Time

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about time; the fact that it has been a long time since I have added to this blog; that way in which time incrementally unravels; its constancy in the calculation of value; and the manner in which it continuously, and unerringly chronicles our transition from inception to cessation.

Increasingly complicated machines help to measure time with more precision and accuracy. As our scientific cultures advanced through the ages, we replicated and miniaturized the orderly procession of heavenly bodies once used to track the progression of time; cycles of moon phases replaced by cycles of mainsprings replaced by on-off circuits of semiconductor technology.

The increased resolution of our time-lens has worldly implications. As time is a component of every process, greater detail in our picture of time provides greater information about the event of interest. We are not being merely metaphorical when the CERN Large Hadron Collider is referred to as a time machine; it is a clock of grand proportions able to measure events increasingly close to time zero.

Is there a place where time begins? People with much higher IQ's than I have considered that mathematical potential. However, I prefer to see time as a circle, rather than a line. Like the infinitesimal calculus, as we look more closely at the ultimate limit, we find ourselves never really getting closer to the beginning; the tapestry of life continuously unravels with constant and unending detail as we dive deeper into the Mandelbrot set of knowledge.

But what does it all mean? Why does it matter?

In spite of the infinite nature of time, each of our personal, "this lifetime", experience with time is clearly and unavoidably limited. We exist as we are, far too briefly. Yet we sometimes spend time with abandon, perhaps on frivolous activities, unable to balance the value of living in the present versus planning for the future. For sure, it is not easy to spend time wisely.

There is no "answer" to these questions, but there is a suggestion: be thankful for the time you have been given to live. By taking a few moments each day to acknowledge this limitation, you provide the impetus to savor the day, hour, second, or moment as it arrives, and then passes into the past, offering the opportunity to more greatly appreciate your personal time horizon.