Time and Evolution

Instead of theorizing about time, people can conduct practical experiments by using the time concept creatively. To do that it is only necessary to understand how malleable the past and future are.

Consider how stories are told in novels and films. Although chronological order can be useful, it is only one of the many possibilities.

Although natural rhythms, such as those of the day and year, are experienced by all, management of the past and future involves creative choices, involving both memory and will. History is another version of memory. Hope and expectation are related to the will, or to the timidity of those who expect to be rolled along helplessly. Significant sequences, as well as the significance of coincidences and simultaneity, can become more apparent through a more attentive observation of "inner" as well as outer facts.

The "natural" time concept is based on the astronomic and biological facts that give us day and night, the seasons of the year, and the "seasons" of a lifetime. Primitive wisdom is largely based on a close attendance to these basic facts.

Psychological time is far more flexible. The basic fact in this context is the sequence of states of consciousness, and the recognition that past, present and future are experienced in a personal way. The way in which one deals with time is characterizing. Does one dwell on the past? Does one eagerly anticipate a future possibility?

The exploration of time is related to the management of one's own personal life, and evolutionary concepts are merely extensions of the personal experience of past, present and future. Those concepts that make no connection to the personal memory, history or future have no actual significance.