50 TIME 



As the speed of matter approaches the speed of light 

 its mass increases to infinity, and therefore it is impos- 

 sible to make matter travel faster than light. This 

 conclusion is deduced from the classical laws of physics, 

 and the increase of mass has been verified by experiment 

 up to very high velocities. In the absolute world this 

 means that a particle of matter can only proceed from 

 Here-Now into the absolute future — which, you will 

 agree, is a reasonable and proper restriction. It cannot 

 travel into the neutral zone; the limiting cone is the 

 track of light or of anything moving with the speed of 

 light. We ourselves are attached to material bodies, and 

 therefore we can only go on into the absolute future. 



Events in the absolute future are not absolutely 

 Elsewhere. It would be possible for an observer to 

 travel from Here-Now to the event in question in time 

 to experience it, since the required velocity is less than 

 that of light; relative to the frame of such an observer 

 the event would be Here. No observer can reach an 

 event in the neutral zone, since the required speed is too 

 great. The event is not Here for any observer (from 

 Here-Now) ; therefore it is absolutely Elsewhere. 



The Absolute Distinction of Space and Time. By divid- 

 ing the world into Absolute Past and Future on the one 

 hand and Absolute Elsewhere on the other hand, our 

 hour-glasses have restored a fundamental differentiation 

 between time and space. It is not a distinction between 

 time and space as they appear in a space-time frame, but 

 a distinction between temporal and spatial relations. 

 Events can stand to us in a temporal relation (absolutely 

 past or future) or a spatial relation (absolutely else- 

 where), but not in both. The temporal relations radiate 

 into the past and future cones and the spatial relations 



