Page - 109 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/02

powered individual, the self as a source of truth and thus, through a process of self-discovery, the creation of the unique self. An example of this can be found in the biographies of the Renaissance. Biography provides a study of the individ- ualistic marks of distinction attributed to important persons.46 The race towards the future inside earthly time has led to, among other things, the development of the modern conception of time,47 along with the growing importance of competition. Through this process, minutes became val- uable and time became such a precious resource that humans feel they must not waste it on worthless pursuits.48 For example, the Renaissance artist Alberti Batista,49 in order to make the most of his time, began each day by making a precise schedule. Man became master of his fate and time became a personal resource. As we mentioned, this appearance of the individual along with his unique perception of time is reflected in Renaissance art in many ways, including in the technique of perspective drawing. Perspective captures an individualistic view of the world since it depicts the observer’s personal point of view within earthly time. The retreat of mystical time is the retreat of the simultaneous point of view,50 which is a way of looking from the standpoint of divine eternal time, bearing no perspective geometrical considerations. The practice of perspective,51 which was developed in the Renaissance, at- tests to a change in the conception of time: the estimation of perspective is chronological and causal. As the observer moves through time and space, his personal perspective changes. Therefore the reality seems to change with every passing unit of time. This is a shift from the perception of eternal time and mys- tic symbolism to a perception of time influenced by, among other things, new scientific thought governed by logic and the observer’s individual experience within a system. Perspective is a graphic representation of objects in three-di- mensional space, according to the individual’s optical perception of reality.52 When the observer moves through time, at any point in time the objects in the depicted space are drawn from his personal, individual perspective. Man is then placed at the centre of the act of observation as an investigator of reality, as 46 Burckhardt 1944, 171–172. 47 Levine 2006, 51–67. 48 Fromm 1941, 58. 49 Bluedom 2002, 227. 50 The simultaneous point of view, typical of the Middle-Ages, was not subdued by the limits of time and space or cause and effect as observed in reality. It was an unindividual, eternal point of view. See Huizinga, 1955. 51 Arbel 2002, 113–114. 52 The laws of perspective are based on lines that meet at one point – the focal point in the eyes of the observer. The artist and architect Leon Battista Alberti established perspective as a theory for painters and architects. See Backet 1994, 88. Western Apocalyptic Time and Personal Authentic Time | 109www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/2, 95–116