HOW TIME PASSES

摘要

We are back to the question whether the now is objective or subjective. The existence of T will be confined to the realm of imagination if the now itself is a subjective phenomenon. If the now is a subjective phenomenon, the temporal present and the presence of phenomenal consciousness are one. Accordingly, the process experienced in time perception and the process of perceiving time are one and the same. The wave of nowness, experienced by us as the passage of time, then is a way of phenomenal consciousness experiencing itself. Accordingly, T then is the dimension that consciousness inadvertently makes use of or, rather, deploys when recognising itself in, or identifying itself with, states it recollects or anticipates. What, if the now is objective? If the now is objective, T expresses that it is always now, whether or not a conscious being is in the state of mental presence. Then, a time slice, i.e., a 3D simultaneity hypersurface (or hypermembrane if the positive diameter At matters) exists that is to be distinguished from the slices making up the block. It would be this distinct actuality slice, then, which moves through 4D spacetime. By virtue of this movement, each moment another real slice of spacetime is highlighted. In addition to the fact that it is always now, the dimension T would account for the specific degree of freedom that this movement of a higher order is making use of. Both alternatives are highly relevant for the study of consciousness. The hard problem confronting the study of consciousness is not how the brain is processing information, but how the phenomenon of mental presence comes about. This phenomenon has escaped scientific explanation so far. Why this is so appears in a new light as soon as mental presence is related to the temporal present. Both in the case that the now is subjective and in the case that it is objective there are phenomena related to presence that seem to be hopelessly inaccessible to scientific methods.