Anticipating the unknown forms the psychological future which always seems to be something one is moving towards, but, like a projection in a mirror, it makes what is actually already a part of memory, such as desires, dreams, and hopes, seem ahead of the observer.
The association of "behind = past" and "ahead = future" is itself culturally determined.
For example, the Aymara people associate "ahead = past" and "behind = future".[
Similarly, the Chinese term for "the day after tomorrow" literally means "behind day,"
whereas "the day before yesterday" is referred to as "front day."
The words yesterday and tomorrow both translate to the same word in Hindi:
कल ("kal"), meaning "the day remote from today."
The other side of the psychological passage of time is in the realm of volition and action. We plan and often execute actions intended to affect the course of events in the future.
Hardly anyone tries to change past events. Indeed, in the Rubaiyat it is written (sic):
The association of "behind = past" and "ahead = future" is itself culturally determined.
For example, the Aymara people associate "ahead = past" and "behind = future".[
Similarly, the Chinese term for "the day after tomorrow" literally means "behind day,"
whereas "the day before yesterday" is referred to as "front day."
The words yesterday and tomorrow both translate to the same word in Hindi:
कल ("kal"), meaning "the day remote from today."
The other side of the psychological passage of time is in the realm of volition and action. We plan and often execute actions intended to affect the course of events in the future.
Hardly anyone tries to change past events. Indeed, in the Rubaiyat it is written (sic):
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,- Omar Khayyám
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
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