One of the schools of Tlon goes so far as to negate time; it reasons that the present is indefinite, that the future has no reality other than as a present hope, that the past has no reality other than as a present memory. Another school declares that all time has already transpired and that our life is only the crepuscular and no doubt falsified an mutilated memory or reflection of an irrecoverable process. Another, that the history of the universe - and in it our lives and the most tenuous detail of our lives - is the scripture produced by a subordinate god in order to communicate with a demon. Another, that the universe is comparable to those cryptographs in which not all the symbols are valid and that only what happens every three hundred nights is true. Another, that while we sleep here, we are awake elsewhere and that in this way every man is two men.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Different philosophical schools on Tlon offer conflicting views on time, reality, and the nature of the universe.
- In plain terms
- Time and reality are interpreted in many ways, from memory-based to predetermined or divided states.
- What can you take from it?
- Reality depends on the lens through which we perceive time and existence.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you define reality?
- Is time linear or subjective?
Another view
The quote presents abstract ideas without resolving which view is correct.
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