Illusion of Time

Over the centuries, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders have struggled to describe the physical universe, how it was created, when will it end, and the concept of time – each from their different points of view. The Bible makes its perspective fairly clear when it says:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Genesis)

John explains that everything that was made is an expression of God. God gives everything life. Genesis goes on to explain that God created all the creation in six days, and on the seventh day he rested. This poses the question: How long is a God-day? A split second or billions of years?

In some Indian philosophies, time is considered an illusion because there is no past or future which we can experience or perceive – all that exists is “now.” To scientists, the measurement of time and the concepts of past, present, and future have been an enduring dilemma.

Typically, humans experience time as either passing or having already passed, with a special moment outside of the past or future that we call “now.” Now, you’re reading this article, but half an hour ago, you were doing something else. Whatever you did, there’s no way you can change it, so in effect, it no longer exists. And what you will do in half an hour is up to you, and you can’t be certain of it now.

Before we move on with more scientific perspectives, I request you keep in mind the two quotes above from John and Genesis, especially in relationship to Einstein’s “theory of relativity.” Until I gained a basic understanding of what Einstein was proposing, I did not give much thought to these Biblical descriptions. Now I believe there is a deeper meaning hidden behind the words.

Hermann Minkowski, a German mathematician, came up with the idea of combining the three dimensions of physical space with that of time into a four-dimensional “Minkowski space” – space-time, which laid the mathematical foundations for Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity. Einstein’s “theory of relativity” states that according to physics, time is different from our perception of time. In other words, the ‘rate’ at which time passes depends on one’s frame of reference, the frame of reference being space. Time itself is interdependent upon space. In space we can go forward, backward, left or right, or up and down. In time we can only go forward.

We think about time as something that works the same for everyone and every object. If one second passes for me, one second passes for you, and one second passes for the clouds above. This makes time a universal parameter. This parameter measures how much time passes and also what we all mean by “now.”

Einstein suggests that the universe is a static, four-dimensional block that contains all of space and time simultaneously – with no special “now.” What is the future to one observer is the past to another. That means time doesn’t flow from past to future, as we experience it. This clashes with how we conceptualize time.

So what does it even mean that time is a dimension? Do other dimensions exist? It was Einstein who understood that this means that all observers’ viewpoints of an event are equally valid. So, if there could be an observer with a certain viewpoint, then that viewpoint is equally as valid as yours. A coordinate system is what a theoretical observer might use: a system that uses multiple points of reference, or coordinates, to locate the position of a particular point or location. So Einstein’s assumption basically means that any coordinate system should be as good as any other for describing physical reality. And, if all viewpoints are equally valid, then who can claim what they see or think is real and what others observe must be illusion?

Imagine two events occurring that are not connected. You are observing one event and others are observing a different event. According to Einstein, the observers are as important as the event itself. If you think the event you observed happens now, and the other observers say the event they observed also happens now, then both events exist in the “now.” Or, to put it another way, all times exist at the same time.

How do we normally think of the “now?” We talk about things that happen now all the time, and we never worry about how long “now” is. It would be great if we could agree on some measurement of “now” and be done with it. But we would have to come up with an operational procedure to determine what we mean by “now.” You have to find a way to measure. How do you measure lack of movement? Stillness? If someone throws a ball at you, at what point, as the ball travels towards you, is it “in the now?”

Einstein said that all the viewpoints of the observers are equally valid. So everyone’s observation is right. So the notion of “now” depends on the observer. It is “observer-dependent,” as physicists say. Your “now” is not the same as my “now,” even if we are observing the same event. The technical term for this is called “relativity of simultaneity.”

Some have argued that the future can’t already exist and that, therefore, there must also be a special moment that divides the past from the future. And maybe that is so, but for all we know, the past exists the same way as the present, and perhaps the future as well. Scientists will go on arguing until the universe finally comes to an end, when all will be revealed.

So let’s put all the scientists aside. Saints and mystics have their own views on time and illusion that are similar to Einstein's theory of relativity. Einstein suggests that the universe is a four-dimensional block that contains all of space and time simultaneously – with no special “now.” Isn’t that how we think about God? Everything is contained within God; nothing exists outside of God. God is omnipresent and omnipotent. He permeates everything and knows everything, including what will happen in the future because all that has happened, and will happen, happens according to his Will, and his Will exists only in the now. Everything that has ever existed or will exist already exists within God, simultaneously. God is the ultimate “now.” There is no time, no past or future, just everything all at once, existing in the gigantic “nowness” of God.

Is creation an illusion? The saints say yes because it is a projection of God’s Will and has no substance of its own. If God removes his Will, it all ends. One can think of creation as a full-length movie that has already been filmed and is being projected. This means the ending has already happened. There is no chance, nothing unplanned, or for that matter, no free will. While in our illusion we experience the film in a linear manner, which has the appearance of things happening in time, actually everything has already happened. Each of us observes the film from our own perspective. But if we were able to step back, and observe the creation in its entirety, we would all have the same perspective of the universal “now,” or God.

Going back to the Biblical quotes from the beginning of the essay, it’s clear that nothing exists but God. Before God “Willed” the creation there was nothing, darkness, and void. But through the “spirit of God,” creation was formed. God gave light and life to the creation and everything exists only because he Wills it. From this one can conclude that creation is an illusion because it is only an expression of God’s Will, a thought, a conjuring. Though Einstein did not reference God, his belief is similar in that he suggests that the universe is an all-encompassing four-dimensional block that contains all of space and time simultaneously. It represents everything, the eternal “now” of God. How long it took for the creation to become what it is today is still up for debate. My guess is that from our perspective, it took billions of years. From God’s perspective, it happened now.

***

God is in everything. God itself is reality. Wherever God is, is a reality. But the house in which God lives is not real – that will perish. … God is real. Other things will perish, they will decay. God won’t decay. So God is real, but other things are perishable.

The pity is that what we see, what we feel, what we touch is not real. What we don’t see, that is real. What we don’t touch, that is real. That is the pity of it. And we can love only what we see, what we feel, what we can touch, what we can hold. So we are in love with the creation. And we cannot love what we don’t see, what we can’t hold, what we can’t feel, and yet we have to love the Lord and detach ourselves from this creation. That is the whole struggle.

That will be real – what you will see with your inner eyes. But that’s not physical. These eyes can’t see it. These hands can’t touch it. That is real. What we see with these eyes and touch with these hands is not real.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. 1, 16}