is time linear or branched?

if you travel back in time to change something, then the reason for the time travel wouldnt exist, so for time travel to be possible branched theory must be true

We really don't know. The mathematics of physics don't have a problem with time in either the forward or backward direction. The multiverse theory says time branches at every option.

If you go back in time on mingle you will find a time travel thread.

I believe that time really looks more like the figure they use for the infinity sign (kind of like the number 8).

The reason I believe this is because it seems that once man advances so far, his intellect doesn't progress but instead seems to decline. So if you were to travel back in time to change something, who knows what may happen? You may actually end up in a world that appears to be like the future but is really the past.

That might explain how the authors of the bible seemed to be able to quite accurately depict what would happen in end times. If they came from a future world that had a different time, and are there now, they might well have already witnessed the destruction of the earth, so the bible isn't prediction at all, but rather a vision of our future which they have already seen because our earth is in their past.

This may indicate that there is an afterlife after all and you may just go to another planet after death, if in fact you ever existed in the form you believe you now exist in the first place.

It could be that you never did exist, and don't actually now exist in the way you see yourself either. It could be that the earth is basically run in the manner you might run a computer program called "Sim City."

In other words, while you control it from another destination and believe you are here, you are actually only developing your spirit through homework given to you that would help your spirit progress, which would be basically nothing other than virtual reality.

This might explain why the bible says most spirits won't die except for those who disbelieve. Your virtual reality (or in other words, your body) may die, but your spirit would continue developing forever unless you chose otherwise and decided you wanted to fully experience the earth in real human form, (i.e. demonic form) sacrificing your spirit forever for the procurement of wonderful worldly goods that make the skin and body feel good.

In that case you might actually be "granted" the option to live on the earth in that manner but the payback would be that you "would" eventually die in that form, unlike those who chose to continue to learn and grow in their "spiritual" form.

But it could be a very long and finally very miserable life before you are given the ability to die. The bible states there will come a time when many will wish to die but won't be able to. (That suggests that man will develop a way to live much longer).

In that case, as the world heats up and starts to burn and all of the selfish parts of your joys start to expose themselves, you would be forced to experience the earth's wrath of the damage you created by your selfishness and disrespect for the earth and everything on and around it.

That might mean that you may feel the burning of the heat from atomic power, and be roasted by a sun damaged by microwaves by people of your own kind, and many more things.

If my theory were true, (and I don't attribute it to any particular religion) that might also explain why God would allow so many "not so nice" things to happen on earth too. It may be because they may not be happening at all but would only be happening in our minds in this virtual reality environment.

If we were to harm someone, for example, our next assignment in this spiritual visualization might be in a process called reincarnation, in which we would have to live out the exact lives of those we had harmed, and in the same manner

I could write book on this because it all seems to make so much sense, but had better stop for now because it's such a fun subject I could burn up megabytes doing so.

So many people believe science and religion are two separate things. Increasingly as time goes by, I recognize them only as one which is very intertwined.

Heres something I came up with one nightafter years of sobriety.

TIME IS JUST SOMETHING MAN USES AND INVENTED TO KEEP TRACK OF EVENTS.
MAYBE TIME HAD A BEGINNING AND WILL HAVE AN END MUCH LIKE EVERYTHING,
ON EARTH, GALAXY AND UNIVERSE, AND NATURE.

MAYBE TIME STARTED AT THE POINT OF THE BIG BANG OR THE "SINGULARITY"
AS ALL MATTER WAS CREATED AT THE SAME TIME.

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU HEARD TIME GOES SO FAST!!!!
MAYBE THIS IS A REALITY, BECAUSE IF THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING FASTER AND FASTER FROM THE "SINGULARITY" POINT, THERE IS LESS GRAVITY FARTHER FROM "POINT-A" AND THINGS WILL GO FASTER... EVEN TIME.

MAYBE AT THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE TIME WENT REAL SLOW AT FIRST GRAVITY WAS "HOLDING" TIME IN ITS PLACE !

DONT WEAR A WATCH, DONT LOOK AT CLOCKS, NIGHT AND DAY ARE IRRELEVANT.

JUST BE !!! IN THE MOMENT THAT YOU EXIST !!! pEACE !!

there is no such thing as time, it is only a perception in our minds...

What are we perceiving?

space ?

another good answer mighty moe, everything is how we perceive it
or "choose" to perceive it.

perception doesn't always mean perceiving. can you see time? does it have any matter? what is it made out of? does it travel like light or just sit still? time is just what how the earth revolves around the sun, nothing else. anywhere else in the universe would be a different time. can't go backwards, can't go forwards, just the now.

exactly, thnx. but there is no "it", it(time) is just a word.

You can't see air either.

lol.. yes you can, it has mass, it has volume, and in no way has anything to do with this topic... are you just messing with or are you drunk?

I was just messing with you.

However, the inability to see air is just how we happen to be equipped. We can perceive it other ways.

Being equipped to perceive time could be no different. We certainly use it mathematically and measure it's passage. We also calculate it's variations in the use of special relativity to adjust gps transceivers for receiver accuracy. That usage gives huge credence to Einstein's theory of space/time being a fabric.

We don't perceive time. We perceive events.

Events are the key.

All I know about time is is its the most powerful thing in the universe. Nothing escapes time...nothing.

Our subjective perception of time is suspect, and may not be reality based. When we believe we have experienced the passage of time, that experience may be only a matter of perception, not of reality.

However, time can also be objectively measured. This kind of time is as real as distance is.



Time is not an 'object'. Are we to divide our experience into 'real' and 'not real' and say that all non-objects are 'not real' ?
If we did so, then love wouldn't be real, nor distance, nor sound...

Time is not powerful. But if you "escape time" you will be trapped by it.

Time is powerful in that nothing outlasts it, time is forever.

I'm not to sure about that.

Suns die, stars die, galaxies die, the universe is expanding and will someday implode (die), time will keep on tickin'.