Living in the Now: The Subjective Nature of Time

Reminiscing about pleasant memories is normal and can be psychologically helpful, but living in the past is generally unhealthy. People tend to orient toward the future by arranging future circumstances or letting them shape them. How time is experienced varies by culture. In the United States, schedules often follow clock time, where arriving near a set hour is expected. In some other cultures, relational time is more common, where arriving within a flexible window is acceptable and punctuality can be considered rude. Where a person lives in time is subjective, and different disciplines interpret time differently.

"Reminiscing about pleasant memories is normal and sometimes can even be psychologically helpful. However, he noted that most psychologists agree that living in the past is unhealthy. Rychlak believed that the essential nature of people was looking to the future, that "we always create ourselves by arranging future circumstances or allowing them to arrange us.""

"How our relationship with time unfolds depends in part on culture. In the United States, we live on "clock time." If we have a dinner engagement at 7 p.m., we will arrive close to that time. Some countries, however, are on "relational time." For example, a Brazilian physician told me once he would never arrive at someone's home for dinner on time. It would be considered rude. Within a couple of hours would be fine."

"Where we live in time, like time itself, is subjective. What is time actually? The answer depends on who is asked. Different disciplines and fields within disciplines often see time very differently. Some philosophers may question whether time is real or an illusion whereas some physicists may see it as a dimension of o"

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