Time Was Conceived Differently Through the Ages
The rational understanding of physical time has changed over the ages. For
ancient Greeks, Indians, and Mayans, time was considered a cyclic phenomenon;
time moving in circles, with no beginning and no end. When Judeo-Christian
civilization arose in Europe, another understanding of time became prominent —
time going forward in a straight line, one shot through so to speak. According
to this civilization, time has its beginning with God's creation of the
universe and will have its end with the Last Judgment. In Newtonian physics,
physical time is an independent quantity (absolute time), running uniformly
throughout the entire cosmic space (absolute space). In the General Theory of
Relativity, time is no longer independent — it is linked with space in
four-dimensional space-time. Finally, according to the understanding coming
from conscious experience (as discussed below) time exists as a physical
reality only as a stream of changes in timeless cosmic space. It is a
"by-product" of the matter that changes in timeless cosmic space.
EPR Experiment In Timeless Space
In the conscious experience cosmic space seems to be timeless. Change run, but
space is just there, unchangeable. The timeless cosmic space is giving a full
explanation for experiment of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (EPR).
This experiment shows that two quantum which have been together and than send
in the space in opposite directions "know" for each other in an instant moment.
When the spin of one particle is unilaterally changed, an astounding
experimental result is that the second particle's spin "immediately" flips of
its own accord Furthermore, the means by which the information of the first
spin flip is transferred to the second particle (so that it too can flip) is
information which is required to travel faster than the speed of light. While
the information transfer may not be simultaneous (limits on the experimental
apparatus prohibits any proof of simultaneity), it nevertheless —- within the
time frame of the Planck constant or speeds in excess of the speed of light —-
must connects the two particles in some fundamental manner.
As cosmic space is timeless information between quantum is immediate. But this
understanding can not be grasped by the rational experience, the conscious
experience is needed.
An Independent Feature of the Mind
The rate of psychological time does not always follow physical time, it depends
on one's well-being. The more relaxed you are the slower the speed of
psychological time is. In modern society time passes quickly, in so-called
primitive societies time passed slowly. In an altered state of consciousness,
such as meditation, ecstatic dance, deep prayer, psychological time stops.
Already in a normal state of health there are, every now and then, aberrations
of subjective time such as acceleration or deceleration of lapse of time. Under
several mental disturbances (like those characterizing serious mental
psychoses, drug-induced states, trances, mediations, as well as other deep
"altered" states of consciousness), these anomalies/peculiarities become more
pronounced. The flux of time may even cease completely — the sensations usually
described as "time standing still", or "suspended, arrested" time, or expand
without limit — the feelings of "everlasting now, eternity." [2]
In "altered states" one has the capacity to observe his/her mind. This is a
function of consciousness/awareness. [3] Everybody can observe his/her thoughts
and emotions. By observing them the speed of thought and the intensity of
emotion calms down. Once the mind stops psychological time stops too.
Psychological time is thus independent of physical time.
Conscious Experience May Assist Rational Experience
Through rational experience one grasps a stream of changes as linear time
(through making a mental map of the changes), while conscious experience
reveals this stream as an irreversible process. As we have seen, by observing
this stream, humans have developed psychological time through which we
rationally experience the universe. However, psychological time is reversible.
One can go back into the past. This creates then an idea, i.e. a model that
physical time physically exists (notably through its past), but this is not so.
In that line, General Relativity allows a speculation about time travel.
Someone could travel through a black hole with a spaceship, go back into the
past and kill his grandmother. The consequence is that he could never have been
born.[4] This shows the lack of causality built into General Relativity, a fact
that was of great concern to Einstein as an unphysical feature of his theory.
This feature was tied to the fundamental disconnection of space from its
contents within the basis of the theory (the "hole" problem), and a problem he
dealt with for 2 years before succeeding in making it at least mathematically
acceptable for final publication. [5] This is still a key problem, showing the
theory ultimately to be a crude model of reality, and only acceptable within
the limited framework of rational experience.
Travelling into the past is not possible because a stream of changes is
irreversible; the past exists only as psychological time, through which it is
not possible to travel with a spaceship or otherwise (H. G. Wells' Time
Machine?). The problem of the "Arrow of Time" has been known since the 19th
century, as classical mechanics has reversible equations when dealing with the
time parameter, while the world is not reversible. [6] One could only conclude
that classical mechanics was a model ultimately incomplete to represent
reality. In the 20th century, quantum mechanics dealt with this through the
"collapse of the wave function," an irreversible but unexplained process, a
pure axiom within the model of the theory. However, even there the Schroedinger
Equation is reversible, so quantum processes are still seen as reversible. In
all these cases, conscious experience must then correct rational experience.
One experiences physical time consciously as he/she perceives it: as a stream
of changes in space. Rational experience is enriched with conscious experience
by simply allowing the observer to watch his or her mind. Watching is an
individual research method, using the imagination of the researcher, as
Einstein saw. [7] Rational experience is based on analysis, it deals with the
elements of the universe (stars, planets, living beings, atoms and so on) in
separated way. Conscious experience instead reconnects the scientist (the
observer) and the universe as a whole. It reaches beyond the duality
subject-object.
Time as a Stream of Changes in the Theory of Relativity
We can measure with clocks the duration and "speed" of changes (or amount of
changes between known common events). Regarding Special Relativity this means
that, in an inertial system moving fast, the amount of changes between known
events is less than in an inertial system that moves with less speed. The twin
in a fast spaceship is growing old slower than his twin-brother in the
spaceship that travels with less speed, and this we know when the twins meet
again (a common event). The hypothesis that time as a physical quantity runs
slower on the first ship than on the second is our rational deduction via
reading clocks at the events where and when the twins meet. But these clocks
measure only the amount of changes, not time, at their location in space
in-between the events. So rational experience in this case has to assist
conscious experience: The comparative features of streams of changes between
common events can only be reached through the model of physical time
constructed through rational experience, not through conscious experience.
Experiments with high precision clocks confirm that changes are less in the
parts of space where the gravitational field is stronger, as the model of
General Relativity predicts, a rational experience by definition. The speed of
clocks near the sea in Venice is slower than on the mountain Monte Rosa because
gravity is stronger near sea level. [1] Within General Relativity this means
that with an increase of the "roundness" of space the speed of changes (amount
of changes between common events) is getting less. These changes in the
characteristics of space from place to place beg the question: Is space then
changing also with changes in its contents?
Rational vs. Conscious Experience in the Theory of Relativity
In the conscious experience one experiences oneness, timelessness, harmony.
Einstein called it "imagination". General Relativity is a "rationalization" of
conscious experience of the universe. He worked hard to express the beauty and
harmony of the universe in a scientific model. The image of infinite
three-dimensional cosmic space is replaced with the image of a finite surface
in four dimensions that changes with changes in its contents. Matter and space
are in dynamic equilibrium. Einstein visualized space as bent by the presence
of matter. Space changes also with changes in its contents, and this as a
result of an initial conscious experience, Einstein's.
Through Einstein's model, time was then half integrated with space, with
changes in space described within three-dimensional Riemannian subspaces
("space-time slices"), and with the speed (amount) of changes in matter and
electromagnetic phenomena measured with clocks. This half-integration to space
resulted in time being still reversible in the model, and was thus considered a
failure by Einstein. [8] Here integration is complete, time being a stream of
changes of matter within space, with no reversibility possible.
With complete integration of time into space four-dimensional space can be
replaced with three-dimensional space. Movements of stars and galaxies can be
described within three-dimensional Riemann space, its duration measured by
clocks.
Conclusions
By having conscious experience of time and space one become aware that universe
is a timeless phenomena. It has no beginning and no end, it is eternal. There
is no Creator of the universe. Man is born and dies. He projects his birth and
death into the universe. Because of the fear of death he has created a concept
of God. Conscious experience brings awareness of the immortality of the
universe. One enters into a deep harmony with the universe that dissolves the
fear of death.
Recent scientific theories confirm that universe has no beginning and no end.
That big bangs are cyclic is predicted by the cosmologic theory of Turok and
Steinhardt. [9] Kompanichenko came to the same conclusion by studding how stars
and planetary systems has been formed. [10]
The scientific picture of the universe is continuously improving towards what
the universe really is. The geocentric model was improved through the
heliocentric model, Newton's space and time were changed into the space-time of
Minkowski and Einstein. A further development is from space-time to timeless
space in which an irreversible stream of changes runs, time being only a
"by-product" of the content of space that changes within cosmic space.
Here "watching" the mind is an absolute necessity. It is an individual research
method that brings awareness of how linear time as a map of changes and
space-time as a four-dimensional surface exist only in the mind, and are only
one way of conceptualising reality. Watching the mind is the only way that can
lead into a rational picture of the universe that is closer to its true makeup.
On the other hand, via the model of General Relativity, rational experience was
there to confirm Einstein's initial conscious experience, something he called
"imagination," that not only the content of space but space itself is changing
according to its content. Such a concept needed the assistance of rational
experience, for example by comparing clocks at common events, in order to
ascertain its validity since not accessible to conscious experience. But, as
the irreversibility of changes has demonstrated, conscious experience must be
used in the first place to set rational experience, especially when it comes to
devise its models (such as time), including the bounds of their validity and
their conclusions.
Rational experience of space and time is indirect, limited by geometrical
models through which one rationally experiences them, while one can experience
cosmic space directly through a conscious experience. Time can only be
constructed via a rational experience as it is only a model, and thus not in
the realm of conscious experience.
Conscious experience thus represents not only an enrichment for scientific
research, but a vital part of productive science (explanation of EPR experiment
is a good prove of practical aspect of conscious experience). This is the
conclusion Einstein also reached through his well-known statement [7] about the
imagination encompassing the entire world, contrary to rational experience.
References
[1] Sorli (1990), Konec Casa (The End of Time), Mladinska Knjiga, Ljubljana,
Slovenia
[2] Rosolino, Metod, Endo (2003), Physical Paradigm and Mathematics of
Subjective Time, Frontier Perspectives, Vol 12, No. 1, Temple University,
Philadelphia
[3] Sorli (2001) Watching the Mind as an Individual Research Method, Frontier
Perspectives, Vol 10, No. 1, Temple University, Philadelphia
[4] Paul Davis (1995), About Time, Chapter 11, Simon & Schuster
[5] Overbye (2000), Einstein in Love, Chap. 20, Viking Penguin
[6] Coveney and Highfield (1990), The Arrow of Time, W. H. Allen
[7] Viereck (1929), What Life Means to Einstein, Oct. 26, 1929 interview, The
Saturday Evening Post
[8] Chapter 3 of ref. [6]
[9] Steinhardt and Turok, A Cyclic Model of the Universe, Science 2002 0: 10704621-0274
[10] Kompanichenko (2002), Non-equilibrium State of Stars and Dichotomous
Formation of Planetary Systems, PGS Publisher, Russia, Khabarovsk
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