--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Reality is not a function of the event as…" description: "\"Reality is not a function of the event as event, but of the relationship of that event to past, and future, events.\" — Robert Penn Warren" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ec/robert-penn-warren-2118_events_reality-is-not-a-function-of-the-event-a_941240.jpg" --- # Reality is not a function of the event as event, but of… ![“Reality is not a function of the event as event, but of the relationship of that event to past, and future, events.” quote by Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ec/robert-penn-warren-2118_events_reality-is-not-a-function-of-the-event-a_941240.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ec/robert-penn-warren-2118_events_reality-is-not-a-function-of-the-event-a_941240.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ec/robert-penn-warren-2118_events_reality-is-not-a-function-of-the-event-a_941240.jpg) > “Reality is not a function of the event as event, but of the relationship of that event to past, and future, events.” [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Events gain meaning through their connections to past and future, not in isolation. **In simple terms:** Events gain meaning from context. Key Takeaway Consider temporal relationships in decisions. Themes time causality context Mood analytical thoughtful Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - planning - historical analysis - future forecasting Key Concepts philosophy history systems thinking Questions to Reflect On - How does past influence your current choices? - What future outcomes guide your actions? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on context may obscure present reality; ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Event Relationship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/event-relationship-1610644/) [Events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/events/) [Function](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/function/) [Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Past and future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-and-future/) [Past future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-future/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Reality Function](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality-function-1610643/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [This is not remarkable, for, as we know, reality is not a function of the event as event, but of the relationship of that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/this-is-not-remarkable-for-as-we-know-reality-is-not-a-function-of/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [The demands of our reality function require that we adapt to reality, that we constitute ourselves as a reality and that we manufacture works…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/the-demands-of-our-reality-function-require-that-we-adapt-to-reality/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [So you might say, 'Why do you end up making theatre in a world in which there is already too much of that? 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I believe we all know this very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franco-santoro/the-past-is-gone-and-the-future-is-still-to-happen-only-the-present/) [Franco Santoro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franco-santoro/) > [“Although I am no longer caught in the past, the future seems like a ridiculous thing to me. Try to catch it, hold it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-hoffman/although-i-am-no-longer-caught-in-the-past-the-future-seems-like-a/) [Alice Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-hoffman/) > [“However vivid they might be, past images and future delights did not protect Sylvia from the present, which "rules despotic over pale shadows of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-winder/however-vivid-they-might-be-past-images-and-future-delights-did-not/) [Elizabeth Winder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-winder/) > [The normal present connects the past and the future through limitation. 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Then true intelligence arises, and also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/when-you-are-in-the-present-moment-you-break-the-continuity-of-your/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Knowledge owns the past and future, as long as we've the information we've power over the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-limn/knowledge-owns-the-past-and-future-as-long-as-we-ve-the-information/) [Jeremy Limn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-limn/) ## More by Robert Penn Warren > [If you are an idealist, it does not matter what you do or what goes on around you because it isn't real anyway.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/if-you-are-an-idealist-it-does-not-matter-what-you-do-or-what-goes-on/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [“The child comes home and the parent puts the hooks in him. 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You stop going to sleep in order that you may be able to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/sometimes-sleep-gets-to-be-a-serious-and-complete-thing-you-stop/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [“He thought of night coming on. He thought of the loneliness of tonight, this first night in the ground. This, he thought, was the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/he-thought-of-night-coming-on-he-thought-of-the-loneliness-of-tonight/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [I reckon I am a smart aleck, but it is just a way to pass the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/i-reckon-i-am-a-smart-aleck-but-it-is-just-a-way-to-pass-the-time/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [The poem is not a thing we see; it is, rather, a light by which we may see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/the-poem-is-not-a-thing-we-see-it-is-rather-a-light-by-which-we-may/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [The asking and the answering which history provides may help us to understand, even to frame, the logic of experience to which we shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/the-asking-and-the-answering-which-history-provides-may-help-us-to/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [Process as process is neither morally good nor morally bad. We may judge results but not process. The morally bad agent may perform the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/process-as-process-is-neither-morally-good-nor-morally-bad-we-may/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [The end of man is knowledge, but there is one thing he can't know. He can't know whether knowledge will save him or kill…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/the-end-of-man-is-knowledge-but-there-is-one-thing-he-can-t-know-he/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [For the truth is a terrible thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/for-the-truth-is-a-terrible-thing/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) [Explore all 184 Robert Penn Warren quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) ## More Events quotes > [History is, in its essentials, the science of change. It knows and it teaches that it is impossible to find two events that are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-bloch/history-is-in-its-essentials-the-science-of-change-it-knows-and-it/) [Marc Bloch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-bloch/) > [My political views have never made me insensitive to the pain and suffering caused to the innocent victims of events such as the Warrington…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-fox/my-political-views-have-never-made-me-insensitive-to-the-pain-and/) [Claire Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-fox/) > [Teaching children about the natural world should be seen as one of the most important events in their lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-berry/teaching-children-about-the-natural-world-should-be-seen-as-one-of/) [Thomas Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-berry/) > [In any event, it is one thing to assert, then or now, that the Iraq war was ill-advised. It is quite another to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-silberman/in-any-event-it-is-one-thing-to-assert-then-or-now-that-the-iraq-war/) [Laurence Silberman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-silberman/) > [I wasn’t like, boo hoo, Bin Laden’s dead, but I wasn’t jumping. America’s a very nationalistic country, and in episodes like that of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-scahill/i-wasn-t-like-boo-hoo-bin-laden-s-dead-but-i-wasn-t-jumping-america-s/) [Jeremy Scahill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-scahill/) > [Sometimes I am a collector of data, and only a collector, and am likely to be gross and miserly, piling up notes, pleased with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-fort/sometimes-i-am-a-collector-of-data-and-only-a-collector-and-am-likely/) [Charles Fort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-fort/) > [Things happen too quickly, crisis follows crisis, the soil of our minds is perpetually disturbed. Each of us, to relieve his feelings, broadcasts his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/things-happen-too-quickly-crisis-follows-crisis-the-soil-of-our-minds/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [Do we make ourselves into what we become or is it built into our genes, into the fate spun for us by whatever shapes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-bruchac/do-we-make-ourselves-into-what-we-become-or-is-it-built-into-our/) [Joseph Bruchac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-bruchac/) > [First impressions are often the truest, as we find (not infrequently) to our cost, when we have been wheedled out of them by plausible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/first-impressions-are-often-the-truest-as-we-find-not-infrequently-to/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [The future and the past are equally meaningless because they are nebulous entities, times that do not exist, containing events which have no echo…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-lebbon/the-future-and-the-past-are-equally-meaningless-because-they-are/) [Tim Lebbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-lebbon/) > [History employs evolution to structure biological events in time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/history-employs-evolution-to-structure-biological-events-in-time/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [Sporting events like the Olympics have developed and maintained a clear message of promoting gender equality as an essential criterion in the success of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-attias/sporting-events-like-the-olympics-have-developed-and-maintained-a/) [Richard Attias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-attias/) > [There remains an experience of incomparable value . . . to see the great events of world history from below; from the perspective of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/there-remains-an-experience-of-incomparable-value-to-see-the-great/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [It's really a pity that there are observers who view political events like comic strips. 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