How do you perceive time?

[Yorick]

Originally posted by Moni: I agree with most everything you are saying here, Yorick, and it is hard for me to say that to see each day as completely new is truly not easy. For myself, it took a life altering second in time to forever change the way I perceived each minute I had left. Nothing I would wish on any other person as a way to learn the concept but consider these things as you lay down to sleep tonight and see if tomorrow doesn't seem like it is going to be whole new experience.: "If I were to die before morning, could I say that I have absolutely no regrets? That I have forgiven where forgiveness is due? That I have made up for the wrongs that I feel I have counted against me?" "The next time I encounter a stranger, am I going to look at them as if they are a stranger or am I going to relate to them, through my eyes, the familiarity of being human and the happiness that I don't share this fate alone?" "If I am only given the first ten minutes of tomorrow to live, can I make something enjoyable out of even the reptiious and the mundane?" "Am I going to perceive the newness of a new day in what I do on a daily basis?" With every passing day even dirt gets one day older. I am sitting here not knowing exactly how I do it but even though I live a life of mostly mundane repetition, every day, nay, every minute of every day, is something new and exciting, something to be thankful for, and something that has the potential to bring the unexpected into my life good or bad...I feel like I am ready for anything and always appreciate each minute, even if it seems unchanged from the last...its not. I perceive time as the opportunity continue living. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Great post Moni. [img]smile.gif[/img] Wow.

[Yorick]

On the discussion of time travel (a tangential offshoot BTW ) I once read that some German scientists recently declared that such thinking in a recent scientist theories on time travel, should not be allowed!

LOL! Shouldn't be allowed! DOn't refute, ban LOL!

Anyhow, I agree that time travel backwards is impossible, but I believe time travel forwards is. I mean we're doing that already, we'd just be leapfrogging ahead.

[ 10-14-2002, 05:14 PM: Message edited by: Yorick ]

[Timber Loftis]

Taking off on what Moni said, I often find myself acutely aware of how infinitely small my slice of time is. I find this very humbling, and for that exact reason I see new enjoyment in my every day, even if it's very similar to the one before.

[Yorick]

I'm working on a remix of the song now....

I think I need to write a new song...

Ah well it's an expressionistic impression, not statement of fact.

Originally posted by Thoran: Yes it does, and I tend to think it's a reasonable way to avoid the Time Paradox that they're always so worried about in Star Trek.

nope - it doesn't [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[RevRuby]

as someone who has had a child recently i see time as fleeting. everyday i come clser to a conclusion of it,a nd it moves quickly. i try to make the most out of my time. i spend moments with my children and husband and cherish every one. my "newborn" is now 6 weeks old. my other "baby" girl is 3 almost 4! i look back and see years as moments in time that i have missed because i allowed it. i hope to better control that now, i hope to not waste another moment of my life. my only time here as i know it. I cannot go back in time, so that does not concern me. time goes forward, and so must i.

[ 10-14-2002, 05:24 PM: Message edited by: RevRuby ]

[Chewbacca]

Great thoughts Yorick!
I percieve time as now. The present is the foundation of the future and now is the only time we have to break the cycles that seem to lock us into "negative" patterns of thoughts and corresponding behavior.
The whole "new age" idea of living in the present is centered around this idea.

Also, history tends to repeat itself unless we learn from our mistakes. This makes time more like a spiral, going round on itself, yet growing beyond what was. This spiral could go either way, positive or negative, the choice lies in the mind of the beholder.

Thank you Yorick [img]smile.gif[/img] and best of luck with your work!
Regarding your re-mix...if you were happy with it prior to this thread, leave it alone. Chances are it was perfect already. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Timber Loftis,
Thank you for putting what I felt into words. When I said I don't know how I do it, that is exactly what I meant only the words themselves weren't there (YOU had them! )
To be aware of how little time we really have (even if it turns out to be years, which in retrospect always feel like minutes to me) is truly humbling and that is what gives my time all of its good qualities. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Originally posted by Yorick: On the discussion of time travel (a tangential offshoot BTW ) I once read that some German scientists recently declared that such thinking in a recent scientist theories on time travel, should not be allowed! LOL! Shouldn't be allowed! DOn't refute, ban LOL! Anyhow, I agree that time travel backwards is impossible, but I believe time travel forwards is. I mean we're doing that already, we'd just be leapfrogging ahead.

LOL This post reminded me of a web site one of my professors showed me recently and I thought you might be able to appreciate its absurdity:
The Time Travel Fund

[Timber Loftis]

I hope not to go too far [img]graemlins/offtopic.gif[/img] here, so tell me if I do.

While time is probably percieved as linear for most of us (and the vote here seems to sustain this notion), personal growth (i.e. maturation) is not. That's the spiral you are seeing, Yorick. Hegel called it a dialectic. Marx followers dumb it down to "thesis, antithesis, synthesis" so they can teach Marx's ideas, and W.B. Yeates definately had a good take on it as a "spiral" in his poems and, more pointedly, his A Vision.

The notion is not complex. First you have a notion of self/growth/experience. Then something makes you question that notion, and view it from another light. You do this for a bit, just to counterpose your original view. Then you come back to that original notion, but not at quite the same level as before. Over time this back-and-forth internal dialogue on any one point of growth/idea/notion, if we draw a visual representation of it, looks like a spiral of assumed viewpoints - alternating back and forth but getting ever closer. Sometimes the points get too close, and an event causes our dialogue-points to spiral back outwards - ergo Yeates "falconer who cannot control the falcon" and "beast slouching towards Bethlehem."

Thus, I would argue that Time = Linear, but our Maturation through time is certainly a dialectic. (And this is the reason I address this perhaps OFFTOPIC idea - since Yorick began w/ a spiral versus a line.)

Personally, I think eastern religions had a much purer understanding of these notions - visually represented by Ying/Yang, and very abundant in Taoist writings.

A now my head truly hurts.
At least my day is almost over. [img]graemlins/cheers.gif[/img]

[ 10-14-2002, 05:43 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]