Physical Time
Time is a fundamental notion; it is connected to all existence, the life itself and its special biological realisation.
It manifests in Nature with sunrise and sunset, the lunar circle and the seasons, as well as in the human soul. It is “running” and it “stopping” giving pleasure or… displeasure…
Everything lives in it. Human thought involves the notion of Time, because Time must pass for a thought to be actualised. The same is true for the subjective sense and conception of Time. The important function of memory for the consitution of the human soul has as conceptual presupposition the flux of Time…
Naturally, every Religion, Art, Science and the Philosophy are concerned with it, because the notion of Time defines our existence in absolute (objective) terms.
In relation to humankind, the consciousness is changing, while the Time is passing. Our understanding of Time is reflected on our lifestyle. Our whole understanding and knowledge progresses in Time through a mechanical automatism, or the transmission of information with spoken or written word or the arts; human civilisation is born this way, i.e. the compass of our collective and individual conceptual horizon.
Cyclical – helical – linear time
The sociological-anthropological study of the Time problem distinguishes, roughly speaking, three categories of cultures: (1)
- The traditional, primitive societies where the human being recognizes the notion of rhythm in Nature. The myth explains the past, while it gives meaning to life and the future. The primitives’ stories recur in a consistent way. The Time imposes a recurrent pattern to the human acts in predefined circles. But the adherence to a circle (to the tradition which presents the constitutional order as an eternal one) prevents progress; change becomes a painful (or unnecessary) process.
-
Societies which understand life in recurrent, but not fixed, circles, because there is a possibility for someone to escape the strict traditions and to influence the future with his development.
The Classical Greek culture is the main representantive of this category. The myth plays also here an important role in the worldview, but the content of myth itself uncovers a new and original conception of Time, in contrast to the primitive mythology where Time has been stopped… The greek mythological time implies a passing of Time without oppressing the human consciousness.
The Time flux implies a break and renewal. The greek mythology is structured according to the idea of repetition of analogous events (a reproduction), but not to the idea of repetition of the s a m e events (a naive form of repetition). We progress from a homostatic conception o f Time to a homogenetic one.
The helical-like form of a spring gives an illustrative image of this conception: a cyclic form which also “moves forward”. -
Societies which understand Time linearly: with a start and with an end. Cosmos is getting —at the end— into a timeless state: the Eternity from where it also has come. There is a notion of historical necessity here and, through this notion, the whole human History unveils itself as a series of cultures which follow one another for some higher “design” to be fulfilled. “Before” is lost forever, while the “end” is a precise thing.
The modern “western civilisation” is classified in this third category. This culture is influenced by the judeochristian tradition and has established a new conception of Time which is understood as an irreversible phenomenon in the individual scale, as well as in the world and cosmic History.
History is not predefined, but it is progressing to a definite and irrevocable end: Such a mythology understands the meaning of experience not as a “repetition” or “reproduction”, but as a “restoration”. The constant question is here progress; how can we “succed” without this progress – “reach” something? How can we be “perfected”? The notion of progress is obvious and desirable for some human activities like Science or Technonology. But the notion of progress becomes strangling, if it is applied to every cultural manifestation… ;
Synhtesis – harmony – development
The search for a start and an end is similar to the primordial search of the “Edge of the World” from our ancestors. Inevitably, they uncovered that we live on a sphere.
The geocentric worldview was replaced approximateley five hundred years ago. The circle of Sun round the Earth has become the circle of Earth and Moon round the Sun. The geocentric worldview —whithout being an unimportant step in the evolution of Thought— has been judges inadequate as an interpretative framework for the Cosmos.
Birth and death, existence and bodily nothingness seem initially as states which illustrate a start and an end. But they can be placed in (broader) circles of time (which they do not collide with each other), as well as a “start-end” dipole. The cyclic nature of Time unveils intensively all life expressions. The solar, earth and lunar cycles are intertwined with “our” cycles of apetite, well-being, weariness…
We do not move on cycles. We cannot enter in the same river twice.(2) There is no return. We d o know now that there is no such thing as “the edge of the Earth” and that the circle is in itself very “narrow” to express fully the complex motions of Sun, Earth and Moon.
The modern notion of the “dawn of new millenium” refers to a part of the human population.(3) Nevertheless, the sense of a new coming age (of a final judgement) is the result of a conceptual representation from an increasing part of humanity. In some way, the collective understanding seems to move inertially over a linear time which & imposes a “start-end” dipole principle on every notion. This is reinforced in combination with the environmental destructions because of the human senseless activity. A short end with the worst conditions —an unevitable end beyond the responsibilty of an human— becomes a natural view…
But this way of understanding can be changed…
The heliocentric worldview has been spread, but has also been widened in the meantime!
When we look up to the skies, we see first of all the circles which create the eternal dance of Moon and Sun. But, if we travelled with our mind far from the Earth and outside of our solar system, we would find a “bridge” between the line and the cycle. We would see the Sun running firely and rotating round the center of the Galaxy. Its orbit is so large that our eyes would perceive it as a straight line. The planets and the satellites are in a vortex so complex as our thought paths…
The compound motion of the solar system is similar to a vortex. The helical curve of a spring, which has been already mentioned, is a suitable symbol for a general worldview! The human genetic material has been unfolded some years ago and similar structures have been found!
The concept of the helical motion of the planets(4) —as a fundamental part of the emerging worldview— will play a major role also inside our soul. The future generations —grown up with books which teach the orbits on this helix— will reinterepret the existence and find a new “pattern” in the physical world, in the society and inside of every individual.
- Short summary of two books related to Time conception from the perspective of Philosophy, Anthropology and Sociology: Robert Nisbet, Κοινωνική αλλαγή και Ιστορία, εκδ. Γνώση, Αθήνα, 1995; Patrick Thomassin, Αναζητώντας τις ρίζες, εκδ.Κέδρος, Αθήνα, 1993.
- Heraclitean saying.
- It has a meaning only in the frame of gregorian calendar which has as beginning the year of Christ’s birth.
- For the galactic year (the time of full revolution of Sun in Galaxy), cf. Wikipedia.