Brandon Nankivell

Notes: My 1-Hour Contemplation on Time and Space

2 posts in this topic

I was contemplating what time and space is today.

TIME

It got super weird.

It seems to me time and space are no more than a sensation occurring in the now.

With eyes closed, I would ask myself how I was able to estimate between how 'about 1 hour' and about '10 minutes' and about '6 seconds' had passed.

I noticed with the 6 seconds passing, I could feel that about 6 seconds had passed based on the sound of the nearby bus engine, gradually fading as it drove away.

I have memories of vehicles and their sounds with estimates I had made without really realizing it.

I also noticed the subtle vibrations of the bus engine coming through the air/ground into my body which gave another marker to help estimate the 6 seconds passing.

It started getting weirder when I questioned why time is represented by numbers which are represented by shapes and sounds.

What makes 6 seconds different to 6 minutes? I asked myself.

I ended back to realizing that time seem to be related to a sensation occurring, or a group of sensations that trigger each other based on which sensation occurs first.

I could hear the sound of a bus, see a bus moving in my visual field, and feel the vibrations of the bus in my body - seemingly all at the same time.

And it's like a lightning-fast, assumption is made about how much time has passed.

The final thought is 'About X time has passed'.

But then I started wondering how the hell the sound of the bus was able to drag out, for lack of better words.

To hear the volume of the bus gradually go down...

If time doesn't exist the way we usually know it, then I entertained the idea of some kind of hyper fast 'time-slice' of each degradation of volume, revealing itself as an experience of a sensation in the timeless now, but that sensation would be a slightly different sensation, with all these sensations happening in a lightning fast string, much like how video is made - a string of slightly different images projected at lightning fast speed to give the illusion of video.

But that still seems to imply a past and a future.

I'm struggling to see how things can appear to change without a past and future.

If we were really in a timeless now, then we wouldn't notice a before or after.

Like in the case of the sound of the sound of the bus seeming to decrease, it wouldn't be possible to perceive this without a past and future.

If we listened to the sound of the bus in a timeless now, then we probably wouldn't hear the decrease in sound, because perception of a decrease in sound requires the past memory compared to the current experience to make the contrast - does that make sense?

So in this normal dual world / normal state of consciousness, it's impossible to experience the timeless now. It has to be an illusion.

...

But hang on a minute.

It seems you can only have one thought at a time.

And, it's like there's thoughts that trigger other thoughts to ultimately conclude that 'X time has passed'.

And each thought happens now.

So...

Maybe there is just now.

F***.

Strange world.

xD

SPACE

***This one more of an after-the-fact intellectual reflection, the actual contemplation was more drawn out and based on 'feeling things out' for extended durations***

At the bus station, sitting on a chair, eyes closed.

Determined that I knew what space was based on 2 main things:

  • Being able to move my hand through the wind in front of me, and also feel the muscle pressure - and estimate based on that how much 'my hand' had moved
    • So I guess space is a muscular and/or kinesthetic sensation
      • Or a thought based on both
      • Or a thought based on a collection of past memories of the sensations and what I've assigned as a certain amount of space, as represented by numerics, e.g. "About 25cm away from my body"
  • If I were to determine space on what I see in the visual field, then I'm going off memories of how much space, representend numerically, there is based how much space distinct phenomena is taking up in the visual field, relative to other distinct phenomena (e.g. how big is the bus compared to the road compared to the tree compared to my body compared to the nearby building compared to etc... body seems to be the 'anchor' since it doesn't seem to change in size because my eyes are always in the same place in the skull)
    • Am aware that my mind is making disinctions in the visual field and that it is actually all the same, although it doesn't appear that way unless in deeper states of consciousness / meditation
      • So space is just based on distinctions of the mind? Which makes space what... a concept based on distinctions of the mind.
      • The illusion of space is useful however, assuming the goal is to stay alive, do certain things etc.
  • So is space just being created as I seemingly walk around to different places?
  • Are these places being created as they enter my visual field?
    • But hang on! What if I shut my eyes and walk along a beach, and then re-open them about 10 minutes later?
      • I will still assume I have walked some distance which implies space, and I'd be estimating that based of a memory ocurring in the now
      • Fuuuuck
      • So, space, like time, is just a sensation in the now
      • And I'm beginning to think every single memory / sensation that ocurrs in the now is unique to every other one that has seemingly been experienced. How could it possibly be the exact same?
      • What is it exactly that makes each experienced sensation just a little unique, if I am correct that each sensation is unique (even if by a tiny-tiny-tiny bit)
      • It's like there's some divine fucking intelligence going on that is pretty clever or something!
      • I couldn't help remember the quote that says something like, "The path is created and destroyed as you walk it"
      • There is no beginning, and no end - It somehow makes sense, yet not at all
      • Where is a thought located?
        • Above where I feel my head is? That's what it feels like
        • Or inside my body somewhere
        • This is weirrrrd - It doesn't seem to be in this physical space, so how can I say it appears relative to somewhere I just described, like above my head?
        • It's like thoughts appear in another dimension

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I would like to add some things to your contemplation on space. 

So basically, you're creating the feeling of space, but you're doing that at a level which is deeper than your mind(therefore it may seem beyond you, the ego). To see this, just feel into what spaciousness is. Space that your body occupies, space that you can move your hand in, etc. This spaciousness itself, this whole sensation of what space is, can be altered. It sometimes happens in meditation, for eg. Your head feels like it has enlarged literally to cosmic proportions, or that your mind has become microscopic. This is also what you do in dreams, you create an alternate space. When you enter the vibrational state just before astral projection or other practices, the space has again been altered. 

You can also gain control over this and actually warp and mold space. No material alterations, no warping in your visual field or anything. That all ain't space. I am talking about the sensation of space itself. So you can make so your head feels like it's where your feet is, make the sky feel like your head, make the feeling of space in a room you are in go through you and inside you, etc. But all that is only really possible when every dot of your sense of self has dissolved, which is again, another sensation of space. 

Another thing is that, doing all this warping and stuff comes in different degrees. At first it's very mild if you are able to do it at all, but over time and practice, it feels very very real. You can make your body feel like it is literal air, clouds etc. 

 

The point of all this warping and all is that if you are able to do these basic things then space is obviously seen as an Illusion. For me, Time is a much more tricky beast. At one hand, it's obvious that only the now exists, but on the other, you don't know how to integrate it with the existing notion and sensation of time. For space it's easy for me to bridge between the relative and absolute realizations, which is that the difference between those comes from the rigid attachments we do. We attach/stitch lots and lots of different sensations and 'perceptions' together, which makes space rigid feeling. 

But for time, I don't know the bridge the gap.

Hope this made sense..

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