Can We Alter Our Perception of Time?

By Darren Bridger
Author of "The Lost Arts of the Mind"

Einstein once remarked that "When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second, but when you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour." In other words we don't always perceive the passing of time in the same way.

Of course, Einstein was famous for his theory of relativity that shows how space and time are really part of the same thing. It shows that time is completely dependant on movement: without the rhythms of the Earth and moon, the movement of light and other sensory information entering our bodies and brain, and the oscillations of our brain's neurons we would not be experiencing time.

Time is not something that exists in any real way; it is merely the endless flow of movements and changes. Another quote from Einstein: "People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubborn persistent illusion."

Another physicist, Richard P. Feynman, wrote: "What we mean by 'right now' is a mysterious thing which we cannot define... 'now' is an idea or concept of our mind; it is not something that is really definable physically at the moment."

Our perception of time is created by our brains. Certain drugs can alter this mechanism and make time seem to pass slower or quicker. If you think this is weird, it gets weirder. Experiments have shown that your decision to do something, such as make a 'conscious' movement comes before you have actually consciously decided to make that movement!

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