Do you need time?

The content explores the abstract concept of time, emphasizing its eternal nature and the human tendency to measure and divide it. It discusses life spans, societal attachments to time, and the desire for more time despite knowing its end is inevitable. The narrative advocates for living a detached life to reduce dissatisfaction.

---

Do I need time? Certainly not. Why do I need it? Time, we have been told since childhood, is precious. It must not be wasted but used judiciously. Well, it is correct but before saving it or using it judiciously, it must be known about time. What is this all about, and what is its physical appearance? Has anyone seen it or experienced it? The answer, I’m afraid, in all probability would be negative. Then why the cry and clamour for a thing which does not exist physically?

Time is Eternal

Time is eternal. Human beings have coined the phrase to make a mental figure of something that is abstract and has no boundaries. Time existed when the earth was not in existence; it was existent when the earth was simmering hot and humid; it existed when the earth reeled under the tremendous pressures of the massive body weight of huge lizards – Dinosaurs. It is now; it will be in the future. We can say whatever is occurring is under the framework of time.

What is Time

Defining time is a daunting task. The invisible but valuable because of the imaginary limits, time has been considered important since antediluvian. Humans found a pattern in the rising sun and the setting sun. They observed that the rising sun brings light, hope and opportunity to do something. They call it a day. Similarly, the setting sun brought them darkness and, after the hard days’ work, time to rest. Gradually, they learned to graduate the time in units of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks and then years. The gradual understanding of the pattern of solar and lunar appearance gave them clues to divide time according to the movement of celestial bodies. They observed a definite time gap between the waxing and waning of the moon, their gibbous and also their pattern. This helps them understand time.

(B) Scaling Time

Based on their observation, our sagacious primogenitor were capable of compartmentalizing the time in manageable scales, the smallest workable unit became second. It persisted in all systems of scaling like MKS (Meter, Kilogram, Second) CGS ( Centimeters, Gram, Seconds) and FPS (Foot, Pound Seconds) systems. Now we can measure the time conveniently with the help of time measuring device, principally a watch.

(C) Second is the Unit of Time

The amount of work and its level of difficulty in a unit of time determines the amount of time involved in a task. If a person studies and works for self-improvement, it has to be completed in a given amount of time. An examinee is usually given three hours to solve a question paper. The time limit is a constraint that has to be kept in mind while taking up the task of solving the question paper in the stipulated time. This gap, we call it time, is invisible but plays a crucial role in performing a task – be it simple or complex.

(D) Life-Span

As has been said earlier, human beings learned to divide time into manageable units. They observed that a living being has a span of life. It ranged from a few hours to several years. This span was termed life. In their learning journey, philosophers, scientists and thinkers propounded many theories. Some say time consists of small packets (Quanta), while some consider it a linear phenomenon that occurs between two occurrences. It is clear that time travels unidirectional in a linear fashion. It does not has start or end. It is our convenience that people have divided it into segments of various sizes to fit in our need of amount of “time”.

(E) Time travels Linearly

The life span mentioned above is the amount of time an object (animate or inanimate) takes to finish a task or life. Every individual has a particular life span, and the average span of life of human beings depends upon various factors. Presently, the average life expectancy of human beings is about 75 years. It is thus clear that a human being, on average, would have an opportunity to live for about 75 years, which translates to approximately 2,36,68,20,000 seconds. This much of the time is with a human being to live and carry out his task.

(F) Why are We Not Satisfied

Are human beings satisfied with the time they have been allocated? No, they are not. It is because of the attachment to the temporal world, which, though mundane, lures and develops a sense of sybaritic pleasure. This tendency hinders the peaceful termination of life. Even a serial killer who has taken several lives does not want to kick the bucket. He requires a few more moments standing on the gallows or sitting on an electric chair, waiting for the surge of high voltage current to pass through.

Why Seeking More Time?

Time ends abruptly. It does not give space to adjust or finish the work in hand. A person does not want to die because s/he has to finish some social obligations of marriage, plan a family and have children. He does not want to die because his son is not settled then he seeks further time yo see the face of his/her grand children. It goes on ad nauseum. Now they have invented imagination to increase their lives by desiring fictious things like the one in the form of this prompt. End has to come and it would come for sure. As time travels linearly, that can’t be a perpetual loop. The line has to end.

Four Phases of Life

In Indian culture, life is divided into phases to reducelust for life. The four phases were (a) Brahmachari, (b) Grihasth, (c) Vanprasth, and (d) Sanyas. Starting from celibacy to end up in retreat to deep forest for the end had been coined to lead a balanced and ordained life. Each stage had certain duties and obligations to finish before life’s end.

Living a Detached Life

In modern time, though retreating to forests is impossible to take up, but it can be taken up theoretically by cutting down the bandage of lust and attachments. If we can live a detached life, most of our problems would be solved which are the outcome of expectations and attachments. The woes of parent would wane if they stop interfering the life of their grown up siblings. They have their lives and desires;  have rights to live their life on their own. Undue interference not feel good to them starting a chain reaction of dissatisfaction and commotion.

Part away With Grace

Everything has an end. Life is not an exception. People need to bear in mind that they have to go and they ought to take it up sportingly without grudges. Good or bad, everyone lives life in their way. Now, the time has come to say adieu to the world. We played our part, now it is the turn of our children to take the stage. We must part away with grace without wanting to get more time.

What is your take? Please comment on it and give your feedback in the comment box below.

-END-