"Time flies when you're having fun"
November 26th 2008 08:03
I think it's interesting how true this saying is. Time really does fly when you're having fun - in fact, it's one of the defining aspects of fun. If time isn't going fast for you while you're doing something, then it's hard to imagine that you're having fun doing it. It's the inverse of the saying "a watched pot never boils" - where by paying close attention to the waiting process, time slows down almost to a standstill.
This saying is surely not to be taken literally, as if it is a physical entity with a varying speed. What does it mean, then, for time to go fast? I'm very curious about this question because I have a feeling it will tell us something interesting or important about human psychology. We think of time as something neutral and external which passes without our intervention. We measure it by our clocks and by the sun rising and setting, but time is not the measurement. If the sun came started to rise and set faster than normal, we wouldn't say that time is moving faster, and the same with our clocks. Really, time is measured most importantly in relation to our bodies and our experiences(after all, as Nietzsche said, "there is no absolute measure of anything"). The growing, ageing and decaying of the body is the first and biggest indicator of time as a straight line, our first notion of a beginning and an end. Secondly, our experiences are equally important - if someone's body grew and aged quicker than normal, we wouldn't say time has sped up (although we might say that it has sped up for them). The reason for this is that they haven't had x amount of time to use their body. They haven't had the length of experiences that would normally be associated with the normal span of a life. If I am right, then, we could be stuck with a circular definition of time. Experiences, such as watching a pot boil, are measured by their length of time, but time is measured by length of experience (maybe that is what this new book, The Time Paradox is about - I don't know, I haven't read it).
I am still curious what is real - the slowness of time, or the fastness. When I sit and meditate, and time goes excruciatingly slowly - is that the real speed of time? Or is it more "real" to be caught up in the moment and to not even think about time? Certainly the latter is more fun (as indicated by the widespread popularity of alcohol), but many spiritual gurus might say that there is a profound peace in the former once one is trained to feel it. This is only what they might say though - I find it hard to imagine that being highly aware of one's boredom is a higher state to be in. I used to get really bored at work; I hated going to work, and I went around looking for new jobs to ease the anxiety that the boredom of my job was seemingly causing. I find that now, though, I've got into the groove of work and actually find that time goes fairly fast. The anxiety is gone. Surely this is a good thing?
I think that there are two states in at two ends of a spectrum: one is anxiety, the other is happiness, being "on the zone". One involves a resistance to the moment, the other involves a surrender to it. These are not consciously willed - sometimes it is very hard to surrender, to get "in the zone". In fact it is impossible to get in the zone through conscious willing. I think this is the big mistake in self-help and cognitive psychology - they attempt to put everything at the mercy of the conscious mind, which unfortunately is only very weak. NLP tries to go deeper, but still to me is trying to force the hand of good energy. You can't create good energy, all you can do is smell it out, follow it, and just go along with it. When you do that, time just seems to fly.
This saying is surely not to be taken literally, as if it is a physical entity with a varying speed. What does it mean, then, for time to go fast? I'm very curious about this question because I have a feeling it will tell us something interesting or important about human psychology. We think of time as something neutral and external which passes without our intervention. We measure it by our clocks and by the sun rising and setting, but time is not the measurement. If the sun came started to rise and set faster than normal, we wouldn't say that time is moving faster, and the same with our clocks. Really, time is measured most importantly in relation to our bodies and our experiences(after all, as Nietzsche said, "there is no absolute measure of anything"). The growing, ageing and decaying of the body is the first and biggest indicator of time as a straight line, our first notion of a beginning and an end. Secondly, our experiences are equally important - if someone's body grew and aged quicker than normal, we wouldn't say time has sped up (although we might say that it has sped up for them). The reason for this is that they haven't had x amount of time to use their body. They haven't had the length of experiences that would normally be associated with the normal span of a life. If I am right, then, we could be stuck with a circular definition of time. Experiences, such as watching a pot boil, are measured by their length of time, but time is measured by length of experience (maybe that is what this new book, The Time Paradox is about - I don't know, I haven't read it).
I am still curious what is real - the slowness of time, or the fastness. When I sit and meditate, and time goes excruciatingly slowly - is that the real speed of time? Or is it more "real" to be caught up in the moment and to not even think about time? Certainly the latter is more fun (as indicated by the widespread popularity of alcohol), but many spiritual gurus might say that there is a profound peace in the former once one is trained to feel it. This is only what they might say though - I find it hard to imagine that being highly aware of one's boredom is a higher state to be in. I used to get really bored at work; I hated going to work, and I went around looking for new jobs to ease the anxiety that the boredom of my job was seemingly causing. I find that now, though, I've got into the groove of work and actually find that time goes fairly fast. The anxiety is gone. Surely this is a good thing?
I think that there are two states in at two ends of a spectrum: one is anxiety, the other is happiness, being "on the zone". One involves a resistance to the moment, the other involves a surrender to it. These are not consciously willed - sometimes it is very hard to surrender, to get "in the zone". In fact it is impossible to get in the zone through conscious willing. I think this is the big mistake in self-help and cognitive psychology - they attempt to put everything at the mercy of the conscious mind, which unfortunately is only very weak. NLP tries to go deeper, but still to me is trying to force the hand of good energy. You can't create good energy, all you can do is smell it out, follow it, and just go along with it. When you do that, time just seems to fly.
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Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
It's very true; time flies and you definitely lose the concept of linear time if you're having enough fun. I mean, I thought yesterday was today! Getting a bit ahead of myself...
Time is, however, an illusion created by men to make their illusion-filled lives easier-or perhaps harder?
~Dianna
Comment by Kris
Quotable Quips
Banana and Mango
Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
~Dianna
Comment by Kris
Quotable Quips
Banana and Mango
Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
But hindsight is 20/20, so who knows?
~Dianna
Comment by Kermit the Frog
Comment by Can
I prefer *Positive energy* to help me be more excited but I cannot seem to create it out of my own not that I am very good at meditating in the first place so I wouldn't fully know if you can.
I prefer to be excited instead of bored like a guru..They are too stuffed up for me and if we are in a world of peace life would be too boring if you ask me.
However
It's obviously up to me to choose to surrender my will to the *present* and stop thinking about my issues that makes me feel like the world is ganging up on me at times which I believe creates it's own tension regardless if anybody or anything is actually ganging up on me.
I do believe in higher beings that can steer people in certain ways but that's another can of worms worthy of it's own blog I think.
I am pretty depressed because me and my parents haven't experienced a proper summer in years up here in Oregon and I recently learned about SAD (Sesonal Affect Disorder) which I didn't want to admit I have.
$In the summer time when all the leaves and trees are green$......oops wrong song:
I mean in the summer time in the state of Oregon we usually have 2 to 3 weeks of 80s and 1 week's worth of 90s though usually scattered here and there. (mostly there) We get hotter weather when the stable weather pattern switch is *off shore* from the desert or we get an intense *Thermal Heat Low* as they put it from the Four Corners which is much more complicated then a simple off shore switch but more exciting to track.
Portland has free Max days during heat waves (3 days over 90 ) where you can ride the train for free to ease up congestion (or so they say) but who would want to ride a hot n crowded bus/train that doesn't go anywhere?
Comment by Can
Does anybody have advice on dealing with SAD since Mom and I are stuck with it?
Right now it's almost winter but the upper air weather *pattern* is still stuck on the summer that came too late. If only this happened 5 months ago so I am pretty depressed and sick.
We are having what we normally would call *marine layer* in the summer where you have clouds come in every night and will burn off in the afternoon at various times.
The bad news is it's too cold to fully enjoy it when the clouds to burn off for a few hours of relief before Mr Fog creeps back in.
Mom and I are sensitive to the fog and know when it's coming in even if we are not paying attention to the clocks.
Lately the fog has been coming in between 6:00 and 7:00pm and Mom usually starts getting tired around that time or earlier if the fog comes in sooner.
She normally doesn't go to bed until 9:00 or 9:30 during normal weather and sleeps in till 8:00 but we both get a creepy feeling whenever that fog comes in even if we are not looking out a window and into our own stuff.
Comment by Can't create energy