The Order of Time

by Carlo Rovelli

Music can occur only in time, but if we are always in the present moment, how is it possible to hear it? It is possible, Augustine observes, because our consciousness is based on memory and on anticipation.

I love how music is used to illustrate our perception of time. Each note is experienced in the present, yet can only be appreciated in the context of the past. This echo of the past in which music owes its experience exists purely in our mind.

What causes us to suffer is not in the past or the future: it is here, now, in our memory, in our expectations. We long for timelessness, we endure the passing of time: we suffer time. Time is suffering.

A beautiful illustration of our perception of time based on the fundamental Buddhist concept of suffering and the illusion of permanence.