The secret power of time - amazing video

I came upon this video a little while ago and saw it again recently on the Creative Something blog. The original link is here and the site contains other interesting lecture topics (such as work motivation and empathetic societies) which are also illustrated in this graphic note-taking flow-chart style.

There are a couple reasons I decided to include this video here. One is that the sketches remind me of doodles, especially doodles one would take during a lecture in a class. Referring back to my blog post on doodling and concentration, the video not only shows the complete illustrations but moves through the process of illustrating while the ideas are being narrated. The process allows the viewer to experience the information visually at the same time one takes it in orally (as if you yourself were the one doodling). The technique of combining the various forms of input, visual cues, keyword note-taking, and audible information, allows for a powerful grasp of an otherwise complex subject.

Another reason I included it was the subject matter. Time is a theme which often keep coming back to. The theme of Time, as far as looking into the past, present, or future, shows itself in many of my doodles and funny enough one of my favorite places to unconsciously start doodling is in the margins of a daily planner or calender. It is as if the concept of time feels so abstract that a visual access seems to be the most accessible way of neatly dealing with it in the mind.

Relating to the video, I find myself often struggling between all perspectives of Time mentioned (Hedonistic present vs. Unplanned present and Past oriented vs. Future oriented). This could be linked, according to the video, to the fact that I have lived in many varying geographical, time-durational environments. Sometimes I find myself jumping between my hedonistic impulses and future oriented ambitions from one minute to the next (and I am pretty sure I'm not alone in this). I have often considered the issue of modern life re-wiring my sense of time and wondered whether my attention span is ever decreasing as a result of it.

As the video's narrator, Professor Philip Zimbardo, explains in this clip "Many of lives puzzles can be solved by simply understanding our own TIME PERSPECTIVE and that of others."

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unexplained phenomenon

... or how i learned to stop worrying and love the alien.

I love bringing up this topic. And although I have been guilty of indulging in a conspiracy theory or two and while I enjoy a good sci-fi flick now and then, I can't say I believe in aliens: only that I don't not believe in them. The idea of aliens are like lemonhead candies to my brain. Their strangeness is stimulating and they leave a sour aftertaste.

I hear a lot of debate on whether ET's are good or evil; are we talking "Cocoon" or "War of the Worlds"? Steven Hawking (in his random warning to humanity against making contact with aliens) seems to be in the latter camp. However, this sketch for me is more like phoning home.

Other than the little flying saucer dude hovering above the front two figures, the doodle could seem to reflect a general human condition thing. Sometimes I have had the feeling that like we are not alone, that behind the scenes lie little helpers and little troublemakers. I don't know if they are alien, or just parts of ourselves not limited to the world of form.

on all fours

When I see this sketch, I think of inertia, and how hard it can be to break it. I'm not sure what's happening in the middle of the figure, maybe there are some kind of knots in the stomach, a kind of debilitating fear that prevents the figure from standing upright. Maybe it's a cop out, a refusal to stand on one's own two feat and take responsibility for the future.

Sometimes I feel trapped by my own inner debate between fatalism and personal will. A lot of times I feel like I'm sitting back waiting for something to happen, I think it starts to become a habit more than a personal philosophy. Real fatalism requires being ready at any moment for anything to happen and exercising your personal will also expresses a rather dynamic state. Here, however, there is a reluctance to engage either way.

It reminds me of the "nine" on the Enneagram. Although I show some "four" traits, I have strong "nine" leanings. . .