Introduction
The questions of time and timing are a subject of interest in many fields of science. Time is one of the most fundamental and universal categories by means of which people can grasp the reality and which make it comprehensible. Time is an indispensable element of individual and social experience (Bokszański et al., 1998). The studies on the psychology of time date back to the beginning of the 20th century. The dynamics of these studies varied over years from initial fascination to the loss of interest to revival (Hancock and Block, 2012). The psychologists usually analyze psychological time, which people sometimes perceive subjectively. This means that psychological time is personal, biased and conditioned by one’s experience. The non-objectivity of time is a function of human activity and of related experience (Bakiera and Stelter, 2011). The analyses of psychological time encompass a wide range of subjects from biological rhythms to the perception of diverse aspects of time to culture change and its rate. As a result of this diversity of subjects many models have been developed of psychological time seen from different angles: bio-psychological, behavioral, cognitive, developmental, psychoanalytical or socio-psychological (Block and Grondin, 2014). Within the framework of the studied into psychological time the researchers examine such constructs as time perspective, temporal orientation, attitude toward time, time competences, time pressure, time structuring and planning, time awareness, the telic nature of time and time management, the passage of time or time in interpersonal relations (Nuttin, 1985; Zaleski, 1994; Uchnast, 2006; Zimbardo and Boyd, 2008).
Another term associated with psychological time is mental travel hypothesized by Tulving (1972, 1985, 2002). He considered episodic memory to be a basis for re-living the past and pre-living the future. Mental travel may envelop the spans of time beyond individual existence. An individual can travel in time to moments prior to their birth or after their death (Tulving and Kim, 2007). Traveling to these time moments comprises the personal, generational and metaphysical contexts and is connected with the stress caused by such ultimate experience as one’s own death (Suddendorf and Corballis, 2007). Time traveling which transcends the time limits of one’s own life cannot be compared to traveling in time within the limits of existence. It is based on the belief in the existence of something beyond death and related to confronting oneself with the end of one’s own existence.
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In reference both to psychological time and to the ability to travel mentally in time, the future becomes particularly important. The future is a domain where the individual is motivated and which influences their behavior and activity (Nuttin, 1985). It encompasses what is unexpected, what is ahead of us, what cannot be predicted and explored in any available way. It is a domain of realized plans as well as of surprise. It combines expected and unexpected changes, gives rise to hopes and fears. When we open our eyes to the future and step beyond the limits of our existence, it becomes even more difficult to grasp. This is a result of theoretical and methodological deficits experienced in studies on psychological time (Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999), particularly when the subject is approached from such a wide angle.
The studies on the future that stem from the time perspective analysis (Frank, 1939; Lewin, 1942) were initiated by such thinkers as Fraisse (1967). He focused on the topic of time prediction. His work directed the researchers’ attention to temporality and its relationship with the functioning of individuals. Today, we have a multitude of studies that deal with the future time perspective and time orientation (but see Nuttin, 1984, 1985; Nurmi, 1991; Zaleski, 1994; Trempała and Malmberg, 1998; Nosal and Balcar, 2004; Diaz-Morales, 2006; Uchnast, 2006; Zimbardo and Boyd, 2008).
A problem which is rarely the subject of theoretical and empirical analyses is the future transcending the limits of temporality. In psychology it was Boyd and Zimbardo (1997, 2006) and Zimbardo and Boyd (2008), who attempted to operationalize and investigate the transcendental future. They explained the term as the time after life, i.e., from death to eternity (Boyd and Zimbardo, 1997, 2006; Zimbardo and Boyd, 2008). The transcendental future is associated with the capacity to believe in, think about and imagine the immortality (Seema et al., 2014). It encompasses the infinite time, which often reaches beyond our imagination and it is based on deep faith. Even if people make projections of that time (Boyd and Zimbardo, 2006; Zimbardo and Boyd, 2008; Timoszyk-Tomczak and Bugajska, 2012), they are of a different character than the projects created for the life below. What is essential is relevance rather that realism and subjectively perceived probability of success (Zaleski, 1988). Additionally, these projections last eternally, which gives it a different dimension (Zimbardo and Boyd, 2008). It also prevents their verification. Having created a vision of existence after death, one can only hope. In the context of the temporal future, the implementation of projects can be evaluated, improved, modified. In the context of the future beyond the mortality it is no longer possible to experience success or failure.
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In psychology there are also other notions that refer to crossing the limits of earthly existence, such as spirituality, transcendence, transcendent wisdom or gerotranscendence. Spirituality is a concept of a complex structure whose components are such less abstract notions as hope, the meaning of life, forgiveness or a spiritual perspective (Reed and Rousseau, 2007). The spiritual perspective refers to the belief in something that cannot be directly experienced, something that is not subject to devaluation and that does not have to but may encompass religious experience (Reed and Larson, 2006). Transcendence and transcendent wisdom are also associated with spirituality (Straś-Romanowska, 2001; Heszen-Niejodek and Gruszczyńska, 2004). The process of transcendence taking place in late adulthood is a focal point in Tornstam’s (2005, 2011). It is founded on an assumption that human aging includes a potential to mature into a new outlook on and understanding of life. Gerotranscendence implies a shift in metaperspective, from a materialistic and rational view of the world to a more holistic and transcendent one (Tornstam, 2011). This includes the re-definition of one’s self, their relationship with other people and the world and, primarily, their concept of time. In such a context, their approach to the future beyond death may transcend their earlier understanding of this time. It may involve a new quality in integrating, experiencing and developing the time perspective.
Research on the future in old age (Timoszyk-Tomczak and Bugajska, 2012) led us to create a model for the future time perspective in late adulthood. This model was largely based on Nuttin’s (1985) and Lens (1986) future time perspective. At that time, we concluded that the future of older people was open and could be extended to include a transcendental aspect. The material we collected allowed us to conclude that individuals in late adulthood think about their future not only in their personal dimension, but also in the generational or even in the metaphysical one. Hence, we divided the elderly people’s future time perspective into personal (individual), generational and metaphysical parts. In the personal and generational future, we distinguished the temporal and transcendental aspects. Also, we linked transcendentalism with the metaphysical aspect, i.e., with the space-time transgression.
In the course of analyzing the data we had collected, doubts began to arise as to the realm beyond mortality which seemed heterogeneous. Faith in some form of life after death was not always associated with thinking about that time, but also with images of it. We were looking for explanations and distinctions in relation to that time. Tornstam’s concept of gerotranscendence; Tornstam (2005, 2011) was helpful in this regard. We focused on distinguishing between the transcendent and transcendental. We considered the transcendentality of the future primarily as faith and ruminating on time after death in terms of personal images such as meeting with loved ones or salvation rather than thinking about the future of generations to come or the universe. And we acknowledged the transcendence of the future as embracing both the temporality and what is beyond the temporality, present in the personal and generational dimension, and including the metaphysical aspect (Timoszyk-Tomczak and Bugajska, 2016). Transcendentalism and transcendence are not completely inseparable, but they have a different specificity. They can complement each other, but they can also function relatively independently. Transcendentality may be more related to cultural message, including attitudes toward religion, while transcendence refers rather to the internalization of values and models as well as spiritual development (Figure (Figure11).
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