- char_end
- 470555
- char_start
- 462605
- chunk_index
- 65
- chunk_total
- 89
- estimated_tokens
- 1988
- source_file_key
- confessions
- text
- I behold it in the present, because it is still in my memory. Whether
there be a like cause of foretelling things to come also; that of
things which as yet are not, the images may be perceived before, already
existing, I confess, O my God, I know not. This indeed I know, that we
generally think before on our future actions, and that that forethinking
is present, but the action whereof we forethink is not yet, because it
is to come. Which, when we have set upon, and have begun to do what
we were forethinking, then shall that action be; because then it is no
longer future, but present.
Which way soever then this secret fore-perceiving of things to come be;
that only can be seen, which is. But what now is, is not future,
but present. When then things to come are said to be seen, it is not
themselves which as yet are not (that is, which are to be), but their
causes perchance or signs are seen, which already are. Therefore they
are not future but present to those who now see that, from which
the future, being foreconceived in the mind, is foretold. Which
fore-conceptions again now are; and those who foretell those things, do
behold the conceptions present before them. Let now the numerous variety
of things furnish me some example. I behold the day-break, I foreshow,
that the sun, is about to rise. What I behold, is present; what I
foresignify, to come; not the sun, which already is; but the sun-rising,
which is not yet. And yet did I not in my mind imagine the sun-rising
itself (as now while I speak of it), I could not foretell it. But
neither is that day-break which I discern in the sky, the sun-rising,
although it goes before it; nor that imagination of my mind; which two
are seen now present, that the other which is to be may be foretold.
Future things then are not yet: and if they be not yet, they are not:
and if they are not, they cannot be seen; yet foretold they may be from
things present, which are already, and are seen.
Thou then, Ruler of Thy creation, by what way dost Thou teach souls
things to come? For Thou didst teach Thy Prophets. By what way dost
Thou, to whom nothing is to come, teach things to come; or rather of the
future, dost teach things present? For, what is not, neither can it be
taught. Too far is this way of my ken: it is too mighty for me, I cannot
attain unto it; but from Thee I can, when Thou shalt vouchsafe it, O
sweet light of my hidden eyes.
What now is clear and plain is, that neither things to come nor past
are. Nor is it properly said, "there be three times, past, present,
and to come": yet perchance it might be properly said, "there be three
times; a present of things past, a present of things present, and a
present of things future." For these three do exist in some sort, in the
soul, but otherwhere do I not see them; present of things past, memory;
present of things present, sight; present of things future, expectation.
If thus we be permitted to speak, I see three times, and I confess there
are three. Let it be said too, "there be three times, past, present, and
to come": in our incorrect way. See, I object not, nor gainsay, nor find
fault, if what is so said be but understood, that neither what is to be,
now is, nor what is past. For but few things are there, which we
speak properly, most things improperly; still the things intended are
understood.
I said then even now, we measure times as they pass, in order to be able
to say, this time is twice so much as that one; or, this is just so
much as that; and so of any other parts of time, which be measurable.
Wherefore, as I said, we measure times as they pass. And if any should
ask me, "How knowest thou?" I might answer, "I know, that we do measure,
nor can we measure things that are not; and things past and to come, are
not." But time present how do we measure, seeing it hath no space? It
is measured while passing, but when it shall have passed, it is not
measured; for there will be nothing to be measured. But whence, by what
way, and whither passes it while it is a measuring? whence, but from the
future? Which way, but through the present? whither, but into the past?
From that therefore, which is not yet, through that, which hath no
space, into that, which now is not. Yet what do we measure, if not time
in some space? For we do not say, single, and double, and triple, and
equal, or any other like way that we speak of time, except of spaces
of times. In what space then do we measure time passing? In the future,
whence it passeth through? But what is not yet, we measure not. Or in
the present, by which it passes? but no space, we do not measure: or in
the past, to which it passes? But neither do we measure that, which now
is not.
My soul is on fire to know this most intricate enigma. Shut it not up, O
Lord my God, good Father; through Christ I beseech Thee, do not shut up
these usual, yet hidden things, from my desire, that it be hindered from
piercing into them; but let them dawn through Thy enlightening mercy, O
Lord. Whom shall I enquire of concerning these things? and to whom shall
I more fruitfully confess my ignorance, than to Thee, to Whom these
my studies, so vehemently kindled toward Thy Scriptures, are not
troublesome? Give what I love; for I do love, and this hast Thou
given me. Give, Father, Who truly knowest to give good gifts unto Thy
children. Give, because I have taken upon me to know, and trouble is
before me until Thou openest it. By Christ I beseech Thee, in His Name,
Holy of holies, let no man disturb me. For I believed, and therefore do
I speak. This is my hope, for this do I live, that I may contemplate the
delights of the Lord. Behold, Thou hast made my days old, and they pass
away, and how, I know not. And we talk of time, and time, and times, and
times, "How long time is it since he said this"; "how long time since he
did this"; and "how long time since I saw that"; and "this syllable hath
double time to that single short syllable." These words we speak, and
these we hear, and are understood, and understand. Most manifest and
ordinary they are, and the self-same things again are but too deeply
hidden, and the discovery of them were new.
I heard once from a learned man, that the motions of the sun, moon,
and stars, constituted time, and I assented not. For why should not
the motions of all bodies rather be times? Or, if the lights of heaven
should cease, and a potter's wheel run round, should there be no time
by which we might measure those whirlings, and say, that either it
moved with equal pauses, or if it turned sometimes slower, otherwhiles
quicker, that some rounds were longer, other shorter? Or, while we were
saying this, should we not also be speaking in time? Or, should there
in our words be some syllables short, others long, but because those
sounded in a shorter time, these in a longer? God, grant to men to see
in a small thing notices common to things great and small. The stars and
lights of heaven, are also for signs, and for seasons, and for years,
and for days; they are; yet neither should I say, that the going round
of that wooden wheel was a day, nor yet he, that it was therefore no
time.
I desire to know the force and nature of time, by which we measure the
motions of bodies, and say (for example) this motion is twice as long as
that. For I ask, Seeing "day" denotes not the stay only of the sun upon
the earth (according to which day is one thing, night another); but also
its whole circuit from east to east again; according to which we say,
"there passed so many days," the night being included when we say, "so
many days," and the nights not reckoned apart;--seeing then a day is
completed by the motion of the sun and by his circuit from east to east
again, I ask, does the motion alone make the day, or the stay in which
that motion is completed, or both?