of passing time that we call the immediate present consists of the recognition of
the succession of these pulsations of consciousness, together with certain organic
rhythms, such as heart beat and breathing.
No Perception of Empty time.—Our perception does not therefore act upon
empty time. Time must be filled with a procession of events, whether these be
within our own consciousness or in the objective world without. All longer
periods of time, such as hours, days, or years, are measured by the events which
they contain. Time filled with happenings that interest and attract us seems short
while passing, but longer when looked back upon. On the other hand, time
relatively empty of interesting experience hangs heavy on our hands in passing,
but, viewed in retrospect, seems short. A fortnight of travel passes more quickly
than a fortnight of illness, but yields many more events for the memory to
review as the "filling" for time.
Probably no one has any very accurate feeling of the length, that is, the actual
duration of a year—or even of a month! We therefore divide time into
convenient units, as weeks, months, years and centuries. This allows us to think
of time in mathematical terms where immediate perception fails in its grasp.
5. THE TRAINING OF PERCEPTION
In the physical world as in the spiritual there are many people who, "having
eyes, see not and ears, hear not." For the ability to perceive accurately and richly
in the world of physical objects depends not alone on good sense organs, but
also on interest and the habit of observation. It is easy if we are indifferent or
untrained to look at a beautiful landscape, a picture or a cathedral without seeing
it; it is easy if we lack interest or skill to listen to an orchestra or the myriad
sounds of nature without hearing them.
Perception Needs to Be Trained.—Training in perception does not depend
entirely on the work of the school. For the world about us exerts a constant
appeal to our senses. A thousand sights, sounds, contacts, tastes, smells or other
sensations, hourly throng in upon us, and the appeal is irresistible. We must in
some degree attend. We must observe.
Yet it cannot be denied that most of us are relatively unskilled in perception; we
do not know how, or take the trouble to observe. For example, a stranger was
brought into the classroom and introduced by the instructor to a class of fifty
college students in psychology. The class thought the stranger was to address