“Those who step into the same river have different waters flowing ever upon them.” (Heraclitus, in Freeman, 25)
Heraclitus observing the world accepted change as the its fundamental nature. Often Heraclitus is paraphrased as everything is in flux. Time is seemingly a fundamental part of observed material reality. It can be observed to pass at a constant rate. This, of course, is all but sense observation. But nonetheless, we function on, coordinate, avoid accidents, play games of tennis with our shared understanding of time. And we have no other choice but observe time with the senses.
Think of coma patients. For day, months, perhaps even years they are in a locked-in state of non-awareness of the “outside” sensed world. The shock comes when they come out of their comatose state feeling something only like a single night’s sleep. For them, time had stood still.
Our daily slumber also feels like this. The time between closing your eyes to sleep and waking up is but an instant in your mind.
This, to me, is sufficient evidence of the nature of time and its relationship to reality. Every night is a miniature coma.
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