Heaven and Hell

[squarejohn]

In a previous thread, there seems to be more or less general agreement, that a duration of twenty seconds for an orgasm is plenty good enough. Timeless, sort of like stepping into eternity.

That got me wondering if holding your hand (or having it held down), on a griddle plate, between a couple of sizzling hamburgers, for twenty seconds on the same stopwatch used to time the orgasm, would seem as timeless.

Eternity, which is the condition of "no time," would be realized in one's consciousness, just as it would have been during orgasm. In the case of orgasm, eternity could be likened to heaven; in the case of the grilled hand, that could be likened to hell. Any comments?

 

[Songcatcher]

Are you a NWO Vatican/Jesuits/Satanist; or reactionally Jewish/Islamic agents?

A simple question.

 

[bronzeage]

In a previous thread, there seems to be more or less general agreement, that a duration of twenty seconds for an orgasm is plenty good enough. Timeless, sort of like stepping into eternity.

That got me wondering if holding your hand (or having it held down), on a griddle plate, between a couple of sizzling hamburgers, for twenty seconds on the same stopwatch used to time the orgasm, would seem as timeless.

Eternity, which is the condition of "no time," would be realized in one's consciousness, just as it would have been during orgasm. In the case of orgasm, eternity could be likened to heaven; in the case of the grilled hand, that could be likened to hell. Any comments?

In either case, sensitivity would diminish quickly and in a short time mean nothing.

The human mind has a limited capacity to comprehend agony or ecstasy. We only recognize one or the other because they are peaks of feeling. If either became a plateau, we would get used to it and carry on, feeling that life had no excitement for us.

 

[maggot420]

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.
~Albert Einstein

 

[Naughty_Misty]

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.
~Albert Einstein

or like my grandaddy used to say... How long is a minute? Depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on.

 

[squarejohn]

In either case, sensitivity would diminish quickly and in a short time mean nothing.

The human mind has a limited capacity to comprehend agony or ecstasy. We only recognize one or the other because they are peaks of feeling. If either became a plateau, we would get used to it and carry on, feeling that life had no excitement for us.

I suppose I didn't express myself very well. The basic question was: Does time actually exist, or is it a condition of consciousness?

 

[Recidiva]

I suppose I didn't express myself very well. The basic question was: Does time actually exist, or is it a condition of consciousness?

Time exists as a construct, in that we're traveling through it at a measurable rate (though that rate changes according to velocity, thank you Einstein)

Subjective time is simply that, subjective. Orgasms have no after-effects that are as severe as a burn's after effects. (happy glow is not equivalent to shrieking pain)

If it were just sensation, with the orgasm being "over" when it's over and the burn being "over" when it's over, they'd take the same amount of subjective time if they were both equal in the brain's capacity of "pleasure" and "pain" only opposite on that spectrum.

They would take the same amount of time to an outside observer, but the internal brain measures and experiences things differently.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Time is such a puzzle! We cannot be outside of it, any more than a goldfish can be outside of water. Unlike goldfish, humans can comprehend concepts that they can't experience. This can be extremely uncomfortable at times...

 

[bronzeage]

I suppose I didn't express myself very well. The basic question was: Does time actually exist, or is it a condition of consciousness?

When you fall asleep, time stops. When you wake up, you have to catch up with reality.

 

[manyeyedhydra]

I suppose I didn't express myself very well. The basic question was: Does time actually exist, or is it a condition of consciousness?

That argument is having the cart lead the horse.

Consciousness, i.e. your brain, processes the information from your environment at variable rates. Time appears to slow when your hand is on the griddle because the pain signals you're in danger and your brain jacks up to higher processing speeds to try and escape that danger.

It's the difference between going from A to B at a leisurely stroll or a sprint.

 

[squarejohn]

I've been turning over in my mind whether time exists. That brought me to the space-time continuum. In the reality of human consciousness, space and time do exist. In actuality, space and time do not exist. If that is true, then the universe is not what we think it is, but instead is a single point. Not a single point in space, because there is no space. This isn't original with me and such a point is usually known as a singularity. Einstein said that the universe is not only strange, but it is stranger than we can imagine

Now, this sort of consideration is not everyone's cup of tea, but for those who wonder about the nature of the universe, this line of thought can be quite engaging--and mind boggling.

 

[Recidiva]

I've been turning over in my mind whether time exists. That brought me to the space-time continuum. In the reality of human consciousness, space and time do exist. In actuality, space and time do not exist. If that is true, then the universe is not what we think it is, but instead is a single point. Not a single point in space, because there is no space. This isn't original with me and such a point is usually known as a singularity. Einstein said that the universe is not only strange, but it is stranger than we can imagine

Now, this sort of consideration is not everyone's cup of tea, but for those who wonder about the nature of the universe, this line of thought can be quite engaging--and mind boggling.

"A Wrinkle In Time" by Madeleine L'Engle has a good description of it. Take a piece of string. That's reality. An ant walking across the string can only contact little bits of it at a time and can't comprehend the whole of the string at once because it is moving on it.

Robert Heinlein also has an idea of us basically being large worms that can only comprehend one moment of ourselves at a time, but in his story you could tell when someone was going to die if you could "predict" the path this worm took in a lifetime and where it ceases to be.

Time can be measured in relativity to the objects and speed around it, but it doesn't exist as a pure thing that is equivalent in subjective experience. Everything exists all at once, just like the string. We just travel through and can only comprehend it in one direction and when we're in contact with it.