Confessions

BOOK XI. CHAPTER XII-XXI. OF CONFESSIONS. CONFESSIONS by St. Augustine. Translated by Albert C. Outler. BOOK XI. CHAPTER XII-XXI. HOW, THEN, SHALL I RESPOND TO HIM WHO ASKS, WHAT WAS GOD DOING BEFORE HE MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH? I do not answer, as a certain one is reported to have done facetiously, shrugging off the force of the question. He was preparing hell, he said, for those who pry too deep. It is one thing to see the answer, it is another to laugh at the questioner. And for myself I do not answer these things thus. More willingly would I have answered, I do not know what I do not know, than cause one who asked a deep question to be ridiculed, and by such tactics gain praise for a worthless answer. Rather I say that thou, our God, art the creator of every creature, and if, in the term heaven and earth, every creature is included, I make bold to say further, before God made heaven and earth, he did not make anything at all. For if he did, what did he make unless it were a creature? I do indeed wish that I knew all that I desire to know to my prophet, as surely as I know that no creature was made before any creature was made. CHAPTER XIII But if the roving thought of someone should wander over the images of past time, and wonder that thou, the Almighty God, the all-creating and all-sustaining, the architect of heaven and earth, didst for ages unnumbered abstain from so great a work before thou didst actually do it, let him awake and consider that he wanders at illusions. For in what temporal medium could the unnumbered ages that thou didst not make pass by, since thou art the author and creator of all the ages? Or what periods of time would those be that were not made by thee? Or how could they have already passed away if they had not already been? Since therefore thou art the creator of all times, if there was any time before thou madest heaven and earth, why is it said that thou wast abstaining from working? For thou madest that very time itself, and periods could not pass by before thou madest the whole temporal procession. But if there was no time before heaven and earth, how then can it be asked, what was thou doing then? For there was no then, when there was no time. Nor dost thou precede any given period of time by another period of time, else thou wouldst not precede all periods of time. In the eminence of thy ever-present eternity thou precedest all times past, and extendest beyond all future times, for they are still to come. And when they have come, they will be passed. But thou art always the selfsame, and thy years shall have no end. Thy years neither go nor come, but ours both go and come, in order that all separate moments may come to pass. All thy years stand together as one, since they are abiding. Nor do thy years past exclude the years to come, because thy years do not pass away. All these years of ours shall be with thee, when all of them shall have ceased to be. Thy years are but a day, and thy day is not recurrent, but always to-day. Thy to-day yields not to to-morrow, and does not follow yesterday. Thy to-day is eternity. Therefore thou didst generate the co-eternal, to whom thou didst say, This day I have begotten thee. Thou madest all time, and before all times thou art, and there was never a time when there was no time. CHAPTER XIV THERE WAS NO TIME, THEREFORE, WHEN THOU HAST NOT MADE ANYTHING, BECAUSE THOU HAST MADE TIME ITSELF. And there are no times that are co-eternal with thee, because thou dost abide forever. But if times should abide, they would not be times. For what is time? Who can easily and briefly explain it? Who can even comprehend it in thought or put the answer into words? Yet is it not true that in conversation we refer to nothing more familiarly or knowingly than time? And surely we understand it when we speak of it. We understand it also when we hear another speak of it. What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks me, I do not know. Yet I say with confidence that I know that if nothing passed away, there would be no past time, and if nothing were still coming, there would be no future time, and if there were nothing at all, there would be no present time. But then how is it that there are the two times, past and future, when even the past is now no longer, and the future is now not yet? But if the present were always present, and did not pass into past time, it obviously would not be time but eternity. If then time present, if it be time, comes into existence only because it passes into time past, how can we say that even this is, since the cause of its being is that it will cease to be? Thus can we not truly say that time is only as it tends toward non-being? CHAPTER XV. And yet we speak of a long time and a short time, but never speak this way except of time past and future. We call a hundred years ago, for example, a long time past. In like manner we should call a hundred years hence a long time to come. But we call ten days ago a short time past, and ten days hence a short time to come. But in what sense is something long or short that is non-existent? For the past is not now, and the future is not yet. Therefore, let us not say it is long. Instead, let us say of the past it was long, and of the future it will be long. And yet, O Lord, my light, shall not thy truth make mockery of man even here? For that long time past, was it long when it was already past, or when it was still present? For it might have been long when there was a period that could be long, but when it was past it no longer was. In that case, that which was not at all could not be long. Let us not, therefore, say time past was long, for we shall not discover what it was that was long, because since it is past it no longer exists. Rather, let us say that time present was long, because when it was present it was long, for then it had not yet passed on, so as not to be, and therefore it still was in a state that could be called long, but after it passed it ceased to be long simply because it ceased to be. Let us, therefore, O human soul, see whether present time can be long, for it has been given you to feel and measure the periods of time. How then will you answer me? Is a hundred years, when present, a long time? But first, see whether a hundred years can be present at once, for if the first year in the century is current, then it is present time, and the other ninety and nine are still future, therefore they are not yet. But then, if the second year is current, one year is already past, and the second present, and all the rest are future. And thus, if we fix on any middle year of this century as present, those before it are past, those after it are future, therefore a hundred years cannot be present all at once. Let us see then whether the year that is now current can be present, for if its first month is current, then the rest are future, if the second, the first is already past, and the current year is not present all at once, and if it is not present as a whole, then the year is not present, for it takes twelve months to make the year, from which each individual month which is current is itself present one at a time, but the rest are either past or future. Thus it comes out that the time present, which we found was the only time that could be called long, has been cut down to the space of scarcely a single day. But let us examine even that, for one day is never present as a whole, for it is made up of twenty-four hours, divided between night and day, the first of these hours has the rest of them as future, and the last of them has the rest as past, but any of those between has those that preceded it as past and those that succeeded it as future, and that one hour itself passes away in fleeting fractions, the part of it that has fled is past, what remains is still future, if any fraction of time be conceived that cannot now be divided even into the most minute momentary point, this alone is what we may call time present. But this flies so rapidly from future to past, that it cannot be extended by any delay, for if it is extended it is then divided into past and future, but the present has no extension, whatever. Where therefore is that time which we may call long? Is it future? Actually we do not say of the future it is long, for it has not yet come to be, so as to be long. Instead we say it will be long, when will it be? For since it is future, it will not be long, for what may be long is not yet. It will be long only when it passes from the future which is not as yet, and will have begun to be present, so that there can be something that may be long. But in that case, time present cries aloud, in the words we have already heard, that it cannot be long. CHAPTER XVI And yet, O Lord, we do perceive intervals of time, and we compare them with each other, and we say that some are longer and others are shorter, we even measure how much longer or shorter this time may be than that time, and we say that this time is twice as long or three times as long, while this other time is only just as long as that other. But we measure the passage of time when we measure the intervals of perception. But who can measure time's past, which now are no longer, or time's future, which are not yet, unless perhaps someone will dare to say that what does not exist can be measured. Therefore while time is passing, it can be perceived and measured, but when it is past it cannot, since it is not. CHAPTER XVII I am seeking the truth, O Father, I am not affirming it, O my God, direct and rule me. Who is there who will tell me that there are not three times, as we learned when boys, and as we have also taught boys, time past, time present, and time future? Who can say that there is only time present because the other two do not exist? Or do they also exist? But when from the future time becomes present, it proceeds from some secret place. And when from time's present it becomes past, it recedes into some secret place. For where have those men who have foretold a future seen the things foretold, if then they were not yet existing? For what does not exist cannot be seen. And those who tell of things past could not speak of them as if they were true, if they did not see them in their minds. These things could in no way be discerned if they did not exist. There are, therefore, times present and times past. CHAPTER XVIII Give me leave, O Lord, to seek still further. O my hope, let not my purpose be confounded. For if there are times past and future, I wish to know where they are. But if I have not yet succeeded in this, I still know that wherever they are, they are not there as future or past, but as present. For if they are there as future, they are there as not yet. If they are there as past, they are there as no longer. Wherever they are, and whatever they are, they exist therefore only as present. Although we tell of past things as true, they are drawn out of the memory, not the things themselves which have already passed, but words constructed from the images of the perceptions which were formed in the mind, like footprints in their passage through the senses. My childhood, for instance, which is no longer, still exists in time past, which does not now exist. But when I call to mind its image, and speak of it, I see it in the present, because it is still in my memory. Whether there is a similar explanation for the foretelling of future events, that is, of the images of things which are not yet seen as if they were already existing, I confess, O my God, I do not know. But this I certainly do know, that we generally think ahead about our future actions, and this premeditation is in time present. But that the action which we premeditate is not yet, because it is still future. When we shall have started the action, and have begun to do what we were premeditating, then that action will be in time present, because then it is no longer in time future. Whatever may be the manner of this secret foreseeing of future things, nothing can be seen except what exists. But what exists now is not future, but present. When, therefore, they say that future events are seen, it is not the events themselves, for they do not exist as yet, that is, they are still in time future. But perhaps instead their causes and their signs are seen, which already do exist. Therefore, to those already beholding these causes and signs, they are not future, but present. And from them future things are predicted, because they are conceived in the mind. These conceptions, however, exist now, and those who predict those things see these conceptions before them in time present. Let me take an example from the vast multitude and variety of such things. I see the dawn. I predict that the sun is about to rise. What I see is in time present. What I predict is in time future. Not that the sun is future, for it already exists, but its rising is future, because it is not yet. Yet I could not predict even its rising, unless I had an image of it in my mind, as indeed I do even now as I speak. But that dawn which I see in the sky is not the rising of the sun, though it does precede it, nor is it a conception in my mind. These too are seen in time present, in order that the event which is in time future may be predicted. Future events, therefore, are not yet, and if they are not yet they do not exist, and if they do not exist they cannot be seen at all, but they can be predicted from things present which now are and are seen. CHAPTER XIX NOW, THEREFORE, O RULER OF THY CREATURES, WHAT IS THE MODE BY WHICH THOU TEACHEST SOULS THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE STILL FUTURE? FOR THOU HAST TAUGHT THY PROPHETS. HOW DOST THOU, TO WHOM NOTHING IS FUTURE, TEACH FUTURE THINGS, OR RATHER TEACH THINGS PRESENT FROM THE SIGNS OF THINGS FUTURE? FOR WHAT DOES NOT EXIST CERTAINLY CANNOT BE TAUGHT. THIS WAY OF THINE IS TOO FAR FROM MY SIGHT, IT IS TOO GREAT FOR ME, I CANNOT ATTAIN TO IT. BUT I SHALL BE ENABLED BY THEE WHEN THOU WILT GRANT IT, O SWEET LIGHT OF MY SECRET EYES. CHAPTER XX BUT EVEN NOW IT IS MANIFEST AND CLEAR THAT THERE ARE NEITHER TIMES FUTURE NOR TIMES PAST. THUS IT IS NOT PROPERLY SAID THAT THERE ARE THREE TIMES, PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. PERHAPS IT MIGHT BE SAID RIGHTLY THAT THERE ARE THREE TIMES, A TIME PRESENT OF THINGS PAST, A TIME PRESENT OF THINGS PRESENT, AND A TIME PRESENT OF THINGS FUTURE, FOR THESE THREE DO COEXIST SOMEHOW IN THE SOUL, FOR OTHERWISE I COULD NOT SEE THEM. THE TIME PRESENT OF THINGS PAST IS MEMORY. THE TIME PRESENT OF THINGS PRESENT IS DIRECT EXPERIENCE. THE TIME PRESENT OF THINGS FUTURE IS EXPECTATION. IF WE ARE ALLOWED TO SPEAK OF THESE THINGS SO, I SEE THREE TIMES, AND I GRANT THAT THERE ARE THREE. LET IT STILL BE SAID, THEN, AS OUR MISAPPLIED CUSTOM HAS IT, THERE ARE THREE TIMES, PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. I SHALL NOT BE TROUBLED BY IT, NOR ARGUE, NOR OBJECT, ALWAYS PROVIDED THAT WHAT IS SAID IS UNDERSTOOD, SO THAT NEITHER THE FUTURE NOR THE PAST IS SAID TO EXIST NOW. THERE ARE BUT FEW THINGS ABOUT WHICH WE SPEAK PROPERLY, AND MANY MORE ABOUT WHICH WE SPEAK IMPROPERLY, THOUGH WE UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER'S MEANING. CHAPTER XXI. I have said, then, that we measure periods of time as they pass, so that we can say that this time is twice as long as that one, or that this is just as long as that, and so on for the other fractions of time which we can count by measuring. So, then, as I was saying, we measure periods of time as they pass. And if anyone asks me, How do you know this? I can answer, I know because we measure. We could not measure things that do not exist, and things past and future do not exist. But how do we measure present time, since it has no extension? It is measured while it passes, but when it has passed it is not measured. For then there is nothing that could be measured. But whence, and how, and whither does it pass while it is being measured? Whence but from the future. Which way save through the present, whither but into the past? Therefore, from what is not yet, through what has no length, it passes into what is now no longer. But what do we measure, unless it is a time of some length? For we cannot speak of single and double and triple and equal and all the other ways in which we speak of time, except in terms of the length of the periods of time. But in what length, then, do we measure passing time? Is it in the future, from which it passes over? But what does not yet exist cannot be measured. Or is it in the present, through which it passes? But what has no length we cannot measure. Or is it in the past, into which it passes? But what is no longer we cannot measure.