The outer flow and the inner flow
Temporal Experience August 18, 2024 Giuliano Torrengo
Time as we experience it has a dual nature: an outer flow of events in the world and an inner stream of personal sensations and thoughts. Although the flow of experience is often described as smooth, we do not actually experience time as a continuous series of moments. Instead, experience is discontinuous and made up of disunified flows. The author argues that thoughts play a key role in our inner life through narrative cognition, which helps structure and make sense of these fragmented temporal experiences.