Time Piece
<bgsound src="http://www.maybelogic.org/maybequarterly/04/Chapter9.mp3"> By BogusMagus In honour of the theme of this edition of MQ, but to remind ourselves that Space and Time should no longer be separated in discussion, I will reverse the usual Einsteinian compression to ‘Timespace’, and use the following simple device as a visual aid. Discussions of General Semantics and E-prime have shown us that questions with ‘is’ in them can create real unsolvable problems. 'Is' light made of waves or particles? No coherent answer. 'Is' Time Linear or Cyclic? Same nonsense. We can discuss what people experience as time, and the kind of experience they report of what they call time, but nothing more. e.g. People may think time stretches out when young, and moves too fast when they get old OR they may also say that time goes slowly when bored, and far too quickly when having a good time. What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know. Saint Augustine Time is an illusion. Lunchtime, doubly so. DNA Mythic Time Most humans throughout history have considered time (in the big picture) as having a cyclic quality – as clear as Day and Night, and the passing and return of the seasons. The universe for the Hindu and other similar religions involve huge periods of time, vast cycles, that more closely resemble our modern scientific picture of the universe, in scale at least. This oceanic model of time I will indicate with a Circle – whether you see that as a cycle, or ripples from a central point, this symbol, with its associations with the feminine, the great mother, seems the simplest to indicate Cyclic, Rhythmic, Periodic Time, like a wave (rippling out, rippling along), playing in the magnetic fields. NB: As the traditional use of masculine/feminine active/passive seems a little offensive these days, I prefer to use Dynamic for direct action in the world of levers and particulars, and Magnetic for the world of indirect influence, field effects which may attract or repel through unseen forces and wave phenomena. Linear Time The Christian model of the universe, and any other with a ‘Creation Point’ – has tended to see time as progressing from irreversibly from a start to an end point. Finite beings go from birth to death, from womb to tomb. Whether or not we believe in a creator, our current scientific model starts with a Big Bang, and creatures appear to evolve forwards, onwards and upwards perhaps, but the model still has a clock-time feel to it, and a possible End of Time. I will use the Line to indicate this Linear Time, with the dynamic connotations of that symbol – time flies like an arrow. Temperament and Perceptions of Time Alan McGlashan (a Jungian Analyst) describes those two aspects of time as reflecting mental states. He also indicates that we can respond to these perceptions in either positive or negative ways. He points out that humans invented linear time (and clocks), and that nature works with cycles. The depth and immersion in the Great Mother of cyclic time can feel wonderful and rooted, feeling part of the great cycles of life, always offered another chance (the Buddhist reincarnation model). We could associate this with McLuhan's acoustic, tribal space of myths and legends. However, just that sense of immersion can also feel stifling, leading to passive resignation, with no escape from The Eternal Return – The Wheel of Karma - which McG says resembles the manic-depressive cycle of ups and downs. Anecdotally (coincidentally?) more women get diagnosed as bipolar (manic-depressive). The relentless linear series of moments, endlessly rolling on, or stretching into a meaningless future, can offer a schizophrenic horror picture, with time as an enemy and tyrant, a downhill race won by one hundredth of a second – or it can appear joyously as a wide-open future of unused time, potential and possibilities. Anecdotally, perhaps suggestively, more men suffer from early-onset schizophrenia. We could link this to McLuhan's visual space, employing perspective, a vanishing point, and a written history obsessed with dates and cause-and-effect and 'progress'. Another aspect of time we might consider does not have to do with how time 'moves' but the timeless now, the present moment. Colin Wilson talks about feeling trapped in a small now, which leaves us with existential angst and a sense of meaninglessness, an isolated figure in a featureless desert. The cure for this, he says, lies in expanding one’s awareness, and getting a sense of history and context. Ram Dass (and similar optimists) see the Here and Now quite differently. Their deep sense of Now considers the past as mere memories (sometimes of things that never happened) and the future as a fantasy…and all thoughts and plans as present events in the mindbody – but with a richness of imagination and reference to make it rewarding. "I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." -Groucho According to poet Miroslav Holub 'scientists' have proven that the 'subjective present' lasts about three seconds… I spend a lot of time thinking about time, but the following insights may have emerged after reading a special issue of the Scientific American, September, 2002 - "A Matter of Time" and an article in Psychology Today in 1972, called something like Four Personality Types and their Perception of Time. Humphrey Osmond (yes, the acid researcher) et al. used Jungian typology to describe four different temperaments and the different ways that they perceive time. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this article and find it difficult to locate the original Psychology Today article, you can also find it in the book by Humphrey Osmond, et al., The Future of Time (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1971). This link takes you to a relevant summary in PDF. For the Sensation Type the present, not the past or future, seems most important. They concern themselves with the 'now' and whatever happens immediately around them. They appear comfortable and effective at handling "concrete reality." They like to influence their environment; they generally prefer to work with their hands. They seem very competent at dealing with emergencies and crises. Their orientation towards time keeps them constantly active. Traditionally linked to Earth, they like facts, they use the five senses, they live in a grounded reality – “Let’s do something!” The Feeling Type dwells in the past which feels real and important. The present also seems important to them as the leading edge of the past, but for them the future has no reality. They see time as a circular process; the past manifesting itself in the present, and then again becoming the past. They always relate the present to the past. They want to connect the new to old. They like patterns. They are likely to say, "Oh yes, that reminds me…” They have little love of clock-time. Traditionally linked with Water, perhaps their sigil would look better inverted, to indicate the endless cycle of river, sea, rain… The Thinking Type thinks of time as linear; it flows from the past through the present and on into the future, in a continuous expansion. They see time as a process. This type takes a scientific approach to time. They may have an interest in the past, but only as it relates to the future. They don't often feel nostalgic or sentimental about memories. Thinkers are keen planners. Because of their focus on where they are going they are often seen to as cold, unenthusiastic, detached. Thinking types have clocks inside their heads. For the Intuitive Type, only the future seems real and interesting. As they live in a world of possibilities, imagination, potential and inspiration they can give the impression of being impractical or unrealistic. They usually have little sense of status or interest in wealth and the common rewards …however they sometimes surprise people if they can bring their dreams to fruition and manifestation. Traditionally linked to impulsive Fire. Of course, my little sketches and diagrams cannot do justice to the mystery of time. I only intend them as aids to contemplation. Please always remember that ‘the map is not the territory’. But still, images can help, so I will finish with a long quote from Alan McG’s delightful, brief and lucid book “Gravity and Levity”: “Yet it is probably necessary to make room for this image-making propensity in man. […] But there does exist an image, not merely visual but concrete and factual, that is capable of expressing the paradox of an 'open circle'. The spiral is such an image. A spiral is in itself a visual paradox. Seen from the side, it consists of a wavy line which we know only requires sufficient tension at each end to draw it into a straight one. Seen from vertically above, a spiral consists of a circle which appears to be a closed and perfect figure though we know in fact it is open. To ask which of these two figures is the true image of time is to share the mental equipment of a man who asks, on being shown two projections of a house, one in elevation and one in plan, 'Ah, but which is the real house?' The figure of a spiral is no casual choice. Nature itself is greatly taken with spirals, and plays unending variations on this single theme, from the helical homes of snails and a thousand sea-creatures, the spiralling horns of a multitude of animals, the coiled cochlear organs of human ears, up to the monstrous and menacing spirals of whirlpools, water-spouts and tornadoes. Working at IN PRAISE OF TIME the opposite end of the scale, two physicists, Watson and Crick, won the Nobel Prize in 1962 for their (demonstration that the basic DNA molecule, which holds the secret of the genes, has the structure of a double spiral. In short, there is more to the spiral in every sense than meets the eye. No image of the mystery of time can be wholly satisfactory. The image of the spiral can at least contain and express the liberating paradox of a time-world that is at the same moment complete — and open-ended.” Most of us think of the Earth (and other planets) going around the Sun in a closed orbit, but on a wider scale you can see that we never exactly repeat ourselves, like that. The Sun, you see, also travels around the Galaxy, so the Earth's orbit really describes a spiral filament around the Sun's course. The flat model of the planets in closed orbits around the sun we so often get shown remains merely a useful snapshot or cross-section of the long body of the Sun. "Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving and revolving at nine hundred miles an hour..." "The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see are moving at a million miles a day..." --'The Galaxy Song' from The Meaning of Life.
By BogusMagus
In honour of the theme of this edition of MQ, but to remind ourselves that Space and Time should no longer be separated in discussion, I will reverse the usual Einsteinian compression to ‘Timespace’, and use the following simple device as a visual aid.
Discussions of General Semantics and E-prime have shown us that questions with ‘is’ in them can create real unsolvable problems. 'Is' light made of waves or particles? No coherent answer. 'Is' Time Linear or Cyclic? Same nonsense.
We can discuss what people experience as time, and the kind of experience they report of what they call time, but nothing more. e.g. People may think time stretches out when young, and moves too fast when they get old OR they may also say that time goes slowly when bored, and far too quickly when having a good time.
What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know. Saint Augustine
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime, doubly so. DNA
Mythic Time
Most humans throughout history have considered time (in the big picture) as having a cyclic quality – as clear as Day and Night, and the passing and return of the seasons. The universe for the Hindu and other similar religions involve huge periods of time, vast cycles, that more closely resemble our modern scientific picture of the universe, in scale at least. This oceanic model of time I will indicate with a Circle – whether you see that as a cycle, or ripples from a central point, this symbol, with its associations with the feminine, the great mother, seems the simplest to indicate Cyclic, Rhythmic, Periodic Time, like a wave (rippling out, rippling along), playing in the magnetic fields.
NB: As the traditional use of masculine/feminine active/passive seems a little offensive these days, I prefer to use Dynamic for direct action in the world of levers and particulars, and Magnetic for the world of indirect influence, field effects which may attract or repel through unseen forces and wave phenomena.
Linear Time
The Christian model of the universe, and any other with a ‘Creation Point’ – has tended to see time as progressing from irreversibly from a start to an end point. Finite beings go from birth to death, from womb to tomb. Whether or not we believe in a creator, our current scientific model starts with a Big Bang, and creatures appear to evolve forwards, onwards and upwards perhaps, but the model still has a clock-time feel to it, and a possible End of Time. I will use the Line to indicate this Linear Time, with the dynamic connotations of that symbol – time flies like an arrow. Temperament and Perceptions of Time
Alan McGlashan (a Jungian Analyst) describes those two aspects of time as reflecting mental states. He also indicates that we can respond to these perceptions in either positive or negative ways. He points out that humans invented linear time (and clocks), and that nature works with cycles.
The depth and immersion in the Great Mother of cyclic time can feel wonderful and rooted, feeling part of the great cycles of life, always offered another chance (the Buddhist reincarnation model). We could associate this with McLuhan's acoustic, tribal space of myths and legends. However, just that sense of immersion can also feel stifling, leading to passive resignation, with no escape from The Eternal Return – The Wheel of Karma - which McG says resembles the manic-depressive cycle of ups and downs. Anecdotally (coincidentally?) more women get diagnosed as bipolar (manic-depressive).
The relentless linear series of moments, endlessly rolling on, or stretching into a meaningless future, can offer a schizophrenic horror picture, with time as an enemy and tyrant, a downhill race won by one hundredth of a second – or it can appear joyously as a wide-open future of unused time, potential and possibilities. Anecdotally, perhaps suggestively, more men suffer from early-onset schizophrenia. We could link this to McLuhan's visual space, employing perspective, a vanishing point, and a written history obsessed with dates and cause-and-effect and 'progress'.
Another aspect of time we might consider does not have to do with how time 'moves' but the timeless now, the present moment. Colin Wilson talks about feeling trapped in a small now, which leaves us with existential angst and a sense of meaninglessness, an isolated figure in a featureless desert. The cure for this, he says, lies in expanding one’s awareness, and getting a sense of history and context.
Ram Dass (and similar optimists) see the Here and Now quite differently. Their deep sense of Now considers the past as mere memories (sometimes of things that never happened) and the future as a fantasy…and all thoughts and plans as present events in the mindbody – but with a richness of imagination and reference to make it rewarding.
"I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." -Groucho
According to poet Miroslav Holub 'scientists' have proven that the 'subjective present' lasts about three seconds…
I spend a lot of time thinking about time, but the following insights may have emerged after reading a special issue of the Scientific American, September, 2002 - "A Matter of Time" and an article in Psychology Today in 1972, called something like Four Personality Types and their Perception of Time.
Humphrey Osmond (yes, the acid researcher) et al. used Jungian typology to describe four different temperaments and the different ways that they perceive time. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this article and find it difficult to locate the original Psychology Today article, you can also find it in the book by Humphrey Osmond, et al., The Future of Time (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1971). This link takes you to a relevant summary in PDF.
Of course, my little sketches and diagrams cannot do justice to the mystery of time. I only intend them as aids to contemplation. Please always remember that ‘the map is not the territory’. But still, images can help, so I will finish with a long quote from Alan McG’s delightful, brief and lucid book “Gravity and Levity”:
“Yet it is probably necessary to make room for this image-making propensity in man. […] But there does exist an image, not merely visual but concrete and factual, that is capable of expressing the paradox of an 'open circle'. The spiral is such an image. A spiral is in itself a visual paradox. Seen from the side, it consists of a wavy line which we know only requires sufficient tension at each end to draw it into a straight one. Seen from vertically above, a spiral consists of a circle which appears to be a closed and perfect figure though we know in fact it is open. To ask which of these two figures is the true image of time is to share the mental equipment of a man who asks, on being shown
two projections of a house, one in elevation and one in plan, 'Ah, but which is the real house?'
The figure of a spiral is no casual choice. Nature itself is greatly taken with spirals, and plays unending variations on this single theme, from the helical homes of snails and a thousand sea-creatures, the spiralling horns of a multitude of animals, the coiled cochlear organs of human ears, up to the monstrous and menacing spirals of whirlpools, water-spouts and tornadoes. Working at IN PRAISE OF TIME the opposite end of the scale, two physicists, Watson and Crick, won the Nobel Prize in 1962 for their (demonstration that the basic DNA molecule, which holds the secret of the genes, has the structure of a double spiral. In short, there is more to the spiral in every sense than meets the eye. No image of the mystery of time can be wholly satisfactory. The image of the spiral can at least contain and express the liberating paradox of a time-world that is at the same moment complete — and open-ended.”
"Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving and revolving at nine hundred miles an hour..."
"The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see are moving at a million miles a day..."
--'The Galaxy Song' from The Meaning of Life.
