Linear Time

[sean]

Linear Time--the Cultural 'Norm'

by Steve Randall, Ph.D.

 

Linear time is a major feature of our Western cultural world-view, apparently initiated by Newton some 300 years ago. It portrays time as an absolute physical reality, and says that the passage of time is independent of consciousness. So it doesn't matter what you think, feel, or do, or how you look at time, time doesn't change as a result.

 

Of course clock time is a standard that we don't want to change: its continuous measurement of the passage of events enables us to coordinate our activities. But linear time, which is an experiential perspective completely independent of clock time, combines (1) the actual feeling of time slipping from one moment to another, and (2) many different feelings--like overwhelm, pressure, anxiety, hurry, time poverty, frustration, and boredom--that we have as and about time.

 

In the linear view, time flows like a conveyor belt that moves horizontally from past to present to future at the same unchangeable speed for all of us. (See Edward T. Hall, The Dance of Life (New York: Doubleday, 1983), pp. 78-9.) Time feels out of our control; we may feel some helplessness, and think we can only adapt to this 'reality'.

 

<--- past -------------------------- present -------------------------- future --->

 

The conveyor passes through three rooms: past, present, and future. We're always in the present room--we take that for granted. We can't go into the future or past rooms because there seems to be an impenetrable divider between the rooms.

 

On the conveyor there is an apparently endless series of containers extending into the past on the one hand and into the future on the other. The way we 'spend our time' is by putting our activities into the containers as the conveyor moves by us. These containers are all the same size, so we can put only so many activities in a given container, then that time is used up, and the container moves into the past. What was put into the containers moves farther and farther into the past, and doesn't seem to affect us. Wasting time is not filling the containers as they go by. Since we know that there are a limited number of containers that will pass by during our lifetime, we're anxious about not having enough time. Furthermore, since each container has the same size, what we can accomplish in any time period appears to be limited by the structure of time itself. Racing against the conveyor and trying to overfill containers can lead to overwhelm and burnout.

 

The dividers between the past, present, and future rooms have hazy windows in them. Even though we can't go into the future room, we can look into it through its window. Planning an activity is similar to peering through the hazy window to see how the fuzzy future forms might shape up. We then get an idea of what's 'coming down the pike' toward us on the conveyor.

 

With the experience of time flowing between past, present, and future there is a dissatisfied self 'spending time' in the foreground. The self reaches out for satisfaction, looking to other people to fulfill desires, or seeking out special things and activities. The self 'looks forward to' things, but has difficulty fully appreciating them.

 

What other view of time is possible? See Linear vs. Timeless Views, and the discussion of our "Experience of time" in both 'deadline scenarios' and peak performance in "The Qualities of Deadline Pressure Scenarios." To transform the linear sense of time flowing, see How Our Sense of Time Flow is Created.

[neimad]

david icke in his book "infinite love is the only truth, everything else is illusion" presents a very interesting analogy for time as it really is (rather than how we observe it).

 

he likens the whole time track to a dvd.

we are the laser that is reading a particular groove on the dvd and the events unfolding happens as the laser scans the groove in the "play" mode, that is the forward and constant motion of the movie.

 

however just because the laser is tuned to one particular groove on the dvd it does not mean the rest of the dvd ceases to exist, nor does it actually come before or after the particular point.... it's just where we are in relation to the rest of it. the whole track of time actually exists simultaneously, yet we are only tuned into this portion of it....

 

he goes into a lot more detail and it's a pretty remarkable book if you are ok with reading about reptilians controlling our planet (he goes into so much deeper stuff than that though).

[Cameron]

Dogen has some interesting teachings about time.

 

http://www.zenki.com/time01.htm#UJI

[Lozen]

It's pretty amazing how when I go and sweat sometimes it seems like we were in there forever, but we were only in for like a half hour. Or sometimes it seems when I'm playing with my aura that it's taking no time at all and then it'll be three hours later, kind of like sleeping. So I think the trick is, well when I heard Jeanette WInterson speak, she put it beautifully, "The trick is to play with time instead of letting it play with you."

[mYTHmAKER]

If you really want to make time slow down join the army.

Boredom - lack of interest will slow time.

Being focused, loving the doing of something speeds time.

[Lozen]

I think it's more complicated than that.

 

Like sometimes when I meditate (boring), time speeds up.

 

I think it just does what you need it to.

[mYTHmAKER]

If I meditate and I'm thinking about time it drags.

If on the other hand I'm just standing and checking out my

body, following my breath time goes faster for me.

[Lozen]

I'm just saying it's more complicated than "boring things make time drag and fun things make time go by fast."

[mYTHmAKER]

I'm just saying it's more complicated than "boring things make time drag and fun things make time go by fast."

 

You are right it is more complicated.

Perhaps too complicated for me.

I'm simply stating my experience - observations.

When I was in the army a day was like a year.

When I went to reserve meetings once a month it was

as if I had never left. After five minutes it seemed

as though I had no other life. The weekend was like an eternity.

There was nothing I could do to make the time go faster

and believe me I tried.

If I start reading posts or responding to them the night is gone

and I didn't get anything else done.

[Ian]

What other view of time is possible?

 

There is no past, there is no future. Your body has never met either.

Only your mind can inhabit these non-existent zones, as it made them up.

 

There is only now. Simple.

[mYTHmAKER]

There is no past, there is no future. Your body has never met either.

Only your mind can inhabit these non-existent zones, as it made them up.

 

There is only now. Simple.

 

 

Is the above statement intellectual or experiential.

[Ian]

Is the above statement intellectual or experiential.

 

Mainly intellectual, occasionally experiental, but not for long