Time

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.”
― Lao Tzu

The most valuable currency is time, which is not to be confused with the old cliche stating, “time is money.”  Rather, time is irreplaceable. In fact, there is no substitute for its value.  In a world that strives to acquire more, time lacks the capacity to increase its possesion; time is an entity that continues to decrease in its amount versus increase with every passing day.  Moreover, time exists on a continuum by which it has the ability to expand and lengthen or shrink and shorten.  In other words, the flow of time or the speed of time is to a degree changeable as investigated under the area of relativity and quantum mechanics, and to a more common degree its characteristics are changeable by the extent we are absorbed in it or not.  However, time does not stop nor is it irreversible, though again arguably.  More to the point, however, time is an equal opportunity concept.  Every living being has the same amount of hours per day as any other person currently living, dead, or will live.  In other words, time does not discriminate based on class, race, sex, religion, or creed.  Without focusing on the comparative of total time allotted to each individual as brought on by death, everyone from the bored and indifferent to the steadfast and highly caffeinated individual has the exact same hours, minutes, and seconds in a day.  Therefore, time should impact and inform an individual’s choices in living in order to attain the quality of a happy and fulfilled life.  To state that awareness of time is crucial is an understatement.

Given the existence of many uncertainties regarding the future such as the date of our own demise and the passing of loved ones,  understanding time is finite makes interacting with the world and the people in it much more poignant.  Approximately 7 billion people live on earth and billions of events occur every day.  The news is filled with soundbites.  Unfortunately or fortunately depending on the perspective used there are thousands of organizations that stand for causes related to social justice.  Questions and curiosity are endless.  In the end, the beauty in living is seeing the variety of dimensions by which to view and perceive the world; many subjects exist that have the power to consume an individual physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  In addition, in correlation with time and with human beings having minds capable of reason, individuals are well-suited to define and create their realities as logically permitted and in accordance with nature.  Opinion exists that approximately 10,000 hours devoted to a task will lead to a sense of mastery over the the task.  In combination, remember that individuals in the spotlight for their mastery or expertise did not arrive overnight.  Rather, as the 10,000 hours demonstrate, individuals who walk onto the public stage have worked tirelessly at their task, which in high probability they pursued the task without recognition as primary motivation.  Losing themselves in the task was enough reward.  The ideas behind time and living do not change often as ideas behind truths do.  Definitions of truth change according to the era and the era’s place on the continuum of time as demonstrated during cycles of war and peace, censorship and creativity, community and intolerance, decay and flourishing, and many more dichotomies.  However, time is sacred and static in its form.  With finite time certain aspects of living pose high costs to one’s ability in actualizing a good life such as hate, anger, and routine.  By consciously identifying where we invest our time we are empowered to invest in arriving closer to our individual definitions of a good life.

//E.G.//