give me a daisy

time, time, time, see what’s become of me

Atomicclock (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lately, I’ve had more things to do than time in which to do them, i.e., I feel as though I don’t have enough time. I know–and you know–that time is not a commodity, much as we often treat it as one. But it’s difficult to stop thinking of it that way. When a friend commented in a blog post that there was no way to create a savings account for time, I immediately perked up. Wouldn’t that be great? I want one of those!

When I met the
Grandfather of
Time, he said
it was no use
struggling.

Even after all
these years he
still had too
much to do.

—Running Behind (Brian Andreas)

That doesn’t give me much hope that my relationship with time, and the lack thereof, is likely to change anytime soon.

what is time, anyway? it’s:

• a nonspatial cotinuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future;
• an interval separating two points on this continuum, measured essentially by selecting a regularly recurring event, such as the sunrise, and counting the number of its occurrences during the interval; duration;
• a number, as of years, days, or minutes, representing such an interval;
• a similar number representing a specific point, such as the present, as reckoned from an arbitrary past point on this continuum;
• a suitable opportune moment or season;
• an interval marked by similar events, conditions, or phenomena; especially a span of years; era;
• one’s heyday;
• a moment or period designated, as by custom, for a given activity; harvest time;
• an occasion;
• an appointed or fated moment, especially of death;
• one of several instances;
• a prison sentence;
• the period spent working;
• the rate of speed of a measured activity;
• the characteristic beat of musical rhythm.

what does time do? it:

• passes
• expires
• cycles
• drags
• hangs heavy
• flies
• flows
• never arrives
• marks changes
• stands still
• places limits
• ages us
• saddens us
• gladdens us
• gives us hope
• preoccupies us
• enslaves us
• provides us with information
• is money?

what do we do with time? we:

• have time
• have no time
• save time
• spend time
• long for past times
• want more time
• look forward to future time
• waste time
• savor time
• hoard time
• pass time
• lose time
• lose track of time
• fear time
• serve (“do”) time
• make time
• take time
• keep time
• keep track of time
• while away time
• seize the moment/day
• manage time
• take time off
• use time wisely

but does time even exist?

We have sophisticated machines, like atomic clocks, to measure time. But measuring “time” doesn’t prove its physical existence. Clocks are rhythmic things. We use the rhythms of some events (like the ticking of clocks) to time other events (like the rotation of the earth). This isn’t time, but rather, a comparison of events. We called these manmade devices “clocks.”

But these are just events, not to be confused with time. Indeed, one could measure time by measuring the melting of ice on a hot day. We might even devise a plan to meet for tea at two ice-cube melts or 50 top-spins, which ever “time piece” you each happen to have on hand. Clocks just have springs and things. People get sidestepped into believing time exists as a physical entity because we’ve invented clocks.

From a biocentric point of view, time is the inner process that animates consciousness and experience. The existence of clocks, which ostensibly measure “time,” doesn’t in any way prove time itself exists.

–Robert Lanza, M.D., Psychology Today

Well, whether time exists or not, we experience it; we live as if it is not only real, but often a cruel taskmaster. It might be more effective to try to make friends with time instead of fighting with it all the time.

I’ve already “spent” nearly two ice-cube melts on this post, but before I end, here’s a song about time from a long time ago: