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St. AUGUSTINE’S CONCEPT
OF TIME: PART- I
BY
RAJ NANDY
During the fourth century CE, St. Augustine,
In Book XI of his famous ‘Confessions’, was
the first to posit,
That perpetual ‘present’ in time, did not exist!
No time is truly present, and the present never
takes up any space;
Time for him was an enigmatic entity,
And also for the entire human race!
As per Platonic view, time and space were
conceptual constructs;
A purely subjective notion, whose under-
standing became a difficult task!
Our objective views on time, is for our own
convenience;
Time is used to measure change, without any
offence!
If nothing was passing, there would be no
past,
If nothing were to come, no future follows
the past!
And nothing would exist if there was no
present,
While present becomes past tense, -
Without perpetuating an eternal existence!
For our present to belong to time, it too must
flow to pass,
Creating an illusion, that it would forever last!
Those ancient Greek minds* abhorred -
nothingness and infinity!
And spoke of a mysterious substance, -
From which the Creator shaped his creativity!
Man’s temporal notion of time, required it
to be measured,
But then time required some magnitude,
To be truly valued and treasured!
For St Augustine, past of things past, was not, -
it remains only as a memory!
The ‘present’ of things present was sight, -
An indivisible and extensionless thing!
The future of things will be and is not,
But remains as an expectation to be, -
As St. Augustine taught!
How does time as an magnitude gets measured,
Became an enigmatic question for philosophy? !
The answer to which St Augustine was trying to
find; -
Perhaps time was only an extension of the human
mind!
( I HAVE TRIED TO SIMPLIFY THE PHILOSOPHY OF ST. AUGUSTINE!
*THE ANCIENT GREEKS DID NOT BELIEVE IN NOTHINGNESS & INFINITY!
CONTINUED AS PATRT-II; BY – RAJ NANDY)
RAJ NANDY
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