hich contains no element of succession, from an indivisible
instant, is as hopeless a task as to extract a line from a mathematical
point.

It appears, then, that, if we are to be conscious of time at all, if we
are to have the least conception of it, we must have some direct
experience of change. We cannot really be shut up to that punctual
present, that mere point or limit between past and future, that the
present has been described as being. But does this not imply that we can
be directly conscious of what is not present, that we can _now_ perceive
what does _not now_ exist? How is this possible?

It is not easy for one whose reading has been somewhat limited in any
given field to see the full significance of the problems which present
themselves in that field. Those who read much in the history of modern
philosophy will see that this ancient difficulty touching our
consciousness of time has given rise to some exceedingly curious
speculations, and some strange conclusions touching the nature of the
mind.

Thus, it has been argued that, since the experience of each moment is
something quite distinct from the experience of the next, a something
that passes away to give place to its successor, we cannot explain the
consciousness of time, of a whole in which successive moments are
recognized as having their appropriate place, unless we assume a
something that knows each moment and knits it, so to speak, to its
successor. This something is the self or consciousness, which is
independent of time, and does not exist in time, as do the various
experiences that fill the successive moments. It is assumed to be
_timelessly_ present _at all times_, and thus to connect the nonexistent
past with the existent present.

I do not ask the reader to try to make clear to himself how anything can
be timelessly present at all times, for I do not believe that the words
can be made to represent any clear thought whatever. Nor do I ask him to
try to conceive how this timeless something can join past and present. I
merely wish to point out that these modern speculations, which still
influence the minds of many distinguished men, have their origin in a
difficulty which suggested itself early in the history of reflective
thought, and are by no means to be regarded as a gratuitous and useless
exercise of the ingenuity. They are serious attempts to solve a real
problem, though they may be unsuccessful ones, and they are worthy of
at