I’ve heard people, ministers, say that the past cannot be changed so why worry about it. And the future is not yet so why fret about the future. The present is all that matters. Concern yourself about the present because it’s the only aspect of time you can control. That’s what I want to talk about, the present. I will also need to go to a little quantum mechanics here. No worries I’ll keep it as genial as I can.

What is the present? It sounds like it should be a simple concept, but it’s not really. Most people don’t give it a second thought. A rudimentary definition is that the present is not the past and not the future. I hate defining things by what they are not, but with the present that’s really all we can do. Another attempt: The point in time at which the future becomes the past. The present is so fleeting that it really does not exist. Only in quantum theory. Because as soon as you become aware of something, it’s in the past. It may be by nanoseconds, but the past is the past. The future is not yet. It’s akin to defining a point in geometry. A point is defined as a location in space having neither width, height or length. You cannot actually see a point. You can only see the vicinity of the point. Yet it is a solid mathematical concept. Points exist, but cannot be seen, not even by the strongest electron microscope. Yet they are more than a concept right? Same with the present. It exists. It is more than a concept. We all live in the present. Yet it can not be seen or defined except by a relative definition. The very instant you are aware of anything, it is the past already.

The only aspect of time that can be known is the present. The past can only be known by recorded data, or human memory. Recorded data is partial at best. Human memory is incredibly flawed as we all process the present through our filters of belief and emotion and these become the memories, not the actual unbiased events. So we can only be somewhat sure of the events of the past. Truth be told 99% of all that has transpired in lives of the billions of people who have ever lived are completely lost. Only major historical events are even attempted to be recorded and these recordings, usually written journals, are dubious because even those were processed through the writer’s biases. So the very best accounts we have of history are at best biased and unreliable. Forget the billions of people who were born, lived their lives for 40-60 years and died in complete obscurity. So it can be deduced that for all intents and purposes, the past is just as unknowable as the future. The only aspect of time that can be known is the present.

So is the present even real? Oh yes. It’s very real. While you cannot change the past, decisions you make in the present can affect your present that is yet to come. If you decide in the present to rob a bank, many of your presents yet to come may be experienced in the context of a prison.

The present, in my view, is where we connect with the spiritual realm. Every decision we make in our present affects the present’s of hundreds of others. Expand that geometrically and it’s millions. And that is just one person. 500 billion others are doing the same thing at the same moment. The complexity is mind-numbing. Yet our amazing Papa is perfectly capable of understanding and being aware of and interacting with all of that simultaneously. God is BIG! He doesn’t even break a sweat over it. And the same amazing Papa also hangs out with me all day and inspires me to make blog posts like this. Do you understand? Of course you don’t. No one really does. But nevertheless, here He is, loving you and liking you.