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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Anna, very interesting
However, the Aymara system isn't necessarily contradictory. For instance, if the individual considers himself stationary, then if time is moving past him, it's perfectly logical to see the past as a panorama in front
dalehileman
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addict
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addict
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>>see the past as a panorama in front<< As did Merlin, who travels backward in time (toward the past) in The Once and Future King. [Note to self: Time to re-read that favorite.  ]
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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This is very interesting. I'm trying to imagine the past in the front and the future in the back and I find it difficult.
The concept makes sense, you lived the past, you've seen it, so it is in front where you're eyes face. But our whole system of thinking "looks" forward.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I seem to remember reading that the ancient Greeks were supposed to have visualized time that way.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Quote:
>>see the past as a panorama in front<<
As did Merlin, who travels backward in time (toward the past) in The Once and Future King. [Note to self: Time to re-read that favorite. ]
I re-read that not too long ago. What a great book! Merlin's curious reverse-time-line adds richness to the novel that I only appreciated on re-reading. Like when young Wart first spies Merlin, and Merlin seems unhappy. On first reading this didn't make an impression on me, but on re-reading I realized that to Merlin, what has just happened is he's said goodbye to Arthur and he knows he will never see him again. I get choked up thinking about it every time. *sniff*
Quote:
This is very interesting. I'm trying to imagine the past in the front and the future in the back and I find it difficult.
The concept makes sense, you lived the past, you've seen it, so it is in front where you're eyes face. But our whole system of thinking "looks" forward.
Picture yourself riding in the back of a station wagon, in a rear-facing seat. You can't see where you're going, but you can see where you've been. So the future is what is behind you, literally, and the past is what is before your eyes, to be known and commented upon.
Last edited by Alex Williams; 06/17/06 12:08 AM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Interesting that the Aymara term for future is nayra timpu. The latter word is obviously a loan from Spanish tiempo. Wonder what the older word for time in Aymara was? (Also, here's an article by Núñez and Sweetser on the Aymara concept of time.)
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Picture yourself riding in the back of a station wagon, in a rear-facing seat. You can't see where you're going, but you can see where you've been. So the future is what is behind you, literally, and the past is what is before your eyes, to be known and commented upon.
That's a great way to put it Alex.
I think I prefer our way of visualizing though. Putting the future where you can't see it, even if it is just conceptual, leaves me vaguely uncomfortable.
It's not like you can change the future or anything, but we're hardwired to spot danger with our eyes, to turn towards the unknown as as form a protection against surprises, so if you're not facing the future, it's like if you are not protecting yourself.
Oddly, I have no problem at all with the past in front. Your station wagon analogy is exactly how I see it. The recent is up real close and past goes further and further away.
We're always looking into the past, calling up memories, using what we've learned. If I'm talking with somebody and I say, "that happened a long-long time in the past", I'll invariably gesticulate towards the front instead of the back.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
Interesting that the Aymara term for future is nayra timpu. The latter word is obviously a loan from Spanish tiempo.
A quick Find in the Núñez/Sweetser paper confirms this.
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veteran
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I'd sooner believe that a commune of dippy hippie anthropononlogic linguists misunderstood the Aymaran use of backward time than accuse a fine but backward Culture of being so backward that they don't even understand cause and effect.
Dogs do.
Chickens do.
Snakes do.
I do.
Don't you?
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