Cameo - Khayyam's notion of Time

The piece below is a fiction and is used for philosophical purposes, a dialogue constructed by the writer between Omar Khayyam, the Persian astronomer and mathematician who devised the Jalali calendar, and a student of his. Khayyam is also referred to as "Excellency":
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In the days of Khayyam, a student came up to him, a frothing at the mouth withthe most complex of metaphysical problems. He greeted the mathematician, then said:

"Master! They have declared no one greater than you in the nations of neither West nor East that can better describe the nature of time and crack open the mysteries within its kernel."

His Excellency replied, "I have charted the years and mapped out the days. With calculations I have overpowered Time solely on my own. Therefore, ask your question so I can know."

The Student asked, "Is Time separate from the world or is it an integral phenomenon of the world?"

Khayyam replied, "It is both separate and integral. It is separate because it is an undeniable reality in itself. It is integral because it is totally dependent on the world."

The Student asked, "Explain, so I may understand."

His Excellency replied, "I will refer you to the hourglass. Watch how the grains pour from the upper chamber to the lower. Now regard that cloud. Tell me! Give me the time it takes for it to reach our heads?"

The Student waited for the cloud to reach their heads, then said, "Quarter Time."

His Excellency asked, "How do you know?"

The Student replied, "For it has taken a quarter of the sand to fall into the lower chamber."

Khayyam said, "Bravo! So have you now understood the concept of time?"

"No."

Khayyam then said, "Whose time did you measure?"

"The time of motion of the cloud from point to point."

"How did you measure it?"

"With an hourglass," said the student. "I compared the two motions and based one motion on the motion of the other."

Khayyam said, "Now have you understood the concept of time?? It is the motion of one relative to the motion of another."

The Student then reasoned, "Therefore Time is integral. Solely a mere phenomenon of this world, with no reality, and nothing more."

"You go too fast, too soon. Hold the reins to your intellect, lest it slips in falsehood. Tell me, young man, what is motion?"

The Student said, "Translation from one point to another. Like the rise of the sun from the horizon to the highmost point and then back down in the opposite direction."

Khayyam replied, "In one scene, can sunrise and sunset occur together?"

"No. They occur in two separate times."

"Then how do you say," reasoned Khayyam, "that Time has no reality? If Time is not real, then what is it that separates those two event?"

"I am confused."

His Excellency said, "Then understand that Time is real but dependent."

"Dependent on what?"

"Dependent on the perception of things. For the amount of time that passes depends on the motion of those things."

"But does not motion require time?"

"Yes, and that is why Time is real and separate," said Khayyam.

"Master! How does time pass? Is it an infinite of points or separate moments?"

"It is both. Infinite, because we are never outside the present - and an infinite never moves beyond a point. Separate, because we perceive time as flowing forth, thus there is motion beyond a point, thus there are separate moments."

The Student asked, "You confuse me even more. Why does an infinite not move beyond a point?"

"To move from one point to another, you must first traverse half the distance - and before that, half of the half - and before that, half of the half of the half - and before that an infinity of halves - you will never move!"

The Student then said, "But time does move? Why do you say therefore that time is infinite as well?"

Khayyam said, "Tell me how you perceive time?"

The Student said, "I perceive it as separate events."

"Tell me, are you in the past or future?"

"I am in the present, Master."

His Excellency then said, "Can you move beyond the present?

"Of course. I can think of the past?"

"Do you think of the past in the past - or do you think of the past in the current confinement of the present?"

The Student paused, then said, "In the present."

Khayyam said, "Therefore, know this as truth. You are living on a point in an infinity of points, and you will never depart. That is the eternal present that you are fated to be within."

"Please explain to me the separateness of moments, then."

He said, "To know this, you must know the moment. Learn it, then come."
He said, "Know then, that each point in this infinity represents a graph. Each graph is an infinite line, divided equally into segments. Each segment represents the separateness of the events in time. Thus, when the different graphs (represented by the points on the infinity) are compared, some graphs can 'carry' other graphs,
"How can that be?"