What Is a Zurvan Phenomenon?
In To Be-Analysis, we encounter a very simple yet unsettling truth. Human beings are creatures thrown into a vessel called time, and from the moment of birth trauma until the end of life, our greatest and most fundamental concern is how to pass this stretched-out and unceasing time. When we look at life from this perspective, we begin to see that every single thing we do throughout the day is, in fact, an attempt to pass time. I use the term “Zurvan Phenomena” to refer to these diverse attempts and ways of passing time with the aid of different objects. From this perspective, a Zurvan Phenomenon is no longer merely a particular behavior that appears in moments of stress; it encompasses the whole of our lives. From the cup of tea we quietly drink in the morning to the complex professions we choose, from loving and creating works of art to scrolling aimlessly through social media for hours-all of these are Zurvan Phenomena. Through these phenomena, sometimes consciously and sometimes within the unconscious layers of the mind, we fill the vessel of time so that the weight and anxiety of being may become more tolerable, more beautiful, or more meaningful. A Zurvan Phenomenon may therefore be defined as a way of acting through which the ego employs a Zurvan Object to move out of present time and preserve the continuity of experience. Some of these objects and phenomena make the passage of time feel faster, while others make it feel slower. For example, when someone is watching an engaging film and loses awareness of time passing, the film or the medium through which it is watched may function as a Zurvan Object, while the act of watching the film is a Zurvan Phenomenon. For now, it is enough to know that Zurvan Phenomena are classified along two axes: the topographical, or spatial, axis and the dynamic axis.
Along the topographical axis, we encounter two types of Zurvan Phenomena: external and internal. Along the dynamic axis, we encounter three types: Chronosic, Lethean, and Kairotic Zurvan Phenomena. I will soon attempt to explain each of these forms through examples drawn from the consulting room and everyday life.
To Be-Analysis