spirituality 29.pdf

7/29/2019 spirituality 29.pdf

1/6

spirituality - lesson 29: time - HOMEWORK

'a man cannot step in the same river twice,' said the greek mystic heraclitus, andthe secret of life, the universe, and everything is contained in that simplestatement.

does time exist?

scientists, and physicists of all types claim that 'time' exists. exist, meaning thatthere is a 'physical' factor called 'time', and that it plays an integral part in thehappenings within the universe. do you think that 'time' is actually a 'real force' orthat we simply invented time to put a reference on the passage of events? it isour hope that the concept of time advanced in this lesson will provide the germfor additional thinking on this topic.

time is part of our coordinate system timeit appears in equations just like position does - the geometry of physical reality isthree-dimensional in its essence, but time is a dimension in space-timegeometry, just as X, Y, Z / height, length, width.

the common view of 'time'

is that of an observed one way flow providing, together with space, the matrix ofevents. it can be measured as an epoch, (the moment of an instantaneous eventas marked by a clock) or as the interval of duration of a continuous event, and byreference to either moving bodies or electromagnetic phenomena (atomic time).

its flow has been found, in contemporary physics, to be relative to the observersvelocity and acceleration perspectives and by gravity. in biology to be affected bysuch factors as environmental rhythms, temperature, drugs and (perhaps) brainrhythms.

we commonly use the word 'time'to refer to what are, in reality, two somewhat different, albeit closely related,


2/6

notions: the notion of 'a particular time', and the notion of 'a measure of elapsedtime'. let us examine each of these and the relationship between them.

a particular timesearch your memory until you come across a vivid recollection of someparticular time in the past that has a special significance for you, preferably somepleasant occasion, a birthday perhaps, or some other noteworthy event. now askyourself what it is about that particular time that 'defines' it. in other words, whatis it, exactly, that sets that particular time apart from all other particular times andmakes it uniquely identifiable? our existence or consciousness is actually a pointor intersect of space and time.

we understand our place in space as it is easily observable and as we movefrom one area of space to another, we can easily see where we are going. wecannot see our progress through time and must rely on memory to know where

we have been, and on faith that the past will extend into a future. a key pointhere is the idea that what really 'defines' a particular time is not so much a datewritten on a calendar or the reading of a clock, but rather a configuration,regardless of how loosely defined, of some known portion of the universe.

LED wall clock by +F design


3/6

sparkfun gps LED wall clock

utilizing the electronic paper display technology, citizen watch has createda digital clock that is as thin as paper. this easy-to-read, low-power displaycomponent is fully conformable, allowing product designers more creativefreedom than ever before.


4/6

DIY electronic wall clock

LED wall clock

various LED wall clocks

calendar and clocksbefore calendars and clocks, humans awareness of particular times necessarilywas based simply on their observations, whether recorded or not, about theevolving configurations of the universe. despite being relative newcomers on the

historical scene, calendars and clocks rapidly have assumed an extremelyimportant role in our lives, and this is true precisely because they serve the


5/6

powerful and useful function of providing a concise shorthand for communicatinginformation about configurations of the universe. simply by saying that I plan to

talk about the 1st century BC, for example, I avoid the tedious necessity ofhaving to explain that I plan to talk about the time long after dinosaursdisappeared from the earth, and after the time of cavemen but before the advent

of steam locomotives and laptop computers. it was about the time when theroman legions were under the command of julius caesar. knowing even anapproximate date allows us to make some important inferences about thecorresponding configuration, albeit perhaps somewhat loosely defined, of at leastsome relatively small portion of the universe.

clocks perform a function analogous to that of calendars, but on a finer scale.knowing the time of day can provide a great deal of information about the roughconfiguration of several portions of the universe. at 6:00 AM the sun will be risingon the eastern horizon and a flight should be departing XX airport headed for YY,at 3:00 PM a movie will begin at the local cinema... we joke ruefully aboutneeding a calendar rather than a clock to measure and describe our wait intraffic.

the power of calendars, and perhaps even more so of clocks, to simplify andorganize our lives has proven to be so great that it has tended to blind us to theunderlying fact that the fundamental role of these devices is to provide ashorthand way of communicating information about configurations of theuniverse.

clocks, in particular, have taken on an importance that would be difficult tooverestimate, often bordering on a form of tyranny over our lives. we have cometo think and to say and to believe that clocks somehow 'measure' the passage of

some intangible, mysterious thing that we call 'time'. we are driven to createclocks that are ever more precise and accurate, and not without good reason;precise, accurate clocks serve as far more powerful tools than imprecise,inaccurate clocks. we have even gone so far as to elevate the 'product' of ourclocks, this thing we have named time, to the status of an independent,fundamental unit of the physical universe.

time and space'... nature is telling us that time and space are equivalent; time becomes space;they should be measured in the same units.' the late nobel laureate richardfeynman was fond of using what he called the 'trick' of substituting units of length

in place of units of time as a way to simplify his equations. I am not suggesting,of course, that as a result of these brief discussions we should all rush outimmediately to our nearest hardware stores to exchange our clocks andwristwatches for tape measures.

units of time will long continue to serve a valuable practical purpose, but it is alsoimportant at the outset to recognize and, insofar as possible, to 'internalize' thenotion that the configuration of the universe does not change as a result of timeadvancing; rather, time changes because the configuration of the universechanges. 'a man cannot step in the same river twice' - the importance of graspingthis subtle, admittedly perhaps counterintuitive, distinction can hardly be

overstated in terms of furthering our understanding of time.


6/6

homeworkdesign a wall clock.

people from different countries may perceive time differently. many high techcountries live fast, 'time is money', while other countries have a slowerrhythm... the design should express your personalnotion of time, your criticalview, your fun perception...so be creative with it.deadline30 october 2010

please include a written description of your submission, and include this text inthe body of your email.NOT AS A SEPARATE ATTACHMENT.

do not send your files in any of the following formats:

microsoft word microsoft powerpoint PDF

please send your work by email to:[email protected] line: WALL CLOCK homework

spirituality 29.pdf

Documents