All of us are informed by a myriad of mental images and words in daily life. Many or most of these operate without being consciously noticed although we can train ourselves to notice more.
DEEP TIME IN MY WORLD
Since I know my own world best, I’ll use myself as an example.
In my daily life, I often notice mental images and words relating to deep time.
My mind is creating an overlay from history, evolutionary psychology, and the universe story, and it’s using it to make sense of the world.
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
I often check in with evolutionary psychology if I see a behavior I am curious about.
For instance, when I hear or hear about the stress many experience, it’s natural to check it with an image of how our distant ancestors lived – in smaller groups and a much simpler life focused on gathering and hunting. That life had challenges too, of course, but it is simpler than our life so contrasting the two immediately gives us some understanding of why modern humans experience so much stress, anxiety, and depression.
When I see people who are overweight, or hear about eating disorders, or walk into a grocery store full of sugary things, I am also reminded of the environment we evolved in. We evolved to love sugary things since they were fruits, we didn’t so often come across fruits and they are full of valuable nutrients and energy, so it was good for us to have a strong desire to eat them. These days, that impulse is hijacked by the modern food industry where we are surrounded by sugary temptations and it’s not so easy for many of us to resist.
HISTORY
When the pandemic happened, I was not surprised for long by most of what unfolded.
I knew that pandemics happen roughly one hundred years apart (there are obviously exceptions) so this one came right on time. (A century after the Spanish Flu.)
I have read and studied some epidemiology since my teens, so I knew what works in terms of measures we collectively can take to reduce the impact. So I was not surprised by the measures taken by most governments. They just followed standard pandemic guidelines based on what we know works from history. (There were some variations, of course, with Sweden and China as polar opposites. And that’s very good. That allows us to study and learn from it in hindsight.)
I was also not surprised by the upswing in conspiracy theories and groups of people being upset about some of our collective measures. In pandemics or other collective crises, there is an upswing in conspiracy theories, scapegoating, and fear relating to any change. (I was disappointed that some of my friends fell into it without apparently much awareness of how they were just repeating patterns from history.)
UNIVERSE STORY
Sitting here, and often in daily life, I am also aware of how I am literally stardust.
I and all of Earth are created from matter forged in ancient stars.
I am aware of my distant ancestors going back. to the very first single-celled beings Earth formed itself into.
I am aware of my intimate relationship with all Earth life.
I am aware that the universe has formed itself into all I am and all I am aware of.
MORE FUNDAMENTALLY CONSCIOUSNESS
There is another aspect here that is not really deep time, but maybe more a (kind of) deep psychology.
For a few decades now, I have found myself most fundamentally as consciousness.
To me, the world happens within and as this consciousness. (That includes anything within the content of experience, including this human self, any thoughts and emotions, any sense of a doer, observer, and so on.)
So when I see or imagine other beings, I assume that’s how it is for them too, whether they are consciously aware of it or not. I see an image of them too most fundamentally being consciousness, operating through and as the body-mind they function through and as.
That gives another depth to my world.
GOOD TO NOTICE
All of this is how my mental field gives some depth to my world.
And it’s very good to notice.
It’s good to notice that it is a mental overlay.
Although it gives depth and richness, and my personality mostly likes it, it’s good to hold it all lightly.
TRAINING OURSELVES TO NOTICE
We can train ourselves to notice these mental field overlays.
For instance, as I am sitting here I am aware of my mental images of the world beyond what I can take in with my senses, I am aware of mental images overlaying my visual field, I am aware of words and images roughly outlining the next few paragraphs, and so on.
The most effective way to learn to notice this that I have found is traditional sense field explorations and modern variations like the Kiloby inquiries.
And this helps us hold it all a little more lightly. Or, at least, notice when we don’t!
DEEP TIME RESOURCES
How do we develop a more of a deep time overlay on the world?
What resonates the most with you? What do you have curiosity, fascination, or passion about? What are you drawn to?
If you like history, take a look at Big History.
If it’s nature and the Earth, then deep ecology may be a good place to start.
If it’s spirituality, then just about all religions have an ecospirituality wing. You can also explore pagan or shamanic approaches.
If it’s science in general, systems views and an integral approach may be a good fit.
If it’s evolution, check out the epic of evolution and evolutionary psychology.
If it’s awe and a connection with the universe and existence as a whole, try the Universe Story.
If you are more interested in a direct and experiential approach, try Practices to Reconnect and different forms of inquiry (Kiloby Inquiries, the Big Mind process, perhaps also The Work of Byron Katie and Headless experiments).
Searching on any of these will bring up online groups, videos, podcasts, websites, books, and other good starting points. There is a lot out there on these topics.
Personally, I got into the Universe Story first, through Carl Sagan’s Cosmos when I was about ten. It changed my life and set me on this course. In my mid-teens, I got into deep ecology and systems views through Arne Næss and Fritjof Capra. I read everything I could get my hands on. In my twenties, I got into evolutionary psychology (as part of my psychology studies), Practices to Reconnect (Joanna Macy), the Universe Story, and the Epic of Evolution. I have organized several events where we used the Practices to Reconnect.
INITIAL DRAFT
DEEP TIME THINKING
All of us are informed by a myriad of mental images and words in daily life. Many or most of these operate without being consciously noticed. (Although we can train ourselves to notice them. For instance, as I am sitting here I am aware of my mental images of the world beyond what I can take in with my senses, I am aware of mental images overlaying my visual field, I am aware of words and images roughly outlining the next few paragraphs, and so on.)
In my daily life, I often notice mental images and words relating to deep time. My mind is creating an overlay from history, evolutionary psychology, and the universe story, and it’s using it to make sense of the world.
If I see a behavior I am curious about, I often check in with evolutionary psychology. For instance, when I hear or hear about the stress many experience, it’s natural to check it with an image of how our distant ancestors lived – in smaller groups and a much simpler life focused on gathering and hunting. That life had challenges too, of course, but it is simpler than our life so contrasting the two immediately gives us some understanding of why modern humans experience so much stress, anxiety, and depression.
When the pandemic happened, I was not surprised by much of what happened. I knew that pandemics happen roughly one hundred years apart (there are obviously exceptions) so this one came right on time. I have read and studied some epidemiology since my teens, so I knew what works in terms of measures we collectively can take to reduce the impact. So I was not surprised by the measures taken by most governments, they just followed guidelines we know work from history. I was also not surprised by the upswing in conspiracy theories and groups of people being upset about some of these measures, they too were just repeating historical patterns. It always happens during a pandemic or other collective crisis. (Although I was disappointed that some of my friends fell into it without apparently much historical knowledge or awareness of how they were just repeating patterns from history.)
Sitting here, and quite often in daily life, I am also aware of how I am literally stardust. I and all of Earth is created from matter forged in ancient stars. I am aware of my distant ancestors going back. to the very first single-celled beings Earth formed itself into. I am aware of my intimate relationship with all Earth life.
There is another aspect here which is not really deep time, but maybe more a kind of deep psychology. For a few decades now, I have found myself most fundamentally as consciousness. To me, the world happens within and as this consciousness. (That includes anything within the content of experience, including this human self, any thoughts and emotions, any sense of a doer, observer, and so on.) So when I see or imagine other beings, I assume that’s how it is for them too, whether they are consciously aware of it or not. I see an image of them too most fundamentally being consciousness, operating through and as the body-mind they function through and as. That gives another depth to my world.