Reflections on Time
Time does not actually fly for time is a construct of man. Man invented time as we observed the cycles of the moon, stars and sun. We observed the seasonal changes and lived by them. Later the construct of liner based time became increasingly divorced from the original natural cycles as we live increasing apart from nature and no longer needed to observe the seasonal circadian rhythms around us. Arrogance claimed we no longer needed to adhere to the cycles of the natural world or the Earth except for the passing of counted days and note to seasonal cycles which we eventually found annoying. We created living spaces and cities that could shut out light, heat, cold, rains and snows. We no longer needed to heed them. Recently it has been frigid here and snows came, but we live is a house warmed but a furnace and our water does not freeze so we have water. The snow plows keep the roads open and keep business going for the most part. If we lose power the Electric company road crews quickly fix the down power lines.
Paying attention to the natural cycles of the earth is no longer a life and death issue. We have invented ways to exist outside of those cycles and insulate ourselves.
We can go to well stocked stores and buy food other than hunt and gather and preserve food. We go to a mall or order on line clothes or other items rather than use our knowledge to hunt for meat and skins or create clothes out of plant fibers according to the seasons cycles of warmth and cold. Rather than look to the stars or what the weather signs are we go to out light boxes and ask Siri what the coming weather is. You don’t even need to look out the window anymore. We no longer look out the window but look into our iPhones and Computers.
Time as a liner measure that developed as our species became more established into growing villages, communities, and cities. Time became a way to measure people’s work, and the reign of emperors and rulers. As literacy grew so did the concept of time with the invention of time pieces.
Now we work long or a specific number of hours, and eat and sleep by these liner measurements instead of our natural circadian rhythms. Various stores and businesses are open 24/7 which has sped up our societies and the way we live. Far from nature and abandoning our biological processes we are more prone to illness and obesity. We live longer but live less fulfilled as we have tied ourselves to rhythms not suited to our bodies and minds natural cycles or the cycles of nature. As such we created “Time.” Everything is lock step with those constructs.
Some have suggested that time is not liner as we have supposed but cyclical with reoccurring expansions and implosions. Before man there was no time, just being. The animals and plants just lived and died and did not mark time, they just lived, they came and went. The earth did the same going through great mass extinctions and then revivals of life restating and diversifying, followed by another collapse and re-flourishing, even after some mass extinctions wiped out 98% of all life on earth. From the seeds of animal and plant life that endured the cycles continued and spread but I would not call that time. These were epochs but no one was measuring or keeping track. N0 one counted the moons or the number of sun rises. The earth existed outside of our constructs.
Now we have daylight savings time, time clocks, we check in and check outs according to time clocks, schedules and our wrist devices. We waste time, take out time, take time off and measure time. We name time according to our limited understanding: epochs, reigns, days, months, years, periods: we like naming things because the naming gives us a sense of power and control.
I can’t imaging our distant ancestors thinking like that. Their measurements aligned with the seasonal changes, the cycles of the moon and sun, the length and shortness of days according to the earth cycles, even the tides. We tethered our lives to the natural cycles and made note of how plants grew, animal migrations, hibernations and when they mated and gave birth.
We might not have lived as long then but we were likely healthier and experienced less stress derived from constantly trying to keep up with schedules and time.
At least this is how I am thinking in my limited concept of our liner measurements.
The earth’s cycles are like our breathing, inhalation and exhalation. The Earth is a living system of connected biomes and all life forms and further connected to the elementals that gave rise to all life out of chaos.
You can’t make time or speed up time because time does not exist except in our minds. Thus we separated ourselves from the natural rhythms and created unnatural rhythms that we struggle against.
We might live to be 90 but not live a fulfilled life while a person may live to be 35 complete sun cycles around the sun and be very happy and lived a fulfilled life. Rather than measure our life success by the construct of years , maybe measure life by how much we loved, created beauty and worked for the common good of our tribe, village, city or nations or the Planet as a whole.
We fill our life with things and mark our success but how much wealth we accumulated or material goods we own and control rather than how we lived, how much good we brought to the world around us.
The only “times pieces” our ancestors had were the sun, moon, stars and natural rhythms of life around them. We lived by how many moons have passed and looked to the night sky for stars to know when to hunt or plant or migrate to less harsh camps during the winter and when to go certain areas where there was more game and food. These were natural cycles outside of pressure of our measurements of time. We made camp at dark and slept, we rose with the light and knew when and where it was best to hunt and gather certain foods. There were no time clocks, no light boxes or no computers driving our existence and telling us what to do when and for how long.
Our ancestors listened to nature, made note of everything around them, this could mean life or death.
So much has changed. Our time pressed society and technocratic rulers have all of us locked into daily life apart from the natural cycles and rhythms.
If the Earth experienced another wipe and rebooted, I wonder what the human survivors would do and how long before they re-aligned with the natural rhythms of the Earth and world around them?
The Earth seems to be stirring, rumbling as climate change has started to shake the tree and it is only a matter of “time” before there is an another mass extinction and chaos ensuing. We have by our industrialization and terraforming the earth according to our whims and desires created a cascading effect that will only increase in speed and intensity as populations grow and need more space, food and material goods and services. How much can our planet take before something globally catastrophic occurs?
I make no claims of knowing the answer to that question.
Wolfmoon