Space, Time and Consciousness: An

Enquiry into Duration

William Fujii
The theory of duration is the cornerstone of Berson!s arument in Time and Free Will,
and, as such, much of the discussion presented in the "oo# re$ol$es around it% Simply
spea#in, duration is essentially the process of succession of states &hich &e undero in
our consciousness% 'o&e$er, &hen it comes to understandin &hat is meant "y that, &e
realise that it is a comple( idea &hich is difficult to rasp and can potentially produce
serious misunderstandins% )n order to understand &hat Berson means "y duration, a
num"er of other concepts must also "e e(amined and clarified%
Space and time are t&o #ey concepts in Berson!s idea of duration% 'e ma#es a clear
distinction "et&een the t&o, &hich are seen as homoenous and heteroeneous,
respecti$ely% A homoenous medium, space is measura"le, e(tensi$e and has qualitati$e
characteristics% *n the other hand, Berson sees time as somethin immeasura"le,
intensi$e &ith qualitati$e attri"utes% This is Berson!s definition of time% The pro"lem
here lies in the fact that enerally, and more so from the scientific point of $ie&, time is
seen as somethin &ith characteristics &hich resem"le those of space rather than those
of time% The reason &hy this is a pro"lem is "ecause the idea of duration is deeply
related to the notion of heteroeneous time, as it can only e(ist &ithin such a time, and
1
if time &ere indeed homoenous, then duration &ould not "e possi"le, "ecause it cannot
occur in space either%
Since it is a succession of states of consciousness that occurs intensi$ely in our minds
in a qualitati$e &ay rather than an e(tensi$e quantitati$e phenomenon, duration cannot
e(ist in space + for as soon as &e try to o"jectify and e(ternalise duration, it "ecomes
somethin else% )t "ecomes space% To ma#e this clear and support his arument, Berson
i$es an e(ample of the idea of a floc# of fifty sheep "ein counted in duration% 'ere
&e ha$e a floc# consistin of fifty sheep, and to count this floc# in an attempt to
e(perience duration, one could "ein "y picturin in his or her mind all the fifty sheep
at once% The pro"lem, ho&e$er, is that in that case the sheep &ould "e placed in space
rather in time% ,eedless to say, this &ould not represent duration, since there &ould "e
no process of succession &ithin one!s mind "ut just the idea of fifty sheep occupyin
different spaces &ithin a &ider i$en space%
A second attempt to e(perience duration could "e made "y countin and picturin all
the sheep, one "y one, until the fiftieth% This time, due to a succession of imaes &hich
follo&s one after another, it seems as if one has succeeded in countin in duration%
'o&e$er, this too &ould mean countin the sheep in space and not in duration, for in
order to count them indi$idually + picturin only one at each time + and yet retain the
imae of the pre$ious ones &hich ha$e already "een counted, one &ould need to use
space, since it &ould "e in space that they &ould "e located in order to form a sum of
fifty% Therefore, neither can pure duration happen in space nor can it "e present in
homoenous, spatialised time: )t can only "e e(perienced &ithin heteroeneous time%
This not&ithstandin, the line &hich di$ides pure duration and spatialised time is not
so easily identifia"le, so it is quite possi"le to instantly spatialise time &ithout e$en
2
attemptin to do so% For instance, Berson arues that if a point &ith its o&n
consciousness &as to mo$e throuh a line of infinite lenth, it &ould feel the succession
of different feelins as it proressed across the line, addin up one feelin to the other
and radually com"inin all of them, thus ma#in duration palpa"le and therefore real%
But as soon as it could rise a"o$e and see a "roader picture of the line &hich it &as
tra$ersin, its consciousness &ould fi( se$eral imainary points on that line and as a
consequence, duration &ould quic#ly turn into space% This is due to the fact that, "y
esta"lishin different points on different parts of the line, the idea of space is
in$oluntarily introduced, since those points are present in space% Consequently, the
moment the notion of space is introduced, the immeasura"le, intense, heteroeneous
qualities of duration and duration itself cease to e(ist, since they cannot occupy spatial
dimensions%
This shift from duration to space is facilitated "y the confusion &hich arises &hen &e
try to measure duration% As pre$iously said, duration is immeasura"le% )f "y any means
it &ere to "e measured, the only &ay to do so &ould "e to attach some sort of sym"ol to
it in order to sym"olically represent it in space% To that end, &hate$er sym"ol that is
attached to duration must "e placed in space and in space only, it cannot e(ist outside it%
Therefore the relationship "et&een duration and sym"ols, such as num"ers, causes a
confusion &hich leads to time "ecomin spatialised% We can identify this happenin in
the aforementioned e(ample of the conscious point tra$ersin the lone: By sym"olically
representin the trajectory &hich the point had made and also that &hich it &as yet to
ma#e, an o"jectified line &as created in space, &hich resulted in the qualities produced
"y duration "ein nullified and duration "ecomin space%
When analysin this process of heteroeneity turnin into homoeneity, the
3
importance &hich different #inds of multiplicity ha$e are not inored "y Berson% -ust
as space and duration are t&o different conceptions, they, for their part, are each related
to distinct types of multiplicity% Discrete multiplicity is that of material o"jects, a
multiplicity that is numerical, quantifia"le and e(ists in space% *n the other hand, there
is the continuous multiplicity, &hich cannot "e quantified and seen as numerical &ithout
sym"olical representation and is non.e(istent in space, instead "ein a faculty of
consciousness% The idea of succession, &hich is inherent to continuous multiplicity, is
the $ery #ey to duration, for it constitutes the pillar of this idea, since &ithout
succession there &ould simply "e space and no duration% Each of these multiplicities
has opposin characteristics and occupies its o&n #ey position &ithin its o&n
/"oundaries! + namely space and duration+, and that is &hy &hen &e e(ternalise or
homoenise duration, &e ta#e a&ay from it its $ital characteristic and spatialise it% The
interaction "et&een space and duration does not occur directly, and Berson arues that
there is a lin# "et&een these t&o that &or#s as some sort of channel throuh &hich the
latter turns into the former: Simultaneity
Althouh space and duration differ sinificantly from each other, they still ha$e
common features &hich may "rin them closer% For instance, duration ta#es place in our
consciousness and is made of a series of heteroeneous moments, &hich succeed one
another and form a totality composed of distinct sensations that are insepara"le and at
the same time impossi"le to tell &hen one ends and &hen the other "eins% 0ather, the
end of one "ecomes the "einnin of the other, each of them permeatin each other and
formin a larer and more comple( one% ,e$ertheless, each of these moments can "e
lin#ed to the o"jecti$e, e(tensi$e moments that are di$isi"le and happenin
simultaneously in the spatial, e(ternal reality% )t is at this point that the t&o interminle
4
and duration ceases to e(ercise its oriinal function, or, as Berson puts it, it "ecomes a
/seeminly homoenous duration! 1p2234%
'ere &e are introduced to the concept of motion, the li$in sym"ol of this
5homoenised duration6, and Berson arues further in order to clarify another
misunderstandin reardin space and duration% 7otion is seen as measura"le "ecause
it ta#es place in space and leads to the misleadin notion that it is quantitati$e, &hen in
reality &hat is actually quantitati$e is the space tra$ersed "y that motion, rather than the
motion itself% To support this, he points out to the fact that motion is not an o"ject "ut a
proress, since it is the proression of an o"ject from one point to another% )t is a process
that happens in the mind, an act e(ercised "y the consciousness in response to a
mo$ement that too# place in space% An e(ample of a shootin star is used "y Berson to
ma#e this as understanda"le as possi"le%
A shootin star, &hich is characterised "y motion "ecause it mo$es, lea$es its trace in
the form of a line of fire% ,o&, this line of fire represents the space tra$ersed "y the star,
&hich can "e clearly seen as an e(tensi$e, o"jectified reality% *n the other hand, the act
of tra$ersin that space + &hich is motion + cannot "e seen e(ternally, "ut only in our
consciousness% We can see the trace the shootin star left "ehind as it mo$ed rapidly
throuh space, "ut &e cannot see the $ery act that made that star mo$e% Thus, it is not
that pure duration can "e turned into homoenous duration% 0ather, it is a
misunderstandin that oriinates from attachin an e(tensi$e sym"ol to duration "y
localisin the proress made "y motion in space%
*nce it has "een accepted that duration cannot e(ist in homoenous time or in space
and the misunderstandins that surround this idea ha$e "een clarified, one mo$es closer
to understandin &hat Berson means "y duration: To e(perience duration is to endure a
5
succession of feelins and states &ithout distinuishin "et&een pre$ious and present
sensations% )t is somethin that consciousness percei$es "ut cannot see, it e(ists outside
space and is a process in &hich consciousness successi$ely e(periences different
sensations% )n duration, past sensations do not $anish in order to i$e room to present
ones "ut are rather /joined! "y them in a process of addition in &hich the sensation of
each state is retained 1not in space4 and com"ined to the others to form one &hole
successi$e process, much li#e musical notes &hich in their totality form a tune% This is
&hat Berson means "y duration, a real e(perience of time%
Duration has a &ider sinificance that encompasses not only our timely processes "ut
also our feelins in eneral% The process in &hich heteroeneous, immeasura"le and
qualitati$e duration turns into a homoenous, measura"le and quantitati$e space has a
considera"le impact on our feelins and ho& &e e(press them% Berson arues that our
feelins are li#e li$in "eins that are inconstant, e$er.chanin, al&ays de$elopin,
and that this is possi"le "ecause they li$e and de$elop in duration, &hose moments are
also e$er.chanin and interminle &ith each other%
Therefore the spatialiation of duration has a deep impact on the nature and dynamic of
our emotions, since "y separatin qualitati$e li$in feelins from one another + feelins
that &ere interconnected and meltin into each other &hen they e(isted in duration +
and releasin them into space, &e rid them of their li$eliness and turn them into lifeless
feelins% This e(ternalisation may lead one to assume that he or she has analysed his or
her feelin &hen, in fact, &hat is actually ta#in place is a ju(taposition of states of
feelins that ha$e lost their qualities, in the e(act same &ay that duration loses its
qualities &hen it "ecomes spatialised% )n e(ternalisin the &ay &e feel and projectin
those feelins into a homoenous, quantitati$e medium such as space, &e end up
6
distortin the actual meanin and nature of our feelins% )t is "ecause of this loss of
quality of our feelins that, to Berson, duration is so sinificant, not only in reards to
the e(perience of time "ut also reardin states of our consciousness in a &ider, deeper
sense%



Bi"lioraphy
Berson, ', Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness
1,e& 8or#: Do$er, 93324


7




8