perhaps reality is like a DVD. the entire "movie" is actually happening all in one moment, "now." when the "disc" is "interpreted" in a certain way, time appears to pass and the characters "on" the "disc" appear to be self-aware. their true nature is more like just being a string of 1's and 0's than being the physical or energetic forms they appear to be when the "disc" is "interpreted" the way it is. when the focus of attention shifts, it makes it seem, for the characters at least, that time is transpiring though in some sense, the whole "movie" occurs simultaneously on the "disc." of course, this raises questions. can the contents of the "disc" be changed once it is formulated? if the analogy is any good, who is watching the "disc," giving the characters the illusion of time?
not too long after thinking about the DVD analogy for reality, i was sent this article about the holographic universe which suggests that recent sub-atomic observations at least don't contradict the idea that the universe is some kind of hologram, if not support it. this hologram would probably be a more apt description than DVD.
http://twm.co.nz/hologram.html
another question is that since the hologram appears though it might be infinite, would the "medium" on which the hologram is imprinted have to be infinite itself? i don't think that question is answerable yet, but one can point out that one can compress an infinite amount of data into a finite form such as a fractal being compressible into an equation.
the phrase "all the world's a stage" comes to mind...