How long is NOW?

Question

Have you ever wondered if humans can count the time period NOW? We can count yesterday, and tomorrow, but fail at grasping NOW. Is it a second? A fraction of a second? Could NOW possibly be the fourth dimention? And why is it that humans cannot live in the NOW? Why did humans start counting time in the first place?

g-man, LOL!

Guys, c'mon. It's puff puff give. You've all had enough! My turn again!

Answer 1

That's like asking "How high is 'UP'?"

Actually, there is no compelling reason to think that time even exists, apart from human consciousness. In other words, we don't measure time... we create it... sort of... it is an illusion.

Also... dimensions are entirely arbitrary. Time is not THE 4th dimension... time can be considered as A 4th dimension... but so can any OTHER scalar that is appropriate to the immediate context. Our three 'spatial' dimensions are arbitrary scalars that are designated as THE three dimensions as a matter of convention and convenience, because they are useful in describing our world.

Here are some dimensional coordinates... 3, 4, 12, 5, 43, 156, 4, 6, 11, 6... a 10-dimensional world. Perfectly meaningless... until we provide a suitable context. 3rd floor of the library... 4th row of shelves... 12th section... 5th shelf from the bottom... 43rd book from the left... page 156... 4th paragraph... 6th line... 11th word... 6th letter.

"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." ~ Groucho Marx

"I have seen the future. It is very much like the present... only longer." ~ Unknown

"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once." ~ Unknown
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Answer 2

Good question! I think the NOW is a window into the 4th dimension, or eternity for that matter.

"In a word, the Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time — for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays. Hence the encouragement we (the devils) have given to all those schemes of thought such as Creative Evolution, Scientific Humanism, or Communism, which fix men's affections on the Future, on the very core of temporality."
C.S. Lewis - The Screwtape Letters

Answer 3

To ponder on i will do because all i can do at this second or moment in time is think of how to answer this question maybe i count time because i look for things to come not careing about the present and allways thinking of the past and forgetting the present all together you know this question give's me a new out look on life maybe i should just worrie about now thank you star jumper

Answer 4

Time as we know it is calculated by the rotation of the earth. It takes one year (and a quarter day) to completely rotate around the earth. It takes 24 hours for the earth to rotate on its axis, so that is a day. Someone did the math and broke down the calender to make it easier for us to measure. Someone also broke down the day into hours and minutes and seconds to make it easier for us to count the time. If we lived on a diff planet we would probably break down the time differently and the calender.

Now is what is happening right at this moment. We live in now but we cant ever say this is happening right now because now is constantly changing. If I say I am typing right the letter r right now that is incorrect because it is now in the past.

Answer 5

There is no time period now. A continuous process of change has no now except for awareness.
Time and now are artifices of our imaged significance in the grand scheme of things. There is also no grand scheme of things. Events happen because they crowd out all the other possible events.
The real significance lies in being aware of the flow. The attempts to discriminate between now, past, future, just deepen the delusion.

Answer 6

"Now" is "Eternity"... an endless series of Moments strung together with no gaps in between. But "Now" is not "Eternal" since there is a big difference between the two. Let me explain.

I contend that many people are 'Time Travelers'. Some hang on dearly to the Past and carry all sorts of luggage. They prefer not to forget certain or many things, or prefer not to forgive whoever for doing whatever to them. They can't seem to let go, and would rather be filled with past anger that has grown into hatred in their hearts.

Others are natural masochists, thinking and worrying themselves to death about what is yet to happen, if ever it would happen. They become so adept in being paranoid, even to the point of wondering what they might conjure up in their own thoughts next. What if? What if? What if??

All their lives, both extremes of Time Travelers MISS the whole point of LIVING: To live and savor LIFE AT ITS BEST, and to the fullest, in the HERE and NOW... To Be living in ETERNITY.

Let's talk about Eternal when we meet again in the next Life.

Peace be with you.

Answer 7

If you live Now, where is yesterday and tomorrow?
In meditation, I forget the duration I was sitting, always I feel being in the present as if living for a second, even if I sit for two hours, unless I note the clock before and after meditating.
Cosmic coyote, James what is your comment?

Answer 8

GOOD QUESTION!!! We can count yesterday and tommorrow because we have time to make a decision or decisions but in a now, it is so instant! immediately!!
this would be a good one for a very well trained professional
why we started in the first place of counting time.

Answer 9

'Now' is as long as you are in and with it.Say,if you are singing a song.then you are in and with it till you are singing.Now, may or may not have a measure.NO,it's not in fourth dimension.Counting of time is as much needed as we need to measure anything else,say length,weight or temperature etc.By itself,time is eternal and has no beginning or an end,like a continuous running stream.We measure time by first marking a reference point and measuring time for any activity from that reference point, say 350 B.C. or !938 A.D. or what ever other scale is used.Counting or measuring time is essential for regulating life,estimation, tabulation,planning.forecasting and various calculations and endless human activities.

Answer 10

If one takes the time to notice the "now" it instantly becomes the "then". Human appreciation for events is generally grasped in retrospect.