Reading Time
Growing out of obsolete theories of irresistible illusions
Time: The Irresistible Illusion
Warning: Depending on your disposition, this article may cause you distress, or it may amuse you. To me, both reactions seem understandable. Read at your own risk.
Some people feel a heightened need to believe in the stable integrity of their epistemic order, and they won’t hesitate to protect this belief by filtering out a theoretical physicist’s challenge to the idea of time as absolute. How does it help them, they might argue, to recall that “the time we’re experiencing is a social construct”? With this question, they shield an arguably useful illusion.
I understand this reaction, but I feel a strong affinity for the other “camp”. In practical terms, I can’t parse the idea that:
In some of the odder corners of the universe, space and time can stretch and slow — and sometimes even break down completely.”
However, it amuses me to think about my calendar for this week through the prism of such confounding (and illuminating) observations.
Practical Dimensions of an Abstract Problem
About two years ago, as I contemplated a career change, I returned to a question that had served me well during such transitions: What are the problems to which I’d like to develop responses? I raised this question in a brainstorm with a physicist I know, and I playfully advanced the hypothesis that every problem the world is desperately trying to solve is somehow connected to our collective confusion about the meaning of time.
At the time, the hypothesis was inspired, in part, by the work of David M. Henkin, the author of The Week: A History of the Unnatural Rhythms That Made Us Who We Are. It amazed me then — and it still amazes me — that few people or organizations felt the need to examine either the origins or the effects of this construct on social practices and mental habits of the entire world.
Here and Now
As I prepare to schedule this post for publication on “Monday”, I feel empathy for the people who shudder at the thought of a world without its organizing illusions. For now, I’ll conclude with this penetrating statement of the obvious: We can’t suppress the need to move our illusions closer to the truth; nor can we ever reach this horizon. Still, the show must go on!
Wishing everyone a fantastic “week”!
Behind the paywall of this post, I’m compiling related sources and annotations. Feel free to recommend additional sources by emailing me at m2dialogue@substack.com.