{"id":"01KJR8Q6G293PJ5D8PPYX3SAXN","cid":"bafkreihyxm3ql65ozs23dyf63mriszhcqr7b2fhsgfg3wecxj5f2gcaemq","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":470555,"char_start":462605,"chunk_index":65,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":1988,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"I behold it in the present, because it is still in my memory. Whether\r\nthere be a like cause of foretelling things to come also; that of\r\nthings which as yet are not, the images may be perceived before, already\r\nexisting, I confess, O my God, I know not. This indeed I know, that we\r\ngenerally think before on our future actions, and that that forethinking\r\nis present, but the action whereof we forethink is not yet, because it\r\nis to come. Which, when we have set upon, and have begun to do what\r\nwe were forethinking, then shall that action be; because then it is no\r\nlonger future, but present.\r\n\r\nWhich way soever then this secret fore-perceiving of things to come be;\r\nthat only can be seen, which is. But what now is, is not future,\r\nbut present. When then things to come are said to be seen, it is not\r\nthemselves which as yet are not (that is, which are to be), but their\r\ncauses perchance or signs are seen, which already are. Therefore they\r\nare not future but present to those who now see that, from which\r\nthe future, being foreconceived in the mind, is foretold. Which\r\nfore-conceptions again now are; and those who foretell those things, do\r\nbehold the conceptions present before them. Let now the numerous variety\r\nof things furnish me some example. I behold the day-break, I foreshow,\r\nthat the sun, is about to rise. What I behold, is present; what I\r\nforesignify, to come; not the sun, which already is; but the sun-rising,\r\nwhich is not yet. And yet did I not in my mind imagine the sun-rising\r\nitself (as now while I speak of it), I could not foretell it. But\r\nneither is that day-break which I discern in the sky, the sun-rising,\r\nalthough it goes before it; nor that imagination of my mind; which two\r\nare seen now present, that the other which is to be may be foretold.\r\nFuture things then are not yet: and if they be not yet, they are not:\r\nand if they are not, they cannot be seen; yet foretold they may be from\r\nthings present, which are already, and are seen.\r\n\r\nThou then, Ruler of Thy creation, by what way dost Thou teach souls\r\nthings to come? For Thou didst teach Thy Prophets. By what way dost\r\nThou, to whom nothing is to come, teach things to come; or rather of the\r\nfuture, dost teach things present? For, what is not, neither can it be\r\ntaught. Too far is this way of my ken: it is too mighty for me, I cannot\r\nattain unto it; but from Thee I can, when Thou shalt vouchsafe it, O\r\nsweet light of my hidden eyes.\r\n\r\nWhat now is clear and plain is, that neither things to come nor past\r\nare. Nor is it properly said, \"there be three times, past, present,\r\nand to come\": yet perchance it might be properly said, \"there be three\r\ntimes; a present of things past, a present of things present, and a\r\npresent of things future.\" For these three do exist in some sort, in the\r\nsoul, but otherwhere do I not see them; present of things past, memory;\r\npresent of things present, sight; present of things future, expectation.\r\nIf thus we be permitted to speak, I see three times, and I confess there\r\nare three. Let it be said too, \"there be three times, past, present, and\r\nto come\": in our incorrect way. See, I object not, nor gainsay, nor find\r\nfault, if what is so said be but understood, that neither what is to be,\r\nnow is, nor what is past. For but few things are there, which we\r\nspeak properly, most things improperly; still the things intended are\r\nunderstood.\r\n\r\nI said then even now, we measure times as they pass, in order to be able\r\nto say, this time is twice so much as that one; or, this is just so\r\nmuch as that; and so of any other parts of time, which be measurable.\r\nWherefore, as I said, we measure times as they pass. And if any should\r\nask me, \"How knowest thou?\" I might answer, \"I know, that we do measure,\r\nnor can we measure things that are not; and things past and to come, are\r\nnot.\" But time present how do we measure, seeing it hath no space? It\r\nis measured while passing, but when it shall have passed, it is not\r\nmeasured; for there will be nothing to be measured. But whence, by what\r\nway, and whither passes it while it is a measuring? whence, but from the\r\nfuture? Which way, but through the present? whither, but into the past?\r\nFrom that therefore, which is not yet, through that, which hath no\r\nspace, into that, which now is not. Yet what do we measure, if not time\r\nin some space? For we do not say, single, and double, and triple, and\r\nequal, or any other like way that we speak of time, except of spaces\r\nof times. In what space then do we measure time passing? In the future,\r\nwhence it passeth through? But what is not yet, we measure not. Or in\r\nthe present, by which it passes? but no space, we do not measure: or in\r\nthe past, to which it passes? But neither do we measure that, which now\r\nis not.\r\n\r\nMy soul is on fire to know this most intricate enigma. Shut it not up, O\r\nLord my God, good Father; through Christ I beseech Thee, do not shut up\r\nthese usual, yet hidden things, from my desire, that it be hindered from\r\npiercing into them; but let them dawn through Thy enlightening mercy, O\r\nLord. Whom shall I enquire of concerning these things? and to whom shall\r\nI more fruitfully confess my ignorance, than to Thee, to Whom these\r\nmy studies, so vehemently kindled toward Thy Scriptures, are not\r\ntroublesome? Give what I love; for I do love, and this hast Thou\r\ngiven me. Give, Father, Who truly knowest to give good gifts unto Thy\r\nchildren. Give, because I have taken upon me to know, and trouble is\r\nbefore me until Thou openest it. By Christ I beseech Thee, in His Name,\r\nHoly of holies, let no man disturb me. For I believed, and therefore do\r\nI speak. This is my hope, for this do I live, that I may contemplate the\r\ndelights of the Lord. Behold, Thou hast made my days old, and they pass\r\naway, and how, I know not. And we talk of time, and time, and times, and\r\ntimes, \"How long time is it since he said this\"; \"how long time since he\r\ndid this\"; and \"how long time since I saw that\"; and \"this syllable hath\r\ndouble time to that single short syllable.\" These words we speak, and\r\nthese we hear, and are understood, and understand. Most manifest and\r\nordinary they are, and the self-same things again are but too deeply\r\nhidden, and the discovery of them were new.\r\n\r\nI heard once from a learned man, that the motions of the sun, moon,\r\nand stars, constituted time, and I assented not. For why should not\r\nthe motions of all bodies rather be times? Or, if the lights of heaven\r\nshould cease, and a potter's wheel run round, should there be no time\r\nby which we might measure those whirlings, and say, that either it\r\nmoved with equal pauses, or if it turned sometimes slower, otherwhiles\r\nquicker, that some rounds were longer, other shorter? Or, while we were\r\nsaying this, should we not also be speaking in time? Or, should there\r\nin our words be some syllables short, others long, but because those\r\nsounded in a shorter time, these in a longer? God, grant to men to see\r\nin a small thing notices common to things great and small. The stars and\r\nlights of heaven, are also for signs, and for seasons, and for years,\r\nand for days; they are; yet neither should I say, that the going round\r\nof that wooden wheel was a day, nor yet he, that it was therefore no\r\ntime.\r\n\r\nI desire to know the force and nature of time, by which we measure the\r\nmotions of bodies, and say (for example) this motion is twice as long as\r\nthat. For I ask, Seeing \"day\" denotes not the stay only of the sun upon\r\nthe earth (according to which day is one thing, night another); but also\r\nits whole circuit from east to east again; according to which we say,\r\n\"there passed so many days,\" the night being included when we say, \"so\r\nmany days,\" and the nights not reckoned apart;--seeing then a day is\r\ncompleted by the motion of the sun and by his circuit from east to east\r\nagain, I ask, does the motion alone make the day, or the stay in which\r\nthat motion is completed, or both?"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8RFNWG2X8T00NW85WN134","peer_label":"god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RF6KCT84WHBBE6FCG0DV","peer_label":"speaker","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RYKTV7J49FDXSMQ1AZ6T","peer_label":"time","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"abstract_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RE3RPZS4WRY0CA8H0JCT","peer_label":"sun","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"celestial_body","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RGDZRM2NABFX6YGB4HAY","peer_label":"moon","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"celestial_body","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RVVAFJDACXJ6THQRDAN1","peer_label":"stars","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"celestial_body","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RYQBK49SMFE5YP4YZ9BV","peer_label":"syllable","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"linguistic_unit","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S1ETK2F1D7MDNX39B42G","peer_label":"prophets","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group_of_people","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S18HWKS3YMRBYZ62Y2EP","peer_label":"present time","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"abstract_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S1K2872CPNYVFQK98RV0","peer_label":"past time","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"abstract_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S1GECQ49M99VZRZFYQRT","peer_label":"memory","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"psychological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S1JVM3YTR7RE1E6PDM7G","peer_label":"soul","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"abstract_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S27F499RYZVAXRZTV9Q6","peer_label":"future time","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"abstract_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S1NSYC16QZAT233T5WV6","peer_label":"sight","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"sensory_perception_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S2ATVP1K7H4NXB3CN2DS","peer_label":"expectation","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"psychological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S2F9P7NHDAEFHA89PKGW","peer_label":"learned man","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S2ER3389GZF1S049X140","peer_label":"day-break","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"natural_phenomenon","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S2XZ81TY6J9S9XZ8JV29","peer_label":"potters wheel","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"object","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S34Y21S6N97K7SSZG75W","peer_label":"day temporal unit","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"temporal_unit","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S2E94HG0RGJP4XRJ42QA","peer_label":"sun-rising","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"natural_phenomenon","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S31VYQRQHMZHKYG1VWF1","peer_label":"night","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"temporal_unit","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S2KV7PH8G9C5WFVSQFNY","peer_label":"motions of bodies","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"physical_phenomenon","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:29.293Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:24.898Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:30.571Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}