The Fiction of Time

Yesterday as I was walking around the indoor track at the gym, I noticed the big orange sun starting to set behind the mountains. By the time I got around the track, it was a little lower in the sky, and by the time I had made a couple more rounds, it had completely disappeared behind the crest line.

In my mind, I thought it would take longer to set. In clock time, it only takes me about 2 minutes to go around the track one time.

I have had lots of thoughts about time lately and how our perception shifts in subtle ways that we don't always notice.

You know how it is when you are waiting to hear back from someone, whether it is about a job, a date, a car repair, a test result. Is that time fast or slow?

Remember how when we were growing up 30 seemed old? Remember how when our grandparents got to be 65 and retired, they really looked old and tired?

Now how many people have you met in recent years who are in their 60ss, 70s and 80s who are still going strong, still active, still lively?

Attitudes make all the difference. Did you ever notice how people who enjoy life, laugh and smile a lot don't seem as old as their age?

Awareness changes our perception of time. If I had not been looking at the horizon while I was walking, I would never have noticed the sunset.

What about awareness of past lives and present consciousness? It is common for people who do a past life recall to be able to remember ancient lives as if it happened recently, and then their consciousness shifts again when they realize how patterns of relationships from these past lives still exist in their present life.

Like the old question of whether the glass is half full or half empty, notice when time moves slow and when it moves fast. We have obvious examples of how when we are really enjoying ourselves, and we are really focused and involved in what we doing, time just collapses, and when something is boring, it seems to take forever.

So how much of a fiction is the whole concept of time?