Non-linear time, relativity
and the logarithmic days of creation
An academic circumspection
Is there truth in this story?
By: David Freed 03/03/2007
Time is not linear - Simply put, this is the only relative in Einstein's' Special Theory of Relativity. As Gravity or speed, increases, times slows and time and gravity become measurable at different rates at different locations. Thanks to Hollywood, everyone knows and understands that if you and I traveled to a distant star at the speed-of-light, we would only age a few years, but everyone back on earth would have aged hundreds of years. The only way around it is to bend space with a wormhole, but that too violates a few Natural Laws itself. In any case, if time is measurable at different rates anywhere, at any time, then it just suddenly becomes another variable in the equation of life, and every "Carved-in-stone" definition of my reality suddenly becomes fluid and confusing. It is that Confusion I choose to Ponder in this forum.
Biological understanding
The issue of non-linear time is so far removed from our biological understanding that I invite everyone to stop and read the position paper "The Psychology of Understanding." It is nice to think that mankind is something special, but we are still that animal that our genome encoded. Biological limitation exist to the extent of our ability to understand. As we see in "The Psychology of Understanding," the biological processing of information is overwhelmed with miss-conceptions, false imagery, and the ability to miss-understand our reality from more than one perspective.
Biology also reminds us that it takes time for nerve impulses to travel through our bodies and then more time is required for our brains to process that information into a reaction. Process is the key word here. To process implies managing and organizing information, much as our computers process binary language one line at a time.
Ponder this - does the mechanism of our biological matrix serve to filter and incrementalize our realities? If this is true, then time could possibly be much more fluid that we ever imagined, but it is simply that our perspective of it is incremental and linear.
The Dimension of Time
Admittedly, any discussion about any dimension larger than man is much like the Goldfish in a bowl speculating about the realm of the Eagles. However, - Ponder this - ancient text from Enoch. No matter the origin, in this author's opinion, these are still some of the most profound words ever written about man's relationship to linear time. From the book: The Secrets of Enoch ( Platt, Rutherford, H., Jr., The Forgotten Book of Eden, 1980, p. 81-104, Gramercy Books, New York) Bold text added by this author.
LXV:1 "And Enoch answered all his people saying: 'Hear, my children, before that all creatures were created, the Lord created the visible and invisible things."
LXV:2 "And as much time as there was and went past, understand that after all he created man in the likeness of his own from, and put into him eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts to reflect, and intellect wherewith to deliberate."
LXV:3 "And the Lord saw all man's works, and created all his creatures, and divided time, from time he fixed the years, and from the years he appointed the months, and from the months he appointed the days, and of the days he appointed seven."
LXV:4 "And in those he appointed the hours, measured them out exactly, that man might reflect on time and count years and months, and hours, their alternation beginning, and end, and that he might count his own life, from the beginning until death, and reflect on his sin and write his work bad and good; because no work is hidden before the Lord, that every man might know his works and never transgress all his commandments, and keep my handwriting from generation to generation."
LVX:5 "When all creation visible and invisible, as the Lord created it, then every man goes to the great judgment, and then all time shall perish, and the years, and thenceforward there will be neither months or days nor hours, they will be stuck together and will not be counted."
LVX:6 "Therefore will be one aeon, and all the righteous who shall escape the Lord's great judgment, shall be collected in the great aeon, for the righteous the great aeon will begin, and they will live eternally, and then too there will be amongst then neither labor, nor sickness, nor humiliation, nor anxiety, nor need, nor violence, nor night, nor darkness, but great light."
LVX:7 "And they shall have a great indestructible wall, and a paradise bright and incorruptible, for all corruptible things shall pass away, and there will be eternal life."
So - The fluid and relative time of Einstein's physics became incrementalized so - man might reflect on time and count years and months, and hours, their alternation beginning, and end, and that he might count his own life - At last I have been vindicated, we are suppose to Ponder our realities and seek our relationship to obvious other realms of existence.
Biblical evidence of non-linear time
There are several scriptural examples of non-linear time. There is an opportunity to deepen the study of Biblical time, but in the attempt to see the forest of the issue rather than just the many trees; I offer just the few following references to validate three points of interesting revelation.
Point one - Scripture seems to validate Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. Einstein predicts that as Gravity or speed, increases, times slows and time and gravity become measurable at different rates at different locations. Time, in theory, become relative as to the perspective of the observer.
2 Peter 3:8 "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."
Psalm 90:4 A Prayer of Moses - "For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by ..."
Point two - As discussed in the position paper "Our Multidimensional Reality,Enoch, Science, and the Holy Trinity," the creative Big-Bang event happened in one very tiny First Dimensional Point, from which everything has spread - and - a simultaneous creative event throughout the Second Dimensional Plane of our universal matrix. Add to this revelation the relative nature of time, as to perspective, and this creative Big-Bang event becomes both a one-time completed event - and - a continuous on going process.
Ponder this - Since we are defined by the three dimensional reality of our existence, Does the First dimensional representation of a point of infinite points, or never ending eternal line of progression yield an avenue to a never ending eternal line of progression of the eternity of time.
The Apostle Paul speaks of God's seventh day of creation as God's day of rest. Then he says that some will enter that same day of rest along with the Lord. Many suggest that this comment by the Apostle Paul indicates the concept that the Lord's seventh day was still on-going
Hebrews 4:4 "For some where he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work."
Hebrews 4:6 " ... some will enter that day of rest ..."
Is not the scriptural concept of eternal life evidence of a continuous on-going eternal line of progression?
Point three - Biblical time is a flexible and variable commodity and it is under the direct control of the Lord.
Joshua 10:12 "On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: 'O sun, stand still over Dibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.'"
Joshua 10:13 "So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle on the sky and delayed going down about a full day."
Joshua 10:14 "There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a man. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel."
Not only can the Lord stop from setting for an entire day, but there is evidence that he can also make time run backward.
2 Kings 20:9 Isaiah said, (to Hezekiah) "This is the Lord's sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: Shall the shadows go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?"
2 Kings 20:10 "'It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps' said Hezekiah. 'Rather, have it go back ten steps.'"
2 Kings 20:11 "The the prophet Isaiah called upon the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz."
Isaiah 38:8 "'I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down the stairway of Ahaz.' So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down."
And for those of you that cling to mortal life, just look at what the Lord did for Hezekiah.
Isaiah 38:5 The Lord tells Isaiah to, "... Go and tell Hezekiah, 'This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.'"
Scientific evidence of non-linear time
The concept of non-linear time was first put forth by Einstein's' Special Theory of Relativity. As Gravity or speed, increases, times slows and time and gravity become measurable at different rates at different locations. There have been many experiments to test different aspects of Einstein's theories.
The most note-worthy experiment, that specifically test Einstein's relativity theory, is the Hafele and Keating Experiment. "During October, 1971, four cesium beam clocks were flown on regularly scheduled commercial jet flights around the world twice eastward and once westward, to test Einstein's theory of relativity with macroscopic clocks. ... Relative to the atomic time scale of the U. S. Naval Observatory, the flying clocks lost 59 (+/-10) nanoseconds during the Eastward trip and gained 273 (+/-7) nanoseconds during the westward trip. ... The experiment was repeated and this time they made airline flights around the world, in both directions, each circuit taking about three days. ... When they returned and compared their clocks with the clock of the Observatory in Washington D.C., they had gained about 0.15 microseconds compared to the ground based clock." (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/relativ/airtim.html) Proof - that time is not linear!
The six days of creation
The Biblical six days of creation have been a real stumbling block to the cosmologies of our cultural knowledge bases and have been pretty much dismissed as fable. People underestimate the value of an extensive personal cosmology. Yet the implications are obvious in humanity. We consider our cultural knowledge base to be so superior to ancient man's understanding of the facts. We modern men know all about the vast endless scale of the universe. We have Big-Bang and planet formation theories to explain our realities. We have mastered Physics and Chemistry and our cultural theory of evolution is well developed. Most everyone has their own versions of creation and/or evolution. Mankind has so much knowledge today that the six Biblical days of creation are just so very hard comprehend.
I Ponder this:
Given fact # three in our original quest, that time
is not linear,
who is to say what time periods passed?
Remember, any discussion about any dimension larger than man is much like the Goldfish in a bowl speculating about the realm of the Eagles. Just the revelation that time is a non-linear variable of our reality, should be enough to satisfy our understandings, but yet we Ponder mathematical models to compliment our cosmologies.
Mathematical implementations of non-linear time
Time is woven throughout the mathematical matrix of our realities. Time is use as the standard unit of measure for both distance and motion expressed as speed. The highway speed limit is expressed as miles or kilometers per hour. The absolute speed limit of our universe, the speed-of-light, is measured as 186,000 miles per second. The vast distances of space are measured in light-years and on the smaller scale, even energy equals mass times the speed-of-light squared - or - E=MC2. What happens to the mathematical matrix of our reality, if time is no longer constant and linear? Suddenly the very constants of the universe and my reality are no longer constant.
If you will take the time to check out a Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, turn to the appendix section and review the mathematical equations that govern the laws of our reality. All of the laws that describe wave functions, which describe our subatomic reality, contain exponents in their equation. Now consider that the graph of any mathematical equation, containing exponents, is always a curve. Doesn't the fact that time is non-linear also suggest a mathematical curve? Just what mathematical expression could possibly describe time?
Einstein gave us a clue as to why the Arrogance of man may never properly grasp the mathematics of time. The theory predicts that time is relative as to perspective. Multiple perspectives to the same event may require multiple mathematical explanations. Also, given that we mortal men are trapped to the limits of our three dimensional reality, it doesn't surprise me that time also seems to exist in a trinity of experience. Past, present, and future time are the three simultaneous time experiences that continually redefine our own perspectives.
Any Arrogant attempt by man to understand the dimension of time, is doomed to failure. Time is a dimension larger than our own experience. We are trapped by the limitations of our reality, just as the goldfish is limited by the confines of his bowl.
The logarithmic days of creation
However, our desire to understand requires a circumspection of the Biblical six days of creation. They have been a real stumbling block to our cosmologies, for far too long. But we must admit that the limits of our speculation are that of today's perspective looking backward in time.
Our current cultural knowledge base is full of the scientific evidence that suggest that the age of the universe is measured in billions of years and that the fossil record indicated a long and progressive evolutionary development of life as we know it. Neither of these scientific perspectives fit well with the miraculous biblical six days of creation.
Over the years I have heard many different methods to explain or justify it all, but I Ponder if it is even possible to statically describe such a fluid commodity. For my own perspective, I am most comfortable with the logarithmic approach to the biblical six days of creation.
Logarithmic models are use to both describe growth curves, such as in population growths, and describe decay curves, such as in the half-life of subatomic particles. Our very own universe is speculated as to have begun with a single event from which it is expanding and growing at an ever increasing rate. Logarithmic growth curves are often represented as geometric progressions, - 2,4,8,16,32,64,128, etc. Logarithmic decay curves of half-life, if applied to time, would predict that day two is half as long as day one. Day three would be half as long as day two and day four half of day three.
I offer the following logarithmic model to Ponder:
This particular model is by my own hand, although, a goggle search will reveal many such models. I do not offer this model as a factoid of revelation. Rather, I offer this model simply as a poser to Ponder. However, this model allows my personal cosmology satisfaction enough to digest both current scientific models and biblical presentation. Strict creationist can have their six-days and science can speculate the billions of years of it all.
Ponder this - Relativity predicts that time is relative to the observer, or to the perspective of that observer. So we could just simplify it all by saying that from God's perspective, it was only six days, but to our perspective from today looking back on time it appears that it took billions of years. Again, I am not offering this as a factoid, but it does fully represent the Confusion that I Ponder.
Incremental creation
Just how tight do we hold our views of Biblical Creation? When God performed his creative day, did it all happen at once; or did some things happen after breakfast, and a few more after lunch, then Dinner and evening, and so on? Incremental creation allows God to perform His creative miracles in a progressive manor that is later rediscovered by man. However, in an attempt to leave God out of the picture, this progressive manner is misunderstood as evolution.
Evolutionist have many excellent models that describe many of the interesting phenomena of the creation event. I am not hear saying that any of these models are invalid at all. I am also not saying that God used evolution as a creative tool. However, I am saying that these different perspectives of the same event all contain evidence, to which, they are both witness. Remembering that any one perspective, even biblical, never contains the entire truth, but all point to the central truth.
End times and eternity
One of the interesting things about the above graph is the revelation that as linear time marches forward, measured time approaches closer and closer to a vertical graph of zero-time. Zero-time is such an interesting concept. Perhaps, you could describe it as a period with no-time, after all, isn't eternity without beginning or end? Time represented in a point of infinite points, or never ending eternal line of progression. Isn't this the same concept as our eventual eternities?
There is an opportunity to indulge in word studies and lengthy discussions, but isn't it enough just to consider the promise of the Bible Story to be eternal life? The attempt is to keep this Pondering to a more forest oriented view instead of dwelling on the individual trees.
Even Enoch wrote:
LVX:5 "When all creation visible and invisible, as the Lord created it, then every man goes to the great judgment, and then all time shall perish, and the years, and thenceforward there will be neither months or days nor hours, they will be stuck together and will not be counted."
God's command of time
From my human perspective, I recognize a trinity of revelations about time. 1) Time is non-linear and therefore variable. 2) Time is an experience larger than mankind's reality, yet well within the creation of God. 3) There is biblical evidence that time is under God's direct command.
What does it mean to the physics of my reality, if time is under God's direct control? The subatomic building blocks of our reality depend on E=MC2 for their very definitions. Yet the only constant in Einstein's equation is the speed of light, squared, and the very speed of light is measure by time as 186,000 miles per second. If time is under God's direct control. then are not all the Natural Laws of science also at His mercy?
Now comes the urge to explain away many of the miracles of God by identifying the science that must have been manipulated, but isn't the revelation that He has mastery over the very Laws of science and our universe - miracle enough?
