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In: Idle Thoughts, The Authentic Eclectic (Publication)
Time Like Origami
Our experience of time is more like art than science
Tempus fugit
I have spent the past week caught up in a powerful illusion.
Just two weeks ago I wouldn’t have called it an illusion. It is a common occurrence, and few people would stop to note its illusory nature or speculate about the psychology that gives rise to it. I only noticed it because I unintentionally stumbled into one of those situations where the illusion repeats. Even the most subtle deceptions become clear when you can watch them several times in a row.
Here is how it happened: I have been traveling in Mexico for several months. Recently I decided to end my trip and return home. As part of my return I have retraced the original path that I took to get to Mexico — from Alaska to Los Angeles, then to the border crossing at San Ysidro, then to a hotel on the beach in Tijuana, and finally to the Tijuana airport. My return trip has followed the same course in near-perfect reverse.
Starting at the Tijuana airport terminal I began to have a distinct sensation. As I walked through the terminal I began to recognize familiar landmarks. With them came memories from four months ago.
Here, a Panda Express; I had eaten there months ago when I first entered the airport because I was still uncomfortable in a new country and was hungry for familiar food. The dish I got was usually made from chicken breast, but south of the border they used chicken thigh, which gave the whole thing a fattier consistency and a mustier flavor.
There, the gate where I boarded my first plane to Mexico City; I remember standing in line, mystified, failing to grasp even a word of the boarding instructions, which were in Spanish. I compensated by paying careful attention to what the other passengers were doing and comparing it to the boarding procedures for other flights I had been on.
As the memories of those and other situations came back to me I was struck by the powerful sensation that I had been here, in this terminal, just yesterday. The four months of time that elapsed since my last trip felt barely more than a dream.
