Felt Time – The Psychology of How We Perceive Time by Marc Wittmann and Erik Butler - 9 out of 10

 

Felt Time – The Psychology of How We Perceive Time by Marc Wittmann and Erik Butler

9 out of 10

 

 

The Stoic philosopher Seneca, Fyodor Dostoevsky and other luminaries are quoted inside this instructive, useful, very good book which can help readers manage time, learn its significance, avoid its waste, and understand better how it works (or does not) in various periods of our lives – the old have a different perception

 

Seneca was not just a philosopher, but one of the wealthiest men of ancient history (actually, one of the richest ever) and he had wise things to say about most things, including time https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/on-shortness-of-life-by-seneca.html especially in On The Shortness of Time

Counterintuitively, Seneca insists that ‘we have enough time, life is not short, it is just that we do not see time as the valuable resource that it is, indeed, we treat it as if it were infinite, waste it, get bored often, which is an indication that we are not doing what we should’ – words to that effect, more or less, and what a revelation they are

 

We have had this discussion at the…sauna Downtown, where among the hoi polloi and the morons, there is one particular ‘university professor’ – looking at how he lectures, with expletives, he may not be a teacher at all – who takes all the air in the room, brings down the mood, and overall, is the paradigm of wasting time

Flow https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/08/learn-how-to-get-to-optimal-state-from.html is a classic of psychology by the co-founder of positive psychology, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, which explains what we need to reach Optimal Experience – this is an autotelic act, we are in control, nothing else matters, we have clear goals, skills match challenges, feedback is constant and key for the topic here – time is expanding or compressing

 

‘Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour…Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute…’ this what the genius that has discovered the Theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein, said and we can learn from this that we can control our experiences, to the degree where we choose the optimal sensation

Carpe Diem is an old wise slogan, victorious generals also had a man in their chariot, while they were parading through Ancient Rome, telling them ‘Memento mori’ aka remember you are mortal, so that they do not get too self-absorbed, both would be useful leit motifs that will keep us concentrated on the present

 

‘Happiness Activity No 9: Savoring Life’s Joys-paying close attention, taking delight in life’s momentary pleasures and wonders, through thinking, writing, drawing or sharing with another’ is from the glorious The How of Happiness https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-how-of-happiness-by-sonja.html by Sonja Lyubomirsky

 

Another monumental chef d’oeuvre that looks at the passing of time (also at the way it is frozen, somewhat) is The Magic Mountain https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-magic-mountain-is-classic-that.html by mesmerizing Thomas Mann – at that high altitude, in the sanatorium, with days looking like each other, time flies

One way to win the Time Game would be to play The Glasperlenspiel aka The Glass Bead Game https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-glass-bead-game-by-herman-hesse.html which is a magnum opus by Hermann Hesse, winner of the Nobel Prize and author of overwhelming masterpieces, such as Narciss and Goldmund, The Steppen Wolf, Siddhartha, novels that can change the life of readers and respect the rule listed at the bottom

 

Glasperlenspiel is the Game in which intellectuals immerse, the nec plus ultra, learning, meditating, playing and listening to music, in other words The Happiness Formula, the paradise that future generations could live in, if Artificial Intelligence does most of the work and then humans can get involved in what matters, follow their calling

Fyodor Dostoevsky is also included in Felt Time, with his incredible experience in front of the…execution squad, where he had been sent following a death sentence – looking at his last three minutes on earth, the writer decides to look at his life in one minute, say goodbye to family and friends in another and in the final minute to admire a ray of sunshine that falls on a belle tower nearby, only he is pardoned just before the final moments

 

This intense, shattering, unique experience is found in the magnum opera https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-brothers-karamazov-by-fyodor.html where readers find what the man facing the capital punishment is feeling, how he would rather live on a bare rock, in the middle of the ocean than die

It is also a lesson in how to live, to anticipate those last days, hours, minutes, and look for fervor, buoyancy, arcadian events, halcyon days, try and apply the rules mentioned in Flow, and bring ourselves Into The Zone on a daily basis, instead of staying bored – one important decision is to find The Calling, what makes sense to us

 

Harvard Professor Tal Ben Shahar explains in his lectures on positive psychology, the most popular in the history of that Ivy League institution, how we identify The Calling: there are three groups, what we like to do, what we are good at, and what has meaning for us, and where they intersect, this is the area of activities, jobs we have to select from, because then we would do in our lives what we want, and get paid for it…studies have shown that approximately one third of humans in one job work for the money, another third for promotion and the like, and the last because it their calling, needless to say, we need to be in the latter category, of happy, efficient, successful, radiant earthlings

 

 Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world   – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Heritage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”