The Arrow of Subjective Time Perception All perception

The Arrow of Subjective Time

Perception • All perception is of change. • If there is no change, there is no perception. • Therefore, a single unchanging thought, memory, or perception could never be perceived. • Examples: All perceived sights, sounds, and sensations are pulsing, shifting, or cyclic in nature. Also, our attention is constantly shifting, resulting in changing perceptions.

Subjective and objective perception • Definition: “Subjective” perception is change in thoughts or body sensations normally thought to be internal to the mind. • Definition: “Objective” perception is change in sensory impressions of objects normally thought to be external to the mind, such as in the outside world.

Memory • A memory is a thought or body sensation that refers to an event that appears to have occurred in the past. • A single memory alone cannot be perceived because it contains no change. • In order to perceive change, at least two memories are required. • These two memories must also contain the thought that the event had happened in the past.

Objective and subjective memory • Subjective memory is a thought or body sensation that refers to an apparently past internal event. • Objective memory is a thought or body sensation that refers to an apparently past external event. • As defined here, no storage device is required for either subjective or objective memory.

The arrow of objective time • The arrow of objective time is the directionality of change in objective memory as measured by objective devices and processes such as: • 1. Clocks, calendars, electronic instruments, positions of planets, suns, and galaxies; • 2. The directions of chemical and thermodynamic reactions; • 3. The direction in which the entropy of the universe increases.

Subjective memory

The ordering of memories • Both objective and subjective memories may appear in an ordering. • Some memories in an ordering are thought to refer to events occurring at earlier times. • Other memories in an ordering are thought to refer to events occurring at later times. • The times in an ordering are purely conceptual.

The concept of time • The time ordering of memories, whether objective or subjective, determines the sense of direction in time. • Random thoughts and sensations either have no time ordering or have random time ordering, and thus have no directionality.

Subjective memory and subjective time • Subjective time is independent of objective time. • The arrow of subjective time is the directionality of change in subjective memory. • If there is no directionality of change in subjective memory, there is no sense of subjective time. • Random background thoughts and body sensations do not produce directionality (think of background hums or hisses) so they do not signify the passage of time.

Perception in quantum mechanics • In quantum mechanics, perception occurs either when the wavefunction collapses (Copenhagen interpretation) or when it branches (many worlds interpretation). • Both of these processes are irreversible, thus perception in quantum mechanics is irreversible. • The irreversibility of perception results in both the sense of time and its direction.

All perception is of memory • Because, even in quantum mechanics, change cannot be known without memory, perception requires memory thoughts or sensations. • Therefore, all perception is equivalent to changes in memory. • Objective perception is not different from subjective perception because both are of changes in memory. • Therefore, there is no difference between external and internal perception.

Time in quantum mechanics • In quantum mechanics, the directionality of time is determined by the process of observation. • In the Copenhagen interpretation, wavefunction collapse is irreversible, making observation unidirectional. • In the many-worlds interpretation, branching of the wavefunction is irreversible, making observation unidirectional.

Time is a thought • Time is the concept of time-ordered memories. • Memories are thoughts; time ordering is a thought; thus, time is a thought. • In the absence of thoughts, there is no time, e. g. , in deep meditation, deep sleep, under anesthesia.

That which is aware of the thought of time is Awareness • The thought of time cannot appear without the awareness of it. • Awareness is timelessness. • Thus, time appears to Awareness and is not separate from It. • Since time is not separate from Awareness, it is not different from It. • Therefore, the substance of time is timelessness.

Memory implies change • A single memory contains no change. • But, for there to be experience, there must be change. • Therefore, there can be no experience of a single memory.

What can give a sense of directionality to change? • A sense of directionality can result from a sense of sequentiality in memories, e. g. , the sense that one memory came before another. • This requires at least two memories to be present, plus a way of determining which came first.

A single thought could not be experienced • A single thought could never change. Therefore it could not be experienced.