Temporal Psychology and Psychotherapy. The Human Being in Time and Beyond

Summary

This chapter explores the state of timelessness – a qualitative exit of consciousness beyond the category of duration, distinct from «eternity» as a closed form of duration. Through the «ornamental grammar of time» (a circle with three points and an external observer-point) it offers a phenomenological frame: how normal temporal organization turns into a breakdown of temporal anchors, and what clinical and transformative consequences follow. It examines neuropsychiatric phenomena (depersonalization, dissociation), the role of altered states of consciousness (ASCs) and creative birth, and practical therapeutic approaches to restoring temporal anchors through symbols, ritual, and bodily regulation.

Particular attention is given to symbols of emptiness: Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square in the avant-garde of the 20th century became a sign of «nothing – beginning – zero point,» a laconic metaphor of stepping beyond objecthood and time. Its contemporary analogue is the black screen of a phone or computer: a minimalist sign of suspension, waiting, and «reset,» which, in mass culture, can be experienced as an everyday symbol of timelessness. These visual images show how culture finds new forms of fixing the experience of emptiness and stepping outside temporal coordinates.

Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square in the avant-garde of the 20th century became a sign of «nothing – beginning – zero point,» a laconic metaphor of stepping beyond objecthood and time.

Key Concepts

Timelessness – an exit beyond the category of duration; loss of anchors in past, future, and coherent present.

Eternity (in the author’s terms) – a special form of duration with rhythm and inner extension, distinct from timelessness.

Observer point outside the circle – a «from above» position, not involved in temporal extension; phenomenologically distinguishes contemplation from timelessness.

Black square / black screen – symbols of the «zero point» and contemporary emptiness; metaphors of stepping outside time.

Duration (durée) – experienced «living time»; a support for psychic wholeness.

Depersonalization / derealization – clinical manifestations of loss of temporal anchors.

ASCs (altered states of consciousness) – a potential resource and a risk: they allow the experiencing of out-of-time narratives but require integration.

Ornamental grammar of time – symbols and schemes materialized in culture that organize the experience of time (ouroboros, triskele, circle with three points).

Aims of the Chapter

– To describe and operationalize the phenomenon of timelessness as a distinct diagnostic and phenomenological category.

– To draw a clear distinction between eternity (as duration) and timelessness (as absence of duration).

– To show clinical manifestations and risks (depersonalization, maladaptation) and provide guidelines for diagnosis.

– To propose a therapeutic strategy: restoring temporal anchors (bodily regulation, work with memory and expectation) plus safe support for creative transformations (symbol, ritual, controlled ASCs).

– To demonstrate a methodology for using cultural and ornamental symbols – from ancient ornaments to Black Square and modern black screens – as tools for restoring and reintegrating the temporal structure of personality.

A moment outside of time – and you are home.

Everything else is road and wandering.

– Rumi

The chapter on timelessness is central to this book and, in fact, to human life in all eras. It addresses what makes a human being a human being in time: the capacity to live and operate with past, present, and future – what we usually call adequacy, mental health, and social inclusion. But there is also a limit to this capacity: a state in which the categories of time lose their service function and cease to be a support – a state I call timelessness.

The classical visual metaphor of time – «three points in a circle» (past, present, future inscribed in eternity) – has long and deservedly served as a support for thinking about temporal wholeness. This model can be found in the work of artists and thinkers; it is fixed in ornamental solutions, religious and philosophical images. However, it is not sufficient for a full understanding of the phenomenon of time. I propose expanding the scheme: adding a fourth point to the triad – a special observer point located outside the circle. This point is not yet another «time»; it is a position «from above,» a perspective of observation not involved in temporal extension. It is the place from which past, present, and future are visible, but which itself does not experience duration.

This distinction allows us to clearly separate two notions that are often confused: eternity and timelessness. Eternity, in my terminology, is still a form of time, although a special one: a closed duration endowed with rhythm, repetition, and inner extension. Timelessness is not a different kind of duration, but an exit beyond the very category of duration; it is an outside view, a static state where everything is «all at once» and nothing moves. Eternity can be experienced and has the quality of «nonlinear duration»; timelessness has no duration at all and is therefore dangerous: it deprives the psyche of temporal supports, disrupts becoming, and breaks connections with the world.

Here ornament ceases to be «mere decoration»: ornament and the understanding of time historically and synchronically develop together in culture and in human consciousness. The familiar «circle with three points» is essentially an ornamental model, materialized in stone, fabric, or miniature. Many symbols of eternity – the ouroboros, the wheel, the tree, the triskele and the like – are culture’s ways of fixing models of time in space. In each of them we see a concrete model of time: a form, a way of movement, a relation between center and periphery. Studying ornaments is therefore not only an aesthetic occupation; it is a way of seeing how humanity at different stages fixed and experienced the structure of time.

From this follows an important practical and clinical conclusion. Symbols of eternity are synonyms of models of time; understanding these models gives us a key to recognizing deviations and disturbances in the temporal organization of the psyche. Timelessness is the transgression of these models: a pathological state relative to the human norm of time, a threat to the formation of personality and to the maintenance of social ties. It is the loss of duration that lies at the core of many severe disturbances in the experience of time – from disorientation and depersonalization to deep existential emptiness. Understanding the structure of timelessness provides clinical guidelines: where to look for the loss of extension, which interventions can restore temporal supports, and which symbolic and practical tools can aid recovery.

Yet in a paradoxical sense, timelessness also contains a possibility. In extreme emptiness, deprived of habitual temporal supports, a person may for the first time become aware of their deepest nature – the image and likeness of a creator – and begin to create themselves and the world out of nothing. In this sense, timelessness is not unambiguously destructive: it can be the starting point of creative birth, the beginning of a new mode of being, provided that there is a «bridge» nearby that can guide and translate this experience into a constructive form. My work in The Book of the Bridge is an attempt to build precisely such a bridge: from the emptiness and darkness of timelessness toward the form of eternity that preserves duration and meaning.

A vivid illustration of this is found in Celtic ornaments on stones, in manuscripts, and in jewelry, where we often see three spherical forms in the center, surrounded by complex interlacing strands and rings. This is not just a decorative device: it is a visual grammar of time – a triad within a circle. Adding the external observer point makes the grammar more complex and richer: we now have both a space of involvement in time and a position that transcends it.

Thus, symbols of eternity are models of time; timelessness is an exit beyond these models, pathological relative to human norm and becoming, yet at the same time potentially the beginning of creativity and transformation. Once we grasp this duality, we gain both an explanation of the mechanisms of severe disturbances in the experience of time and a set of tools for overcoming them – therapeutic, symbolic, and cultural. This understanding becomes the basis for what follows: how to recognize timelessness, how to accompany the transition from timelessness to eternity, and how to use ornamental and practical forms to restore time in a person’s life.

What Is Timelessness?

Timelessness is a state of consciousness and experiential structure in which the supports of duration disappear (or are severely blurred): the past ceases to «pull» memory along with it, the future ceases to be a source of expectation, and the present loses coherent extension. This is not merely «slowed» or «accelerated» time, but a qualitative exit beyond the category of duration: an experience in which everything seems simultaneously «frozen» or «infinitely present,» and the linear connections between many events are lost.

(Reference point: Augustine on the inner nature of time – time as a phenomenon of consciousness.)

Phenomenological Frame (Position of the Observer)

Phenomenologically, timelessness can be considered through the prism of «observer points.» The classical model – a triad (past, present, future) inscribed in a circle – describes normal temporal organization of consciousness; adding a «point outside the circle» (the observer position) helps distinguish eternity (closed duration) from a state that has no duration. In this frame, timelessness appears as a «from-above» perspective not involved in the temporal flow – but unlike a contemplative position, it is often accompanied by a breakdown in connection with bodily experience and with the meaning of being.

(Reference point: Heidegger’s phenomenology of temporality and the existential structure of time.)

Clinic – When Timelessness Becomes Pathology

In psychiatric and neuroscientific contexts, states close to timelessness are observed in depersonalization/derealization and in a number of dissociative disorders: patients describe emotional «bleaching,» a loss of the sense of the extension of events, and a rupture between the experiencing «I» and the flow of time. These are not merely «exotic» experiences – they are often associated with a significant loss of life support and can require clinical intervention and reintegration of the temporal structure of personality.

(Reference point: contemporary reviews of the neurobiology and clinical picture of depersonalization/derealization.)

Altered States of Consciousness – Boundary and Resource

Altered states of consciousness, induced by meditative practices, holotropic breathwork, or psychedelics, often yield similar «out-of-time» phenomena – yet here an important distinction is needed: in a transpersonal paradigm, stepping beyond ordinary duration can be integrating and transforming (with the potential for insight and restructuring of meaning), whereas in clinical cases it may signal a breakdown of supports and maladaptation. This dual face of timelessness – danger and resource – is the key to a therapeutic approach.

(Reference point: Grof and transpersonal research on ASCs.)

Cultural—Ornamental Dimension – How Communities «Imprint» Time

Material culture – ornament, symbolism, architecture – fixes diverse models of time: the ouroboros, the wheel, the triskele, the mandala, and so on. These signs are not mere decoration; they function as visual models of how culture organizes duration and perceived wholeness. Understanding the ornamental grammar of time provides a methodological key: we can see where cultural supports have weakened and how symbols can be used to restore a sense of continuity and extension.

(Reference point: research on the psychology of ornament and visual structure.)

Summary – Working Definition and Therapeutic Implications

Definition. Timelessness is a qualitative state of exiting beyond the category of duration, in which the temporal supports of consciousness disappear or are radically altered.

Two faces. A pathological one (depersonalization, disorientation) and a creative one (transcendent birth, a source of symbolic creativity).

Practical conclusion. Therapy should simultaneously restore temporal supports (bodily regulation, work with memory and expectation) and carefully accompany the creative transformation of experience (symbols, ritual, controlled ASC practices).

(This is a synthesis of clinical and transpersonal practice.)

The Black Screen as a New Ornament

If in the avant-garde of the 20th century Malevich’s Black Square became a sign of the zero point of art and a metaphor of stepping beyond time and objecthood, then in the 21st century a similar symbol of emptiness for millions of people has become the black screen of a phone, tablet, or computer. This screen is an everyday, almost banal image of «nothing»: interruption of signal, waiting for launch, loss of connection. Yet phenomenologically it operates as a contemporary ornament of timelessness – a minimalist form in which habitual duration disappears. The black screen becomes a sign of suspension and reset, a boundary between past and future, a pause in which content is not yet present but a new form is already possible. Just as ornaments once fixed models of time in stone and fabric, today digital culture creates its own symbols – laconic signs of emptiness through which a person experiences timelessness and the possibility of a new beginning.

Therapeutic Aspect of the «Black Screen»

In psychotherapeutic practice, the image of the black screen can be used as a safe metaphor of timelessness. It designates a pause and reset, but not destruction: it is a state of waiting, transition, the possibility of a new start. Working with this image helps the client recognize that emptiness is not always equivalent to loss – it can be a space for new meaning, like a «blank page» for future experience. In imagination practices or meditation, referring to the symbol of the black screen allows one to gently touch the experience of timelessness and translate it into a resource state – of stopping, resting, beginning.

Literature

I. Philosophical Foundations of Time and Atemporality

Augustine of Hippo. Confessions, Book XI.

A classic philosophical—theological reflection on time and memory. The famous question «What then is time?» introduces the notion of an inner extension of consciousness in which past, present, and future are united in the experience of the spirit. Important for distinguishing duration from dimensions that lie beyond time.

Heidegger, M. Being and Time. 1927.

A foundational work that treats temporality as an existential structure of human being. Heidegger’s ideas of «ecstatic time» and the differentiation of temporal dimensions provide a philosophical basis for understanding the observer position beyond duration.

Husserl, E. On the Phenomenology of the Consciousness of Internal Time. 1905.

Develops a methodological apparatus for phenomenological analysis of time through the categories of retention, protention, and the act of the «now.» A cornerstone for understanding the temporal structure of experience and distinguishing psychological time from atemporal perspectives.

II. Religious—Mystical and Transpersonal Perspectives

Eliade, M. The Sacred and the Profane. 1957.

Analyses the difference between sacred (cyclical, atemporal) and profane (linear) time. Essential for understanding ornamental models of time and ritual forms that connect human experience to eternity and to «out-of-time» dimensions.

Grof, S. The Holotropic Mind. 1993; Beyond the Brain. 1985.

The founder of transpersonal psychology describes the phenomenology of altered states of consciousness and experiences of stepping beyond ordinary temporal boundaries. Provides both theoretical and clinical foundations for analysing timelessness and experiences of eternity.

James, W. The Varieties of Religious Experience. 1902.

Describes the characteristics of mystical states – ineffability, noetic quality, sense of unity and out-of-time experience. Serves as an empirical basis for analysing the experience of eternity and its therapeutic significance.

Newberg, A., & d’Aquili, E. Why God Won’t Go Away. 2001.

A study of the neurophysiological correlates of religious experience. Demonstrates differences between the neurobiology of mystical experiences and psychopathological states, helping therapists distinguish transcendent experiences from clinical disorders.

III. Psychology, Neuroscience, and the Clinic of Time

Block, R., & Grondin, S. «Timing and Time Perception: A Selective Review.» 2010.

A modern review of time perception that examines the mechanisms of «internal clocks» and their relation to emotion. Helps explain how duration is lost or distorted in timelessness and other altered states.

Morin, S. «Mindfulness and Time Perception.» 2024.

Studies show that mindfulness practice expands the subjective extension of the «now» and helps restore the temporal structure of personality. Useful for integrating contemplative methods into therapy for temporal disturbances.

Sierra, M., et al. Reviews on depersonalization and derealization, 2004—2023.

Clinical research on phenomena of alienation in which the sense of temporal extension and experiential wholeness is disrupted. Important for understanding timelessness as a pathological state and for developing reintegration strategies.

IV. Ornament, Symbol, and the Material Culture of Time

Gombrich, E. H. The Sense of Order. 1979; Art and Illusion. 1960.

Investigates the psychology of ornament and visual pattern, showing how rhythm and symmetry organize attention and memory. His ideas help formulate a «temporal grammar» of visual structures as models of time and repetition.

Jones, O. The Grammar of Ornament. 1856.

A classic work on the theory and aesthetics of ornament. Demonstrates how, through rhythm, repetition, and symmetry, material culture fixes models of time and eternal return in architectural and decorative forms.

Various authors. Decorative Forms and Cultural Memory Studies. 2020s.

Contemporary studies in the anthropology of ornament that link decorative forms with communicative and mnemonic functions. Show how ornament acts as a form of cultural memory and as a therapeutic anchor in art therapy and autogenic practices.

V. Creativity, Flow, and Aesthetic Experience Beyond Time

Csikszentmihalyi, M. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. 1990.

A classic work on the phenomenon of flow as a state outside ordinary time. Csikszentmihalyi describes the dynamics of peak experiences in which the merging of action and awareness yields a sense of participation in something eternal and open-ended.

VI. Practical and Therapeutic Guides

Grof, S. Holotropic Breathwork.

A practice aimed at entering altered states of consciousness to integrate unconscious material and reach transpersonal states. Requires strict safety protocols; provides tools for working with experiences of timelessness without destabilizing the personality.

Kravchenko, S. A. ASCs and AI – 2. The Book of the Bridge. 2025.

A methodological and therapeutic development of the concept of a «bridge» from timelessness to eternity. Offers a basis for moving from theory to practice, integrating the phenomenology of time, psychotherapy, and digital technologies.

Schultz, J. H. Autogenic Training. 1932 and subsequent editions.

A method of psychophysiological self-regulation that restores the extension of the present moment and the feeling of temporal stability. Widely used for treating anxiety, stress, and psychosomatic disorders, and for rebuilding temporal anchors in the psyche.

How to Work with This List

– For the philosophical part, begin with Augustine and Heidegger – they provide historical and phenomenological grounding.

– For describing timelessness as an ASC and/or pathology, rely on depersonalization reviews and contemporary time-perception research; they offer clinical indicators and diagnostic tools.

– For visual and ornamental argumentation, use Jones and Gombrich plus anthropological articles – they help link concrete symbols to models of time.

– For practical therapy, combine autogenic training (Schultz) with controlled ASC methods (Grof) and mindfulness approaches (see research on mindfulness and time).