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A journey that is experienced as lasting longer expands the experience of space. And conversely, the more I experience on a journey, the more I see of the route and the longer the trip lasts

the sense of space, and in the end, the sense of time, were both powerfully affected. Buildings, landscapes, &c. were exhibited in proportions so vast as the bodily eye is not fitted to conceive. Space swelled, and was amplified to an extent of unutterable infinity. This, however, did not disturb me so much as the vast expansion of time; I sometimes seemed to have lived for 70 or 100 years in one night; nay, sometimes had feelings representative of a millennium passed in that time, or, however, of a duration far beyond the limits of any human experience

"Specimens of the long-lived bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) in the White Mountains in California, where the oldest tree is over 5,000 years old. Although such long periods of time cannot be experienced directly by humans, there are nevertheless reports of drug-induced dreams and time travels in which the subject lives for thousands of years. Perhaps these experiences are due to emotions that are evoked by chronologically narrated stories, for example, imagining that the trees in this photo were already a thousand years old at the time of Socrates and Jesus"

There is an extensive body of accounts concerning phenomena in which time is altered in extraordinary states of consciousness, as can occur under the influence of drugs, but also in meditative contemplation, in rhythm-induced trance, or in the extreme case of near-death experiences.41

Felt time becomes slower and slower (but sometimes also faster) until it reaches a standstill. The perception of linear time transforms into timelessness. Accounts of mystical states arising, for example, in meditative contemplation or through spontaneous experience, describe the disappearance of linear time. They result in the experience of time standing still, or even the loss of the sense of time.42 Perceived moments expand to such a length that future, present, and past become a felt unity of “eternal” present. These states of consciousness of timelessness and eternity—as the copresence of past and future events—often go hand in hand with the removal of physical and spatial boundaries and a feeling of happiness in being at one with the universe.

In eternity there is no before and after, and what happened a thousand years ago and what will happen in another thousand years is one in eternity. Therefore what God did, what he created a thousand years ago, what he will do in a thousand years’ time and what he is doing now are all one.43

By contrast with the religious person’s “egocentricity,” mysticism (or spirituality) in essence entails either denying oneself and one’s will through complete renunciation or at least relativizing it. The aim of the mystic, Tugendhat concludes, is peace of mind, which, as a liberation from suffering, is attained through the retreat from desire and greed. Fundamentally, this is about calmness in the face of the contingency of the world, whose events can only be controlled to a limited extent and all too frequently mean misfortune and hardship. In such a state of calm self-abandonment, the spiritual person liberates himself from what binds him, his self-love, his will, his ideas, his physicality, and his temporality—from the memories that never let go, the demands of the present, and plans for fame and fortune in the future.46

Although there are many different kinds of and approaches to the spiritual experience, it is always about the merging of the individual with the whole, about sinking into the encompassing, the experience of the absolute, of transcendence. In the Christian context it is about knowing God as becoming one with God, the unio mystica. 47

In the spiritual experience, self (subject) and world (object) are no longer separate. Here we can differentiate between two types of being at one: the self merges with the encompassing (multiplicity dissolves; everything becomes one); or, on the other hand, all objects in the world are related (everything is connected to everything else). After encountering the whole (the divine), the individual experiencing this has a feeling of inner peace and empathy with others. The transition from linear to mystical time is a universal experience in all spiritual traditions and world religions, engendered by the techniques of prayer and meditative contemplation.49 Crucial to the disappearance of temporal and spatial intuition is the dissolution of the self in becoming one with the encompassing.

Temporality is connected to the conscious experience of my self in space and in time; if I am conscious of my self, then I feel the progression of my physical and mental self over time. If dissolution of the self occurs, then the understanding of time and space dissolves as well. An inherent consequence of egolessness is timelessness, as well as a lack of sense of body and space. According to Immanuel Kant, time and space are forms of pure intuition of the transcendental self. Time and space are not conceivable without the self. Equally, in phenomenological observations on the experience of time, for example, consciousness of self and consciousness of time are considered interdependent.

I can only become conscious of my self if I experience my momentarily perceived self projected into the past (remembered self) and the future (anticipated self).50 While change occurs all around me all the time, the conscious perception of my self persists in time. Without a concept of self, time does not exist. Mystical experiences are not restricted to the masters of spiritual traditions. Even people who have no intellectual or spiritual background can have them.51 Examples are the moments filled with intensity and clarity that suddenly come upon people, sometimes after periods of extreme concentration and exertion, but which can also happen spontaneously while one takes a walk in nature. Extraordinary experiences of extreme intensity and great happiness—magic moments that are remembered for a lifetime—are felt, for example, by a child at Christmas as the harmony of festive family togetherness. Lovers experience them in the first weeks of their ecstatic, physical “oneness,” and in a different way after decades of intimate cohabitation and understanding. However, they are also available to attendees at a party, who unexpectedly experience a feeling of close community; or to a sports team, which has trained for months toward a common goal that has now been attained. The feelings that arise in these circumstances can scarcely be put into words: they must be experienced. They are most likely to be translated into music, as music can evoke emotions. An individual listening in concentration to his or her favorite music (or who is amazed by a new piece) can be absorbed by it, losing themselves intellectually and emotionally, and attain a trancelike state in which even the concepts of space and time are altered.52

The experience of self is dependent on consciousness of the past and the future. Accordingly, it can be reduced to the experience of now through the method of focusing. By practicing concentration on the moment one ultimately reaches the state of timeless eternity. According to Meister Eckhart, the practitioner must first apply the entire will to achieving timelessness beyond the experience of now; subsequently, however, the activity of the will is dissolved. In meditation, processes of anticipation and memory are closed down. Only the perception of the moment is allowed:

During contemplation the stream of experience slows down more and more. … The individual in contemplation experiences the self in a way that is no longer moving forward but motionless. He speaks of “motionless calm.” Calm is motionless in him and he is motionless in calm. One might think that time seems to stand still. Even the individual in contemplation knows, always in the sense of coconsciousness, that time is and that he is in time, but his experience in the persistent immutability of calm is as if time stands still.57

Timelessness can, however, be experienced in two ways:58 (1) It can manifest itself in the sense just described, initially as the perception of an alteration in the speed of time passing that leads in extreme cases to time standing still or the feeling of eternity. (2) But timelessness can also be expressed by time losing its meaning; temporal processes and the surrounding space are sometimes clearly perceived, but time and space have lost any kind of relevance for the individual affected.

Space was still there; but it had lost its predominance. The mind was primarily concerned, not with measures and locations, but with being and meaning. And along with indifference to space there went an even more complete indifference to time. “There seems to be plenty of it,” was all I would answer. … Plenty of it, but exactly how much was entirely irrelevant.60

Timelessness reigns in the universe. One might call it a cosmic experience. … It couldn’t in good faith be called a space. I saw my past life through a medium that, with its temporal order, took its place in the immeasurable void of timelessness. … The first and the last time are not separable. (p. 213) The mind deprived of its bodily sensations perceives the mechanism of thinking as its last object. (p. 129) Time, space, and physical sensation have dissolved. He is experiencing a state of extreme ecstasy, such as he has never physically felt before. He cannot articulate this sensation verbally. He is conscious that he is now dying. At the same time, he watches how the paramedics tend to him and take him to the hospital. Because space and time do not exist, he has an overview of his entire life in its totality.

We all know that when we are dreaming, real time and dream time do not coincide. Dream experiences that in reality might have lasted only seconds expand in the dream to many minutes, even hours.

If the goal is the sole point of orientation, then the spatial interval to be crossed before reaching it is simply an obstacle to be overcome as quickly as possible. Pure orientation towards the goal deprives the in-between space of all meaning, emptying it to become a corridor without any value of its own. Acceleration is the attempt to make the temporal interval that is needed for bridging the spatial interval disappear altogether.3 In the dominant, functional orientation toward a goal, the present loses its value. We no longer live intensively in the moment, and so life as a whole is lost. Life, both now and in memory, is made up of consciously lived moments. I am present in the moment, meaning I live consciously and intensively, if I give my attention to lived experience. But in retrospect too, life as a whole expands, since it is then full of memories of lived moments. The full life in each felt moment also expands the time intervals in hindsight. In Jaspers’s words, the point is also that “the moment can be the sublation of time, the present of the eternal.” This is the mystical conception of the moment as the sublation of time in the dissolution of the self into the whole, into the “surrounding world.”4 This idea can also be found in such an approach to life as formulated by Ludwig Wittgenstein in his famous proposition 6.4311 of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: “If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.”

n the aforementioned sense, a higher degree of mindfulness in experience would on the one hand influence the felt moment, and on the other hand lead retrospectively to time expansion. When I experience more intensively now, I also have more memory content. From research in experimental psychology we know that a greater concentration of memory content stretches experienced periods of time. By contrast, temporal intervals that are less filled with memory, because of the monotony of always experiencing the same things, appear much shorter—simply not lived.24

The medical professor and teacher of mindfulness meditation Jon Kabat-Zinn describes the altered experience of time through the attainment of mindfulness in daily life as follows:25 “The … way to slow down the felt sense of time passing is to make more of your ordinary moments notable and noteworthy by taking note of them.” In relation to the passing of time in the moment: “The tiniest moments can become veritable milestones.” And in retrospect:  “Your experience of time would slow time down.”

Accordingly, the two central elements of mindfulness practice are (a) presence (the awareness of the present moment) and (b) acceptance (refraining from judgment). These two aspects are inextricably linked in the practice of mindfulness exercises. While the meditator opens up to the present moment and concentrates, for example, on his or her breathing, thoughts and feelings come and go. If one were to attend to them, one would lose the experience of presence. The world of thought keeps us separate from the present experience. Ultimately, through these exercises, one learns how to deal with one’s emotions, as one gets to know them better and no longer pushes them away. O

The acceptance of one’s own thoughts and emotions also underpins the ability to focus on the present moment; with time, control over mind wandering increases. The process as a whole can be called the self-regulation of attention. This ability lies in not being distracted by emotionally freighted thoughts—“that was a great evening with friends yesterday”; “tomorrow I must get round to doing that darned tax return”—but rather returning to the fixed anchor of the present moment in the event of mind wandering.2

. Subjective time is modulated by functional states of mindfulness. These states can be described as (1) attention regulation (remaining in the here and now; no mind wandering), (2) consciousness of the body (awareness of bodily self), and (3) emotion regulation (nonavoidance and acceptance of emotions).45 These three functional states are also causally linked to the modulation of temporal experience:46 (1) A heightened attention to time leads to an expansion of subjective duration.

We often become painfully aware of this during periods of waiting, when we are watching the time, which passes so very slowly toward the longed-for arrival of the event. (2) Body awareness: When searching for the mechanisms of time perception, physical processes were identified as a possible factor in the subjective feeling of time.  Indeed one’s own physicality cannot be turned off, and the experience of one’s own time becomes more intensive. (3) Through the admission of emotions the sense of presence of the felt moment increases, resulting in a heightened consciousness (of self).

If a heightened presence results in moments that are experienced more intensively, then time should expand retrospectively as well. If I look back over my life as a whole, the experiences create a feeling of duration. According to the observations discussed here, more mindful people should experience a lengthening of previous periods of time.

The results can be summarized as follows: experienced meditators experience less time pressure and feel more time expansion. These findings correspond with the general sense of time passing more slowly for the meditators. When asked about temporal intervals in the past, they gave evidence of time expansion in the relevant periods of their lives—in particular during the last week and the last month—by comparison with the nonmeditating people we surveyed. According to these results, life as a whole passes more slowly and past periods of time expand for people who live mindfully

People with near-death experiences recount afterward that time and space had lost all meaning. In rare moments of mystical experience this event can overcome an individual—the feeling of being at one with the world while at the same time space and time dissolve. These experiences are very important for understanding the formation of consciousness of self, for they show how closely related our consciousness is to the perception of time, space, and body.

Meditation instructors teach that progress toward the sense of timelessness is made by concentrating on the present moment. An aptitude for contemplative meditation that has been obtained through training over many years leads to states that are hardly ever accessible to people without such training. In everyday life we experience our body situated in space and moving through time. In this context, are space and time, the two basic experiences of “pure intuition”—as Immanuel Kant called them in his Critique of Pure Reason—supposed to simply dissolve.

Timeless awareness during meditation is an awakening. It has neither beginning nor end. This timeless time is plunging into a being in which no comparison takes place. In comparing there are always relationships between before and after. It is timeless presence without a sense of self, without observers. Perception and perceiver are one. It is about merging into the visual or auditory impression. You lose yourself in hearing and seeing, as the experience of hearing and seeing needs no observer, no self.

In awakening observers forget themselves, as they merge into perception and the duality of subject and object disappears. The knowledge of selflessness and timelessness only happens in retrospect; it is accessible subsequently. The timeless state cannot be described better than through the concept of “timelessness.” Being at one with space is equally difficult to describe; it is being without a middle and borders. If we integrate this experience into everyday consciousness, a “vibrating basic awareness” is perceived, a feeling of living presence arises, a preparedness for sensual experience without entering the empirical world. The awareness lies in itself. There is no seeing, although our eyes are open. It is as if perception is transparent, all is the space of awareness, all is pure consciousness. This description recalls Immanuel Kant’s epistemological concept of “pure intuition.” The pure intuition of time and space exists before any experience (empirical world), and it structures sensual experience both temporally and spatially (see figure 2.3). To a certain extent pure sense data are embedded in a temporal system and in the three dimensions of space.

Essentially our experience contains both components, the empirical and pure intuition, content and form. As TLB describes it, the pure spatial experience in the state of contemplative “awakening” is possible without reference to the empirical contents of sensory experience. Yet this pure experience is neither temporal nor spatial. TLB: The orientation of seeing and hearing is there, without a substantive visual or auditory impression being present. In addition the feeling of self is missing; it’s an experience without a center. It is immediate perception without emotional and cognitive filters. Normally, there’s an experience of self that absorbs a lot of energy, the wishes, ideas, and hopes that we cherish (the filters of perception). In the state of awakening one is in harmony with the situation without being related to the center (without self). One can imagine this in stages, being a bit like the experience of flow, when one merges completely immersed in one’s activity

What we learn from awakening it that there is no self-center in perception and action. Anyone who has ever had this experience can no longer go back to the old belief in a self as the center. In this context we should perhaps make a distinction between the individual  “center-self” and the “networked self.” In the notion of the center-self we proceed from an essence of being which is “self.” This “self” wants, hopes, and desires. This is the personal self, which makes emotional and cognitive assumptions about the world and interprets it. In this, people are very different. The networked self, in which people are very similar, is not a self in the individual sense. This is about the selffunctions of responsiveness and empathetic behavior, of the capacity for love. These capacities are in us all; we are not so very different from one another in this regard. There are parallel qualities of a networked self without a self-center which allow us to do the right thing in harmony with the world. These qualities can have an increasingly free and strong effect, when not so many blockages exist anymore. The fixing sense of self dissolves in the flowing functioning of the interplay of innate qualities. The individual then becomes more free from anxiety, more concentrated, more related to reality, and more empathetic. Very importantly, it is not a self that exists in reality but the idea of a concrete self that dissolves.