All There is is Now

Published on 05/25/2019, 348 words, 2 minutes to read

The dream scenario was going on for a while uneventfully. I saw an old man walking around and ranting about things. I decided to go and talk with him.

"You fools! Time doesn't exist! The past is immutable! Don't worry about your trivial daily needs. All there is is Now!"

I walked up and asked "Excuse me sir, what are you talking about? Of course the past exists, that's how I knew you were talking about it."

He looked at me and smiled. "Yeah, but what can you do about it? You can't do anything but look back and worry. That Now happened and is no longer important."

I was confused. "But what if I was hurt, seriously injured or killed?"

"You weren't though! That's the beauty of this. Stressing out about what has happened is just as unproductive as stressing about what might happen. The past is immutable, those Nows already happened. We can't change them, we can only change what we do about it and that is done Now. Not yesterday, not tomorrow. not 3 seconds ago or 3 seconds in the future. Now."

"But how?"

The man looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears. "You see, every Now is a link in an infinite chain. Break any one of the links in the past and everything after it falls. Each Now is linked to by the previous Now that happened and every next Now that will happen."

"Are you saying time is a motherfucking blockchain???"

"Yep! No wonder you see tech people re-inventing it over and over without any real goal behind it. Blockchains are the structure of reality. Oh, fun, it looks like my time is getting up here."

At this point the world started to warp a little.

The old man continued, "I'll keep around for as long as I can. Ask me anything while you have the chance, Creator."

"Wait but why are you telling me this?"

"To help with your anxiety. Oops, time's up; bye!"

The dream ended and I woke up on my bed.

Facts and circumstances may have changed since publication. Please contact me before jumping to conclusions if something seems wrong or unclear.

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