Page 278 - For Men of Understanding

Since time consists of perception, it depends entirely on the perceiver-and is
therefore relative.
The speed at which time flows differs according to the references we use to
measure it, because the human body has no natural clock to indicate precisely
how fast time passes. As Barnett wrote, "Just as there is no such thing as color
without an eye to discern it, so an instant or an hour or a day is nothing without
an event to mark it.” 19
The relativity of time is plainly experienced in dreams. Although what we per-
ceive in a dream seems to last for hours, in fact, it only lasts for a few minutes,
and often even a few seconds.
An example will clarify the point. Assume that you were put into a room with
a single window, specifically designed; and were kept there for a certain period
of time. A clock on the walls shows you the amount of time that has passed.
During this "time," from the room's window, you see the sun setting and rising
at certain intervals. A few days later, questioned about the amount of time spent
in the room, you would give an answer based on the information you had col-
lected by looking at the clock from time to time, as well as by counting how
many times the sun had set and risen. Say, for example, you estimate you'd spent
three days in the room. However, if the person who put you in there says that
you spent only two days in there; that the sun you saw from the window was
falsely produced; and that the clock in the room was especially regulated to
move faster, then your calculation would be erroneous.
This example dramatizes that the information we have about the rate of time's
passing is based only on references that change according to the perceiver.
That time is relative is a scientific fact, also proven by scientific methodolo-
gy. Einstein's Theory of General Relativity maintains that the speed of time
changes depending on the speed of the object and its distance from the centre
of gravity. As speed increases, time is shortened-compressed-and slows down
until it approaches to the point of stopping entirely.
Einstein himself gave an example. Imagine two twins, one of whom remains
on Earth while the other goes into space at a speed close to the speed of light.
On his return, the traveller will find that his brother has grown much older than
he has. The reason is that time flows much more slowly for the person who trav-
els at near-light speed. What about a space-travelling father and his son who stays
behind on Earth? If the father were 27 years old when he set out, and his son
was only three, the father, when he comes back 30 years later in Earth time, will
be only 30, whereas his son will be 33 years old! 20
This relativity of time is caused not by clocks slowing down or running fast.
Rather, it's the result of the differentiated operational periods of the entire mate-
rial system, as deep as sub-atomic particles. In such a setting where time stretch-

276 For Men of Understanding