"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
-Albert Einstein

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Could psychological time beat physical time?

Response to Sarah's last post.

In the basic sense, psychological time is not a tangible source of measuring schedules by checking the time on the clock. In it is that sort of time that deals with the degree of significance a certain person assigns to his/her past, present and future- which mainly are the three important dimensions of psychological time. For every person, psychological time differs as each person has a specific and distinct mode of priority with regards to assigning importance to different dimensions (phases) of his/her life.

For instance if a person has a past orientation, that person relives old days of their life, considers the old methods and approaches of life far superior to contemporary practices. Not only that but the person also sees events as recurring and circular. In other words, according to a past-oriented person, the theories and practices of the past are verily applicable in the courses of both present and future.

As for persons who have a present orientation, they live for the present and don't care either about the past or about the future. According to their standpoints, the present is the ultimate determinant that will comprehend the course of their lives. Past and future holds no importance for present-oriented people.

The last dimension, that is the future-oriented dimension, involves those people, who live for the future that is, they sacrifice their present luxuries and pleasure in order to secure a comfortably lasting future.

Given these dimensions of psychological time, one may assume that human, that is, normal human psychology, perception and corroboration are necessary in order to judge and make use of them. In a sensory deprivation chamber these three dimensions are blurred and eventually meaningless because without chronos or clock time human's seem to be unable to distinguish realities, let alone psychological time dimensions. So in relation to that, what would a reality look like without the institution of time?

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