Page:The theory of relativity and its influence on scientific thought.djvu/21

Rh slightest evidence for such a view of world-structure. The instantaneous state, which we have hitherto taken to be a natural stratum in the four-dimensional world of events, is merely an arbitrary partition created by ourselves to correspond with our geocentric outlook. We can take a differently inclined partition, that is to say, a section which includes on the one side of us events which happened a little while ago and on the other side of us events which have not yet happened; such a farcical combination is in every way equivalent to our so-called instantaneous state, and indeed it is an instantaneous state according to the outlook of some non-terrestrial observer with suitably assigned motion.

It is so contrary to our natural prejudices to recognize that the world-wide instant NOW is created by ourselves and has no existence apart from our geocentric outlook, that I will spend a few moments trying to show its artificiality. When I say that I am conscious of an instant now, I am only conscious of it in so far as it is HERE—inside me. What then has led me to imagine that there exists a continuation of it outside me? It is because I look out on the world and see various events