During a conversation the other day, a friend told me that as we get older, time seems to speed up. This, of course, is a common and bemoaned observation – many people report that as they age, time appears to accelerate. Soon, it feels like the weeks and months (and even years) are flying by with astounding rapidity. It doesn’t really seem fair, since as we get older and approach retirement, we hope that we’ll be able to ‘slow down’, cease all our striving, and enjoy life a little bit. But by the time we arrive, many people report that life has taken on a careening velocity.
What’s Going On?
Perhaps you’ve noticed this time-acceleration for yourself. It’s one of those things that we consider to be an inevitable result of living – like stress. But time’s apparent passage can be directly understood – and even influenced – if you understand how it works.
Time is Mutable
You can experience time’s variable passage for yourself. Simply sit down to a really exciting movie, and see how long it ‘feels’ has passed after you’ve watched it. Then commit yourself to sitting in front of a blank wall for an equal amount of time, and see how time’s passage feels. If you’re like most people, the hour-and-a-half you spend watching the movie will pass in a flash, while the hour-and-a-half you spend sitting and doing nothing will pass very, very slowly.
This is a very blatant example, but it shows us that time’s apparent passage is relative to our mind-state. Indeed, we can experience for ourselves exactly how we create the sensation of time passing – or rather, we could experience it for ourselves if it was explained to us that our current way of experiencing time isn’t the only way to experience time.
Linear Time
You see, our current experience of time is linear. We’ve all been taught that there is a future, that the future arrives and becomes the present, and that the present then disappears into the past. Soon we envision our entire lives flowing along like this – one moment passing into another – and thus we create the sensation of linear time passing. The more ingrained into this habit that we become, the faster time seems to pass. The reason is distraction – it’s just like when we’re distracted by a movie. Only in real life, we become distracted by our visions of future and past, and the older we get (and the more aware that we’re nearing the end of our lives), the more we tend to dwell in future and past. The present moment becomes more and more elusive, and since it’s only in the present moment when we can see time for what it truly is, we get lost in the hypnotic dance of past and future, until the present is lost and linear time becomes an impenetrable reality in our lives. The result is that time appears to speed up.
Slowing Down Time
When we begin to remember that this moment is all that there really is, we discover that the future is only a thought in our heads – a thought we’re having in the moment we’re experiencing it. Past, too, is only a thought in our heads – a thought we’re having in the moment we’re experiencing it. Neither really exists except as a fantasy.
The concept of linear time simply can’t exist when we realize that there is nothing but the present moment. By spending time trying to ‘find’ future and past, we can de-construct the ‘truth’ that we’ve all learned – that time passes by. When linear time is gone – what is left? I can’t put it into words because we can’t conceive of anything else — indeed, non-linear time is inconceivable, just as the sensation of a hot pepper in your mouth is inconceivable. And yet, the hot pepper can be directly experienced as a reality of sensation, just as non-linear time can be directly experienced as a reality of sensation. You’re free to choose what you think is more ‘real’ – the thought of a hot pepper’s burn, or the sensation when you place a pepper in your mouth (within this example is hidden one of the reasons why we create thought-forms in the first place — fear or negative past experiences give us the impression that the thought-form is safer or more desirable than the reality itself — as we learn to fear more and more of life, we retreat more and more into thought-form until we learn to dwell almost entirely apart from our actual experience of reality). In the same way, you can choose to think about time, and create a construct (linear time), or to experience the direct sensation of time (non-linear).
The Result
Once linear time is gone, our entire lives change. Almost all of our life’s experiences (and life’s problems) are based on our construct of linear time. Getting old, not achieving your goals, getting angry at others, and experiencing stress and frustration – all of these are a result of our idea of linear time (which also gives us such constructs as cause/effect, sense of self, and the idea of change).
When you experience non-linear time, there literally is not past or future – just this perfect present-moment dance, during which you immerse yourself in every sensation (including, if you choose, memories and hopes). Nothing is lost – you’re just seeing things as they really are, and the result is liberating.
Let’s Get Real
If you experience This Very Moment for yourself, you’ll immediately see how all of your personal problems (and all of the world’s problems) are created out of people acting from the construct of linear time. Indeed, though we think it’s ‘real’ and ‘necessary’, it’s actually the very thing that causes humans to act from greed and fear rather than generosity and love. If you doubt this, I challenge you to see for yourself – take the time to truly examine your concept of linear time. See if you can discover what ‘future’ and ‘past’ really are. Examine fully, leaving no concept unexamined, and find for yourself what lies just beyond the ideas we’ve formed in our heads.
There is no greater quest you can go on, and none will bring you more wonderful treasures.
Welcome back SIFU!!!
Thanks Albert! Happy to be here =)
Hugs,
Kenton
My theory is that our minds work relationally and so our sense of time is based on percentage of time spent in life so far.
If you tell a 5 year old child that an event they really want to occur is next month, it is like telling them it is years away…they think it is forever.
That one month is 1/60th of their life…relationally.
If you tell a 50 year old about the same event…it is like saying it is tomorrow or right around the corner.
That one month is 1/600th of their life…relationally.
So the older we get…the faster time appears to move – because we have so much past and so a little time no longer seems to be as long as it once was.
Hello Eric!
I’ve heard this theory before, and I think it makes a lot of sense when we’re in our usual mind-set. In my own experience, I’ve discovered a sense of ‘timelessness’, and often events which transpired last week seem like they happened months ago, and upcoming events which would have felt swift-approaching in another mind-set arrive at a terribly leisurely pace. I first encountered this in the woods, where I discovered that a day in the forest seemed about equal to a week back in civilization. Living amongst computers and clocks, there barely seems to be enough time to get anything done. But in the woods, I found that in a single day I had enough time to build a shelter, gather food, climb some trees, explore a swamp, tan some leather, swim across a lake, and take three naps. Nothing seemed rushed, and time was strangely abundant. Something was strange here! That’s when I discovered that our mind processes time based on our own sense of what time ‘is’. It is certainly true that in most cases as we age, our linear sense becomes more ingrained and time seems to accelerate. However, I’ve also discovered that this process isn’t inevitable — it is a simple result of becoming more and more ingrained into the dualistic mind-set. By fully encountering our sense of time, we can all discover timelessness, even in our ‘everyday’ lives.
Thanks so much for adding to the post!
Krishnamurti said that time is thought and thought is time.
The superstitious ideas of linear time are deeply moored in our lives. In the mind it’s hard to see the truth that all our problems are held up by this superstition. What’s helped me is to first acknowledge that these deep beliefs may be wrong–just assumptions. And then, as you point out, to just remain aware, without thinking.
Thanks for another great pointer!
Thanks for that quote from Krishanmurti, Kaushik. I think it nicely sums up the situation. It’s that awareness that you speak of that is key — how we like to imagine that the world just won’t be ‘right’ without our thinking mind giving it meaning and substance. But that awareness reveals wonders . . .
Thanks as always for your thoughtful comments, Kaushik.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Wow, Kenton, I love this post. I have long felt that time is more fluid – if that’s the right word – than we tend to think. I agree with what you wrote in reply to Eric; I’ve also noticed how recent an event seems has nothing to do with when it happened.
I am a parent and also counsel other parents, and I’ve noticed that most stress in parenting is created not by what’s actually going on in any given moment, but by some terrible imagined future. So often parents try to motivate children by scaring them about this imaginary future. I’ve done it myself in less aware moments, and quite likely will again. This habit is so deeply ingrained that it’s not often easy to notice I’m doing it. Saying, for instance, that a child ‘should’ be doing their homework instead of watching TV is a story of a future. (The teacher will be annoyed, you’ll not get good grades…)
When I attach to a story I try to exert control, and the result is battle. When I don’t attach then I support the child to finding their own way of doing things. Peace. What I’ve found is that when I am able to be with my children as they are in any given moment discipline is never an issue.
I also notice more and more where I try to motivate myself with imagined scary futures, for instance when I’m doing something and I think I ‘should’ be doing something else. (Like I’d think I shouldn’t be wasting time commenting here when I have real work to do!!) This leads to a feeling of pressure – of time literally pressing on me and slipping away. Young children don’t do this of course, so it would make sense that time feels more abundant to them.
Yesterday, walking to work I noticed I was thinking I had to hurry and replaying a day I’d arrived late and a supervisor had looked at the clock. (Really scary!) So I focused on my breath instead, and was amazed when a few moments later I noticed leafy smells I hadn’t noticed before. (And of course I got there in plenty of time.)
Thank you for this post!
Dear Yvonne,
Thank you so much for this thoughtful comment! Rebecca and I don’t yet have children, but we’ve given a lot of thought to how we might grow together with them, and we read your comment with great interest. What challenge and opportunity children must bring into one’s life! Especially interesting is your comment that ‘when I am able to be with my children as they are in any moment discipline is never an issue’. We’ve always thought this might be the case, but it’s amazing to hear it from a parent! We’ve also visited your blog and will come and explore more — I think what you write is relevant to more than just parents =)
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Hello again Kenton,
Thank you and Rebecca so much for the kind comment you left on my blog. I have found your blog so insightful and helpful so it touches me deeply that you find mine useful. I haven’t posted for some time for several reasons, and hope to get back to it in a week or two.
Yvonne
Hello Yvonne,
We all need a break once in a while =) Sometimes it seems like taking a little time away can actually bring us back to something with new energy and insight. Thanks again for connecting!
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Great Post, found your website through the google reader recommendations.
I’ve read a couple of more posts on this topic, “living in the present”, and what i got from them is that by not dwelling in the past/future you have more time to spend in the present, and by doing so you may have live a more enjoyable moment in that present if you were not worrying/fantasing about the past/future.
However us humans wouldnt have gotten so far if we didnt plan ahead, but thats not quite what this topic is saying is it.
I’ve heard two theories on the speeding up of time one Eric already mentioned and the other was the amount of information our brain process in the present, for a child the world is new to them and they are taking in everything, but for those who have lived for longer they have “seen it all before” so less information for the brain to process.
So you must take each moment as brand new, take a little time to smell the roses, watch the flying bees, just because you seen it before does’nt mean its the same?
But i dont see your perspective on the constructs as cause/effect, and the idea of change.
I think you must look at cause and effect, but you must also look at every cause and effect that has led to that present, to fully understand that present.
Also the idea of change, because change is what the universe is all about, if nothing changed, ever, where would we be?
but maybe you’re on about not getting too fixated on thse ideas because its more than that?
Greetings Jozef!
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. This article might shed some light on the idea of cause/effect, while this one attempts to lead us toward an understanding of what lies outside our cause/effect construct.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Hi Kenton
Great article. I would describe linear time as an effect of perception when there’s duality. When subject and object are separate, the process of perception becomes incremental and we experience the passage of time. As you say, the past builds up and the future looms, making it more ingrained over time. Memory builds reality.
But there is another factor in this – biology. As we age, the body’s metabolic system gradually slows. We’re no longer growing, then not working as hard, etc. One of the effects of this is an increase in body fat if we don’t adjust our eating habits (laughs). Another is that time seems to accelerate. For a young child, tomorrow seems like forever. For the elderly, the years seem to click by. Did a documentary on this in school.
BTW – your site came “Recommended” by Google Reader based on other subscriptions. Tom Stine and Urban Monk were the 2 others. I normally check feeds locally but was using Reader remotely, without most of my subscriptions.
Hello Davidya,
Thanks for the great comment, as well as the Google Reader ‘heads up’. You said that linear time is ‘an effect of perception when there’s duality’, and that seems a very apt description. It is always ‘enlightening =)’ to see how things we take as ‘reality’ are actually objects of the imaginary world we’ve created. I wrote this article because I’ve noticed that as I get older, time appears to get slower and slower, so that the last week seems like a whole month. My wife has noticed this as well. It thus became apparent that the usual idea that time speeds as we age wasn’t as ‘real’ as we usually think.
Great insight, Davidya. Glad to have you here =)
Sweetwater,
Kenton
Hi Kenton
Interesting. Certainly theres other factors. Attention on time itself causes it to slow, something that tends to be circumstantial. But I suspect the key in any case is in how it affects our awareness. Response to perception. Perhaps even what we believe is happening.
For myself, it varies. Sometimes, there is a sense of time being irrelevant or meaningless. There is a need to be in a certain place when the watch indicates a certain time, but it’s more movement in attention that any change in time or space. Other times, time seems to fly by while the mind struggles to keep up with all the change. Mostly internally, although sometimes everything changes. It’s been an astonishing period. (laughs)
It makes me think about the “singularity” concept by Ray Kurzweil. About the vid I have seen on Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUMf7FWGdCw
Also about the mayan calendar which speaks about the acceleration of time. See the vids of Ian Xel Lungold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDN6ZcZ0y9I
Nice article.
Hello Davidya,
Astonishing indeed! I can definitely relate to what you describe here. I’m so glad you’re bringing your words to this post!
Fondly,
Kenton
Hello placid –
Thanks for the interesting video links!
Sweetwater,
Kenton
“There is no greater quest you can go on, and none will bring you more wonderful treasures.”
Yes, but only if you are drawn to it of course. Otherwise, there are lots of other more interesting quests! It is a good thing we are not alike there….
(For the record, I share that particular fascination with you, but am very happy not everyone does.)
Very good point, Per! Those varying focuses and interests are what makes this dance so very beautiful =)