Time, as we know it, is probably one of the most complex ideas for the human mind to process and conceive. We try to visualize and make sense out of an idea that has no real form. We have given time a form so that our brains can comprehend the idea of time. As a visual person, I picture units of time in certain orders and shapes that would be hard to explain without drawing a picture. But the basic structure of time has come down to the past, present, and future.
David McDermott, the Dublin artist, tries to live as if the present never happened. Personally, I do not think any of us live in the present. Everyone is either remembering the good old times of the past or they are looking to the future for better times to come. Whether it’s through trendy vintage clothing or trying to be ahead of the curve on the latest music, clothes, or technology, there is rarely a person found, if found at all, who is happy with what they have and not occupying their thoughts on the past or future.
David also believed that every moment lasted forever and that all moments are “existing” all at once. If time is not actually moving forward then why do we display it as if it was? What confuses me is that if time is not technically moving forward then why do we get older as “time” goes on? Do we not really get older, but our consciousness is moving from one version of ourselves to another?
This idea that there are parallel universes of ourselves also confuses me. Some people claim that this version of time gives us at least a small semblance of choice. But does it really? How do know that we are destined to make the choice that took us to that specific universe? Which decisions does the “universe picking” start with? Does this start with our first decision or does it begin at birth with the decisions our parents make for us? Or maybe this is just another theory that someone has come up with to try to comprehend how time works.
Time is one subject that makes my brain hurt. I do not pretend to understand it and I highly doubt I ever will actually understand it. It’s a subject that piques the curiosity of many people. Not only does it confound the everyday person, but scientists, such as Albert Einstein, seem to take it as a personal challenge to find the truth about time.