From Adrian Ellis
You ask why we move forward in time and make it clear that physics has no clear answer as to why time passes (5 September, p 34). The article reminded me of an ancient Zen koan.
Two monks were watching a flag flapping in the wind. One said to the other, “The flag is moving.” The other replied, “The wind is moving.” A Zen master, walking nearby, overheard them. He said, “It is not the flag nor the wind that is moving but your minds.”
The idea that our minds experience the four-dimensional “landscape” of physical reality in a chosen time direction would explain the phenomenon of time passing without violating any physics. Perhaps the Zen master was right philosophically and scientifically?
London, UK
