Fog of Light

Before, I wrote about things faster than light...how that might look. I came across a seemingly random juxtaposition of two images that nearly illustrate this perplexing representation of FTL objects. I talked about how things which move faster than light would essentially be intangible things, yet they would simultaneously have a prominent presence in the spectrum of all things.

First there is the metaphor of the fog.

"This state of etherealness [of FTL objects] is much like the fogs that wash over towns. In its entirety it is a tangible thing, yet its presence and physical being are nothing to the objects which it envelops. It flows seemingly through whatever it wishes; or rather the winds."

In this example photo, light itself is the fog. Like the fog, light, when present from any source (e.g. The sun, or a light in small room, or even a directed source like a flashlight) , will continuously expand throughout in all dimensions. In the case of a focused source, it will stretch on infinitely until reflecting off a surface...continuing its expansion in a diluted fashion into an even great angular area; until it reflects off other sources, dwindling in intensity (and perception to the naked eye) as its density is negligible to greater paths of light.

For non-focused sources such as the sun, their very nature seemingly contributes to our definition of time. Everything we perceive in the now is already in the past. It takes time for light to reach our eye, for that information to be processed by the brain as happening, then, a measurement of time elapses to react. The notion of now is forever fleeting, in a constant step before our own, and constantly fluctuating based on our perceptions of our environment. It is essential, then, to see time being linear to past events, yet, in its present moment, a non-linear thing. It is amorphous

If, then, time is no longer an influential thing in the present...then neither is light. Yet this is a fundamental flaw in the understanding of reality. Light is the only tangible force in our existence for comparison of time...right?

"Imagine a person wading through [a] pool. They are in essence moving faster than the water, yet at the same time interacting with it. Their passage causes molecules to move around the person's being, causing tangible distortions in its composition, but not in its nature."

Without light we essentially have no frame of reference for time. Yet time is a measurement of tangible things. What of intangible, or rather, non-existent things? That is to say, things which are not perceivable? Perhaps of things that move faster than light?

In the photo above we see the effects of various densities of light pollution. These stem from closer sources of light. In essence, they are meeting our eyes "faster" (due to distance traveled times its speed) than any other source, and are stronger in intensity (due to density) than any others. Yet the moment we snuff them out, distant light sources are instantly magnified. Did the distant light get brighter? Or did the environment get darker?

Light succumbs to the prevailing condition: darkness. Darkness is present before light reaches its "occupied" space and before light leaves it. It is the only constant in the universe that is ubiquitously present. In a sense, it  is faster than light. Yet in comparison to the metaphor...does it move at all? How can you see it move when your only frame of reference is with light? Does time pass in total darkness? Is darkness a perceivable thing?

In short order, not with current tools of measurement. That must mean, then, it exists outside the influence of time. Yet within that same line of thinking neither light or shadow is under the influence of time. Then where does time originate if neither light or darkness is a true indicator of time? Time itself would then be a non-existent thing in a present moment.

I assert that motion is the defining indicator of time. In regards to FTL, objects at that velocity exist "outside" time. Only until decelerating below FTL do they ease into the flow of time as well as becoming a perceivable thing. Relative time slower than the "normal flow" are essentially dense matter. Dense matter of unimaginable proportion tend to slow time around it.

Imagine a time stop. What would that look like if you existed outside its influence? Everything would be motionless, unaware of its own state, and essentially a void within reality. A stopped state is a paradoxical existence without an observer within a flow of time.

But then again, this is still only half-baked.