"Western Standard Time," or Linear Time

What is the 'normal' way of experiencing time in the West?

Linear time is like a horizontal conveyor belt that moves at a constant, unchangeable speed between past, present, future

Linear time is a term that represents the usual way that most adults in the West experience time. Linear time, an experiential perspective completely independent of measured time, combines (1) the actual feeling of time passing in a linear and directed way from one moment to another, (2) the separation of past from present and present from future, and (3) a sense that you are positioned only now, in the present.

Past, present, and future are like separate rooms

In the linear view, time is like a conveyor belt that moves horizontally at a constant and unchangeable speed between past, present, future 'rooms' in our experience. These different aspects of time are actually felt to be separate.

Time feels like it's out of our control

Linear time is a major feature of our Western cultural world-view, apparently initiated by Newton some 300 years ago. It portrays time as an absolute physical reality, and says that the passage of time is independent of consciousness. So from a linear time worldview, it doesn't matter what you think, feel, or do, or how you look at time, time doesn't change. As a result, we may feel some helplessness, and think we can only adapt to this 'reality'.

We are located in the present 'room' and we seek elsewhere/elsewhen

With the experience of time flowing between past, present, and future there is a dissatisfied self 'spending time' in the foreground. The self reaches out for satisfaction, looking to other people to fulfill desires, or seeking out special things and activities. The self 'looks forward to' things, but has difficulty fully appreciating them.

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Notes

More detail is available in an article on linear time.

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