Dealing with any analysis of consciousness, some time should be spent considering Time. The most important point to note is that conscious Time does not equate to physical time. In physics, when one talks of time one really means change. A change in a physical system; an incrementation from one state to its subsequent state in a manner that follows the governing properties of the system. Indeed, the rate of such change is variable itself between different physical systems, say between physics at the scale of the atom and at the biological level including the system of the mind. A sentient conception of Time is quite different; a wholly subjective and experientially determined notion. We have seen already in the temporal cycle how temporality arises within Dasein, how the Anticipation and Making-present "stretch" the Being of Dasein from the immediate past through the present and into a possible future. The Now-that-was further serving to link the succession of Nows by holding within Dasein's grasp of the Now the Now that preceded it. Finally, Interpretation, the basic and ubiquitous process of Dasein, is always conducted with respect to the past, with respect to the experiences of Dasein's Being-in-the-World; so even in the creation of the Now and the Potentiality-for-Being, Dasein is reliant on its own history to do so. Therefore, time as perceived by the function of Dasein in its execution is a manifold confluence of all the tenses; existing within the past, present and future that is its own, created by and for itself. Yet this understanding of time is not commonly possessed by Dasein, for the Entity of time held by Dasein is usually of a different quality. The philosopher says, "The principle thesis of the ordinary way of interpreting time - namely that time is 'infinite' - makes manifest most impressively the way in which world-time and accordingly temporality in general have been levelled off and covered up by such an interpretation. It is held that time presents itself proximally as an uninterrupted sequence of "nows". Every "now", moreover, is already either a "just-now" or a "forthwith". If in characterizing time we stick primarily and exclusively to such a sequence, then in principle neither a beginning nor an end can be found in it. Every last "now", as "now", is always already a "forthwith" that is no longer; thus it is time in the sense of the "no-longer-now" - in the sense of the past. Every first "now" is a "just-now" that is not yet; thus it is time in the sense of the "not-yet-now" - in the sense of the 'future'. Hence time is endless 'on both sides'." Being and time, H.424 This wonderful observation of how Dasein Interprets time shows how time is, as an artifact of the way in which Dasein itself operates, thought to be infinite when there is no logic of the world that supports or even hints at such a conception. This "mistaken" idea that the world is infinite contributes to the shock of self-awareness when Interpretively constrasted with the mortality of the self. Created 30th August 2008 Last revised 11th October 2008 |