Is The Passing of Time an Illusion
Does time exist? Is it something general or individual and subjective? Does time pass or does it seem to pass? Is time passing linear or are only things happening and we get the illusion of time passing?
Natalja Deng, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Underwood International College, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea, writes in One Thing after Another: Why the Passage of Time is Not an Illusion, 2019, that Time is a perception that one thing after another happens.
Einstein wrote that the division between past, present and future has only the significance of a stubbornly persistent illusion. For him time was a fourth dimension in the space-time continuum.
What is Time
As with reality there is no definite definition for time and no definite answer to the question „What is Time?“. Some scientists say that time does not exist and others say that it does. Some scientists say that time is something relative. Some say that time can‘t exist without space. Time is perceived differently by each person, which makes it subjective. So it depends on a number of personal factors, as with reality.
As with reality there is no definite definition for time and no definite answer to the question „What is Time?“.
We all have a consciousness. Consciousness never dies. It is eternal. There can be no time for eternity. So I believe that time only exists while we are alive. That we perceive time as something passing, makes it for me existing. And time makes anything age.
Time passes differently on earth as in space or on any planet. This means that the 24 hours for one day have different lengths in any part of space. Passing of time is perceived differently by any person and in different situations.
What We Can Say About Time
Time feels real. It is there and is moving forward. It has flow, passes, has a direction, and advances. We have not to do anything that time continues passing. It has order in the way that one thing after another happens.
Flow and direction of time are not physical, but mental. Though the flow of time is an illusion.
Time is perceived from us humans linear. The past is behind and the future in front, while we are in the present. We are unable to imagine that all happens in the now and that there are intelligent beings who are able to choose where in time they want to be. While they travel in time, doesn‘t time pass? And don‘t they too age?
Time is perceived from us humans linear. The past is behind and the future in front, while we are in the present.
How Can We Understand Time
Look how a movie is made. It consists of lots of images, one after the other. A cutter cuts out what is not good and can add one or more images. A director can change the story by changing some sequences of the movie consisting of images. With movement of the images the movie is created. Does this happen with our lives and could we change it, would we choose other sequences?
The underlying reality of a movie is that it consists of images and images consist of lots of dots. With the movement of the images the impression of motion and passing of time is produced. The movie is produced and transmitted by electronic devices and can only be watched with the help of an electronic device. This means that technology is part of the creation of a movie that we can watch it.
Our lives consist of countless parallel realities, which are comparable with the images in a movie. In each moment, which is a parallel reality, you have memoies of past parallel realities, which is called from the past. You constantly move from one to another parallel reality, which produces motion and gives you the sense of the passing of time. It is your choice into which parallel reality you are moving next. This way you change the direction into which your life goes.
If you want to change your life significantly, you would have to change the memories of the past which you have stored in your brain. Memories are part of the information of the subconscious mind. This is programming of your thinking and feeling. You can reprogram yourself.
All parallel realities, if you choose one or another, exist, but not time. You constantly jump from one parallel reality into another, but the perception of time is not real. It is an illusion. We have only the impression that time flows and passes. I don‘t discuss here the question if what happens only happens in our brains or really. This topic belongs to the question what reality is.
Max Tegmark is Professor of Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology talks in this video about the question if time is fundamental.
A study, published in 2015, provides evidence that time is handled by the brain like space. From Scientific American – How we make sense of time.
Researchers in Belgium scanned the brains of participants as they answered questions about the order of events that had recently happened or were about to happen. The researchers found that performing this task engaged a network of brain areas known to support spatial imagery. As the same area of the brain is used for spatial imagery and for time, this could be a trace that different time has a different place. This could mean that it is true that we do go from one reality to another. But even though the passing of time is going to different realities or places, time is still passing.
How Is Time Made On Earth
The Earth rotates around itself in one day. This period is devided into 24 hours. It could have been devided into more or fewer hours. That a day has 24 hours is absolutely men made. Most people have a watch and know what time it is, depending where in the world they are. There are 24 time zones around the world. During these 24 hours we need to sleep a few hours and we need to eat. Thanks to watches, we know when to show up at work and when we can leave. We can make appointments and can be there on time. As time passes, we and quite everything is aging.
That a day has 24 hours is absolutely men made.
But what is the time on a planet that rotates around itself quicker or slower as the earth? Of course a day could also be devided into 24 hours, just that one hour would be shorter or longer. Are intelligent beings who live on a planet that rotates around itself slower as the earth aging slower as people on earth or those who live on a planet that rotates around iself quicker as the earth aging quicker?
Imagine that the earth stops to rotate around itself. What happens with the time? Our clocks would still function and we would still have the impression that time passes. Half of the earth would always be dark and the other always light.
Many years ago I have seen a documentation about time. An experiment was made with a surprising result. A group of students have been put into rooms without daylight, with electric light and with whatever they wanted. They had to make note of each single day. At the end of this at least two week long experiment, the students had the impression that more days had passed. Their days have gone past quicker.
Is the reason that time seemed to pass slower, because the students did not enjoy so much living without daylight and away from their normal routine? Or are we humans not from earth and our inner clock is used another period of time for one day? What do you think?
How Does Time Pass For You
I invite you to watch yourself in time. Put all clocks and watches away or cover them. Then go ahead with your day. After you have finished a specific task, estimate the time that has passed and make note of it. While you have lunch, do the same. While you commute, estimate the time it took from home to work and then back home. When you meet with friends in the evening, estimate how much time you have spend with them. Add the times that you have noted and compare with the time that has really passed.
Do the same the following day. But this time whenever you have finished a task or a meeting, estimate the time and then look at a watch and compare your estimation with the time that has passed.
Was your estimation of the time that has past right? If not, why? Think about it. If you dislike doing something, time seems to pass slower and if you enjoy something, time seems to pass quicker. You know that when you are waiting for something and looking at the watch again and again, time seems to stand still.
I would like to have more time
We can’t stretch time where we want more of it. If we are waiting for something, time passes extremely slowly. If we have to get something done, time seems to run. I am busy 7 days a week from early morning into the night. I have the impression that short after I got up the day is over. I read that if you move quicker time is slower. But I have not made this experience.
We Perceive that Time Passes Slower or Quicker
That we perceive that time passes one time slower and under other circumstances quicker makes time relative. How relative is time and can we control it?
How relative is time and can we control it?
Some people say that time is a construct and that it is different for each person and in different situations. Isn‘t the time we see on our watches for each person the same? Time, for example one hours, is for each person the same. Is the perception that one hour passes in certain situations quicker or slower for each person differently?
Is the perception that one hour passes in certain situations quicker or slower for each person differently?
Can a person control how he perceives time or can he make himself get more done during a specific period of time?
How Much Can You Get Done During A Certain Period of Time
- If you have a specific task to get done and let us assume you believe it will take you 3 hours, look at the clock, start with the work, be focused on what you do and after you finished, look at the clock again.
- Another time think that the same task as above will quickly be done. Look at the clock, start with your work, be focused on what you do and after you finished, look at the clock again. I strongly believe that you will have finished in less than 3 hours.
- Another time think that you have a lot to get done and that this specific task as above is only part of all that you want to get done. Look at the clock, start with your work, be focused on what you do and after you finished the first task, look at the clock again. I believe you will have finished even faster as in 2..
Now compare the 3 days and how much time it took to get this specific task done. What does your sense of time tell you? This shows that time is subject to you to a certain degree.
If you try to do everything faster – move, work, speak faster, time will pass slower.
If you wait to be the next at a dentist, time doesn‘t want to go by and it was 15 to 20 minutes. If you have fun with some friends, it seems that an hour is like nothing. If you do something that you enjoy and you are fully focused, time flies.
Can We Contol Time?
The day has 24 hours. There is no way to change that. But can these 24 hours be longer if needed?
There are some people who get a lot more done as most others. Why? What happens? Are they able to control time? Highly successful people move and speak faster and get more done as most others during a certain period of time.
Each person is travelling through time in his own pace. If someone moves very quickly, his time passes slowly and if someone moves slowly, his time passes quickly. Read more about this phenomenon in the relativity theory by Einstein. Depending on the gravitation, the time passes at different speeds. Gravitation has to do with mass. And so space and time are interdependent.
Each person is travelling through time in his own pace. If someone moves very quickly, his time passes slowly and if someone moves slowly, his time passes quickly.
Time Behaves Differently In Space
Time seems to behave differently in space than on Earth. When a person travels in space for a long time and then returns to the world, their clock has been slower and the traveler has not aged as much as people on earth.
If a planet, we call it Quick, moves around its sun faster than the earth around its sun, how long does a day feel? How much can an intelligent being do in one day on this planet? Would a human come to Planet Quick, how long does a day feel like to him and how much can he do there during a day?
If a planet, we call it Slow, moves around its sun slower than the earth around its sun, how long does a day feel and how much can a human do there during a day?
How much do intelligent beings age on Quick and how much on Slow, compared to humans on Earth?
We still have no absolute answers to these questions. Some scientists make assumptions.
Does Each Person Experience Time Differently
Does time pass or do we have the experience that time passes? If one person has to answer this question, it is different as if two people, who have an appointment with each other, have to answer this question. They have to meet each other at one and the same time, no matter what each person does, before he or she goes to the meeting.
If these 2 people are quite different, person A will get a lot done until he goes to the meeting and person B maybe not so much. As explained before, time is subjective.
What Are The Ways to Win Time?
For us humans, time is not an illusion in this life. It passes. We can only use our time as good as possible.
You can win some time if you
- Do everything quickly. Go quickly, speak quickly, get work done quickly.
- Focus fully on what you are doing.
- Avoid doing unnecessary things.
You can quickly check out Facebook or Instagram, but don’t spend too much time on one of the social media platforms. It’s wasted time unless it’s your time out and you don’t know what to do with your time any better.
Keep yourself short during phone calls. There are people whom you can’t get rid of. You have to make an abrupt end to it. I say: I have to do. Have a good time. And hang up. - You might like to use the Self-Discipline 3A Subliminal – 1. to 3. will be easier to manage.
Can you answer any of the questions about time? What do you think of time? How do you perceive time? Leave a comment, I’ll be happy to read it.
