Deformed Time Part I: Finding Meaning

by John R. SedivycloseAuthor: John R. Sedivy Name: John R. Sedivy
Email: john@capecodbranding.com
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I am currently reading “Man’s Search For Meaning” by Viktor Frankl. This is one of those books that was given to me as a gift and languished on my bookshelf for a couple years, I had intended to read it but something would always move ahead to the front of the line as a higher priority. Having now made my way though a third of this book I feel as if I have waited too long and have missed some opportunities to apply the concepts of this book in my life. Given the value and power of this book, it is something I should have done long ago.

Deformed Time Defined
One interesting concept that I had come across was that of deformed time. Frankl describes deformed time as a phenomenon where an individual finds themselves in a state of hopelessness and loses sense of time. Above all it is characterized by hours feeling like an eternity and that a given day will never end. On the other hand, longer units of time such as weeks, months, and years, go by at an accelerated rate – where the person looks back and asks themselves – where has the time gone? So in one sense the individual perceives time as never ending while confronting the present or future, and time elapsing too quickly in hindsight.

Viktor Frankl had an interesting perspective on difficult situations for at least two reasons. First, he was a prisoner in the World War II German concentration camps, actually more than one. Even more interesting is that he was a trained psychiatrist (even at the time of his imprisonment) and his work reflected on his experience in these camps and how the mind coped with various challenging situations. So, in short Frankl understood a tough situation and how the mind works in such situations that push a person to their limit.

A Provisional Existence
A person who experiences deformed time is usually in a situation of “provisional existence of unknown limit”. The situation is provisional in that it is barely meeting the needs of survival for that individual. Given a time frame, or end date, a person can cope with working through this and see the light at the end of the tunnel. The “unknown limit” aspect is where it gets tricky. Given the concentration camp prisoner example used by Frankl, this person has no idea, when – or even if, this situation will end. They are indeed living in a situation of a “provisional existence of unknown limit”.

What I found most interesting about this concept was that Frankl likened the situation to an unemployed man. Given our current time of economic uncertainty and record unemployment this comparison seemed especially relevant – even though “Man’s Search For Meaning” was first published in 1959. Furthermore, I believe this concept and the paired solution may be applied to the entrepreneur as well – especially in the early start of a business venture, or that individual either laid off from stable corporate employment and forced into entrepreneurship, or the individual who does so of their own free will and accord.

To Be Continued…
In the next article I will discuss how the concept of deformed time provides an unexpected opportunity for the few who recognize it as such.

The concept of deformed time is just as relevant today as when it was when discussed in “Man’s Search For Meaning!”

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

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