The Falling Together of Time

Within the domain of sound, rhythm warps space in a similar way to how gravity guides matter. Sound, similar to language, allows for the communication of meaning, even though language is not the same as thought, but rather functions as a tool to express it.Language stands as a technological advancement within human development, a means of communicating intentions that has become fundamental in every society. As we contemplate the development of language alongside human evolution, we are led to wonder: when did humans first acquire the ability to conceptualize thought? This ability to communicate thoughts and ideas is what binds cultures and societies together. With thousands of languages across the globe, each one serves as a vital vessel for the exchange of knowledge that shapes our daily lives.

Yet, there is a profound difference between how we perceive and how we express the idea of self, and the memory of self. For example, when we observe a picture, we take in multiple elements simultaneously—its background, foreground, objects, colors, and forms—existing all at once in space. Language, however, is linear and temporal, forcing us to describe one thing at a time in sequence. This forces an imposed order that may distort the simultaneous nature of the original image. Within this linear approach, there is a danger of overlooking or distorting the intricacy of the perceived information, resulting in unintentional biases when deciding on the initial emphasis, or implying a ranking or cause-and-effect connection that is not present in the original context.

Similarly, time follows a transitive pattern, meaning for every moment in time, there is an earlier moment and a later moment. This establishes a sequence in time, or a daisy-chain effect of cascading moments. The restriction in language plays a crucial role in how we perceive reality, as everything becomes subjective. Words come one after another, and with an expected pace and duration, allowing ideas to operate together through a casual potency of patterns. The memory of a thing uses data points to formalize a process from the barest facts- or counter factual of what is possible, and impossible within physical spacetime.

Time is like an infinite, two-dimensional series, meaning it stretches endlessly in both past and future directions. As a result, understanding meaning and reality goes beyond mere cause and effect, resembling Ferdinand de Saussure's sign model from his semiotics theory, which approaches the notions of cause and effect in a more abstract and conceptual manner. His model distinguishes between the signifier (the form or sound pattern of a word) and the signified (the concept or idea it represents). Working together, they form a signal that symbolizes a specific occurrence.

Nevertheless, the signal, or sign lacks intrinsic meaning by itself, as everything is interconnected, much like observing a picture or painting, with each element influencing the others in a continuous manner. Time, consciousness, and meaning are inextricably linked in this dynamic process. While we may never fully grasp the entirety of existence, we can participate in its unfolding, finding meaning in the ever-evolving fluid motion of sound, language, and thought. I would like to introduce here a few concept metaphors that have helped me a great deal developing my intuitions on this elusive subject.

In Saussure's theory, the relationship between the signifier and signified is arbitrary, meaning there is no inherent or natural connection between the two. Challenging the conventional view of cause and effect, Saussure implies that the effect (the sign) does not stem directly from a causal connection with the concept it symbolizes. This randomness indicates that language functions not based on straightforward causal links but on socially constructed meaning systems, much like how the invention of a 24 hour day simulates the organization of universal time. Although in many circumstances we rely on the familairty of these very macro-events in our days to be completly predictable to us. There are many other circumstances at different levels of our existence where we are very aware of not being able to predict what will happen, even though these other levels are responsible for what happens at higher levels, such as localized position in space, speed of movement, and chemical identity. How language relates to time as experienced by humans is a strange mixture of relevance or irrelevancies, ranging from events that are highly expected to those that are extremely unpredictable.

An Encoded Event

 In a book written by physicist and philosopher David Bohm, "On Creativity," published in 1998, he discusses the elusive nature of originality. He argues that originality is inherently difficult to define because any attempt to do so would paradoxically render the concept unoriginal. To capture the essence of originality, Bohm suggests that it might be more effective to approach it indirectly, hinting at its qualities rather than trying to pin them down definitively. This perspective aligns with the broader philosophy within Saussure's relational conception of meaning, which emphasized the differences between signs, similarly to how Bohm's emphasizes the fluid, dynamic nature of reality and the limitations of rigid definitions and categorizations.

"But what is [the] quality of originality? It is very hard to define or specify. Indeed, to define originality would in itself be a contradiction, since whatever action can be defined in this way must evidently henceforth be unoriginal. Perhaps, then, it will be best to hint at it obliquely and by indirection, rather than to try to assert positively what it is." - Bohm, D. (1998). On Creativity (1st ed.). Routledge.

Meaning, as proposed by David Bohm, is not fixed; it is a dynamic, flowing process arising from the ever-changing relationships between things. For Bohm, meaning is shaped by culture and collective thought patterns that not only influence our language but conditions how we perceive and understand the world. These patterns are frequently unconsciously perceived, causing our reality to fragment and hindering us from fully understanding the complete picture, leading to conflict and misunderstandings. Ironically, its through these misunderstandings do we begin learning what we mean when we say, "I understand."

This ambiguity of meaning is vital for creativity to exist and the tinest detailed interactions between our conscious and unconscious mind makes all the difference as to who we become. Communication, then, is an art. We attempt to verbalize experiences that often escape language, always falling short of fully capturing the whole. While we fragment reality into parts, the unbroken whole remains, and our understanding deepens through an ongoing process of becoming. A sense of becoming is very interesting because it can produce the illusion of change. Similarly, words can be likened to fragments of the mind's encounters occurring on a smaller scale, serving as validation of our presence.

Memory, too, is fragmentary. From this scale our understanding of the world is continuously expanding, and time, as we experience it, is always slipping into the past. There is a certain ambiguity to time—it cannot be fully defined, for the present moment always contains elements of the past. But if we were to zoom out from our individual experiences, and see a giant globe floating in space, there would be no symbols, or ideas, or thoughts happening-- it would be just a greatness of pointless activity. This phenomenon can be likened to kinematic time dilation, a concept foreseen in Einstein's 1905 theory of special relativity. In simpler terms, the faster your motion, the slower time passes for you.

This unfolding of moments reflects the nature of consciousness itself, where a sense of becoming creates the illusion of change. Ideas reverberate in consciousness, requiring time to take on meaning.

From where we stand, we observe how ideas lead to the emergence of new ideas, how a symbolic event triggers memories of another symbolic event, and how thought patterns merge to create larger patterns within the structured dance of symbolism. At this higher level, symbols move independently in their own symbolic realm, all unfolding within the mind. This process of unfoldment is beautifully captured in the Golden Record created for the Voyager spacecraft, which attempts to communicate the diversity of life on Earth to extraterrestrials. The Record, containing audio, images, and symbols, represents the diversity of conveying human experience over a great distances of time and space. Similar to our personal perception of reality, this form of communication is constrained by its means, yet aims to capture the core of a universe that surpasses the mere blending of its components.

Essentially, this interpretation of language using a phenological approach provides insight into how humans experience space and place, emphasizing the subjective, cultural, and experiential aspects that influence our perceptions and connections with the physical world.

In his 1977 publication "Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience," Yi-Fu Tuan extensively explores how humans culturally and experientially perceive and engage with the notions of space and place. Tuan investigates the ways in which people and communities assign importance and meaning to different spaces and locations, and how these interpretations impact human behavior and interactions with the surroundings.

Tuan argues that "space" refers to the abstract, geometric features of the physical surroundings, while "place" represents a space that carries personal, cultural, or emotional significance. Throughout the book he discusses the various teachings of space and place, including how they are represented in language, art, and literature, and how they are influenced by factors such as memory, identity, and social structures.

To sum up, the interpretation and comprehension of time, particularly when viewed through the perspective of language, can be regarded as a semiotic system. Time itself is intangible, and our understanding of it comes through various signs and symbols, whether they're clocks, the rising and setting of the sun, or even the evolution of human bodies.

These systems serve as a symbolic representation of our internal understanding of time, deriving significance from cultural and contextual use. However, the key lies in the interpreter's readiness to accept their interpretation of the present moment, acknowledging its fleetingness and complex essence, to reveal the deep wisdom embedded in its intricacies.