Hugh Jenkins : Reflections on Time and Change

<<Time is not always what it seems. It is seen, experienced and understood in many
different ways. Augustine of Hippo had a point of view about time it is not strictly
true to say there are three times, past, present and future. It might be correct to say that
there are three times, a present of past things, a present of present things, a present of
future things. Some such different times do exist in the mind, but nowhere else that Ican
see. The present of past things is the memory, the present of present things is direct
perception, the present of future things is expectation.
That is to say that for all three views we only have present experiences that relate to
future ( expected, planned, looked forward to, feared events) and recalled experiences of
events in the ( increasingly distant) past. Somehow sandwiched between the two we are
in the present of present things. The mediating mechanism is the mind,making sense of
time and without which we would perceive nothing.>>