The Maze of the Fleeting Moment

Time is that hidden river in which we all swim without being able to grasp a single drop of its water. We are born, we grow, we age, and we witness the falling of autumn leaves and the renewal of spring buds, all of which happens on an invisible stage we call “time.” But have we ever asked ourselves: what is time, really? And how does it pass? This question, simple in its appearance and dizzyingly complex in its core, is what the philosopher and academic Thomas Sattig places on the philosophical dissecting table in his fascinating book, “How Time Passes.”

In this comprehensive article, which we will review in several parts to give it its due analysis and critique, we delve into the depths of one of the most important contemporary books that has attempted to decipher the mysteries of time. This is done not from a purely physical perspective that burdens the reader with mathematical equations, but from a “metaphysical” and philosophical perspective that attempts to reconcile with our humanity.

The Great Dilemma: The Image of the Mind versus the Image of Science

Thomas Sattig begins his book by highlighting a fundamental and profound clash experienced by contemporary humans; the clash between the “Manifest Image” of time and its “Scientific Image.”

In our daily lives, we experience time as something that flows, moves, and passes. We feel the weight of the past as something that has gone, ended, and cannot be retrieved, and we live the present as a living, burning, and luminous moment, while looking to the future as an open horizon full of possibilities that have not yet materialized. This sense of the “passage of time” or its flow is the essence of the human experience. Without it, concepts such as regret, hope, anticipation, and nostalgia completely lose their meaning.

However, when we move to the corridors of physics laboratories, specifically since Albert Einstein launched his theory of relativity, we find a completely different, even frightening, picture. Modern physics tells us that the “flow of time” is nothing but an illusion. From a physical perspective, the universe resembles a massive block of ice (Block Universe), where the past, present, and future exist together in the fabric of “spacetime.” In this universe, your tomorrow exists to the same degree as your yesterday, and the current moment is not a physically distinct point, but merely a reference point, just like saying “I am here” to indicate your geographical location.

An Attempt to Save the Human Experience

Here Sattig intervenes with the brilliance of a philosophical surgeon. Instead of siding completely with physics and declaring that our sense of the passage of time is merely a naive “psychological illusion” (as many materialist philosophers do), and instead of rejecting science to cling to direct human experience, Sattig attempts to build a solid bridge between the two banks.

The book poses a bold question: what if we could preserve the scientific vision of the universe (the static block universe) while simultaneously finding a rational metaphysical justification for our sense of the flow of time?

Sattig takes us on a journey to deconstruct the way we understand “things” and how they persist through time. He argues that the problem lies not in time itself as much as it lies in our view of material objects (including us as humans) and how they extend in this time. Are we three-dimensional beings moving through time? Or are we four-dimensional beings (length, width, height, and time) that possess “temporal parts” just as we have spatial parts?

Deconstructing the Enigma of “Now”

One of the most prominent features of Sattig’s style in this book is his smooth deconstructive methodology. He does not offer ready-made, packaged answers, but takes you by the hand to reflect on the concept of “now.” Why does the “now” moment seem so real to us, while the moment that preceded it seems faded?

The book discusses the gap between conflicting theories of time in philosophy, specifically the “A-theory,” which believes in the past, present, and future as objective realities, and the “B-theory,” which considers them merely relational ordering concepts like “before” and “after.” Sattig proposes a complex yet seamlessly explained conciliatory approach in flowing philosophical and journalistic prose, where he redefines the relationship between “conscious experience” and physical reality.

He argues that the “passage of time” is not a property of the physical universe, but at the same time, it is not a pure illusion. It is the result of the complex interaction between our metaphysical structure as beings extended in time and the way our consciousness processes this extension.

Let us pause for a moment and ask ourselves honestly: is the person reading these lines now the same child who ran in the schoolyard decades ago? Biologically, science tells us that the cells of our bodies renew almost entirely every few years. Psychologically, our thoughts, dreams, fears, and even convictions shift and change. If the body has changed, and the mind has altered, what makes the “you” in the past and the “you” in the present the same person?

Here, in the book “How Time Passes,” Sattig takes us to the heart of one of the most complex philosophical battles in metaphysics: the battle of survival and extension through time.

The Theater of Existence: Are We Actors or a Cinematic Film?

To understand Sattig’s approach, we must first simplify the two main theories that have dominated philosophy in explaining how things, including ourselves, persist through time. The first of these is the theory of Endurantism, or three-dimensional survival, which represents our innate and intuitive view of ourselves. This theory posits that you are a three-dimensional being, possessing length, width, and height, and that you exist entirely in every single moment of your life. When you were a child, you were present in your entirety, and now, you are present in your entirety. Time, for you, is akin to a theater stage upon which you move from one scene to another. No part of you is left behind in the past, and no part of you is waiting in the future; you are here, and now, complete.

Conversely, the second theory is Perdurantism, concerning temporal extension or four-dimensional entities. Here, the vision compatible with modern physics intervenes to shock our intuition. This theory suggests that we are not three-dimensional beings moving in time, but rather four-dimensional beings, meaning that time is our fourth dimension. Just as your body has spatial parts like a hand, foot, or head, you also have temporal parts. According to this view, you do not exist entirely right now. The you reading this article is nothing but a temporal part or slice of a larger, more massive entity that extends from the moment of your birth until the moment of your death. You resemble a long cinematic film; your childhood constitutes the first frames of the film, your old age constitutes the final frames, and your current moment is merely a single illuminated frame amidst this long reel.

Sattig’s Philosophical Scalpel: The Dual Compromise

Where does Thomas Sattig stand in this clash? As we saw in the first part, Sattig is neither fond of destroying the human experience on the altar of science, nor is he among those who ignore science to appease emotion. In his book, Sattig presents a brilliant philosophical compromise based on the idea of “levels of description” or the “multiple layers of reality.”

Sattig argues that the contradiction vanishes if we realize that we are talking about reality on two different levels. At the foundational, deep metaphysical level of the universe, it may be… [The published portion of the article on the website ends at this point].