The present comes before a "what."
It's the ground of "what" and nourishes all "whats" without lording it
over them.
I think a guy named Pirsig wrote similar things to this.
MRB
On 3/8/2015 3:16 AM, Dan Glover wrote:
Arlo,
On Fri, Mar 6, 2015 at 1:47 PM, ARLO JAMES BENSINGER JR <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi All,
Just sharing this, as it was brought to my attention today. The "Straight Dope" question
of the day is "What is the present?".
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3214/what-is-the-present
Obviously, 'Cecil' has some fun with his answer, and, in that light, I think
it's an answer you'll find entertaining.
Dan:
Cecil's a trip. Or maybe he's on one. Anyway, he wrote:
"Both Aristotle and Saint Augustine saw the present as no more than a
single mathematical point, of zero size and duration, separating the
past from the future. Philosophy students will be relieved to learn
that I concur."
I'm not sure I do. Concur, that is. Been reading What Is Art? by Leo
Tolstoy (library copy, of all things) and came across this:
“A real work of art destroys, in the consciousness of the receiver,
the separation between himself and the artist.”
So a real work of art destroys what Aristotle and Augustine saw as the
present, that separation we feel from this and from that. Past and
future cease to exist. I think most of us here know that feeling of
being caught up in a book or a movie or a play or a song or a painting
or a good conversation to the extent all else disappears. That's what
(I think) Tolstoy is on about. Yeah, the dude's a little more serious
than Cecil but I suppose anyone who can compose War and Peace has a
right to be a bit more intellectually rigorous than sardonic Cecil.
Thanks, Arlo. Always a pleasure.
Dan
http://www.danglover.com
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