We've all experienced the feeling that time flies when we're having fun.  There's a joke about the snail that was run over by a turtle.  When asked how it happened, he said, "I don't know, it all happened so quickly!"

All this is to say there is an apparent elasticity to time.  The actual duration of a boring lecture and its mental duration are two different things.  When we are uncomfortable or worried we experience time more slowly than when we are experiencing positive emotions.

The perception of time, or what we might call 'mind time', is interesting.  We still don't know whether it depends on a single time-keeping part of the brain, or more on the attention we give to events, and the emotions we feel when they occur.  Brain studies do show that the brain generates images at faster rates when we are experiencing positive emotions.

Studies of patients who've lost the ability to accurately judge the passage of time are helping to pinpoint which areas of the brain are involved in how we experience time.  Patients with temporal lobe damage are often able to remember events, but not when they happened.  Although this region of the brain seems to play a role in developing a sense of time, how the brain assigns an event to a specific time, and then places it in chronological sequence remains a mystery.

So next time, time drags, remember, it's more appearance than reality!

MOVING BEYOND MATTER
With Christopher Shennan

Does the fact that our perception of time fluctuates according to our enjoyment of an event, imply we can make time speed up or slow down at will?

Of course we cannot manipulate actual time, but perhaps it is possible to control our awareness of how fast it is passing.  Consider a boring lecture.  The obvious way to make it seem shorter is to go to sleep.  Another device is to focus on some portion of the subject matter and think your own thoughts about.  And I have seen some people making elaborate doodles on their lecture notes.  These may not make one enjoy the lecture, but they at lest provide a diversion that will provide some brain stimulation during the time spent.

In the normal course of events a lot of people get bored because they have an unrealistic approach to time.  They wait around, hoping something spectacular will take place and grab their interest.  Or they focus on something in the future, but fail to use the time they have in the meantime effectively.

Do we really have an excuse for living a life of boredom?  Or does the responsibility fall on us to "speed up" the passage of time.

Whatever we might do with the time available to us, we can be sure of one thing — we do not have forever. The time of our physical existence is limited.

It makes sense, therefore, to take time and make the effort to seek out our spiritual destiny.  Whatever our views on the afterlife, it make sense to open our minds to the possibilities.  Truth is not something that is dumped on our laps without any effort on our part.  If you have any heart hunger at all, it is only reasonable to seek to satisfy that hunger.  And many of the rich and famous have testified that heart hunger can not be satisfied by riches and fame.  It must be pursued spiritually.  Are we not more than flesh and bones? Do we not also have a spiritual nature, too?

There is a very encouraging passage in the Bible:  Yes, if a person continues asking, he will receive.  If he continues searching, he will find.  And if he continues knocking, the door will open for him.

How diligent have you been in your search for spiritual fulfillment?