I think that cause and effect existed before time. Time allows us to fix events with respect to each other when they are NOT related by cause and effect. Three examples:
X and Y events are completely unrelated by cause and effect. There is no way to say which happened "before" the other.
X and Y events both independently contributed to Z event. They both happened "before" Z, but you can't say whether X or Y happened "first."
X and Y events cause X' and Y' events, respectively, which independently contribute to Z event. You can say that they all happened "before" Z, and that X happened "before" X', and that Y happened "before" Y', but you can't say anything else.
Time is the creation of a new characteristic of events. Events happen at a specific time, which is shared by other, unrelated events.
So, when I hear that it took 1,000 years before time for something to happen, I think it means one or more of the following kinds of things:
- it took a lot of effort - we had to ignore a lot of distractions - it was really important - you barbarians should be impressed by numbers you can't count on your grubby toes
I think that the Yelmic culture is a partial exception and theymight mmean something different. I'll use Jeorg as my jumping-off point.
> I think that the very act (or ritual) of measuring time
> within the mythic eras created a measurable series of events.
> The meticulous choreography of the Yelmic court created its
> own rhythm and subcycle that could be counted.
They were not measuring time. But they were all looking at a common sky and all doing the same thing when certain events happened. The difference is between a group of people starting something by looking at their watches compared to the group starting somethign because someone shouted "start."
But the Yelmies did a lot of things because things happened in the sky. And they could count those happenings. So, on the 172nd rise of whatever planet, they were doing the umbajumba ritual when The Bad Thing happened.
This opens up some MGF. Some of those celestial events still occur. So, if the whatever planet rises every 10 years, and they have records of 1000 rises before the sun returned, then there were 10,000 years. That's totally wrong, but gives rise to interesting mythic mischief. Especially when you add the common empirical assumption that if X happens before Y, X is likely to cause Y. Here, you may not even be able to say that X happened before Y, because the celetial events may not have been related to each other by cause and effect. Just because the whatever planet rises twice for each transit of the thingie star doesn't mean that relationship held before time. Is there a mythic reason for the ratio? If not, then it's just temporal.
The same theory could apply to Pentans, since they have a pre-time commonality with the Yelmies.
The same theory could apply to Zzabur's turning of his glass, but I don't know enough about Brithini myths to say anything intelligent about it.
Chris
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