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An expert explores the riddle of subjective time, from why time
speeds up as we grow older to the connection between time and
consciousness. We have widely varying perceptions of time. Children
have trouble waiting for anything. ("Are we there yet?") Boredom is
often connected to our sense of time passing (or not passing). As
people grow older, time seems to speed up, the years flitting by
without a pause. How does our sense of time come about? In Felt
Time, Marc Wittmann explores the riddle of subjective time,
explaining our perception of time-whether moment by moment, or in
terms of life as a whole. Drawing on the latest insights from
psychology and neuroscience, Wittmann offers a new answer to the
question of how we experience time. Wittmann explains, among other
things, how we choose between savoring the moment and deferring
gratification; why impulsive people are bored easily, and why their
boredom is often a matter of time; whether each person possesses a
personal speed, a particular brain rhythm distinguishing quick
people from slow people; and why the feeling of duration can serve
as an "error signal," letting us know when it is taking too long
for dinner to be ready or for the bus to come. He considers the
practice of mindfulness, and whether it can reduce the speed of
life and help us gain more time, and he describes how, as we grow
older, subjective time accelerates as routine increases; a
fulfilled and varied life is a long life. Evidence shows that
bodily processes-especially the heartbeat-underlie our feeling of
time and act as an internal clock for our sense of time. And
Wittmann points to recent research that connects time to
consciousness; ongoing studies of time consciousness, he tells us,
will help us to understand the conscious self.
What altered states of consciousness-the dissolution of feelings of
time and self-can tell us about the mystery of consciousness.
During extraordinary moments of consciousness-shock, meditative
states and sudden mystical revelations, out-of-body experiences, or
drug intoxication-our senses of time and self are altered; we may
even feel time and self dissolving. These experiences have long
been ignored by mainstream science, or considered crazy fantasies.
Recent research, however, has located the neural underpinnings of
these altered states of mind. In this book, neuropsychologist Marc
Wittmann shows how experiences that disturb or widen our everyday
understanding of the self can help solve the mystery of
consciousness. Wittmann explains that the relationship between
consciousness of time and consciousness of self is close; in
extreme circumstances, the experiences of space and self intensify
and weaken together. He considers the emergence of the self in
waking life and dreams; how our sense of time is distorted by
extreme situations ranging from terror to mystical enlightenment;
the experience of the moment; and the loss of time and self in such
disorders as depression, schizophrenia, and epilepsy. Dostoyevsky
reported godly bliss during epileptic seizures; neurologists are
now investigating the phenomenon of the epileptic aura. Wittmann
describes new studies of psychedelics that show how the brain
builds consciousness of self and time, and discusses pilot programs
that use hallucinogens to treat severe depression, anxiety, and
addiction. If we want to understand our consciousness, our
subjectivity, Wittmann argues, we must not be afraid to break new
ground. Studying altered states of consciousness leads us directly
to the heart of the matter: time and self, the foundations of
consciousness.
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