Do you have the Time?

“Does anyone really know what time it is?” - Chicago 1969

Good Question! Time is normally expressed in some scale of measurement. And, yet it also exists independent of our measures.

Time is the 4th dimension, the thing that makes us experience our life as video, instead of a still 3 dimensional image.

Time is measured many ways and our language and conversations are rich with descriptions of it, past present and future.

And yet, is it immovable, fixed and marching along at a regular rate, tick after everlasting tick?

Or, is our real experience of time a complex and subjective journey seemingly always progressing, generally the same direction?

For me, sometimes minutes last like hours and at other times a whole day is but a blink of an eye.

Are you too busy? Are you bored, filling in the hours? Does losing 5 minutes really ruin your day?

On one end, consider the light just now reaching us from the most distant stars. A periscope back into history dated back to the big bang. A stately progression, history viewed in present reality.

On the other, consider the complex physical processes occurring right now in your body. Fear makes us produce adrenalin so, we are prepared for Fight or Flight. The chemistry to produce that hormone has over 1,000 individual steps, each essential to produce our response. And, this occurs within the blink of an eye.

Both of these extremes are examples of time scales which in fact occur at the edge of our human abilities of perception. We have knowledge of them based on the science of our time. We stand on top of the pyramid of accumulated human knowledge.

So stop for a moment. Do you have the Time?

Take some time to appreciate each savoring moment of existence. You can stop time in its tracks.

Try to contemplate all the real events happening in this moment. Expand your consciousness to include all of the swirling dizzying activity in your home, your town, the nation and all of the world. Just imagine it if you can. And, holding all that in your mind, place yourself in the maelstrom. Realize your little island of consciousness floating out in the sea of time.

I find when I try this exercise, when I can really understand my own insignificance, to be liberating.

Suddenly, the pressing demands, the commitments, the debts and obligations we clothe ourselves with all fall away. A naked consciousness stopped, in a single beam of light.

Take the time, know what time it is, know this moment exists independent of all others. And if you take this time, you will discover even more time to love, to appreciate and to be grateful for the gift of life.

We are travelers between the eternities. And, our time is now.