Blog » June 2009 » The Singularity of the Moment

The Singularity of the Moment

I've been reading some interesting stuff as of late that discusses the concept of time, as it's relative to our existence. Simply put, time is something that we have devised.

Ever notice how sometimes events seem to last forever, days drag; or the inverse happens and times seems to fly. Why is this ? It's a basic matter of perception. How we as humans process the events around us. I tend to believe that we define our space and time. What we intuit and how we wish to perceive the moment. If indeed, all we have is "now", and "now" keeps becoming the new "now" and our life is the sum total of all the "nows" that we have in a row, then it serves to reason that everything in essence could be happening all at once. The linear passage of time is just a way for the human animal to process and understand external stimuli.

I realize that this does not take into account aging, and other time markers, but the actual physics of the thing are beyond the scope of this silly little post. I'm more concerned with the concept of perception and how it pertains to experience and sensory (visual, aural, tactile, etc) recall.

I frequently think about this when I'm taking a photo or rolling some video. What exactly am I capturing ? Time ? Experience ? Light ? A portion of the electromagnetic spectrum ?

At the end of it all, it really does not even matter; but it is something interesting to ponder.

To me, it's just an ever present reminder to enjoy the singularity of each moment with your sensors on full.

Posted: 6/26/2009 9:48:22 AM | 2 comments | Filed under: perception, photography, time, videography

Comments

	Justin S. Arndt
	A very interesting point of view to say the least, good job. I would like to interject aspect of how time is viewed or not viewed for that matter. I think most people don’t really look at Time as “something that goes on” necessarily, but more like something that simply is, something that can in fact be controlled and manipulated to a degree. Most people feel that they can control their life by trying to control Time. The thing is you can’t control Time in anyway shape or form. Time isn’t even really a thing, I was trying to think of a good way to write this and my colleague M. H. Khan says it best “Time is a metaphor used to express the non-spatial distance between events. Time is associated with change and motion. Time is the perception of the present, the memory of the past and an anticipation of the future.” Thanks M. H. :) Anyway I believe time is nothing more than a word, Don’t get me wrong I love the Sci-Fi aspect of time and all that goes with it, but I believe time to be just a word, simply that. Humans use this word as a way to measure the distance between events, nothing more nothing less. I like to think of time more like life. What I mean by this is most people decide where they want to live there life subconsciously. Some like to live in the past fretting about the things that have come before. Others like to live wondering what is going to happen to them tomorrow or next week or years from now, and this is how they live – by existing in other frames of time that are nothing more than past events or future possibilities. And then there are the people who I believe have it right. The folks who live in the now or the present, they know that it is pointless to live in the past because there is nothing that can be done to change what has come before; they know that the past is a place of learning and understanding. They understand that the future is fluid and changing nothing is set and therefore they don’t not worry or stress over things that are to come but allow events to happen as they will, you can only affect change on what is to come to a limited degree. There are too many outside “forces” or things that can alter what you try to plan or set in motion, these changes to your plan can cause stress and frustration. Knowing the future can’t be set in stone can relieve this stress. The peeps who live in the now or the present LIVE time or live this moment, as I type on this keyboard I am living in this moment, this time, not yesterday or 3 minutes ago but now, not tomorrow or 3 minutes from this moment. These individuals know how to manage time better than anybody else because they manage their life well. I don’t like to look a t time as a resource like money. Again Time is perception and how you perceive your own self worth will ultimately determine how valuable time is to you and those you spend your life with. And with that I will leave you with the following poem that I like very much. To See a World in a grain of sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an Hour -William Blake
	6/26/2009 10:43:14 AM