Each second, minute, hour, day, week, and so on is measured identically and repetitively. Humans survive off of the reliance of time and the concept integrates its way into our daily lives without us even realizing it.
What time is it? What time do you want to meet? Appointment time. More time. Less time. Need time. It takes time. Time to heal. Time to think. This much time to live. This much time till death. Spare time. Night time.
These are all phrases we spew out of our mouths as often as we think about the daunting idea. The reality is, as mortal, finite beings we are all victims oppressed by the symbolism of the ticking clock.
But I don’t think there’s a reason to be.
On Earth, of course, time is a constant. It’s dependable and acts as a loyal friend to society. We know it will continue for as long as there are people to use it up. It will always be a source of documentation and proof of progress as well as sustainable life itself.
But if you zoom out of our familiar world and into the vacuum of deep space, these “rules” that we so heavily depend on vanish completely. For instance, one aspect of Einstein’s theory of special relativity describes how time slows as velocity in outer space increases. Once it reaches the speed of light, clocks and time halt altogether. The nearer objects are to the speed of light, the more warped time becomes. The clock ticks away at different rates depending on the speed at which the observer is traveling. If a spacecraft were moving at 99.5 percent the speed of light, a potential observer looking in at the craft would perceive time to be ten times slower than the astronaut inside would.
I think that the phobias and pressures we feel from time can be minimized if we realize the idea is about perception, just as it is close to the speed of light. It is only as intimidating as we recognize it to be.
The passing of time, the cycle of life and death, and our existence amounting to a short breath in comparison to the age of our universe are all inevitable. Our construction of time is only a marker of what already is, has been, and will continue to be far beyond our knowledge.
If we take the time (no pun intended) we are granted here on Earth to acknowledge the simple, fleeting moments that we often overlook, we could slow the conception of our personal clocks down just as the observer of the spacecraft does. We may not have the power to travel at the speed of light and physically witness time stop, but we do have the ability to change perceptions in our own lives.
