ABSOLUTE PAST AND FUTURE 49 



neutral wedge might be called the Absolute Present ; but I 

 do not think that is a good nomenclature. It is much 

 better described as Absolute Elsewhere. We have 

 abolished the Now lines, and in the absolute world the 

 present (Now) is restricted to Here-Now. 



Perhaps I may illustrate the peculiar conditions 

 arising from the wedge-shaped neutral zone by a rather 

 hypothetical example. Suppose that you are in love with 

 a lady on Neptune and that she returns the sentiment. 

 It will be some consolation for the melancholy separation 

 if you can say to yourself at some — possibly pre- 

 arranged — moment, "She is thinking of me now". 

 Unfortunately a difficulty has arisen because we have 

 had to abolish Now. There is no absolute Now, but 

 only the various relative Nows differing according to 

 the reckoning of different observers and covering the 

 whole neutral wedge which at the distance of Neptune 

 is about eight hours thick. She will have to think of 

 you continuously for eight hours on end in order to 

 circumvent the ambiguity of "Now". 



At the greatest possible separation on the earth the 

 thickness of the neutral wedge is no more than a tenth 

 of a second; so that terrestrial synchronism is not 

 seriously interfered with. This suggests a qualification 

 of our previous conclusion that the absolute present is 

 confined to Here-Now. It is true as regards instan- 

 taneous events (point-events). But in practice the 

 events we notice are of more than infinitesimal duration. 

 If the duration is sufficient to cover the width of the 

 neutral zone, then the event taken as a whole may fairly 

 be considered to be Now absolutely. From this point 

 of view the "nowness" of an event is like a shadow cast 

 by it into space, and the longer the event the farther 

 will the umbra of the shadow extend. 



