Time Does Not Exist Poem by Paul Hartal

I have always been puzzled by the enigma of time. This arcane matrix of existence remains to be one of the greatest mysteries known to man. Einstein's fourth dimension in the Theory of Relativity is elastic, like rubber, it can shrink and dilate. Yet St. Augustine already in the 4th century pointed out that time is a subjective phenomenon that exists only in the mind. He also remarked that if no one asks him, he knows what it is. But if you ask him, he does not know.

Mind you, time is invisible and amorphous; the miraculous cosmic womb of life and change that allows the rise of the relationship between before and after. But I believe, along with the mathematician Kurt Gödel and the philosopher D.C. Williams, that the notion of the passage of time is an illusion. We interpret and structure reality through symbols, and 'The Phantom of Time', pleads through poetic metaphors that the transition of time is a cultural metaphor. If time flows like a river, or flies like an arrow, the question arises, what is its speed? Now, for practical purposes, of course, we need the clock. However, the concept of time as a moving thing appears to be a well-combed myth. Time does not elapse. Time stands still and we move through it.

I first discussed this counterintuitive concept of time, the myth of temporal flux, in my book, 'The Brush and the Compass' (New York, University Press of America,1988) . My reasoning for the antithetical idea of the temporal dimension is quoted in contemporary scientific literature, including Clifford A. Pickover's book, 'Time' (Oxford University Press,1998) , and Moses Fayngold's, 'Special Relativity and How it Works' (John Wiley,2008) .