I find the exercise for this week, along with the reading that helps orient it, very stimulating. I have lots of notes on my own practice, but here I will just comment briefly on what others have been writing.
I agree with Michael that the analysis in Chapter 14 is very precise and careful, and I love the comparison to a theme in a musical composition. The self is more than what arises in each moment, and this suggests that it operates with a time that is not linear time. But what kind of time is that?
Arthur writes that time races along from one moment to the next, and he can’t keep up. So the question naturally arises: who is the one who is getting left behind? Does that one operate in time? Arthur, I agree when you say that time does not really go in a straight line. But isn’t that the model we use? We go from point A to point B, and between those two points, it is a straight line. Then we go from B to C, and between those two points it is a straight line. So we project that straight line out in both directions, and we have the sense that it goes on forever like that. And in fact, at a different level, an abstract level, past moments do seem to stretch out one behind the other. Still, there is a suspicion that something is wrong with this picture. Perhaps it is description that makes us see this way. After all, to describe is to narrate, and narration lines things up, the way that words line up. Language is two-dimensional. But of course, language also evokes whole worlds, especially when it is poetry or creative.
So perhaps it is better to go without language, as Peter did in this past week: working with the hands. What happens to time then? He suggests we touch the source of time, which is nice.
David, thanks for the diagram in technicolor. You’re right: asking the question changes the experience of time, and perhaps slows it down, as several of you suggest. The “moment between” you describe, when a solution pops up, could also be considered a moment at right angles. But what is time like, to allow for right angles? Your suggestion that more space makes for more (different) moments seems a good one.
Jack