Time In

                                             

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.ⁱ

Kohelet was philosophical in its delineation of the events of life, and our need to accept them as necessary and unchangeable features of our existence. Birth, death, killing, healing, planting and harvesting are aspects of our lives that will always be around, and we can only benefit from that knowledge.

Shakespeare spoke in poetic terms when he outlined the ages and stagesⁱⁱ of man in “As You Like It,”ⁱⁱⁱ but he, too, employed descriptive terms without any real attempt to address the causes of these stages, or any actions that people might take to take advantage of his time or what, in fact, the time meant.^iv

Perhaps more practical even if only a few could understand it, Einstein weighed in on the issue of time. In his discussion of relativity he told us that time isn't fixed but varies with the speed and location of the observers of phenomena. His work, though theoretical, has been demonstrated to be correct, however much others, in search of fame, try to disprove him.^v

Even a more pragmatically descriptive and physiologic cataloging of human life leaves us with more questions than answers. There's no denying that language learning, frontal lobe development, sexual development, physical strength, wisdom, and old age occur at different times relating to frontal lobe maturation, hormonal secretion, and telomere length among the clinical explanations, and learning, experience, and observation derived from living itself. But although this may help us understand the passage of time, and its implications, a little better, it doesn't touch on the “nitty-gritty” of our everyday lives.

As for that nitty-gritty, we don't pay much attention to time – except to be sure we don't miss some television programs. And until that show is on we'll while the time away.

Actually we spend most of our time with the whiling and with our wishes. Whether we're waiting for summer vacation, the weekend, the kids to go to sleep, or just the completion of some unpleasant task, better times are always ahead. Little attention is paid to the idea that each moment changes us and brings us closer to death. And as we while our time away and wish that some unpleasant time or task would be completed, we are really leaving the past behind and reaching for our end.

Thomas Wolfe pointed out that “You Can't Go Home Again”; that home looks different. Physical and human changes have occurred. The houses, stores, streets, and even the vacant areas – both building lots and open land – are nothing like what you remember. What you once might have overlooked as the day-to-day differences which go on everywhere and aren't worthy of note or mention, add up, and when, after a long absence, you revisit your past, it doesn't conform to what you thought you left.

People have aged, died, and moved. It's not the same. All you're left with is nostalgia, and, as Yogi Berra said, “Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.”^vi

Not only has the place you once called “home” changed, though, but so have you. Certainly your age has changed, but so have your views and your place in life. There have been changes in your family and your friends, as well as in your level of education and employment status. And time flows in only one direction. Whatever you may have read in science fiction stories, whatever you may have seen in the movies or on television, you can't return it or yourself to what you remember.

That's not always bad, though. I suspect the some of your past would now be disappointing or, in some instances, awkward. Progress and experience temper many earlier embarrassing situations. Sometimes the passage of the years has treated old hurts. As Dorothy Parker is reported to have quipped, “Time wounds all heels.”

In any event, such speculation is meaningless. There's no going back. Maybe that's sad; maybe it's depressing. But that's the way it is. Home is where you hang your hat. Now. “You only go around once.”^vii The past may live in your memory, but nowhere else. And the stages described by Kohelet^viii and Shakespeare, however archaically phrased, are all we have. Use the season and the time well.

Next episode: “The First Step” – Atoning for the past, or accepting it.

 

i      Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 3:1

ii      Periods, not proscenia and their environs.

iii    Act II Scene VII. It's part of a famous speech that begins: “All the world's a stage ...” (Proscenium and its environs, not a period.)

iv    Perhaps a future essay will discuss “meaning” itself. For the moment just go with whatever interpretation seems to work here.

v     The phenomenon is comparable to what you see in western movies when someone wants to outdraw “the fastest gun in the west.” In this circumstance, however, professional death is often substituted for the physical kind.

vi     Yogi Berra is worth reading. His words seem comical, but the ideas they depict are often quite deep.

vii    At least in this world. If, however, you believe in reincarnation, ...

viii   “The Preacher” in Kohelet.