It never ceases to amaze me how much we take for granted time.

We measure our entire world in time, be it short like seconds, minutes, and hours or long like years, decades, centuries and so forth.

Our perception of time, though, is quite the wonder of our wondrous world.  Because how we perceive time versus the actuality of time can vary so wildly, and so incredibly.

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”  – Albert Einstein

Time is often not simply the passing minutes and days, but things that seem to take forever or happen almost instantaneously.  Like boiling water or driving from this place to that or waiting for an interview and such.  Isn’t it incredible how no matter how long these things actually take, our perception of them can be so variable?
We relate our world to so many aspects of time. We measure our age, the hours of the day, whether we are early, late, or on time, and the passages of nearly every aspect of life almost obsessively.  We are constantly checking clocks, checking watches, even the passage of the sun during the day to make sure we don’t “waste” time or “abuse” time.

“Time is the reef upon which all our frail mystic ships are wrecked.”  – Noel Coward

I am frequently amazed by just how I find myself “running out of time” every week in relation to this column.  I don’t leave enough “time” in my day, or my week, in order to focus on and give these posts the attention they deserve.  In fact, this whole wondrous world topic was inspired by my thoughts about taking some time to put more focus on a post here.

But how do I use my time?  How obsessed over the minutes, hours, days and further am I, and do these distract me from appreciating the world around me?  That is something to not be neglected when it comes to time – how over-reliant on it am I?

How do other animals perceive time?  They don’t have chronographic devices accurate to milliseconds on their wrists or as part of their communication devices – and yet they seem to get along just fine in this world.  How come we have developed this unique and compartmentalized sense of time?

“Lost time is never found again.” – Benjamin Franklin

Measuring time in the way we do is both a blessing and a curse.  Like pretty much everything we experience in life, it is truly moderation we need to practice in order to appreciate time and its benefits.  In particular when balanced against its negatives.

For good or ill, time and how we perceive it is an undeniable wonder of our wondrous world.

“Time is an illusion.  Lunch time doubly so.” – Douglas Adams

 

I am MJ Blehart, “Wednesday’s Wondrous World” writer/photographer.  Every week I share a magical wonder of this amazing world, and I hope you will enjoy the journey with me!

Check out my blog, The Ramblings of a Titanium Don, for more of my work.

Also now available, Pathwalking: A 21st Century Philosophy in Book and Kindle form!