Time

Time frames. The present, the future, the past. Which of these is the most important? The future seems the biggest, the present seems the most immediate, the past seems the most concrete. For God all are the same. For us they are different so that makes them different for God. Theoreticians have written a good deal about the arrow of time, little of which I have read. I can’t really claim to understand the best contemporary thinking about time. My own thinking about past, present and future is thus ill-informed but here goes.

The present is the field of divine action. The past is the record of the presents that have passed away. The future hasn’t happened yet. We live in the present. We are subject to divine action. What we remember is the past. Our memories can change but the past cannot. The past is real. The future is not.

God knows the past. God does not know the future. The future will be made by God. God cannot change the past.

Human beings exist through time. God exists timelessly. We live in time, God lives above time. This must be important but how is closed to me.

What does Aquinas say about time?