Chapter 18 A few digressions about the perception of time

When they went upstairs after dinner, the bundle of blankets was already on the chair in Hans Castorp's room.He used the blanket for the first time that day.Joachim was an old hand at this, and he taught Hans the various techniques of wrapping, which all the people here in the mountains do, and which every newcomer must learn at once.First, spread out the blankets one by one and place them on the chair so that they can be dragged from the chair feet to the ground with enough room.Then sit down and start wrapping the inner blanket around your body; pull it lengthwise first up to your shoulders, then cover your feet underneath, and you should be sitting arched, grabbing the folded end first, then Grasp the other end until the toes of both feet are tightly wrapped even when you are lying straight, and you must keep them as straight as possible.Later, you can do the same thing and wrap it in a blanket outside, but it's a little harder to do.Hans Castorp, still a clumsy novice, bent over, stretched his arms and legs, and did all the movements his cousin had taught him, without complaining.Joachim said that only a few shrewd ones could put two blankets on together in three sure moves, but that skill was rare and enviable, and required some kind of talent.

Hans Castorp couldn't help laughing at this, and he lay down on the chair with a sore back, but Joachim suddenly couldn't understand what was so ridiculous, and looked at him with vacillating eyes. , and then laughed too. "All right," said Joachim.By this time Hans Castorp was already stretched out on a chair, wrapped up like a roller, with his limbs covered, and a round pillow resting on the back of his neck. It was exhausting. "Even if the cold is twenty degrees Celsius, you can bear it." After that, he walked behind the glass partition and wrapped himself in a blanket.

Hans Castorp had some doubts about the coldness of twenty degrees, for he was already terribly cold; and when he looked out through the wooden arch into the wet expanse, he could not help feeling a shudder at the sight of the snow falling again. .The strange thing was that despite the heavy humidity in the air, his face was hot and dry, as if he were sitting in an unstoppably hot room.He was too tired to cover the blanket just now, and now when he brought the "Ocean Liner" magazine to his eyes, his hands really trembled.It seems that he is not very healthy - just as the consultant doctor said, he is severely anemic, so he is so afraid of the cold here.But the posture in which he was lying down was very comfortable, offsetting his unhappiness.This comfort, that inexplicable and almost mystical quality of reclining chairs, which Hans Castorp had already experienced in his first trial and now proved It is indeed a lot of fun.No matter the quality of the pillow, the inclination angle of the backrest or the height and width of the armrest are just right, or the softness and hardness of the round pillow on the back of the neck, in short, if you want to rest your limbs, there is no better sleeping position than sleeping. The chair is more comfortable and comfortable.Hans Castorp was really happy that he could enjoy the next two hours of leisure. These two hours are the main recuperation time stipulated by the sanatorium. Although he only came up to the mountain as a visitor, he I feel very comfortable with this arrangement.Because of his quiet nature, he could bear long periods of inactivity; we remember that he loved spare time, and did not want it to be eaten away, swallowed up, wasted by frivolous activities.About four o'clock he had tea, with cake and jam, and then went out for a while before reclining in his chair for supper around seven.Dinner, like any other meal, can be a little tense, but it can also yield many interesting insights.After dinner, watch some kind of kaleidoscope, stereoscope or revolving film... It may be too much to say that Hans Castorp is as used to life here as people say, but he After all, I have been able to adapt well to the daily life here.

It is, after all, a peculiar way in which people accustom themselves to unfamiliar surroundings. But it was laborious to get used to it, to get used to it; it was done only for his own needs, but also with the definite purpose of throwing himself away again as soon as the mission was accomplished or shortly thereafter. Once it is removed, it returns to its original state.People regard this kind of thing as an episode in the interest of life, the purpose is nothing more than "pastime", that is to say, to make the body taste something new and change the tricks-daily life is so monotonous and boring, and it will become boring after a long time. It makes people feel pampered and depressed.But what is it about doing the same thing routinely for too long that causes this feeling of lethargy? The reason is not that the demands of life wear him down physically and mentally (because then, rest It can be recovered after a while), but it is caused by some psychological reason.People's feelings about time are often easily weakened because of its uniformity, and at the same time, it is closely related to life feelings. When one is weakened, the other is also damaged.People have many misconceptions about the nature of loneliness and boredom.It is generally believed that the interest and novelty in the content of time is to let it "pass", that is, to make time short, while monotony and emptiness inhibit the progress of time.This statement is not entirely appropriate.Emptiness and monotony can lengthen every minute and every hour, giving one the feeling that "days seem like years", but they can also shrink or make a huge and enormous unit of time fly away, or even disappear into nothingness.On the contrary, a substantial and interesting time content can shorten or easily pass an hour or even a day.But in measure, it gives breadth, weight, and solidity to the course of time, so that eventful years pass much more slowly than those of uneventful, calm times.

What we call loneliness, therefore, is really just a sense of an unnatural shortening of time caused by monotony.Life is always the same, and it seems that the long time will shrink into a ball, which is chilling.If the conditions of one day are exactly like the other days, then they are indistinguishable from each other.Living in the same way every day makes a very long-lived person feel that the days are short, and the time seems to pass imperceptibly.The so-called getting used to life actually means having a numb or even numb sense of time; the days pass slowly when you are young, but the years in your old age are passing faster and faster, which must be caused by this "accustomed to life".

We know that introducing a few episodes or a new twist into our lives is the only way to maintain our vitality, to keep our sense of time fresh, and to keep our sense of time from feeling long, boring or dull, thus making our life more enjoyable. There is a new feeling.Adjusting the environment, changing the air, and going to the hot spring bath are all for this purpose, and changing the environment and adding some episodes in life can eliminate fatigue.There is a freshness, that is to say, refreshment in the first few days of living in a new place—it lasts for about six to eight days.Then, as you "get used to" the place, the days seem to shrink.Whoever clings to life--or rather, clings to it--feels with horror that the steps of the days are getting lighter and lighter, that they begin to slip away without sound, and that the last few weeks , say four weeks or so, flies frighteningly by.Of course, when the episode of life ends, so does the freshness of time; and it reappears after the return to normal life.When returning home after going out, the first few days are fresh and lively again, but only for a few short days, because people adapt to the "usual" life faster than those exceptions.If the sense of time is weakened by old age, or if it has never been very strong (a symptom of the inherent weakening of vitality), he will soon return to his old life drowsily, and after twenty-four hours , I felt as if I had never been out before, and the trip a few days ago was like a dream at night.

The above passage is inserted here only because the young Hans Castorp had a similar feeling about time.After he lived on the mountain for a few days, he looked at his cousin with bloodshot eyes and said to him: "When I arrived in a strange place, it was ridiculous how slow time seemed to pass at first. I mean... It's not that I'm bored, of course, on the contrary, I'm almost as happy as a living fairy. But you know, when I look back, that is, when I reflect on it, I feel like I have been here for an unknown amount of time, and I don’t know how long it has been since I went up the mountain. I said, 'Let's go down now!' Do you remember? Time seems to me to be infinite. It has nothing to do with the measurement of time, and nothing to do with understanding at all. It's just a matter of feeling. Of course, it would be foolish to say something like: 'I think I've lived on this mountain for two months' - just nonsense. All I can say is: 'It's been a long time'."

"Yes," Joachim replied, the thermometer still in his mouth. "I've learned a lot from what you've said. After you've come to the mountains, I'll have to rely on you in some way!" Hans Castorp heard Joachim's straightforward words. , couldn't help laughing.