affects everything I do even if I'm  not consciously aware of it. Perhaps I really don't need that mirror after all.

As I look out the driver's side window I see the present, life as it is happening in the moment. And now it's gone. The present becomes the past in an instant, so how can I live in the present? I can only BE present. It's a space-time thing I guess.

The present becomes a memory because I was in some way aware of it when it happened, otherwise, how would I record it? Or is it recorded anyway? While I was looking out the rear view mirror at the past, all kinds of present happened. Did I miss all that present? I don't see it in the rear view, or do I and just not recognize it? Can I experience the present and the past at the same time and not know it? Can I experience the present and past in the same space? We may need Heisenberg for this one.

And now I'm looking out the front window, like conscientious drivers are supposed to. It's the future, stretched out before me. I can see the future ahead for a short distance. But most of the future, including mine, is not visible. I am driving through the future, the present and the past all at the same time. Unlike the present and the past, there's no guarantee the future will happen. That's why we call it the future. But clearly if we consider the future as related to space, then the future is already happening, guaranteed or not. I occupy the exact same space in the car whether I am experiencing the past, the present or the future.

So, what is time? Well, it's obviously determined by which window I am looking out. My space/location determines my experience of time. As a humanoid I have come to rely on "time" as a means of communication with others, as a means of understanding the laws of nature around me, as a means of ordering my existence, and possibly as a means of maintaining my sanity. 

Some how my brain along with all the constituent parts of the rest of my organism has determined that I need a reference point beyond my current position/location to function in my physical environment and to satisfy my conscious awareness of my change of that position. The idea that I am in the past, present and future all at once is too daunting of a notion for the still somewhat primitive development of my prefrontal cortex. After all,  they won't even let me rent a car until I'm 25.