You and I are sitting across from each other at a diner table. A glass cup sits on the counter. I cover it with a napkin, so that there is only a large bump on the table. We begin to discuss the existence of the cup. We say things like
"I believe there's a cup because there simply has to be something under that napkin."
"I don't think so because for all we know, there's a monkey underneath, or space time might be bent so that there's nothing under the napkin."
"There's a bump there whether you like it or not."
"It all depends on what you prefer. Because whatever it is won't touch us (or we can't tell its touching us), we can imagine whatever we like to suit ourselves. So, a glass may suit you, I prefer to believe the easier option, that the glass doesn't exist. And it won't ever matter what we choose."
"We're forced to decide what's underneath, because that bump is sitting right there in front of our eyes."
"I don't see a bump. What's all the big fuss? Stop ruining my dinner time."
"Are you blind? What's wrong with you....
The discussion goes nowhere. But all throughout the conversation, the glass has remained under the napkin, unmoved. Sometime the napkin will be removed, and we'll see it.
Its certainly not a perfect analogy, but lets try to make it real.
In the real world the glass is a time . It holds the bench seats up from collapsing us into oblivion. The napkin is draped over our heads, and hangs right in front of our eyes. We can see the general form of the glass from the shape of the napkin, how incredibly glassy it is, but we have no idea about anything deeper than the surface.
Whether we believe the glass exists or not, and no matter how much discussion we've had on the subject, we'll know the truth sometime.
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