This morning on the beach, I saw a very
proud Dad taking snapshots of his wife
and little daughter. There at the water's edge, a flood of thoughts and
memories came over me. I found myself thinking that it seemed like only a few
years ago that I was that Dad. A lot of time has gone by since those snapshots
were mounted in scrapbooks and put away. The years have gone by and those little
daughters have grown older, as have the photos. The images in my mind, however, seem as
fresh as the day they were taken. The wonderful miracle of memory makes the
intervening years seem like only hours have passed. Time is strange, isn't it?
The concept of time has always fascinated me. I remember learning that time had to be
created by man so that things wouldn't all happen at once. We use clocks, mechanical or electrical means of measuring the passage of time, but the
existence of time itself is more difficult to get a handle on.
When Einstein indicated
that time (and space) can bend, it was intriguing to me. His findings seemed to
justify all the novelists' stories of time travel. Astronauts actually were able to measure that a clock will slow down in space due to the curvature that Einstein
spoke of. Is time something you can catch up with? He said, "Yes" - if
you can go fast enough. Now that's a concept of time worth considering.
We have so many different experiences with
time. So much of what we think is the passage of time, is really the
impression we give it through our minds. When we are expectant, anxious or
suffering with pain, minutes can seem like hours. If we are experiencing joy,
hours seem like only minutes. For those who look forward to being in Heaven,
after their death. I wonder how the time will pass in Eternity? Will it be "timeless"?
During several of my morning runs, induced by the rhythmic sound of my shoes, I have
experienced almost trance-like meditative states. In those periods, it seemed like time had stood still. When the mind "goes away", as it
does in meditation, there is no sense of time. It proves to me that it is the mind that is participating in this thing we call, "time". When
coming out of my meditative state, my first thought was of how much time had elapsed. I would
calculate how much, then I would decide whether that was a "long" or a "short" time. There would be no concept of time, or its duration,
without my mind first constructing it. Many scholars have observed, time is
an illusion.
This concept is not embraced by everyone. In
Judeo-Christian theology, time remains a linear concept, like a story, with a
beginning, and an end. Their religions are based on time behaving in that way.
In Hindu belief, a single Brahma day is made up of a thousand mahayugas, each
lasting 4 billion years! That's a lot of time!
As humans we consider a lifetime of 90 - 100 years as a long life. It brings to mind, the entire life span of the Mayfly. It lives about 18
hours. In that period of time, it manages its purpose on earth. Not unlike our own, it is born, matures, reproduces and dies. I wonder if it thinks about its time on earth as being short?
I remember an interview by a network anchor
with the Finance Minister of Japan. It
was in the early 80's when there were difficulties between our countries
regarding our trade deficit. In a philosophical moment, the American asked,
"Will our countries ever understand each other?". The minister
responded, "Maybe in 200 years". A little surprised, the anchor said,
"You think it will take that long?". The Japanese minister, also
somewhat surprised, said, "I think that is a very short time". So in addition to scientific and perceptual differences in
time, we have here the addition of even cultural differences.
My most significant questions about time,
are those raised by various religious sects and their calendars. I am
especially intrigued by the doomsday spokespersons who foresee the end of time. I often wonder about the vantage point from which they posit their views? From what moment in time does their countdown begin? They speak of the millennium
and it's portent of things to happen. What calendar are they using? Are these events based on the Julian
calendar or on the Gregorian calendar? What of the Chinese, Jewish or Islamic
calendars? The Chinese began theirs about 2300 B.C. The Gezer calendar, created
in Hebrew, started in 1000 B.C. Muslims began counting in 622 A.D. With all of these different perceptions of
time, and with Einstein's Time/Space continuum theory, it would seem that time is a very complex subject. We know that time curves, it can go fast or slow, it can be imagined and we can make it up as we go along! I won't let it be of concern - it's only a matter of time.
