If we do the same thing every day one day blurs into another and time seems to pass very quickly. For many of us this is our reality, the same sort of journey to work, the same sort of work, the same sort of lunch...suddenly it's October and we wonder where the year has gone. A more extreme example of this came in 1962 when speleologist Michel Siffre lived in a subterranean cave under the Alps without a clock, a calendar or any sunshine. At the end of this exploration of life "beyond time" Siffre thought one month had passed. Actually two months had passed and with this experiment he had single-handedly created the new field of chronobiology.
The lesson here is that without the reference points of different experiences the mind blurs moment into moment, day into day and sometimes year into year. In order to expand time, to stretch our subjective experience of it we must do new things.
In Moonwalking With Einstein, Foyer explores memory, learning and eventually competing with world memory champions. He uncovers how creativity and novelty are paramount to memorising. It's an interesting read and I'll be doing some more posts on it in future.
Link to Moonwalking With Einstein (UK/US)
Justin Foer interviews Michel Siffre
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