Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Stuck in time

A very basic reason for the appeal of eschatological beliefs or interpretations of history might be that we - this means, however not exclusively, western society - are used to, and trained to think with, a linear view of time. It is assumed that everything has a beginning and an end, that the beginning and the end are distinct, and that time moves only in one direction. There is no way back. Alternative views of time may be more difficult to comprehend for us, even though remnants of a cyclical view, in the form of calendars and clocks, are still present.

An alternative view of time may have the same explanatory power, however, it may determine the extent to which a view of the world or life feels natural to us. Existentialism, for example, is very compatible with a linear, finite view of time. Life has a beginning and an end, and it is important to make sure that you made the most of it at the end. If we would view life as a cycle, from non-existence to non-existence, this idea may strike us as alien or awkward. The beginning and the end are essentially the same, and as such the end matters as much to our actions as the beginning.

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