How real is time? From the first moment I wake up, time seems to be on my mind. It's light outside— it must be after seven. Or it's dark, and I wonder if I can sleep a bit more. Then I get up, look in the mirror, and there is time written all over my face. On good days, this is fascinating; on others, I wonder where the young face disappeared to.
Time— it is what we are forced to live with while in the physical human body. On this planet, the seasons, the day and night, and the movement of the Earth itself emphasize time. Yet, something inside, the part of me that watches and sees all this, has a way of escaping time. It exists outside the ticking of clocks, outside the shifting shadows of the day.
Standing in the Zeitfeld installation in Düsseldorf, surrounded by an eerie forest of clocks frozen at different moments, I can’t help but reflect on the nature of time itself. These scattered sentinels of time stand still, yet they provoke movement in thought. They remind me how time is both a structured, measurable entity and a deeply personal, fluid experience.
Why does our perception of time change based on the processes we find ourselves in? A moment of waiting stretches endlessly, while a moment of joy vanishes before we can grasp it. Our minds weave time into stories, bending its shape to match our emotions and experiences.
And yet, there is something magical about stepping beyond time. That inner awareness, the part of me that simply exists, remains untouched. Checking in with that part of myself has become a lifeboat inside the storms of life—a reminder that while time rules the outer world, there is always a place within that is timeless and free.
2 responses to “The Illusion of Time: A Journey Through Zeitfeld”
How true!
🙏🏻😊