Time Passes

~ Olga

Tempus fugit.  I have put up a new calendar, 2018.  I have turned the page on 2017.

I have, of late, had conversations with a few people my age who express some sense of urgency because “time is running out.” I have also been part of a conversation about “what exactly is time anyway?”

We spend time and say that time is money.  I suppose if time is money we can run out of it.  On the other hand:                                                                                                                    “Top 15 Things Money Can’t Buy — Time. Happiness. Inner Peace. Integrity. Love. Character. Manners. Health. Respect. Morals. Trust. Patience. Class. Common sense. Dignity.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Time must be precious since we are often urged not to waste it.  Charles Darwin once said, “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”

We have heard that time heals all wounds.  Although Rose Kennedy amended that:  “It has been said, ‘time heals all wounds.’ I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.”

Goodreads has 7343 quotes relating to time.  I haven’t read all of them, but I somehow doubt that if I do I still won’t be able to say what time is.

Ancient Greeks and some Native American civilizations viewed time as circular, the wheel of time turning, having no beginning and no end.  Judeo-Christian thought views time in a linear manner. moving in a straight line from creation to the end of time.  Sir Isaac Newton discussed time as dimension in which events can be placed in sequential order.

The philosopher Emmanuel Kant felt time is not an actual dimension but a human concept that allows us the sequence and compare events.  Buddhists, Kabbalists, new-agey mystics view time as an illusion or a paradox.  And Albert Einstein said, “Time is an illusion.”

Of course, I don’t have philosophical understanding,  spiritual development,  and certainly not the tremendous brain power of Albert Einstein so I won’t speculate on the nature of time.  I can see time as a wheel, or as a line.  I can see it as a concept and I can vaguely grasp the relativity of time as a notion.  Why wouldn’t time be an illusion?

I do believe everything changes so whatever time is, it must change too. The change of year is kind of an artificial construct, but if 2018 brings a sea change, I am all for it.

 

 

 

7 thoughts on “Time Passes”

  1. I just saw a watch that claims to have a new philosophy to time. The “Slow Watch.” It has only one hand and a standard clock face but marked off in 24 hour major increments with quarter hour subdivisions. I halfheartedly looked at the ad just out of an apathetic sense of wonder, but it was all videos and quickly lost interest. But I gathered from a quick sniff that their philosophy is that the time is sort of an approximate thing and you only need what can be determined by a quick glance. “It is something after 2.” “Well its almost 10.” “Mommy what time is it the only hand is on two things after the 14?”

    Perhaps if we all had a “slow philosophy” the world would work at a much relaxed pace…less stress. “When does your flight leave?” “Oh, somewhat after 7.”

    Since I have retired, I have found little need for a wrist watch. I have one and the few times I have felt the need to put it on, it is usually still on the time from before the last time change. Not wanting to take the time to figure out how to change it, I set it back on the dresser once again and promise that I will set it later. That pretty much is my philosophy of time.

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    1. I do not own a working watch and there are no clocks in my bedrooms. I don’t use a Siri or Google or Alexa, etc. I have a clock on my kitchen wall and in my car. I am usually on time for appointments and such so I think I am okay.

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      1. Yes, I am the same. No watch. I like wasting time. It’s so different when one is retired, after a lifetime teaching, watching the clock every minute.

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  3. Interesting. Time is not something I have ever taken the time to ponder. I just see time as it has been dictated by our celestial movements, interpreted into calendars and clocks. I frequently run out of time.

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