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 Dit artikel in het Nederlands          

 
Mental Heath and the Timesystem:
The Analytic Conclusion.

A Report by: R.P.B.A. Meijer, M.A. to P. Vroon, Professor Experimental Psychology.

 

This report formed the basis for the book 'The Mirror of Time'
and led to the construction of this website. It was at the time (1991)
offered to the minister of domestic affairs Dales
and is placed in the archives of the Ministery of State of the Netherlands.
It was also presented at the
'
International Conference on Health and Spirituality' in Poona, India Sept. 1992.

 

 

 ***************************************

CONTENT:

Summary

Preface

Introduction

I The problem

II: The facts

III: The Analysis

IV) Limitations and solutions

1) Economic aspects

2) The resistances

3) The media

4) The consequences

V Epilogue

 ***************************************

Dying Hotspur: "Time that takes survey of all the world must have a stop".
Henry IV, P.I., W. Shakespeare

   

SUMMARY:

'For purposes of mental health and meditation, it is essential to open up to natural reality. But, when we unite the objective with the subjective, there is the maddening go-between of the 20th century timesystem constituting a gross betrayal of objective truth, natural rhythm and personal continence. The argument is for real, true time as the Great Healer as opposed to the perverted concept of cultural time as defined by economy and commerce. All ins and outs of a solution for more than just the individual meditator are discussed.

 

PREFACE

This report was conceived in association with a Dutch professor in psychology, P. Vroon, from the University of Utrecht, Holland. The address is not directly to the common man, as it is not referring to a common, but to a particular responsibility. Nevertheless, because of its far-reaching content, I thought it important enough to present it to you. I don't think it would be difficult to place oneself in the chair of this professor and get an idea of this subject. Difficult terminology has hardly been used and reference to other literature is kept to a minimum. I hope for each a hold can be found so that one is stimulated to explore and take initiative on this subject oneself.

The original title in Dutch said not 'Mental Health and the Timesystem: The Analytic Conclusion', but 'Father Time: The Analytic Conclusion'.

-------------------------

 

INTRODUCTION

Enschede, June 4, 1991.

 

Dear Professor,

 

After thinking a long time, I decided to give up my resistance to report in writing. To remind you, I am the psychologist that came visiting you concerning the problems we would have with the philosophy of time or the timesystem as it is functioning now. Our contacts got stuck in referring to the book 'Time Wars' of Jeremy Rifkin. I hope it has reached you meanwhile, although the story doesn't seem to satisfy completely. Some insights stay out of reach and as so often, a sober conclusion leading to action is lacking. And what is then the use of our undertakings? Problem analyses without practical solutions are not according the teaching the way I learned it. While I resent endless theorizing, going faster than the spoken word, adding to 'holy' scriptures, and doing work for which others have been appointed; I still think it necessary to write you. I had difficulty accepting that you didn't seem to be able to or were willing to share in my concern, while face to face conversing you did prove your own ideas. You reacted positive concerning the possible advantages or disadvantages of a certain position within a certain time-zone. I hope you still can remember. But, no bad feelings, maybe you wanted to put me on this horse with that. So, help me God almighty, I set myself to the task to put with all the goodness that is in me, my vision for you on paper.

 

I THE PROBLEM

Not to beat about the bush: I think the clock is outdated. In Germany there are already existing radiosensitive watches that direct themselves to an atomic-time signal. Although not worldwide [1991], there are already navigation satellites too. These two things tuned to one another, which according to Prof. Bouma of the Nat.-Lab. of Philips, is not an insurmountable technical problem, can together stand for a scientifically responsible form of time measurement. The question is: is this really needed? And if so, can we get it going? I think it is not only technologically and politically within reach, it is also necessary to organize our society as scientifically responsible as possible. Not only because of the necessity of reason and objectivity, but also because of the need for validity and the truth in general. After all is love for the truth the only good that keeps our 'free' world together, as far as the honor of the, for us Royal, Academy of Sciences is concerned. I put this little word free between brackets because only total chaos can be called real freedom. And for that I don't have to plea. Love for the truth to my opinion means love for natural order. At least in the case of natural science this business should be in order. The criticism goes that the actual system, the timesystem, is a politicalized, commercialized affair in which men can roam about as a wild beast of culture, full of all thinkable bad properties, without a goal in life. Not only traditional values and customs are in jeopardy, God keep our Kingdom, but also the self-respect of the Academy. I don't think we can maintain that it would be to each man's own account and responsibility if someone or a nation, is victimized by our 'modern' times. Still we are standing together for something. No, let us now maintain that it is, in the negative sense, an old-fashioned time we are dealing with. A mishmash of compensations, emergency measures, follies and other more or less scientific, psychophysiological complexes where about, including the cinema, we would have had it by now. Honest is honest, we cannot strive to maintain the problem for the sake of the study, limit a materially favored and protected elite or block its growth, and leave the chaos, the risk and the spiritualization to the masses or to foreign people. It is so that natural entropy time and again leads to cultural chaos. But to speak with Thomas Kuhn: it is also an evolution of thoughtmodels in which again and again, we arrive at order the way a snake sheds its skin. On purpose I do not speak of a revolution but of an evolution. It's about a natural development that we, people with a scientific responsibility, must respect. Is it not a drama to hear 'everybody', for decades, if not centuries, proclaim the revolution while in the concrete, the only true revolution is the dynamic movement of the in space revolving earth? At each dawn a new revolution of the earth has 'broken out'. Is it not a drama to see the whole for God saken scientific commune exhaust itself in, for the sake of compromises, compensations or simply to concur, newlusty writing full libraries, with which no man can keep track, or respect as it should? Everybody likes to settle things in order, but shouldn't we ordinarily follow the trend of modernizing and work an outdated time concept out of society? That would, I think, give us quite some peace.

 

  II THE FACTS

Isaac Newton defined time as dynamic, determined by the complex movement of our planet. Fact is though that this dynamical time has never been appropriately respected in practice. Until 1800 clocks weren't quite precise and it would have been difficult to make sure the exact time of the true midday according (see: D. Draaisma, 'Het Verborgen Raderwerk' - 'The hidden wheels', not translated, for a short historic account of the clock.) In Arabia there could be the reign of such a practice, but one never got much farther than a centralized concept of suntime, the true time. In Persia (Iran) and India one also has ones own central time, mean local time LT, deviating from the normal zonetime. Normal means: to the eventuality of the nations deformed zones, that on the eastern hemisphere for reasons unknown to me, are shifted one hour. About the timekeeper indifference sprouted. It was after all our first mechanical problemchild, our first pride about which we shouldn't be too critical.

And some deficiencies did creep in educating this machine. When around 1800 the machine started running reasonably precise, was the pride about it that big that it seemed as if the sun would deviate from the clock in stead of the other way around. No,the clock was running absolutely regularly, nothing was wrong with it. A whole culture of frill arose to enhance its attraction in stead of providing it with a correction mechanism that would guarantee the accord with the objective reality of time, the way Newton had defined it. In stead of a natural, scientific, validated time, a cultural concept came about: a rigidity (rigid time). The hopping on the one leg of reliability repressed the truth of the necessity of the other scientific leg: validity. But still one thinks it normal to hold time on as a regular consecution of objective real events. So the half truth is indeed, but with the clock this does not mean an in equal parts divided dead sequence of 24 hours, as became the habit. So it did not work in practice and so it will hopefully not stay too.

The delusion that time would be rigid, rooted. With this supposition untruth crept into the common opinion which cannot have enhanced the consensus of rule and general mental health. A period of an hour stretches and shrinks subtly, and with maximally 14.5 seconds a day this is 0.6. seconds an hour, depending on the time of the year. That is the truth (see the figure 'equation of time' in the Encyclopedia Britannica, not to confuse with that in Brock's encyclopedia that, completely typical for the confusion about this subject, is pictured up side down). One can compare it with the slowing down and speeding up of a pianist playing something. The tempo stays, year trough constant, but 'life' is brought into it. Time became, for practical reasons not valid any longer, a political and commercial concept, based on confirmation of the false security of a mean noon, a rigidity or materialistic concept with a fake stability, that by now has little to do with the objective natural reality of the position of the earth relative to the sun. Now you could say: no problem, snap out of it like out of your overcoat, forget the machine. But then we forget that the political-economic concept is, precisely for people with societal responsibility the selfhypnosis out of which we cannot snap just like that. It is the ruling ego that makes up the service of anyone. Result is that a certain unconscious aversion or 'aggression', with belonging 'deathfear and neurosis', originated against the clock so that we started pushing around with it enormously indifferent, without us knowing why 'life with the clock' would be such an unnatural affair, a nature-culture conflict.

With the 20th century indifference about the clock, in the old days honored as the representative of God's order on earth, a couple of very serious problems have risen. A kind of cultural 'greenhouse-effect' originated in which we are imprisoned and seem to have lost control over our attitude relating to nature. With the environmental-technological theme of the nineties, to purify our relationship with nature, we may take this line of approach in serious consideration. A discussion of the different socio-cultural aspects of the timeconcept you can find with Rifkin. We cannot say that we have developed a conscious resent towards (time)-machines. On the contrary, a kind of foolishness came about against which ministers, mediapreachers and assorted, made up true and desperate declarations of war. But to have a system change itself isn't easy. Systems confirm themselves and one easily loses objectivity.

 

III THE ANALYSIS

I want to narrow it down to an analysis of the psychological factors. At the onset of the 18th century the clock started to serve as the ruler over labor. A form of false authority and even abuse, of which we still have a one-sided definition of the concept of labor. Normal natural civil life got disturbed. Labor or work consists now politically of obtaining a salary and not of being meaningfully of service on itself. On the contrary, working this way might be without meaning and destructive. Thus a split arose in the psyche between spiritual work, homework and voluntary work on the one hand and the 'moneycircuit' on the other hand. This hasn't done much good to societal relations. With the appearance of the clock in the church tower in the 14th century, the church quickly splitted up with mutual accusations of false authority, and with the industrial revolution also nobility lost it's grip for the greater part, so that altogether we ended up wrestling in an in political parties divided democratic helplessness. Also the relations between man and woman were done a lot of violence by this split. The problems with the timemachine became really worldwide when end of the 19th century the electromagnetic definition of time* (footnote: *: Time not defined by moving bodies, but by cycles of electromagnetic radiation.) (Maxwell) became prominent. Because of the development of the railroads it became evident that the clock could not follow the dynamical of our culture. The thing not only did not correct itself to the true noon, it was also not capable of correcting itself when one went traveling. That was a nuisance and therefore our authoritative child of worry was quickly adapted to our from then on electromagnetical determined culture. In 1884 America was divided in timezones. Later in 1940 Hitler came telling the Dutch that they would have to forget their Amsterdam time because of 'traffic and commerce', and that they had to adopt the time of about Berlin on their clocks. And so it is, in winter, still so. In summer we, the Dutch, are even dealing with the local time of Leningrad [now Petersburg].

That the rise of this electromagnetic concept of time happened the same time psychoanalysis and the science of psychology rose, will not be completely coincidental. The higher class lost its self-control. Woman became hysteric, because more and more wild emotions pushed forward in the culture of the romantic; the classical option was already 'spent playing' or 'dated'. Even Freud was troubled with passing out when Jung resisted experimentally, collective conscious, symbolic and 'alchemistically' the fatherly (...) authority (marriage is a license for adultery, was a saying of Jung). Freud complained about the upcoming tide of the Es, the brute forces, about prostitute-fantasies when he arrived in America, and in the end he passed away at the onset of the second worldwar. With the first worldwar the german nobles already dropped shooting out of the scene, now also the well-to-do civil man had to 'proclaim' his honor and come telling 'how late it was'. All in all a kind of Babylonic confusion of tongues of the speaking clock thus. Napoleon, the antichrist of the mean noon (a mean affair) in front and recently Saddam Hussein as Nostradamus' early failing, third antichrist of chronic summertime, closing up. So we call our 'game' communism, we call it imperialism; the conclusion is: it is not your own time.

In the postwar-world we speak of a compensation culture and of decompensation when the 'wild nature' of the 'subconscious' is taking over. The straightjacket developed itself into a game of chess with the biochemistry of the body and even into an electromagnetic straightjacket in the form of the t.v.-set. With a walk on the moon we would have reached the limit of reasonability one would say. Prof. Duiker (also a psychologist) asks himself in 'The problematic psychology' (not translated) what would be the nature of this discipline. An indeed let us contemplate it. By now science is ripe for the theater, the whole world a nuthouse and God at the head of the management. That's not the way we would like it.

So I'll stick to the practice of Freud, that letting one another freely speak for the sake of a good analysis will point us the way. To continue in his words: projecting the lunacy, the tic of the tactic, on one another looks like the, with the false pride and grossness of technology, repressing of what was the actual truth our technical inability with what is really crazy: the father of machines, the clock itself that pretends to uphold the truth of objective time.

The modern science of chronobiology is presenting us the picture of a natural reality that consists of a rhythmic fugue in which all life harmonizes in the light of the sun - in the dark we loose track. Except for 'us'; nor of the sun, nor of the dark we lose track, because we have electric light, an electromagnetic time, and even electroschock-treatment and the electric chair for those who lose self-control. It is normal to go to bed in the middle (?) of the night and leave getting up-early to the little birdies. A fine mess our grand-grandmother would say.

To continue on the theme of psychiatry: orientation in space and time is essential for a good mental health. Concerning matter there is nothing else but so-called space-time too. And without that time-spatial differentiated matter minding hasn't much meaning either. Now it happens to be so that man has two brainhalves that tend to be specializing according to, on the one side spatial (so-called parallel) business and on the other side, timebound (so-called serial) business. A saint wouldn't be bothered much by it maybe, but a normal person tends to live an according division of tasks between man and woman. As said: the modern is putting this natural relation, this hemispheric specialization, rather to a test. In the concrete the cultural timeconcept, the masculine of men, has hardly anything to do with the natural objective timeconcept of one's own matter of body and possessions, the so-called feminine in men. So we're stuck with a so-called schizoid, in its natural identity disturbed 'culture-neurotic' mankind. Mind estranged from the heart, time from place, masculine from feminine, social from individual, etc., etc.

With this schizoid situation of estrangement one could say that we're not really present anymore, not really capable of an in time coördinated coöperation. So we're running dry politically and such. We can work with the idea that the timeconcept incorporates the definition of reality in all aspects of the individual, material, national, cultural and local identity of men. If we, now, want to get anywhere in international politics, and overcome our 20th century 'identityproblem' then it will on logical grounds be inevitable to develop the timemachine further.

Promoting a scientific time-identity that does justice to the material reality of man, is not in contradiction with religious precepts. As well as with the Hindu's as with the Muslims attention is paid to the divinity of time, the sunlight and nature at large. I will not go into that here to prevent unwanted preaching. Christianity has developed a somewhat reserved attitude with science to resist the 'Roman' in us. But beyond doubt it will be welcomed when the false authority of especially the clock and the passion for the machine in general will be pushed back and tuned down to God's nature. There has been warned against false prophets, and the clock itself, the false timepretense and dominance of television and other apparatuses, might be considered belonging to that too.
Poetically summarized:

We have killed the time,

Idolatry sublime,

they say God's dead and mine,

we seem to have to pay the fine ...

 

it was a full big blow,

a deep fall for the show,

and back to nature we know,

the clock must for us go.

If we keep in mind that the meant evolution of the timemachine signifies a sober validation for the sake of our relating to nature, without attaching any moral lesson, will the endeavor be successful.

 

 

IV LIMITATIONS AND SOLUTIONS

Concerning the modernizing of the timesystem we now have a couple of difficulties that constitute a hindrance on the way towards to a 'new world' or a 'new man', with which only a more natural world and man are meant. These are:

1) The gross and unwise of economic motives and relations.
2) The psychological/political resistance within the existing timesystem against innovation.
3) The media.
4) Possible consequences for society.

Hereafter I will try to elaborate further on these problems and clarify how the intended innovation could become operational.

1) The gross and unwise of economic motives and relations

Time has become a commercial article. Time is money. This philosophy consisting of economic considerations controls modern thought. But the importance of money cannot obscure the fact that the majority of the population doesn't have to think like that anymore. With social security, the 'state-income' or 'adaptation-reinforcement', money is existentially not playing a part any longer, it's then more about 'self-realization'. It is a minority, the so-called professional population that tends to think like that. That population is nowhere without the back-up of the mass. They are not only the customers, but also the family members and co-believers. It should still ring: "riches are the burden of the noble and poverty is the happiness of the spiritual". It is typical for our modern vision that especially international we have become disturbed megalomanic with the decay of the institute of nobility. The natural peace of interhuman relations is to be sought. It is a greedy newlust that tries to tempt man and makes it appear as if this one exciting aspect would be all of life: the whole modern hunting-instinct of having, acquiring, conquering, competing etc. The basis is still the objective reality of the outside whistling birds that have all time of the world; simply life that is flowering the order of nature for eternity. A psychiatrist would say that we are driven by deathfear, a drive that chases us into death rather than being of the importance of a peaceful overview. Lack of order and haste do not belong to the ideals of the quest for efficiency. An organization works good and smoothly when everything is in order and no hasty decisions are being taken. Haste demolishes more than the boozbottle would like to admit. Quietly building up everything is still the thorough true work. But look now, the day is longer in the summer, and although we could do without for centuries, end of the sixties everybody had to get up one hour earlier in America, and ten years later we too. Not a new idea by the way, from the prewar crisisyears this approach was already familiar to us. Benjamin Franklin had, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica in a whimsical essay as the first one already made this proposition. But are we with this whimsical notion still mindful? Is it not a mistake to refer, with an economic motive, collectively to an objective lie destabilizing of our day rhythm? Do we realize the importance of objective truth and stability? Is the messing around with the time-indication not symptomatic for our incapacity? There is no way, one would say, to keep up that foolishness when we have overcome that technological incapacity. Through the eyes of the economist it looks easy, people do not like to get up early in the morning, go to bed late in summer, and must therefore be treated. But where is our understanding of goodness, the healthy mind gone to? Are we not self responsible anymore, do we need father State to tell us how late we have to go to bed? We can't mean that seriously, can we? In stead of having a normal summer- schedule for each profession according the need, must the clock go different! What kind of madness is this? How did we arrive at the idea that the clock would have to go different? Aren't we allowed to know anymore that we get up earlier? Is it so nice to deceive oneself? is it such a trouble to to have an extra train running scheduled in the morning during summer? And why for God's sake must it be imposed on everyone? Who is actually interested in summertime? it cannot be understood anymore, one naturally has to go to bed earlier if one must rise earlier, isn't it? A family would adjust to that, wouldn't they? The imposition of summertime is a trick of demagogy and selfdeceit that has nothing to do anymore with the glory of reason. it is clearly a psychological affair. We by now have become the 20th century crisis-lunatic with more questions than a wise man can answer.

The economic argument from the seventies motivates the affair with the term energysaving. Still no reason to change the clock. Above that has research demonstrated that having people rising one hour earlier does not make for a noteworthy energysaving at all. On the contrary, people excite themselves about this kind of management fascistic or not and go to bed these days later than ever. Television doesn't know how to stop anymore and the 'evil' has only been confirmed. It is typically the pitfall of the moralist. Enforcing summertime leads to an aversive reaction just like with other moral impositions (Vietnam?). We wouldn't have summertime out of compassion with the timezones of the eastern hemisphere, would we? There exists a positive correlation between the mean deviation from suntime and the incidence of totalitarian systems as communism. Let's beware of that, otherwise Nostradamus could get right with his predicted third worldwar around 2000. All in all it seems to be one of the greatest paternalistic brutalities or violations of the right for self-determination of 'this time'. The best explanation for the phenomenon is of natural science. Every system strives by nature to chaos, and with that ends itself. And once having chaos, as after the second worldwar in Europe, then order can blossom again. Summertime was indeed abolished after the second worldwar. With summertime it appeared that one had carried the false dictature of economic (Jewish?) lust to its grave. But we stayed in the thirties and also now, because of the deliberate destabilization, behind with more strife, falsehood and chaos; an irrational, truthfearing or exactly-truthseeking mechanistic neurosis of apparently only in money, or the contrary, also not right, believing, quarreling and degenerating republics. Popmusic, sects, cold war, the whole kit and caboodle was driven into the computer as a new challenge for morality. The 'ethical reawakening' of Holland, now ten years of christian democracy. Beautiful. But has the problem been solved? Aren't we wasting our energy enormously? We can't keep on bowing before the stupidity of a natural dissipation. If we make a mistake in the sixties and seventies, we must restore order, mustn't we? After 1945 we did that also, didn't we? The 'energycrisis' is with the Gulfwar over by now one would say. Above that, lipservice to christian morality is no guarantee for its practice, isn't it? The running empty in resent we may fear (more and more cocaine and such).

True is: we have slipped considerably and have become afraid of our own power. Religious scriptures tell us that we shouldn't be drawn away by the changes of the season, we were to practice equanimity and not celebrate any falsehood. With our whimsical notion we have lost our time-identity. Time is not only money, time is now bad too. And that is in fact already so for 200 years, since the introduction of mean time. Typical was the fit for change concerning the timesystem already during the first years of the French revolution. Everything had to be done differently (see Rifkin). One had heard the bell ringing, but couldn't find the clapper. One fought against the rigid of time; there seemed to be no right, no life anymore with the false authority that had compensated itself selfishly to pieces. And indeed, without the dynamical it is wrong. After the death of Mozart at the onset of the French revolution, the music with its classical dynamical exercises, became only more difficult, more emotional, heavier, mightier, more chaotic. And not only the music, long before had René Descartes, with his plea for reason, already noted that man was alike a complex machine. But where had the soul gone to, as far as we still did know about which selfremembrance it would be? Also Freud fighting for reasonability had difficulty explaining for the origin of neurosis properly and could not turn the tide, the analytic conclusion was lacking.

The true of time, suntime as was respected more or less before l800, defined the vitality of the local identity. This got into a black book with the anti-christian wars that very well can be called an effect of mechanical induction. Before 1800 there was always victor, a new glory, a new King. Thereafter there was engrossment; a decay of the local identity of the church, nobility and state was to be noticed. In the 20th century suddenly all kinds of guru's appear on the scene to remind us with eastern wisdom of our classical duties and enlightenments. They seem to walk away with the victory of the cuckoo clock, telling us that we must be 'there' and 'conscious' and drop false securities, including that of their own teaching authority. Life is the best teacher; when we listen good this means that we mustn't be working that timebound and that we should rediscover the conditions for that meditation.

With the involvement of the christian monks with the development of the clock we apparently missed the selfconfidence to see the obvious of these truth's. To my knowledge have nor the monks, nor the Pope, ever warned against a rigid timeconcept. The being present the guru's are leading to, refers to matter and the awareness to the quality of the servitude. In the concrete this means that we should confirm our own local identity a thorough way. The friars have never realized the connection between these truth's and the reality of the clock and follow in the monasteries loyally the 'democratic' messing around with the clock. When they had known that the possible falsehood of the authority of the clock would lead to a decline of religion and necessitate guru's in the 20th century, then their own authority would not have been blamed for such a falsehood.

The authentic scriptural truth of the guru's, added to Christianity, means that, if the development of a reliable clock was essential for the navigation of ships at sea and the making of maps in the 18th century, then the development of a valid timepiece, free from false authority, for the sake of a thorough confirmation of local identity, could be of essential importance to the survival of mankind. False authority is all authority that is in conflict with the truth. And the truth of time is a dynamical, place bound truth. Falsehood is summertime, timezones and mean time. Falsehood brings about desperation and makes uncertain. And we've got to get rid of that. Every authority that refers to falsehood and not to 'the order of God', every authority that cherishes the impiety of falsehood, is false authority. Thus seen is the timeaffair a matter of great importance; the church, the state and the business community must preclude rebellion against supposed false authority.

Machines make our lives more easy and could make old forms of culture bloom because now we have the time for it. With the control of machines we don't have to be afraid of armed conflicts. One push on the button and the dictature is wiped of the map. That is all 'o.k.', but what we have to unlearn is to be a slave of the machine. We must, by refining it, rob it of its false authority and look one another, liberated as 'new men', into the eyes. This was authentically the euphoria of enlightenment. New worlds opened up. Now we suffer the syndrome of passage, we must simply learn to deal with machines, not to become a victim of them, get used to them and 'educate' them with trial and error. Specifically Summertime-manipulations form a great blunder not essentially based upon a practical necessity and cannot be talked under the table with moral considerations in the style of: "old attachments must be overcome with newlust or denial of one's own identity". Repentance is traditionally set religiously and by criminal law. It is no use imposing it inconsiderately upon everyone. A child must have a chance too. When is a modern man mature with the oddity of relations? Injustice must be fought against, not, also at the cost of nobility, can the noble qualities of man, be pushed under a carpet of artificial tricks. We must traditionally learn to trust natural reality and not flee from duty and order in a selfdestructive cultural navelstaring and unrepenting push off of the burden of guilt to the next generation, being called lost. With the electrification of the timeconcept and the psychology thereabout, the worldwide fall of noble man, the nobility, constitutes a disaster. The higher class above, high in the meaning of having to live closer to God, the spiritual commune, is still there, but without the noble of the ruling class, who would carry the burden of welfare and represent us, give the proper example in charity, working the heroic and the ideals of beauty, purification and austerity? When a kingdom falls of impurities, does that not mean that the whole institute of nobility would be wrong. And that is something of all times. The grief of the republics with their chaos, jealousy and negligent ego-culture, may not lead to it that for the sake of false honor and pretense we repress these truths. About the struggle between good and bad nobility one may consult the most authentic epic of the Ramâyana.

As Descartes said, the path to follow with our modern achievements is that of reason. Machines are only tools for help. Furthermore it is not so that the intended innovation would really cost us that much. On the contrary, as so often with innovations, we know that some investment works as a saving, and in this case it is in favor of the capacity to cooperate; it hightens the sense of reality and lessens the bad cost of sick-leave and other chronic system syndromes. Above that is the regained sense for the natural stimulating the classical concept of culture with its virtues. Maybe we will then also be motivated to de-urbanise for example.

To be clear in short: a new clock is only necessary for public services, trains, airplanes and people that regularly travel more than 1/4 degree of longitude (about one minute or ± 17 kilometers at the latitude of Greenwich), so normal commuting would not be an objection. The rest simply has an old model timepiece that deviates maximally an academic quarter of an hour too early or too late because mean time is deviating that much from true time (see appendix-table of true time deviation). Who wants to be in time precisely must each week refer to a local timesignal or refer otherwise publicly to correct about 2 minutes. And it was not that unusual to correct ones watch so now and then. It is quickly getting accustomed to it if one makes an appointment by phone; then one must say who's time it would be because time has a local identity after all. The few people who are interlocally active professionally, as for instance moneytraders, can use special tables or handy gadgets for that, they can then be more systematic, thus more simple as opposed to the unscientific zonetime concept. For normal civil phone-business at the distance of a few hundred kilometers it is not so important to deviate a quarter of an hour or so. Also a nice opportunity to get rid of one's compulsory neurosis. The masses will either not be bothered by the occurrence of a system-innovation or simply will have to learn respect natural reality. The scientific voice still would have some authority in the world and if not, then she can still take the opportunity to uphold the honor. That not everyone would love the truth is known, but those people would not be allowed to dominate. Democracy does not mean that we would live in contempt with the truth, we've been schooled sufficiently for that, weren't we? Let's work from that supposition.

 

2) The psychological/political resistance.

What is stated so far can be summarized as follows:

- When we lose out of sight objective natural reality, the truth gets twisted more and more. This twist accounts for strife and injustice, because of which 'unwanted scientific practice' originates.
- It is not to wisdom to complain and to prevent unnecessary fighting; we therefore are bound to striving for mental health.
- This striving must lead to it that we learn to see and bear natural reality as it is.

This is in short the notice of problem, mental attitude and purpose of our study. Now we can recognize a theme of all time in this story, not something that would hold specifically for our western society. It is a commonly known problem. It is also of all times to wage war for the sake of truth and justice. I am, dear professor, calling for you personally, to take up with me this fight and teach the devil of false mechanistic authority with the help of a healthy psychology a lesson. We cannot repent for ever, keep on studying and abide by the dictature of reductionism, rationalization and compensation. Together with the heroes of all times, also the times of this moment, I request you to cooperate in the line of your own study of time- and consciousness-phenomena and unite scientific psychology for the sake of this analytic conclusion and the thereto belonging proper action.

For the sake of the healthy spirit we must stay parsimonious to speak with William of Occam: why complain that it is too late if we can simply settle the clock? That is our razor. We know that psychological resistance consists of desires that by the false authority of possessions steals the people their mind. Compensations can not be broken down in a day, but false authority one can. When the clock is functioning alike a thermometer is the time indication not anymore dependent on cultural factors and naturally scientific valid. People are, as said, then less burdened with false controlsystems, cultural compulsion phenomena and existential trouble as engrossing, aggression, depression, fears, loss of intelligence, uncertainties and other matters related to the cultural timeconcept. The uncertainty about this last thesis is connected with the lack of confidence in the lost feeling for the circadian (linked to the sun), natural harmony and the association with the middle-ages when, although one lived to the sun, Christianity was not that far developed yet. We can with turning back the clock not expect to go back in time itself and fall back in a medieval state with its brute humanity. Fear is bad counsel.

Then there are also political resistences that are based upon a lack of selfconfidence. We can say: we are tied down to this system and have come to agreements with other countries. We cannot imitate India or Iran just like that and celebrate a central local time, as a temporary measure. Above that is the intended innovation carrying that a load of measures that we might not be able to convince the United Nations ever because either the insight doesn't want to break through, or one doesn't want to, or is not able to invest in upgrading the system. If we put our honor at stake, we can fail and estrange if we persist; and precariously we resign as nice people to the ignorance of the masses.

But that is then simply cowardice and no management at all. Who stops progress must traditionally step aside. Incompetence cannot hold on. Above that, with the necessary diplomacy, who doesn't dare doesn't win, we (...) can first behind closed doors call together the so-called International Time commission of the United Nations to explore the political field appropriately. Exactly because of the unscientific discrepancy within the old timesystem will the confusion of language not be easy to overcome. The east zones have developed quite another culture from the west zones and exceptions India and Iran confirm that rule. Nevertheless this timephilosophy can play a key role for a new worldorder. The most modern striving for sovereignty that seems to be in contradiction to the thought of unification is explained by this. Philosophers have always stated that consensus about the objective is of essential importance. A systematic scientific confirmation of material time identity contains a unification that does justice to the differences at the same time. Above that is there for Europe in 1992 scheduled for unification a revision of summertime scheduling already. A nice opportunity to introduce this subject. Eventual introduction would at best be done in four fases:

1) Political and technological preparation.
2) Abolishing summertime schedules and the begin of an international information campaign.
3) Ending the discrepancy of zonetimes east and west.
4) Introduction of the new system. For the first three fases 2-3 years a phase. Introduction in the year 2000.

 

3) The Media

A special limitation is being formed by the media, especially radio and television. Because of the electrification of the time-concept these make up an inseparable part of modern culture. Looked at soberly these contrivances represent a kind of cultural omnipresence with which, we compete with that of the Lord Himself. Of course it is fantastic, such an eye and ear on the whole world, and certainly not despite of this fast communication have we been able to picture us a new worldorder. But, just as with the clock, there is something lacking in this culture. It's the respect for the locality of the spectator himself, his own identity in his own environment. In George Orwell's book 1984 t.v. was presented as the instrument of social control. And in fact it has become rather a cuckoo's young. Where in the old days we had an aquarium is now the t.v.-set. We in 1991 don't need to go that bad to the cinema or theater anymore. All attention is caught by 20 channels of t.v. to satisfy the hunger for knowledge and need for entertainment. No one may be discontent and all grievances are being discussed. As said, for radio and t.v. it is rather compulsory to keep up the false timepretense; to act as if it is your time, your place, is the essence of its illusion. The illusion of having the same time is based on a scientific fallacy. Time does not contain change only, but also differentiation. Having the same time is a concept in conflict with itself. The same time does not exist at all. Every point in space has its own timedimensional time-identity. Distances can be expressed in time. The harmful consequences of having, with practical arguments, this reality one-dimensionally rigid, short-circuited and destabilized, cannot be overseen. I already spoke of mechanistic induction, generalization and effects of projection, brought about by a means of communication in this case. More and more t.v.-channels or the continuous confirming of the glitter-sham of 'star'-culture - God have their soul -, cannot take away this effect. Closer study of the programs and movies paints us a picture that can be compared with a freely associating client on the sofa with Freud, including hysteria, perversity, father conflicts, fantasies, projecting and last but not least, the sensation culture of aggressive engrossing or to speak confabulating in t.v.-language: 'we went quite 'Verne' with Phileas Fogg-around-the-clock in the Chaplin-wit, with our organic unity of fantasy of H.G. Wells and Harold Celluloid, or what's his name 'Verhoeven' stepping out with 'Robocop' traveling in 'Spaceship the Enterprise' questing for 'Les Temp Perdue', or whatever Starwars with the dripping clocks of surrealism, 'for the times they are changin' etc. etc.' We fantasy a lot about time and machines. As long as a hero or antihero is there fighting on for law and order it is bearable, although the passion for the performance can sometimes hardly be recognized analytically as the goodness of will. 'Operation Desert storm now on video', and such. With music and religion the menu is complete.

The television-set started working like a 'ghostbusters-catchbox': a box of Pandora in which all evil of the world is locked up. "Don't you feel good or too good, then just search for the matching program and do not imagine that you yourselves would be the actor". That is how the modern straightjacket operates of taking the tube and go under at home, reducing the culture of the livingroom to a bowl of chips. Although t.v. is fit as an object for study and meditation, the cuckoo-effect should be pushed back by denying the apparatus its false timepretense. A program always begins at a certain moment, but not on one certain time. That is the fact. The moment is differentiated in time, consists of different times. The same moment does exist. The same time is only synonymous with that if we speak about the same object. We speak then of identity or identical time. An apartment-building in Holland about 300 meters west of me receives the same program somewhat later (± 1 sec.), but at the same moment. Time is matter in relation, a quality of matter and that reality must not unnecessarily be refuted. Refuting that is still a religious affair not without danger. Another human being in the same building is a fraction of a second away from me. To your information: that timedimension of distance is north-south differently related than east-west. The spinning of the oblique earth-axis gives a change of daylenght not only for ourselves during a year, but also when we travel. The different timedimensions are discrete, that is to say, they can be measured independently. The importance of the time-difference in daylenght along the longitude is essentially not different from the importance of the timedifference that we are used to between the timezones on a latitude. Just as the importance of normal geographic height, the third timedimension, that could be expressed in the time that an object in a free fall takes to reach the surface of the earth. The one-dimensional timeconcept as we know it now we must, especially because of its rigidity of the mean midday, the shortcircuiting in timezones, and the instability in summertime, be considered primitive and invalid, simply not fit or suitable as an indication of personal, local time-identity or material reality of man. The old concept only knows a quest for reliability and must in its reductionism be considered as induction-dangerous and be rejected. The ideal watch of the future will look about the same as an old watch with, except for the date, two extra digital indications. One indicates the altitude, an indication as yet not of importance because usually we do not travel through the air. The other digital indication is then for the deviation from the mean daylenght of twelve hours. +0.15 for example would mean: the sun goes up 5.45 and sets 18.15. One push on the button could, indicating the mean deviation of the daylenght, tell the latitude. The eventually analog 'normally' indicated time must then give true suntime because of which all watches at the same longitude indicate the same time. The actual progress in technology determines how precise and complete this concept would function. (red.: see also the later evolved comcept of the tempometer at this site)

For the media this unlinking or making time-integer of the medium means, that each broadcasting company will then broadcast on its own suntime, thus depending on the studio involved, there is a different time. These different times need not constitute a problem for the spectator. They can be systematically compared in a t.v.-guide (or teletext-page, ed.) with one's own suntime (S.T.) to make out at which moment a certain program begins. With a S.T.-comparing programguide-holder or moment indicator the user can fix his guide on his own longitude. No insurmountable problem thus, it's only getting adjusted for a moment.

 

4) Possible consequences for society.

A suntime-indicator makes other forms of time superfluous. No summertime anymore, no timezones, no mean local time any longer. All banners of the Antichrist into the dust-bin. Finally we then use the clock as it should: for the sake of the natural reality. What are the consequences of such a development? A prediction as follows based on what we already know, seems plausible.

Abolishing summertime brings, by stabilizing the rhythm of the day, back the atmosphere, the selfremembrance. Abolishing the difference between east- and west zones makes the idea of the world-citizen more real and promotes international cooperation and cultural integration. Abolishing timezones themselves brings back romanticism, lessens cultural tensions and opens the door to classical society. Then there is more opportunity for refining and a decrease of culture-neurotic phenomena. Abolishing mean time hightens the sense of material reality and gives a more dynamic feeling for life by means of a more perfect balance of machine and nature. When the machine follows nature, then the human being following the machine will doubt less about the authority thereof, including the authority of all societal institutions that are connected to it. So, at first an enormous improvement.

Psychologically, although, the story can look very different. Humanity had rather a lot of traumatic experiences by the grossness of the false authority of machines, because of which all kinds of compensation-mechanisms have developed. Possibly a couple of people will have to endure an enormous disillusion because of that. Gradual introduction of the innovation must then preclude that all these people that lived the illusions of the old system, are suddenly exposed to the sober reality of their own individual problem. The illusions are then, partially, gone, but also the dreams. One has to dream about other things. Living along with one another on a distance, being elsewhere in thought, or 'being someone else', becomes more difficult, but then one would be less paranoid. Therefore there is possibly less resistance against meeting one another, so a greater need for it and better acquaintance with one another and less estrangement. The local will be more consequential, but can blossom too.

Outdated systems develop all kinds of chronic diseases. With a renewed system the cards are shuffled anew. That makes life more interesting: patterns of want shift and justice gets a new chance. As said, one can expect that with the de-electrification an enormous peace will come about. In the arts and sciences then attention could shift to the study and knowledge of natural harmony. Rebellion and related passions then do not make much sense anymore intellectually. The 'postmodern' time of the 21th century makes it possible that very individually and locally characteristic cultural phenomena can bloom again with which, although, one cannot go elsewhere just like that. In other words, for television there wouldn't be such a compulsory interest any longer and illusions of one-in-all-solutions will be positioned better 'relativated' in time with the modern achievements.

What was before a striving for unity based on estrangement and identity (identical time-) crises, then becomes a striving for unity based on recognition and a new sharing of self-interest. Thus more striving for sovereignty. A decrease of neurotic denial and increase of quality belongs to that also. Because of a more righteous chance for the person for instance, medieval mastery and the thereto belonging sociability and guilds can flourish again, where before time and again with false sameness the soul had to vanish. Some will realize the danger of that. But without the sun there can also be no shadow. Out of fear for the shade one does not sit in the dark, isn't it? So then it depends more on personal virtue, there being a greater challenge and local respect. It wouldn't surprise me if science and religions will anew realize their own worth because of a better 'soul' or selfremembrance . This increased continence can revive something like the old nobility as far as the people appreciate public standing and belonging. Logically it then comes less to machines and apparatuses and more to the person and his nature. A good conscience and a good name become more important when personal recognition increases. Then it is more clear who is social and who goes against the rules, so that civil judgment, the effect of scandal and social control can return. Together with the classical arts contrasting of course the loose of debauchery can appear in new forms. Also will it then make more sense to go about penitent in a frock for instance. Because, if everybody as now is more or less sitting silently in a corner mourning about the empty, impersonal atmosphere, in a monastery it wouldn't be much better either.

So vitality will locally increase and also the eventual personal suffering that goes with it. Still one cannot blame authority or the system that easy anymore. Consequently there would be more moral clarity in life. Above that wil this l be all subtle, not as gross as in the middle ages, the media and other modernities are not put out of use, we've then been made more integer in collective awareness. Opposing the increased chance for a personal account, a so-called trip or flip, there is a smaller chance for chronic systemdiseases and mental illnesses. As certainty against the possibly more natural threat of acute disease and individual engrossment, there is a possible recovery of the weight of the family, nobility and the clergy. When everything becomes more personal, personal protection will also become more important in connection with this recovery.

So it is, viewed speculatively, not a small affair to respect true, natural time. It sounds on the one hand creepy because of the many associations with bad situations in the old days. On the other hand we then get a chance to do it better with the modern achievements of communication speed, transport, social security and medical care.

 

V) EPILOGUE

For the Netherlands there is the question, why should we lead the way in this affair. With the ventilated critical attitude about the phenomenon republic one could say that it is more in their interest than in the interest of the kingdoms. The answer goes in two: on the one hand with us the erosion of the institutional order by the old system has not advanced that far yet. Now we have still the Royal Family and other institutes of honor and representation. And nobility obliges. We run the chance of slipping down if we do not defend this honor.

On the other hand has our culture a certain sober tradition relating to the philosophy of time. The pendulum of Huygens came from us and Joost van den Vondel, the greatest Dutch drama-poet of the 17th century, already wrote in the 'Faëton' about the importance of the harmony of man relating to nature. One could make a separate study of the many examples of national lance-breaking in this affair. The almost proverbial Dutch, compartmentalized, principle of each for himself and God with all, has kept us reasonably sober, and makes this timephilosophy appear as a fundamentally Dutch paradigm. The World Nature Fund is also a contribution of ours and in general we have not turned out to be indifferent in fighting on behalf of environmental-technological interests as a program for the nineties. We are still a respected member of the United Nations and very well able, as stated before, to call together the International Time commission and make a sober report. This writer is from a family of clockmakers and teachers and will not refuse if it comes to the point.

 

Personally I see in renovating the timekeeper a chance for the reawakening of antique (universal) scholarship, in which religion and science harmoniously go together. Furthermore I too would like to be freed from the emptiness and impersonal of our modern time. I do not really believe, e.g., that we would have made it or that it would be that healthy to appear on the tube. Honestly I don't think it's a pleasure to have everyone looking over ones shoulder and prefer an improvement of the local culture. Personally I live for more than a year now with true, suntime on the clock and must say that it has become an ideal object of meditation. For societal adaptation I have a double watch digitally set for indicating normal 'prime time'. Even if no one takes the before mentioned serious: I did to my own idea and for God in this my duty.

  

Hoping to have been of services to you, Respecting, R.P.B.A. Meijer, M.A.

 

This report was also sent to the former Minister of Internal Affairs of the Netherlands I. Dales (deceased) who replied that we already have UTC, Universal Coördinated Time and that to her opinion there was no further need....

Also with Professor Vroon did the cooperation not work out as expected and was no further academic research planned. Professor Vroon has meanwhile deceased.

After that I wrote in 1992 the book 'De Spiegel van de Tijd', in Dutch at this website, in which the ideas of this article have been worked out. Thereafter came end of the nineties the rest of this website about, around the only at this website available selfhelpbook 'The Other Rules' (1998) and other articles reproduced here, as well as a site on vedic literature that forms the historial link to the at this site celebrated concept of time.

The hope for political action speaking from this article has meanwhile been sobered down to the notion that time-management is very much a matter of individual selfrealization and religion and that it might take quite a long time before there would be a majority of the people to represent in government a better culture of time. In stead would only the abolishing of legal time-measures, the 'false authority', be politically feasible (see the politics-department). After all is the system as it is now as well a symptom of our lifestyle as good as our lifestyle could be a symptom of the system.

 

 

- See further the Full Calendar of Order - table for the equation of time, to set a clock to the sun.

- Timelinks

- Design for a Tempometer

 

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