Expressing eternity, we use a word “timeless” like God is timeless, heaven is timeless, and so on. What does timeless exactly mean? It means that time does not exist. Can we believe this truth? Time does not exist.
The latest theoretical physics and cosmology such as loop quantum theory hypothesize this possibility as one of the efforts to integrate the quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of relativity.
In the theory of relativity, there is no difference between time and space. We call it spacetime as a realm where gravitational force acts.
With gravity, as Einsteins proved, space deforms itself. So does time. Bending space nearby the sun, we can observe stars behind it. this proof is well-known. If we move with speed of light, time slows down. One hour in once place could be one year in another because of gravity. We all know that spacetime is such dynamic and relative. Spacetime could be static only in the realm of the traditional Newtonian physics.
From quantum physics, we can even say that space does not exist. What is space? By definition, it is an empty gap between two objects. But, is it really empty? Not at all. It contains full of waves and particles. All over the universe, there is a seamless continuum of various waves and particles. Emptiness is an illusion. It is only what we can see so; the manifestation of our limited perspective.
There is no such thing as space. It is, therefore, not correct to say space deforms itself. Strictly speaking, we should say that only the gravitational force filled with waves and particles is changing its aspects.
Space is an illusion.
If space does not exist, how about time? It does not exist, either. But it sounds more counterintuitive, even though we know both time and space are the same.
For example, the sun we see is the past sun around 8 minutes ago as it took such time for the light to travel from the sun to reach our eyes. In the same way, the age of the universe is the edge of the universe that we could scarcely observe. The farther the distance may be, the older the age we see. Space is time. Time is space.
Space is an empty gap between two objects and yet there is no such thing as an empty gap but the continuum of various waves and particles. Hence, space does not exist. It is an illusion.
How about time?
Time means an irreversible change from one to another. And yet, strictly speaking, “t” as a time variable in physics is not irreversible. In this sense, physics can not capture the “historicity” of time. All equations and formulas in physics are ahistorical.
One exception could be entropy. It is the second law of thermodynamics. If time represents the change from one to another, then the irreversible, historical change is the process from order to chaos increasing entropy.
For example, if we pour a drop of milk into a cup of coffee, then it would spread around and eventually mix it up with coffee, which is irreversible. Our aging could also be the process of increasing entropy, which is irreversible. So does the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang until today.
We believed that entropy was only one precious, exceptional concept in physics that captured the historicity of time. The recent theoretical physics above-mentioned, however, deny this exceptional position of entropy.
Defining less or more entropy is arbitrary. At a glance, it is part of the overall time process from past to present to future. In reality, however, it is not. There is a lot of “reverse” entropy in various life forms and creation processes. Entropy probably does not represent the historicity of time, even though it could show its irreversibility at a glance. It could only represent some of the seemingly irreversible perspectives that attribute to our experience.
As above-mentioned, from our experience (one of the perspectives), we interpret a wave/particle continuum as a particular space, which is an illusion. In the same manner, what we interpret as a specific historical time could be a wave/particle continuum on the processes changing one to another.
Time is also an illusion.
Space is merely what we see and experience. Likewise, time is also what we see and experience. Perhaps, even the Big Bang could be one of the perspectives that we know it as “our universe.” God knows.
God is spaceless and timeless unless and until He sacrifices Himself for His love unto us. God manifested Himself as His Son in our illusory spacetime as a historical fact. Heaven met the earth. Eternity met temporality.
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
John 1:18
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Otherwise, everything is vanity.
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 1:2
Otherwise, various times do exist only in our limited perspectives.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Image by annca
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