Mundus Imaginalis: Time in Cyberspace

Temporality, the thread of time, is in fact the container for the demarcation of real or imagined events in our lives. Historically, philosophers have crystallized the definitions of time within parameters of succession. Western philosophy indulges in the inflated importance given to the notion of the past and the grandiose role it plays in referencing our modes of temporal existence. The structure of our uni-dimensional timeline in this case is perpetually tipped, like a see-saw with only one body at one end, outweighed by our constant gaze turned in the direction of past events. Even our present state of being is quickly drowned into our obsessive claim that ‘what is,’ no longer exists. And, as for the future, its contours of possibility, potential and prospect are quickly confined into limiting parameters of ‘what shall be’ must follow ‘what has been’. A codependency occurs in this definition between the past and the future. Our Western culture prides itself in its nostalgic adoration of loss and unreachable aims. But this uni-dimensional timeline, this static thread of temporal representation does not allow for a transformational representation of reality.