Page 145 - Matter: The Other Name for Illusion

videocassette with no possibility to speed up the film. But God sees the whole
film all at once at the same moment; it is He Who created it and determined all
its details. As we are able to see the beginning, middle and end of a ruler all at

once, so God encompasses in one moment, from beginning to end, the time to
which we are subject. However, human beings experience these events only
when the time comes to witness the fate that God has created for them. This is
the way it is for the fates of everyone in the world. The lives of everyone who
has ever been created and whoever will be created, in this world and the next,
are present in the sight of God in all their details. The fates of all living things—
planets, plants and things—are written together with the fates of millions of
human beings in God's eternal memory. They will remain written without
being lost or diminished. The reality of fate is one of the manifestations of

God's eternal greatness, power and might. This is why He is called the
Preserver (al-Hafiz).

The Concept Of "Past" Comes From
Information In Our Memories

Because of suggestions we receive, we think we live in separate divisions
of time called past, present and future. However, the only reason we have a
concept of "past" (as we explained earlier) is that various things have been

placed in our memories. For example, the moment we enrolled in primary
school is a bit of information in our memory and we perceive it therefore as an
event in the past. However, future events are not in our memories. Therefore,
we regard these things that we do not yet know about as things that will be
experienced or happen in the future. But just as the past has been experienced
from our point of view, so has the future. But, because these events have not
been given to our memories, we cannot know them.

If God puts future events into our memories, then, the future would be the
past for us. For example, a thirty year old person has thirty years of memories
and events in his memory and, for this reason, thinks he has a thirty year past.
If future events between the ages of thirty and seventy were to be put into this
person's memory, then, for this thirty year old individual, both his thirty years
and the "future" between the ages of thirty and seventy, would become the
past. In this situation past and future would be present in the memory, and
each one would be lived experiences for him.
Because God has made us perceive events in a definite series, as if there

Time is a Perception Too 143