interpretations of time

[zether]

Some of the type interpretations I’ve read for INTP’s have noted that we can be quite lazy. I was wondering if this has something to do with the perceiving aspect’s general hate for time-management and then started to wonder if time is an abstract thing and ...
REAL question: what is your interpretation of time? How does this affect your daily goings-on (work, school, etc.)?

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Time comes to me in two ways.

The first is external time. It's the amalgamation and harmonious synchronization of all schedules, appointments, expectations, obligations, routines, standards etc that the everyone in the world operates on as a whole. For specific examples, birthdays, anniversaries, time you have to be at work/school, bus/train schedule, things like that.

The second sense of time is internal. It's formed out of your personal destinations and situation, your fate. Some examples are your death, emergent problems, nostalgic reflection, ETA of where you're going, emergencies or crises(or lack thereof)...

I feel little obligation towards the external sense of time because I don't understand why it is necessary to be synchronized. I feel everyone has their own personal life and situations to go through and this is complicated enough without the external world imposing on your state of mind. Because of this I tend to always be late or absent to appointments. I can easily drift off my sleep cycle. I never hurry to do things, unless it is of critical importance. I forget or disregard expectations and dates, and I don't like to work when everyone else is working. I prefer to work, live on my own time.

 

[ObliviousGenius]

I'll sum it up simply; Time flies when you're having fun and goes by really, really slowly during everything else.

IMO trying to interpret time is a futile effort because it is a constant. The sun will come up in the morning and then set that evening. How boring. So yeah trying to understand time is pointless. I'll only end up wasting my own if I do.

 

[Dapper Dan]

Thanks for reminding me to make a payment on my student loans.

 

[Otherside]

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

From "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot

 

[Mello]

I'm too easily distracted by my thoughts. I know it's okay to ask others for help though.

 

[P.H.]

I usually forget there is something like time (the structured external one EyeSeeCold mentions) but I'm not sure why. I just.. drift off, don't particularly hold it high.

I'd like to control time and pauze it whenever I feel I need to think about something a little more but don't have the time for it. Or just generally being able to take a step back. Time always continues and I feel as though I hasten through it. I need a lot of it to give everything I experience a place in my head, but while doing that more stuff happens I need to digest. I think that's why I take things slow. I don't do much experiencing in life.

I've found that when I don't focus on time that much and let it go a little, I'm much happier. Go with the flow. It sucks society expects so much from people. The constant pressure to perform (on time) almost got to me at some points in my life.

 

[Otherside]

I usually forget there is something like time (the structured external one EyeSeeCold mentions) but I'm not sure why. I just.. drift off, don't particularly hold it high.

I'd like to control time and pauze it whenever I feel I need to think about something a little more but don't have the time for it. Or just generally being able to take a step back. Time always continues and I feel as though I hasten through it. I need a lot of it to give everything I experience a place in my head, but while doing that more stuff happens I need to digest. I think that's why I take things slow. I don't do much experiencing in life.

I've found that when I don't focus on time that much and let it go a little, I'm much happier. Go with the flow. It sucks society expects so much from people. The constant pressure to perform (on time) almost got to me at some points in my life.

Myself as well. I try too often avoid the fact that the clock above my desk moves at the same speed (for all practical purposes) as those who are expectant upon me.

 

[scrahn]

Time to me seems to fluctuate dramatically depending on my mood. If you add to this the fact that my mood is changed the moment I'm forced to pay attention to time, some days seem extremely long compared to others.

When I'm under some obligation to keep time, I find it relatively easy to be punctual thanks to having my cellphone remind me of the appointment in incremental warnings (5hrs before. 1,5hrs before, 30minutes before).
I'm usually too early to my appointments, but I'm not bothered by sitting in waiting rooms for a few minutes. I only do this when the appointment is 'official', meaning; I'll get a 'mark' or have to pay a fine if I'm late/miss the appointment. (this includes work).

When not under any particular obligation to keep up with appointments I tell time by how hungry I am.
* A slight tickle in the belly is about ~1hr.
* A slightly hollow feeling is about ~1,5hr.
* Growling and a failing ability to stay concentrated on a task ~2hrs (This is usually when I get up to make food, and reset 'the clock').
* Anything at or beyond 3hrs is usually just varying degrees of impatience, anger and no ability to enter the 'flow' state.

Also glancing at the desktop clock helps me keep track of what other people in my life are more likely to be doing at the time.
Other than this I don't really offer time much thought anymore, neither as a concept or a dimension I have to be particularly aware of.

 

[MizKodomo]

Sleep is relative, so I generally go by if I've accomplished all I've had planed for the day.
So if I have X amount of work left at 10 pm, I will stay up and get it done.

Caffeine cures all ailments

 

[BigApplePi]

REAL question: what is your interpretation of time?

Let's put it this way: There are lots of things to observe and when they go from here to there, we sense the change and call it, "time."

Note that among those lots of things to observe, time is only one. If you are observing time in the absence of stuff things appear to go "slowly" because you are observing lots of nothing happening except time. If you are observing lots of other stuff, not time, and stick your head up to note time, it falsely appears to happen quickly because you weren't paying it attention since the last time you noted time. IOW, two times happen more quickly than lots of times.

Not sure if this is making sense, but it's about time is did.

How does this affect your daily goings-on (work, school, etc.)?

Time does affect my daily goings-on. The affectation depends on how much time I have. If I have lots, a can dawdle. If I'm short, I have to hurry up.

 

[Otherside]

Let's put it this way: There are lots of things to observe and when they go from here to there, we sense the change and call it, "time."

Note that among those lots of things to observe, time is only one. If you are observing time in the absence of stuff things appear to go "slowly" because you are observing lots of nothing happening except time. If you are observing lots of other stuff, not time, and stick your head up to note time, it falsely appears to happen quickly because you weren't paying it attention since the last time you noted time. IOW, two times happen more quickly than lots of times.

Not sure if this is making sense, but it's about time is did.
Time does affect my daily goings-on. The affectation depends on how much time I have. If I have lots, a can dawdle. If I'm short, I have to hurry up.

Our body and thought processes evolved in a space where one meter is defined as the distance that light travels in a certain amount of time by definition. We can measure that quite accurately. A tree that falls in the forest still generates vibrations that would be perceived as sound whether someone is there to hear it or not. We don't have to get into relativity because the debate seems to be between time as we sense it and a very real stable reference within our space that's well defined. Anything that a person senses can appear relatively faster, slower, hotter, colder, nearer, or farther depending upon a lot or neurological, psychological and physiological reasons. There's still a consistency to time within our frame though. One Mississippi, Two Mississippi.... that was the first "reference" that I learned regarding time. I think we may think about it so much because it creates issues for a lot of INTPs, and we want to take control of it. We might have some success internally but never externally.

 

[Otherside]

Let's put it this way: There are lots of things to observe and when they go from here to there, we sense the change and call it, "time."

Note that among those lots of things to observe, time is only one. If you are observing time in the absence of stuff things appear to go "slowly" because you are observing lots of nothing happening except time. If you are observing lots of other stuff, not time, and stick your head up to note time, it falsely appears to happen quickly because you weren't paying it attention since the last time you noted time. IOW, two times happen more quickly than lots of times.

Not sure if this is making sense, but it's about time is did.
Time does affect my daily goings-on. The affectation depends on how much time I have. If I have lots, a can dawdle. If I'm short, I have to hurry up.

Our body and thought processes evolved in a space where one meter is defined as the distance that light travels in a certain amount of time. We can measure that quite accurately. A tree that falls in the forest still generates vibrations that would be perceived as sound whether someone is there to hear it or not. We don't have to get into relativity because the debate seems to be between time as we sense it and a very real stable reference within our space that's well defined. Anything that a person senses can appear relatively faster, slower, hotter, colder, nearer, or farther depending upon a lot or neurological, psychological and physiological reasons. There's still a consistency to time within our frame though. One Mississippi, Two Mississippi.... that was the first "reference" that I learned regarding time. I think we may think about it so much because it creates issues for a lot of INTPs, and we want to take control of it. We might have some success internally but never externally.