Time-Binding

Alfred Korzybski’s Ideas on Time-Binding

How does the future generation evolve without waiting for a mutation?

The General Theory of TIME BINDING

Alfred Korzybski was an engineer in the first half of this century who asked why, with all of our advances in technology and understanding, is there an increase in the conflicts between Human Beings, and why were there still large populations of people who lived in very poor conditions throughout the world?  Being an engineer and a scientist, he began to study the question, realizing that there was a major missing factor in the quest for studying Human Beings.  That being the question, what exactly is a Human Being?  And what is a Human Being relative to all of the other entities on earth?

This question led Korzybski to create “The General Theory of Time Binding.”  Please remember that Korzybski openly and emphatically acknowledged that this is a theory, not a factual law or indisputable reality.  Never-the-less, he encouraged those who saw merit in his theories to explore and develop them in any way they could.  Only in this way could the General Theory of Time Binding be proven or disproved.

I suggest that, central to our pursuit of the Wholistic Health professions, there is much to learn and apply in the development of a comprehensive philosophy of just what healing is and what healers are, not to mention what exactly “health” actually is.

Beavers build their dams about the same way they did 200 or 2000 years ago.  Their methods, being bound by pre-conditioned instincts, have changed little, if at all.  Beavers can abstract, however only to a minimal degree.  The Human Being, on the other hand, while having a number of pre-conditioned reflex actions, is not bound by instinct.  They build things radically different than 200 or 2000 years ago.  The difference is the advanced abstracting process, the foundation of Time Binding.

For how long have we in America been teaching our children that they are animals? . . . . .  For how long has our society been going downhill? 

Just as plants pass on packets of energy (the combination of sunlight, H₂O, minerals, etc.) to animals, to humans and back into the soil, Time Binding is the passing along of packets of knowledge, experience and wisdom, along with developed and refined tools, to future generations.  (Tools are the integration of natural and human resources with human intelligence and knowledge.) 

The result of effective Time Binding is that each generation gets better than the previous because they did not have to go through the process of learning from scratch what previous generations already learned.  They did not have to “reinvent the wheel.”  In a relatively short period of time, through the process of learning new material, a Human Being can learn most of what his predecessors knew, (relevant to the task at hand) and then go from there.  The advances of the past are handed forward to him/her in a more manageable package.  The Being can then add his/her own new abstractions and creative processes to that.  

This also leads to the concept of the division of labor, where each individual discovers in what areas are they most effective, and most interested, in cultivating their abstractions and their abstracting/observational powers.  This way, we can use reason and intelligence to efficiently learn lessons that others have already learned, rather than having to go through that process over again for each individual, in all domains of activity, in each generation.  

Experience keeps an expensive school;
But the fool will learn in no other.

. . . Ben Franklin

Experience is a very effective teacher.  However, it is not very efficient.  While it is obviously true that there are many things that can only be learned by experience, such as tying one’s shoe, there are many things that can be learned indirectly.  The amount of learning time is therefore reduced.  Likewise, if someone who knows how to articulate the process of shoe tying is coaching you in tying your shoes, you will often learn much faster than if you try to do it totally through trial and error.

The same is true of Body Reading.  I can show you a list of what to look for, or I can teach you how to look.  In this workshop, we will do a little of each so that you know the difference.

The Object of Time Binding, the Objective of all good teachers, is to make their own students or progeny better at what they do than the teacher is as soon as possible.

This serves two purposes:

1. It advances humanity as quickly as possible.

2. The teacher has to be constantly improving him- or her-self and his/her own teachings.  

Otherwise, one day, one or more of the students will surpass the teacher, who will then be out of a job.

If your students or clients are Not doing more, or are Not on their way to doing more with your work than you are, then you have not found your key to effective Time Binding as yet.

Therefore, IF Time Binding is a primary characteristic of Being Human, then you’re not manifesting your potential as a Human Being.

Therefore, IF Time Binding is a primary characteristic of Being Human, then you owe it to yourself and to your species (and, if you believe in such things, your God) to examine ALL of your activities and processes, both internal and external, from the point of view of these questions:

Am I Being an Effective Time Binder?

Am I Pursuing Activities that will Advance my children, my students, my clients and future generations and the Time Bind of Human Beings in general?

Of course, we must first ask this question:

How do I find out whether or not Time Binding is a Valid Concept?

Hopefully, this workshop will begin to give you some ideas on how to come to your own conclusions on this subject.

The DSL Method of Yoga & BodyWork assumes, from its own observation, learning  and experience, that Time Binding is a valid concept, and that our activities in this workshop will revolve around the question, How do we learn BodyWork in a way that improves our capacity to Time Bind?

You, of course, may not have decided, or may not accept this premise, as valid.  

That will not be a problem, unless you want a “To Do List” approach to BodyWork.  This is not a To Do List approach to Life, Yoga or BodyWork.  This is about getting to the roots of the process of Being Human, and the fundamental organic processes that will generate excellence in the field of BodyWork, or any other endeavor that I may pursue.

Thanks for Reading and Take Care,
David Scott Lynn
DSL: Your Hi-Touch Up-Link to the Inner-Net