Why Time Moves Faster as We Age

You, Einstein, and the Theory of Relativity

Time. One of the strangest quantities we experience. It has, for instance, both philosophical and physical aspects. We can't say precisely what it is, either.

Time travel. Stranger still. Travel at the speed of light and you age more slowly than a stationary object. Travel to another galaxy at the speed of light and upon your return you'll be hundreds or thousands of years into Earth's future. And strangest of all, time can be suspended, examined, and experienced by normal people using everyday mental powers that are used all the time. Pardon the expression.

Experiencing the flow of time firsthand requires no expertise or special state of mind. It only requires an understanding of your relationship to time. "Time", said George Zebrowski, OMNI MAGAZINE, 1994, "is a relationship that we have with the rest of the universe." Zebrowski's definition of time was in terms of relationships. But for us to actually experience time changing speeds it needs to be thought of as a quantity. A limited quantity. Like tickets to the Super Bowl, like the world's supply of oil or like the length of your life, however long you may live. And I hope that's a long time.

You can't use your mental powers and read this at the same time, so read the instructions and then you can start.

Thinking of time as a quantity, start to use your mental powers. Daydream. But control it. Think back to when you were five or six years old. When you were in about kindergarten or first grade. Picture it like only you can. Tap in to your memories. Memory pictures and sights you have stored in your mind. Remember and picture in your mind some of the random events and sights that still seem like they only happened yesterday. You exercise this kind of mental process all the time -- when you daydream about when you were child. But specifically, think of when you were in kindergarten or first grade.