Slowing Time Perception

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I don't want to start a huge debate on spiritualism like the earlier topic started by Shaun did, but I am intrigued by the suggestion that sort of sparked it.

Is it possible to alter your perception of time? I don't for a second think that you could actually travel in time by just thinking about it, but I've experienced meditation where I felt that more time had passed 'outside' than I had experienced. I know certain drugs can have similar effects. I also know that it's possible to alter metabolic rate by meditation. I'm just curious to hear of other people's experiences with this type of thing; how malleable is the human perception of time?
 
Hey Raz,
I think it is possible to time travel in a sense with this method I had mentioned. Keep in mind, I said in a sense, or in essence I should say. I believe we can lose vast amounts of time so to speak without ageing. Like the Monk I spoke about. In doing so though, we'd miss everything that happened within that period of time. But, the question of whether or not we could reverse this through similar methods to gain time is still there. It may be possible, but, I can't exactly figure it out.

I would like to hear more about this myself from others and their experiences in losing time.
 
Hey Raz!! Something occured to me when I was reading your post that started this Topic thread. While I'm not an expert on bears, I do know that they're metabolism slows down drasticly while hybernating, the question that I have is do they still age at the same rate as those animals that don't hybernate. Do they make time slow down while in their winter state or do they age at the same rate when they're not in their winter slumber. I just felt that it was indirectly relevant to the topic discussion.

Have A Great Day!!

Draco
 
Raz...

I have often in meditation *slowed down inside time* as you suggested happens to you.


The interesting question is how can one slow down the *outside time* ...can this also be done by changing perceptual focus?


The other thin that is fascinating about bears is that the fertilized egg of a pregnant bear is held in stasis unti the bear goes into hybernation...Imagine that women of the world? Go to sleep and wake up with babes in arms *chuckling* Hey I wish some days I could have done that...


Be safe and dream sweetly all.


WS
 
Another way to look at this is maybe time is never constant. Raz int your post, you refer to internal and external time. This may be an illusion.

We observe "time" by observing events and things in motion. We even measure time by the same (ie. rotation and revolution of the Earth). The question is can you lose yourself in that way. I know it is easy to lose track of what day it is, but could it be done on the scale that Shaun is talking about?

Also that bring up another topic. If we left the Earth and went to another planet with a different ronational rate would time be the same. The theory of relativity says that velocity effects time and the faster you go the slower time passes. It shouldn't be very noticeable until you approch the speed of light, but there would be some effect.

Kentheee
 
Hey, neat replies! Thanks. I'll try to keep the discussion going;

From what I know of the topic, the ageing of the human body is related to chemical processes within the cells and DNA of the person. Draco, I think your comment about hibernation is especially relevant. The bear's metabolic rate slows down during the winter - does this actually slow the celular degradation? I think it probably does. It would be interesting to keep a bear awake and see if its lifespan was significantly altered. Which brings me to the idea of passing large spans of time in a meditative state, as Shaun suggests. Looking at it from a purely scientific point of view, life could be extended by slowing your metabolism. But, slow it down too much and the regular cell repair cycles would shut down, and your body would become as if dead - damage would not be repaired and you would rot away. So I think this places an upper limit on the amounts of time which could be traversed with this method - you would still be using up your life, but at a much much reduced rate. What the limit is I have no clue. Decades? Centuries? I'm no biologist. But still, the fact that the mind can have control over the body's metabolic rate opens interesting new pathways. Ever seen those yogis on TV that sit in those tiny boxes? or in ice-cold water? Supreme control over their bodies. I don't think it's too crazy to think they could have a Rip Van Winkle-like experience.
 
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