Time dilation is a real experience, and I’ve noticed it in many natural settings, being around fire among them.
It might be more accurate to say that fire bends our perception of time. I wonder if we intuit that a fire is not a static thing, but a process, and that its continual unfolding before us is just one representation (in a very fast and vivid way) of the same coming and going energy in everything. By contrast, everything else around us seems slower and less intense, including time.
I find that being in nature — truly immersed in any natural surroundings — erases my concerns about time. I’m not trying to do anything in particular, so there’s no pressure to view time as a resource that I need to hoard or manage or optimize in anyway.
They say time flies when you’re having fun. I suppose one way to interpret that is that it flits away when we’re enjoying something, no longer sitting on our shoulder and squawking in our ear as if we might lose it if we stop paying attention to it. We have all the time we can ever have right now.
Thank you for taking the time to inspire all of us to reflect on that very fluid element flowing through our lives.
Great point, MJ. I particularly love what you said about how time is "no longer sitting on our shoulder." Nature is definitely one place where this is true for me. But it's different for different people. Sometimes solitude is one thing. Being near a body of water, waterfalls, etc--really does it for me. How about you?
And so what was the situation behind being in this cave, why the darkness, and was anyone else with you?
This is a lot of why I love camping, especially in the backcountry. Time just flies very differently. And you feel how deeply it’s connected to space, since both indigenous people and physicists know, there’s no such thing as absolutist time, only spacetime and other such multidimensional concepts with feedback effects—like light and heat. I touched on some of these ideas in the first entry I wrote about a month ago, a 2-parter about backpacking into the rainforest and up to a Glacier in Olympic National Park, if you fancy a read, should be pretty easy to find on my page since I only have a few entries so far.
The back country is even more interesting. Especially in the middle of the night. Stars are as bright as it can possibly be. I don't think I've ever seen a shooting star other than in the back country. You?
I think it would say, so? but more fairly. Like, what am I doing all of this for. That other thing I hope is that something would allow it to see what it’s for. Then it would fall in love and like what it does and want to keep doing. But it would get very tired. What if that fire is the sun? And it doesn’t get to die down for a while. It just has keep going around. How will it rest? I don’t think it would ask how. It would just expect it. But when it didn’t come, it would dim. It would look forward to going out. Forever.
Great point, MJ. I particularly love what you said about how time is "no longer sitting on our shoulder." Nature is definitely one place where this is true for me. But it's different for different people. Sometimes solitude is one thing. Being near a body of water, waterfalls, etc--really does it for me. How about you?
Hi Jenni- Ah, yes, transcendental conversations with our kids are always interesting. Sometimes I’m impressed by how sharp they are. And how easily they can debate my reasoning! 😂 I’ll have to check out Nelly’s take on it. I hope at the very least your chat with your daughter was near a fireplace or somewhere cozy?
Ooh! How precious! 8-month olds are the greatest. They are just about to be a whole personality, if they haven’t already. I love it when they start to show unique traits, like how they giggle, etc. Your grandchild is quite the character too I bet?
Time dilation is a real experience, and I’ve noticed it in many natural settings, being around fire among them.
It might be more accurate to say that fire bends our perception of time. I wonder if we intuit that a fire is not a static thing, but a process, and that its continual unfolding before us is just one representation (in a very fast and vivid way) of the same coming and going energy in everything. By contrast, everything else around us seems slower and less intense, including time.
I find that being in nature — truly immersed in any natural surroundings — erases my concerns about time. I’m not trying to do anything in particular, so there’s no pressure to view time as a resource that I need to hoard or manage or optimize in anyway.
They say time flies when you’re having fun. I suppose one way to interpret that is that it flits away when we’re enjoying something, no longer sitting on our shoulder and squawking in our ear as if we might lose it if we stop paying attention to it. We have all the time we can ever have right now.
Thank you for taking the time to inspire all of us to reflect on that very fluid element flowing through our lives.
Great point, MJ. I particularly love what you said about how time is "no longer sitting on our shoulder." Nature is definitely one place where this is true for me. But it's different for different people. Sometimes solitude is one thing. Being near a body of water, waterfalls, etc--really does it for me. How about you?
And so what was the situation behind being in this cave, why the darkness, and was anyone else with you?
This is a lot of why I love camping, especially in the backcountry. Time just flies very differently. And you feel how deeply it’s connected to space, since both indigenous people and physicists know, there’s no such thing as absolutist time, only spacetime and other such multidimensional concepts with feedback effects—like light and heat. I touched on some of these ideas in the first entry I wrote about a month ago, a 2-parter about backpacking into the rainforest and up to a Glacier in Olympic National Park, if you fancy a read, should be pretty easy to find on my page since I only have a few entries so far.
The back country is even more interesting. Especially in the middle of the night. Stars are as bright as it can possibly be. I don't think I've ever seen a shooting star other than in the back country. You?
Hard to match the high desert for clarity!
Yes, I’ve seen a good number in places with less light pollution, depending on where you are—Vancouver, back alleyways of Dali, China, various places.
Dali? What's that like ...
It was a pretty interesting place, at least in 2006, as is much of Yunnan province. Very diverse.
I heard the butterfly spring is quite stunning ...
What’s that?
At what rate do you think fire experiences time? (Had it the muscle to think and the organ to feel)
A deep question, Matt- I’m not sure fire does. What do you think?
I’m thinking. I will let you know.
Happy thinking. My guess is if it were alive, it’ll stare time at the face, slouch back, throw in a few sparks or two--and say unapologetically, “So?”
I’m afraid you might be right, but I’m hoping something else is true, also.
Thanks, Thalia
Then, finally, maybe it will learn to ask for the rest :)
A well deserved rest I’m sure.
I think it would say, so? but more fairly. Like, what am I doing all of this for. That other thing I hope is that something would allow it to see what it’s for. Then it would fall in love and like what it does and want to keep doing. But it would get very tired. What if that fire is the sun? And it doesn’t get to die down for a while. It just has keep going around. How will it rest? I don’t think it would ask how. It would just expect it. But when it didn’t come, it would dim. It would look forward to going out. Forever.
Beautifully put.
Great point, MJ. I particularly love what you said about how time is "no longer sitting on our shoulder." Nature is definitely one place where this is true for me. But it's different for different people. Sometimes solitude is one thing. Being near a body of water, waterfalls, etc--really does it for me. How about you?
Hi Jenni- Ah, yes, transcendental conversations with our kids are always interesting. Sometimes I’m impressed by how sharp they are. And how easily they can debate my reasoning! 😂 I’ll have to check out Nelly’s take on it. I hope at the very least your chat with your daughter was near a fireplace or somewhere cozy?
Ooh! How precious! 8-month olds are the greatest. They are just about to be a whole personality, if they haven’t already. I love it when they start to show unique traits, like how they giggle, etc. Your grandchild is quite the character too I bet?