Sensing and the perception of it are two different things. I could try to use an analogy of a camera seeing a scenario. Camera lens captures the same light waves (electromagnetic waves) that our eyes does. The range may differ. but it is still an act of having contact with something from the physical world. But the camera has no idea (perception) of what it is capturing(sensing). We need a massively complicated set of algorithms for a computer to simply recognize an everyday thing like a chair or another computer.
If you have read some of my previous posts, you'll know that I have a (Theravada) Buddhist background. There is a temple pretty close by and there is this annual set of religious events. Today I took part in one of them and realized that a whole year has passed.I had totally lost track of time and I actually thought that the last event just ended few months ago. Even that perception came because I instantly knew of a bunch of things that surely happened after the last year's event.
How I've been Living
As I've repeatedly said; The Context is Paramount So I'll have to describe how it almost felt like I had missed almost 3 quarters of an year. Two weeks ago I made a post about quitting school. Since that I've been living with my parents and I'm without job and without schedule. I just spend most of my day self learning stuff (mostly over the internet) and being engaged with the STEEM blockchain. There is also a little bit of crypto trading going on.
I sleep when I want to. I get up when I want to. I do whatever I want to and live with a high degree of freedom. There are obvious restrictions due to tings like money and all sorts of real life situations. I have to help with all sorts of activities etc. But compared to 99.9% of the people I know, I'm pretty much on a 24/7 vacation.
The Feeling of Passing Time
You'll notice things more if you are constantly paying attention to it. I always knew which day it was because I remember the classes I attended to and the number of days till Saturday. Now I have to use my phone or laptop. Generally people are using these devices of keep track of hours instead of days or weeks. But it has all changed for me.
People have an idea of things that they put their minds on and for a person living based on schedules obviously should have better perception on the passing of time. But those who pass time without schedule and also without boredom.
You know what they say... The opposite of love is not hatred, but indifference. An indifferent person would lack the drive to kill or hurt.
- Makishima Shougo
A bored person would look at the clock and notice the passing time. But think about a time you were building something, reading a certain book or playing a video game really well. It could even be research or solving some math. You should have had these moments where you say you"lost track of time". When one intensely live life to the fullest, the perception of time doesn't speed up but i slows down. This brings me to the next part.
Buddhist Cosmology
These are things I've read from books and not my own experiences. Buddhism describes 6 heavenly planes of existence where in the lowest realm, a day is 50 years in the human world. The lifespan is 500 heavenly years. In each step, both of the number double resulting in 1000 year lifespan where 1 day is 100 human years. This result in millions of years to billions of years of life from the perception of a human being. My experiences in the physical realm known to me has almost turned weeks into days or at times, the last month feels like yesterday.
The there are the descriptions of human lifespan which is even more interesting. According to Buddhism (Theravada) the universe itself is cyclical and the human lifespan is also cyclical. It is said that human lifespan can go as low as 10 years which is how long a male lion lives in the wild. That is also close to the lifespan of a dog. There have been times of history where most humans never reached the middle age. Even the social security system was based on the historical fact that most human beings did't even live long enough to claim their benefits.
Then there is a the high end where the number reach 10^140 According to some claims the number of zeroes after 1 is in the 90s. That's trillions of times longer than the currently calculated the age of the universe. Maybe our methods were flawed or more likely something like this:
I don't know how the universe tick and I'd like to find out. During my explorations I'd like to keep an open mind. This series is titled "Thought of the Day" and not "Fact of the Day". This series is about where you might find the answers instead of answers themselves. So give these things some thought. Don't overthink and go mad. It had happened to great minds of history and you must make sure not to fall so deep enough to be lost. Discovering the nature of reality could be the ultimate extreme sport. Tread with care and grow wiser :-)
Thought of the Day #1: What If You are Immortal...
Thought of the Day #2: All Of Actions, Their Consequences and The Complete Lack Of Awareness
