TIME PRESENT
T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets 1943

Time present and time past
Are both present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.

If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.

What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.

What might have been and what HAS been
Point to one end, which is always present.



I am fascinated with this little exerpt from the Four Quartets. It captures some of the complexity and issues we address in science. I am however, delighted that all time is not unredeemable.