Initially, living time is temporal
succession – a series of one-after-the-other moments arising again and again as
a continual “now” advancing toward the not-yet future from a neutral spatial
position that is neither “left” nor “right” with respect to itself; it’s just “straight”.
As the material corollary of such a “now” moment of living time, the amino acid
“word” also has no spatial context; “left” merely determines a relative
position vis-à-vis the NH (amine) end, which by convention is referred to as “forward”.
The meaning of both “left” and “forward” is only apparent when the amino acid
is linked to another amino acid as part of a growing chain.
Let’s look closely at the
meaning of “now” in the context of matter parts, living tasks and the living
time of the whole aware organism (i.e., the unicellular organism in our
discussion of it).
We might visualize a chain
of amino acids linked together forming a “straight” 1D line. Of course, this line is invisible, existing
only as an ideal when viewed from an angular vantage point on either side of
the chain. But the ideal arises out of
an actual physical property. Normally on a 2D page, we depict the process of
addition as an incremental increase from left to right in the same way we add
time to a Gantt chart or processes to a flow chart. This left-to-right flow expands in the same
direction as matter time. However, other than the fact that this is the usual
way of depicting the addition of matter or matter time, there’s no real reason
why we couldn’t imagine it pointing in the opposite direction, from right to
left. We will do so here to facilitate
this discussion of living time and amino acid assembly, both of which we’ve
depicted as growth from right to left, in which the newest “now” moment of
living time (or the newest amino acid in a chain) is added on the right,
pushing the oldest “now” moment (or the first amino acid) further left.
Let’s consider a metal chain
made of individual oval-shaped rings with a twist in the middle, as shown in
Figure 1 above. By itself, the ring has
no direction; it’s just a twisted loop of metal. One end looks different than
the other, but neither end is defined except with respect to the opposite
end. In other words, either end could be
considered “front / forward” or “back / rear” and choosing one of these designations
for one end would automatically designate the other end as its opposite.
However, when the ring is
taken as part of an entire chain, as shown in Figure 2, it acquires the
directionality of the chain as a whole.
Each ring now has the same orientation as all the other rings, and all
are pointing in the same direction. In
this case, from our perspective on this side of the 2D page, the horizontal
ends of each ring point right and the vertical ends point left. The differently shaped ends also mean that
any specific point on an individual ring also has the orientation of the ring
and the chain as a whole. For example,
from our position as readers, the side of the red dot closest to the horizontal
end is also on the right, and the side closest to the vertical end is on the
left. The position of a given ring is
fixed relative to all other rings. Any
addition to the chain would have no effect on the position, direction or
orientation of any other ring. And
finally, the overall shape of the chain is linear. In the same way that a line is defined by a
series of tightly-spaced identical points, the line of the chain is defined by
closely-spaced identical rings, just like the original shown in Figure 1.
At this
point, we have established a linear shape and orientation for the chain, but we
don’t yet have direction which, in the case of a metal chain, is an entirely
arbitrary designation made by a viewer.
If we take the leading or “front” end of the chain to be the end closest
to the observer depicted in the figure, then the “front” of the chain is on the
left with respect to our perspective on this side of the 2D page. Adding
another ring to this front- / forward-facing end has no effect on any other
ring (or point) in the chain; all remain in their original position with the
first or oldest on the right, and the last or newest on the left. We might also say that with assigned
directionality, every ring and every point on a ring also has a “before” and an
“after”, in which “before” refers to “older” rings or points on the right, and “after”
refers to newer rings or points on the left.
This same idea applies to an
amino acid chain. An individual amino
acid has potential direction (in that its ends differ), but no specific
direction; it’s just a chiral molecule.
But as part of a growing chain, an individual amino acid acquires the
orientation and direction of the entire chain, as shown in Figure 3. From the point of view of the observer at the
amine end of the chain in Figure 3 , the oldest amino acid is closest and the
newest amino acid is farthest away. From
our position as readers on this side of the 2D page, “before” refers to “older”
amino acids on the left, and “after” refers to newer ones on the right.
In considering Figures 2 and
3, notice that “before” and “after” are reversed. In Figure 2 (representing matter and matter
time), “before / older” refers to rings or points on the right. In Figure 3, “before / older” refers to amino
acids on the left. And, while adding a
new ring to the chain in Figure 2 doesn’t change the position of any
other ring or point in the chain, adding a new amino acid changes the
position of every other amino acid and point in the chain. How does this occur?
In the case of amino acid
chain growth, all previously linked amino acids, along with every point on
those amino acids, moves left (becomes “older”) as each new amino acid is added
at the “newest” end of the chain. Each
molecule and point on the chain remains the same relative to all other
molecules and points; but unlike the metal chain, each point on the amino acid
chain passes a fixed position pictured by the vertical line as new amino acids
are attached in succession in the continuing “now” moment. In other words, a
fixed position on a growing amino acid chain does not represent a unique
spatial point but a unique separation in time from one “now” moment to
the next.
In the metal chain, the
links are just the entwined front and back ends of individual metal rings. The
link is not separate from the ring; it is all matter. But amino acid links are actual separations
between individual amino acids that establish a temporal relationship between
points in space. Two amino acids (NHRCO, NHRCO) are linked by an interlocking
distinction: NHR CONH RCO. The
link (CONH) is a meaningful “particular” or “distinction” that arises out of
and only exists in the relationship of the two separate molecules.
In Figure 4, we see that
what repeats in the process of amino acid assembly is not a material part – it
is a task. In this case, the task
is a unit consisting of succession, chiral direction of an amino
acid and a link with another homochiral amino acid. In this way, organic growth becomes more than
just the cumulative addition of a series of separate molecules. Because the unit includes the link, growth
(and hence living time) is a series of interlocking relational distinctions
with no one point of connection.
The “now” moment of living time, however, is more than just time. We’ll examine
this further in the next two pages.
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