The Sombrero Galaxy from Hale
Space: the distribution of matter
Time: not a measure, but matter in motion
Matter: objective reality
Motion: the mode of matter’s existence
The Pillars of Eagle Castle
Space, time, matter and motion are inseparable
A Waterspout in Florida
The most advanced product of nature yet known to us in the universe is what we all have between our ears – despise and reject ‘the ordinary’
There is no god.
materialism, mysticism and art 
fantastic pictures. why is time ‘matter in motion?’ what about when you’re sleeping and nothing’s moving and you wake up 8 (if you’re lucky) hours later?
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Hi Austin, thanks for your kind words. I keep on watching Peggy Lee’s performance and being amazed by her impeccable timing. ‘Speaking’ of timing – Wikipedia gives the standard definition of ‘time’ – ‘what a clock measures’. This is good because it distinguishes between two concepts – ‘time’ and (the functioning of a) ‘clock’. My computer dictionary defines ‘time’ as ‘the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole’ – correctly, no mention of ‘measure’. It is human consciousness that has applied measure to time. Just as the world existed long before consciousness so did time (matter in motion) before the first clocks (all types of which never cease to move, from their display of their measure of time to the decay of their molecular structure).
The two most wonderful aspects of materialist theory for me, because their implications are so comprehensive, are that objective reality is primary to consciousness or thought or reason (i.e. that the latter three are the product of the former) and that the one absolute is change or motion – nothing is or can ever be ‘stationary’. You stand ‘still’, but all of who and what you are is moving – from the life of your cells to your thoughts. The ground on which you stand is moving (from the grains and molecules constantly re-arranging to the rotation of the earth). This motion continues in your sleep. Nothing is ‘stationary’ – from your physical movement to the activity of your brain (I’m looking forward to the 2nd part of a series on ‘lucid’ dreaming which will be on ABC’s Radio National this afternoon).
The above bears on the functioning of intuition – a concept which patriarchal philosophers (those with a religious commitment to concepts and language) cannot accept – because intuition, while so rich and central to our lives is also so fluid, subtle and will o’ the wisp – ‘look and its gone’. Yet truth is to be found in its most delicate shifts. What do you think? Best wishes, Filippo
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well, as usual, your ideas are intruiging and a bit illusive (for me, not objectively). My personal thinking (not based on anyone else but actually on intuition) is that time doesn’t exist. That we experience it because we’re not capable of understanding the wholeness and ever present-ness of ‘ultimate’ reality. So we experience thing sequentially. I have no logical backing for this belief but that doesn’t stop me from having it! I agree that intuition is endlessly fascinating. It’s prominent in my make-up and how I’m able to do numerology readings. But how do we know things outside of logic? How was the radio program on lucid dreaming? That sounds quite fascinating. best wishes to you Filippo, Austin
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Hello Austin, your reply underlines the need for precision when discussing these, ahem!… matters… In my view all that exists is matter (objective reality – universe, galaxies, people, atoms, quarks – however deep and far science has taken us into its structure). Matter is distributed (‘space’) and is in unceasing motion and change (‘time’). Matter, space, time and motion are therefore inseparable. When we measure time, we are measuring, or as Bergson would have it, ‘dividing up’ the mode of matter’s existence. For him, this is the difference between the ‘understanding of analysis’ and, as you processed, the awareness of ‘the wholeness and ever present-ness’ of reality. What do you think? I’ll be catching up on some lucid dreaming later today. Where’s that alarm clock?! All the best, Filippo
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