July 23, 2009
-
On Time
Philosophers have explained space. They have not explained time. It
is the inexplicable raw material of everything. With it, all is possible;
without it, nothing. The supply of time is truly a daily miracle, an
affair genuinely astonishing when one examines it. You wake up in
the morning, and lo! your purse is magically filled with twenty-four
hours of the unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is
yours. It is the most precious of possessions. A highly singular
commodity, showered upon you in a manner as singular as the
commodity itself!
For remark! No one can take it from you. It is unstealable. And no
one receives either more or less than you receive.
Talk about an ideal democracy! In the realm of time there is no aristocracy
of wealth, and no aristocracy of intellect. Genius is never rewarded by even
an extra hour a day. And there is no punishment. Waste your infinitely
precious commodity as much as you will, and the supply will never be
withheld from you. No mysterious power will say:–”This man is a fool,
if not a knave. He does not deserve time; he shall be cut off at the meter.”
It is more certain than consols, and payment of income is not affected by
Sundays. Moreover, you cannot draw on the future. Impossible to get into
debt! You can only waste the passing moment. You cannot waste to-
morrow; it is kept for you. You cannot waste the next hour; it is kept for you.-How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day (Arnold Bennett)
Comments (5)
Aww- this makes me feel special!:)
Interesting.
As a great philosopher once said…time keeps on slipping into the future
Ah, philosophy…very interesting, indeed!
but, when you wake up in the morning, the greatest mystery is if you will find all 24 hours in your purse. someone can steal time from you. someone wouldn’t murder you, they would instead steal all your remaining hours. and no one receives more or less than you? what about still born children? their hours are stolen before their first one even begins. and to suggest that nothing would be possible without it would seem folly to me. time is nothing but our perception. philosophers don’t need to explain it, they created it. what we call time is nothing more than our inability to see beyond the linear progression of events. we cannot see past, future, or the suspension of space in time. we can only see the present as we slide from one moment to the next.