284 AUGUSTINE
when it is claimed that future events are seen, it is not that these things are seen in them-
selves, because they have as yet no existence, being still future. It may be, however, that
their causes, or signs of them, are seen, because these already exist; hence they are not
future but present to the people who discern them, and from them future events may
take shape in the mind and can be foretold. These ideas in the mind also exist already,
and can be inwardly contemplated by people who predict the future.
Let me take an example from a wealth of such occurrences. I watch the dawn, and
I give advance notice that the sun is about to rise. What I am looking at is present; what
I foretell is future. Not that the sun is future, of course—no, that exists already, but its
rising is future; it has not yet happened, yet unless I could imagine the sunrise in my
mind, as I do now while I speak of it, I would be unable to forecast it. The dawn, which
I am watching in the sky, is not the sunrise, but only precedes it; and similarly the pic-
ture I have in my mind is not the sunrise either. But these two realities are present and
open to observation, so that the future event can be announced before its time.
We must conclude, then, that future events have no being as yet, and if they have
no being yet they do not exist, and if they do not exist it is absolutely impossible for
anyone to see them. But they can be predicted on the basis of other things which are
already present and hence can be seen.
19, 25. You are the king of your creation; tell me, then: how do you instruct peo-
ple’s minds about the future? You did so teach the prophets. What method can you adopt
for teaching what is future, when to you nothing is future at all? Would it be better to
say that you teach what is present but has a bearing on the future? Yes, because what
does not exist obviously cannot be taught. This method of yours is far above the reach
of my mind; it is too much for me and of myself I cannot see it, but I will see it with
your help, when you grant me this gift, O gracious light of my secret eyes.
20, 26. What is now clear and unmistakable is that neither things past nor things
future have any existence, and that it is inaccurate to say, “There are three tenses or
times: past, present and future,” though it might properly be said, “There are three
tenses or times: the present of past things, the present of present things, and the
present of future things.” These are three realities in the mind, but nowhere else as far
as I can see, for the present of past things is memory, the present of present things is
attention, and the present of future things is expectation. If we are allowed to put it
that way, I do see three tenses or times, and admit that they are three. Very well, then,
let the phrase pass: “There are three tenses or times: past, present and future,” as
common usage improperly has it: let people go on saying this. I do not mind, nor will
I put up any opposition or offer correction, provided we understand what we are
saying, and do not assert that either the future or the past exists now. There are few
things, in fact, which we state accurately; far more we express loosely, but what we
mean is understood.
21, 27. I said just now* that we measure periods of time as they pass, so as to
declare this interval twice as long as that, or this equal to that, and report anything else
about segments of time that our measurements have revealed. It follows, then, that we
measure these intervals of time as they are passing by, as I remarked, and if anyone asks
me, “How do you know that?” I must be allowed to reply, “I know it because we do in
fact measure them; but what does not exist we cannot measure, and past and future do
not exist.” But how can we measure present time, when it has no extension?** We can
*[That is, in XI, 16, 21.]
**[That is, the ideal present is a point, which has position but no magnitude.]