Perception is what makes us, as humans, understand this world and can actively interact with all its components, including the same entities as ourselves. These facts were recently established by psychiatrists and philosophers, and soon received a very worthy refutation. Do you know a concept like the illusion of time? Could it be that our understanding and perception of this world is nothing more than a delusion or a deception? Let's figure it out.
What is perception?
First of all, it is worth noting that we accept the world at the level of consciousness due to the organs of that very perception, which are present both in our body and in the mind. Let's look at these categories separately:
- Simple forms of perception are sight, hearing, sense of smell, touch, etc., known from biology classes. It is important to note that several organs are complexly used to process most of the information. For example, when watching a movie, hearing and vision work at the same time, when in contact with a person, it also connects to the sense of smell, touch. So we interact with the world on a physical level.
- Complex forms are such philosophical concepts as the perception of space, time and movement. The illusions of perception of these components of our world are an integral factor in understanding this issue. After all, each person feels the world in his own way, and we will never know what, relatively speaking, the eyes of our interlocutor see.
It is about complex forms that do not even refer to philosophy, but to metaphysics, that we will now talk about.
Space
This is the main environment of our habitat, which consists of three dimensions. It is on the basis of this criterion that a person, based on his physical properties and worldview, realizes where he is, in what position he is and what is around him. We identify ourselves in space through the vestibular apparatus. This is the main organ that transmits signals to the brain about everything that surrounds us. The eyes, ears and other components of the body can only complement the sensations, but they will never create a holistic picture.
It is logical to assume that if the vestibular apparatus, accustomed for centuries to "see" only three dimensions, were replaced by a different organ, we could perceive space in a different form. Therefore, we can assume that in our understanding it is an illusion.
Time
In order to determine what time period we are in, and in general, how many arrows on the clock indicate at the moment, we were not given any authority. This concept is nothing but the invention of mankind. Hence the numerous statements about the fact that we are accompanied by the illusion of time. In reality, such a concept does not exist. However, in modern people's genetic memory there is a perception of time that moves exclusively forward and is divided into the past, present and future. It is necessary for the healthy interaction of the individual and society, the systematization of many processes, order and life in society.
Traffic
When scientists took up the question of the perception of movement, the illusion of time acquired even more fundamental significance, not only in philosophy, but also in science. Even Einstein proved that this concept is very subjective, directly depends on the speed of movement in space and, in some circumstances, can disappear altogether. The simplest example is movement at the speed of light. At this moment, time will cease to exist for an object that "flies" through space, everything will look static. But an outside observer will regard it as something that moves at an unrealistic speed, while the course of this process will just as quickly go forward.
The illusion of space-time is a kind of captivity in which a person falls into his own free will. We do not notice how the clock slows down in the process of our movement along the plane in a certain direction and accelerates when we sit in one place. We can know this, understand, and even try to accept, but alas, we cannot afford to discard this mirage. This is due to the fact that perception is located within the framework of the human body, otherwise we simply lose the connection with the world we are familiar with.
When did the time come?
According to the official version, this phenomenon was born at the time of the big bang, that is, at that time when the universe began to exist. Time appeared due to the fact that a huge space was formed, and various objects made movements along it. They repelled from one point — the point of singularity — to others, different, scattered across different corners of the vast universe, and never returned to their original positions. Therefore, there was a time that went only forward. The previous positions of the celestial bodies are left behind, their current position is designated as the present, and further trajectories of movements are their future. But black holes and their points of no return, the collapsing centers of galaxies, as well as the very movement at the speed of light, have become stumbling blocks to this ideal scientific picture. These statements completely inverted the perception of space and time.
Visual illusions
In addition to science, psychologists also studied the phantom of our understanding of the world. If we start from the spatio-temporal continuum and understand the course of the clock within it, it turns out that the brain can detect and mark as moving only the object that exactly moves - that is, it overcomes the distance, while spending a certain amount of measurement resource. And here is the first stick in the wheel from psychologists - visual illusions. It is said that these pictures have "inadequate physical properties", and therefore are misinterpreted by the eye. But the fact remains - they are static, and we see their movement. According to the brain, within the framework of such an image, objects move along certain trajectories, spending time on this process, and changing their position in space. But in reality this does not happen, which once again proves to us the illusion of time perception.
Good old cartoons
Before web artists began to delight the world with animated images created through special programs, ordinary brush masters sat in their offices and painted numerous images of cartoon characters. The number of pictures reached billions, and each of them was a second in the finished film, with a new position of the bodies of the characters, facial expressions and the environment. Looking at the finished cartoon, we regarded those frames that had already been viewed as the past, and those that were to be seen as the future. What was on the screen at the moment was the only true present. But in practice, the pictures that were already in the past for us have not gone away - they remained in the studio. Those that, in our opinion, have not yet been shot, already exist, are in reserve. This means that the space-time continuum is already filled with all past and upcoming events, they do not disappear and are not yet created. If we can get rid of the bonds of hours, days and years, we will understand that time is just an illusion that shows us far from a complete picture of being.
String theory
Quantum physics is currently the main scientific pillar. With its help, we can argue that time is an obsessive illusion that is firmly entrenched in the minds of people. In accordance with this scientific statement, each particle, whether it is an atom, a cell or a living creature, such as an animal or a person, can simultaneously be in more than 11 spaces. Note that here the term space-time continuum is not used here, but all because this concept simply disappears from string theory. It does not fit into any formula. And this is understandable. A single particle cannot be in 11 (!!!) places at the same time. It is reasonable to assume that there is simply no time. It is due to our subjective perception of space and movement within it.
Hypnosis
Well, the last evidence of the illusion of time is considered to be a state of hypnotic trance. Unlike string theory, we are no longer talking about the physical splitting of one particle into several planes, but about the so-called mental or out-of-body travels in measurement resources. The most amazing thing about hypnosis is its ability to appeal to the deep, innermost corners of our memory. In everyday life, many things remain in the mind at a subconscious level, we do not focus our attention on them. For example, how many ravens were sitting on the window when we were in the 6th grade math class, what kind of people rode next to us in the subway three years ago, etc. But in a state of hypnosis, all this comes back and becomes our new reality. Therefore, we can return our subconscious to the past or send it to the future, see these events and benefit from them.