Time. We use it to organize our lives, measure our experiences, and impose structure on reality. But what if time, as we conventionally understand it, doesn’t actually exist? What if, instead of being a fundamental dimension, like spatial dimensions, time is more akin to the color purple, a psychological color which does not exist outside of the human mind?

There is evidence that temporal illusions are common, similar to familar spatial illusions. For example, just as things that are far away appear smaller, intervals that are further in the future appear briefer1.

If time doesn't exist in the sense that clocks and calendars lead us to believe it does, how do we make effective choices in the here and now2? Philosophers and physicists3 have long grappled with the nature of time; how often do we stop to deeply ponder what time actually is and means?

Rather than viewing time as the fourth dimension—the corridor of time—imagine that all time may be folded up in the present moment, more slender in duration but far wider and deeper in complex other ways. The lived moment perhaps is an envelope, a blanket enclosing the past, present, and future, akin to the cell membrane around individual cells or the skin encapsulating the body.

Depending on various factors, including how we feel emotionally and our cognitive processes, moments can pile up, as in guilt, rumination, or obsession. Or they can flow smoothly.

Consider memory. When we recall the past, we aren’t accessing a distinct, stored moment in time but reconstructing stored data in the present. Similarly, when we anticipate the future, we’re simulating possibilities using predictive models, all within the perpetual motion of now. Though there are exceptions, it all holds together into a story that makes enough sense. Given that we humans process reality in fractions of a second, based on relatively slow computational power, we have to produce a coherent sense of time, history, and sense of self in order to function, even if this means accepting an approximation of the truth.

Most colors match up with wavelengths of light. Purple doesn’t exist as a specific wavelength of light; it's not part of the rainbow. Our brains create purple when we see red and........

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