Читать книгу Temporal Psychology and Psychotherapy. The Human Being in Time and Beyond - - Страница 18

In Section 2 we move from the general picture of temporal psychology to concrete dimensions of time and their significance for life and the psyche. The reader is presented with five interconnected chapters:

– Chapter 6. The Past and the Memory of the Unconscious – about how the past is stored not only in recollections, but in bodily patterns, family scripts, cultural fonts and epigenetic imprints; about methods of reading this field and its significance for therapy.

– Chapter 7. The Present: Here and Now (the Temporal Language) – about the nature of the «here and now,» how the present is constituted in consciousness, and what practices help to strengthen contact with the present as a therapeutic anchor.

– Chapter 8. The Future: Precognition and the Condensate of Temporal Crystallisation (TTC) – about different layers of the future (probable, possible, desired, premonitory), about phenomena of premonition, and about how «temporal condensates» are formed that give life its direction.

– Chapter 9. Eternity as a Psychological Phenomenon – about resourceful experiences of connectedness and meaning, about distinguishing transcendent experience from clinical risks, and about methods of safely integrating experiences of eternity.

– Chapter 10. Timelessness and Atemporality – about the opposite of eternity: the experience of emptiness, loss of perspective, temporal disintegration; about mechanisms, clinical severity (including suicide risk) and intervention algorithms.

These chapters do not simply follow one after another – they intersect and complement each other, because the psyche never lives «in a single layer» of time: past, present and future are always intertwined, and between them there may be both resourceful and pathological exits beyond linear flow.

The Past – a Field Irreducible to Memory

In our model, the past is not just «what once happened.» It is a multilayered field: neural and somatic traces, family and cultural scripts, objects and rituals, myths and oral stories. Memory is one of the mechanisms through which this field manifests itself in consciousness; but the field itself sets the contexts and meanings in which recollections gain their power. That is why in clinical work with the past it is important to look beyond isolated episodes: where does the past «reside» – in the body, in language, in routine, in family scripts?

The Unconscious – a Multitemporal Space

The unconscious contains traces of the past and seeds of the future simultaneously. It is inhabited by motivations and premonitions, archetypal patterns and somatic impulses that guide behaviour before we become aware of them. To treat the unconscious only as a «source of the past» is correct but incomplete; its multi-temporal nature makes it a crucial arena for understanding how past and future interact in the present.

The Present – Not a Point, but a Process

The «here and now» is a node where the retention of the past and the protention of the future meet, where temporal handwriting is formed. The present is rarely a «pure» instant; more often it is a fluid integration of multiple temporal layers. It is precisely in the present that we measure meaning, make decisions and undergo transformations; both the stability of personality and its capacity for change depend on the quality of contact with the present.

The Future – a Multi-layered Field of Attraction

The future includes the probable (timetables, forecasts), the possible (alternatives), the desired (goals) and the premonitory – those unconscious attractions that may work more strongly than formal plans. Therapeutic work may be directed both toward structuring the future (planning, steps) and toward exploring the «proto-future» – those unmotivated yet significant pulls that shape choices here and now.

Eternity and Timelessness – Two Different Paths «Outside Time»

The section deliberately devotes attention to two different modalities of «out-of-time» experience. Eternity is a resourceful experience of wholeness, connectedness and meaning; it can support the personality. Timelessness (Bezvremenye) is a state of loss of perspective and meaning, emptiness and a «stoppage» of time; clinically, this phenomenon is particularly dangerous: the loss of a sense of future is one of the key factors increasing suicide risk. In the following section we analyse in detail the differences, mechanisms of emergence and intervention strategies.

Field Observations: Extreme Environments as a «Natural Laboratory»

Experience from work in capsule and extreme conditions (underwater projects such as NEEMO, long-term isolation in Antarctica, space analogs) provides important empirical support. Under prolonged sensory deprivation, sleep disruption and restricted stimuli, not only duration estimates change: the entire temporal perspective is transformed. Participants describe a pendulum movement – saturated past → stretched surreal present → intensified premonition of the future → episodes of «out-of-time,» when the sense of «I am here» dulls. The mechanisms are multifactorial: sleep and circadian disruption, monotony, physiological influences (pressure, gas composition), mental exhaustion and pre-existing vulnerabilities (dissociation, trauma). These observations reinforce our stance: changes in the experience of time are not mere poetic metaphors, but clinically relevant markers of adaptation/maladaptation.

Methodological Conclusion: Combine Subjective and Objective

When working with temporal dimensions, attention must be distributed between:

– the subjective map (temporal handwriting, narratives, diaries, questionnaires);

– behavioural metrics (actigraphy, sleep logs, EMA – ecological momentary assessment);

– physiological markers (HRV, sleep, and where necessary – short EEG recordings).

Only a combined approach allows us to distinguish adaptive temporal shifts from pathological ones – and to set clinical priorities correctly.

Practical Task of Section 2

Our task is to provide the reader with tools for reading the temporal field of personality: how to recognize where the past «resides,» to what extent the present constricts or loosens the personality, which levels of the future are active, and where the risk of Timelessness arises. This implies both diagnostic schemes and therapeutic strategies – from rhythm stabilisation to deep integration of meanings and work with altered states of consciousness.

Key Literature for Section 2

Droit-Volet, S., Meck, W. H., et al. – Reviews in Experimental Psychology of Time.

Contemporary work on quantitative measurement of subjective time and analysis of distortions in its perception (effects of compression and dilation of duration). These methods are applicable to clinical diagnosis of disorders of temporal experience and empirical testing of therapeutic hypotheses.

Freud, S. – The Interpretation of Dreams (1900).

A classic study of the role of the unconscious past in shaping dream symbolism. The work is important for narrative psychotherapy, as it reveals how hidden memories and repressed images continue to operate in present time.

Husserl, E. – The Phenomenology of Internal Time-Consciousness (lectures ca. 1905).

The philosophical foundation of all temporal psychology: analysis of retention, protention and the act of «now» as elements of the structure of consciousness. It provides a basic scheme for understanding how the psyche experiences duration and forms a sense of sequence.

Joiner, T. – Why People Die by Suicide (2005).

A monograph integrating cognitive, existential and interpersonal approaches to understanding suicidal behaviour. It is especially valuable for temporal psychotherapy as a model of loss of future and the experience of timelessness leading to a crisis of meaning.

Jung, C. G. – Selected essays on the collective unconscious and synchronicity (20th c.).

Classic texts introducing the concepts of archetype and synchronicity as mechanisms of connection between internal and external temporal events. They serve as a theoretical resource for working with archetypal layers of the psyche and building semantic «bridges» between temporal fields of personality.

Studies on NEEMO, Antarctic missions and space analogs – NASA and ESA reports and reviews.

Empirical materials describing transformations of time perception, sleep and interpersonal dynamics under conditions of long-term isolation and sensory deprivation. These data are useful for developing methodologies of observation and understanding external triggers of changes in temporal experience in extreme environments.

This section is a bridge between philosophical reflection on time and applied clinic: it offers both a map and tools. In the chapters that follow we will unpack each dimension step by step: from the past fabric of the unconscious to practices that help restore people’s sense of future and protect them from the danger that Timelessness carries.