Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? A Meditation on the Mystery of Time

Archdiocese of Washington ^ | 12-31-15 | Msgr. Charles Pope

[Salvation]

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? A Meditation on the Mystery of Time

Msgr. Charles Pope December 31, 2015

I open our New Year's Eve late night Mass (11:15 PM) with the observation that we begin Mass in one year and end in the next. New Year's Eve highlights the mysterious passage between years. In a way I suppose it is no more mysterious than the passage from Thursday to Friday or from 10:00 AM to 10:01 AM.

In one sense, nothing could be simpler than time. I might ask you, "What time is it?" You might reply, "It's 1:15." Simple! But time has mysteries about it.

What is time? Some say it's merely a measure of change. But that doesn't really make a lot of sense because change doesn't occur at a steady pace at all.

Some say it's just another way of measuring distance in the space-time continuum. Time and distance are certainly related. To look out at the stars at night is to look into the past; it has taken millions of years for the light from some stars to reach us over vast distances through the vacuum of space. Even the light from our sun is eight minutes old before it reaches us.

But there's more to time than distance and we all know it. There are several different words for time in Greek. Chronos refers to clock time. Kairos encompasses a complex notion of time experienced subjectively. Sometimes ten minutes can seem like an hour, but there are other times when an hour can pass by swiftly. Further, things can seem fitting at certain times but not at others. Kairos thus expresses an elastic notion of time. Lastly, there is aeon (eternity, or the fullness of time). I'll comment more on aeon below.

Every year at this point I ponder the mystery of time, probably because time is so much on our minds. As I do so, I am mindful that most of us think we know what time is until we're asked to define it in some meaningful way. It reminds me of what St Augustine once said about another mystery: the Trinity. If someone asks me to define time I am tempted quote St. Augustine: "If you don't ask me, I know. If you ask me, I don't know." So time, while plain and simple at one level is mysterious at others.

I cannot list all such mysteries, but consider a few:

1. The Mystery of Time's Elasticity -- We like to think that time is unvarying, that 10 minutes here is the same as 10 minutes there. But science has largely disproved that. For example, as an object approaches the speed of light, time slows down. Further, strong gravitational forces also slow down time. On a very large planet with strong gravitational forces I would age less rapidly than on a smaller planet. Granted, it would take a huge difference in speed or gravity to be able to observe much of a difference, but the law of relativity does demonstrate that time does not pass equally everywhere. In a way, it is almost like a comparing a large, lumbering elephant to a tiny mouse. As the mouse scurries across the floor (pursued by my cat!) its speed is amazing, almost as if the mouse were operating in a different time frame.
2. The Mystery of Life Spans -- Why are the life spans of different species so different? Like me, my cat Daniel is a mammal; our physiology is quite similar in most respects. Yet his clock is likely to expire after about 15 years while mine is more likely to make it closer to 80 years. Certain turtles can live up to 150 years. Many types of parrots can live to be over 100, while other birds live only 10 to 15 years. Most fish live only a few years, but carp can live up to 100 years. We all seem to have a clock, a designated life span. But that life span seems quite variable even among very similar animals. We seem to carry the mystery of time within us. I have never heard a satisfying explanation of the wide variability in life spans.
3. The Mystery of our "Inner Clock" -- Most of our demarcations of time are clearly rooted in the celestial cycle. A day is the cycle of the earth rotating on its axis. A year is the cycle of the earth orbiting the sun. A month (a least originally) is rooted in the cycle of the moon orbiting the earth ("month" is just a mispronunciation of “moonth”). Seasons result from the earth's trajectory around the sun as well as the tilt of the earth's rotational axis in relation to the plan of its orbit. More mysterious is the 7-day cycle we call the "week." Where does it come from? Human beings in most cultures seem to have a need to "reset the clock" every seven days. The Genesis account of creation in seven days, surely influenced the Judeo-Christian culture, but other cultures show a similar tendency toward seven days. Where does the seven-day week come from? It's mysterious. As humans, we seem have some inner clock that needs resetting at about that frequency.
4. The Mystery of Eternity -- Lastly, there is the mystery of what we call "eternity." Most people misunderstand the word simply to mean a very long time. But that is not what is meant by the word. When the Greeks coined the word eternity (aeon) they meant by it "the fullness of time." Eternity is the past, present, and future all being experienced at once. I cannot tell you what this is like but I can illustrate it. Look at the graphic of the clock at the upper right. It shows 2:00 (let's assume in the afternoon). That means that 10:00 AM is in the past while 6:00 PM is in the future. But consider the dot at the center of the clock. At that spot, 10:00 AM, 2:00 PM, and 6:00 PM are all the same; they are equally present to the center. We live our life in serial time, on the outer edge of the clock. But God does not; He lives in eternity. God lives in the fullness of time. For God, the past and the future are the same as the present. God is not "waiting" for things to happen. All things just are. God is not waiting and wondering whether you or I will get to Heaven. He is not watching history unfold like a movie. In eternity, thousands of years ago is just as present as is thousands of years from now. Scripture hints at God's eternity in numerous passages.

But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day (2 Peter 3:8).

Your eyes foresaw my actions; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be (Ps 139, 15).

For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night (Ps 90:4).

And then there is simply the God's name: "I AM." In this name there is no past and no future, just an eternal now (the present tense). Jesus declared to the crowds, Before Abraham ever was, I AM (John 8:58). So here is the most awesome mystery of time: the fullness of time, eternity.

Ponder God's glory and the mystery of time!

Here's a remarkable video on the mystery of time:

[twister881]

I like the formulation of the Moody Bible Institute video: God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent...all powerful, all knowing, all present. Because, as Einstein revealed, space and time are inextricably linked in a multidimensional continuum, God at once exists in the past, present, and future — “I am.”

Helps me cope with grief over the loss of loved ones, especially my parents. They are with God, and time is all-present for them, as well. From that perspective, it means all who are saved by the Blood of the Savior already are joined together in Paradise. It’s only for those of us in the mortal phases of our lives who experience the passage of time and feel the longing and loss, when in fact we already have Eternal life.

Well, at least that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Happy New Year!

[outofsalt]

" I might ask you, "What time is it?" (I) might reply, "I don't know, I'm not from around here."
~Mitch Hedburg rip

[hecticskeptic]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ga_M5Zdn4

Turn! Turn! Turn!

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together

To everything - turn, turn, turn

There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sow
A time to love, a time to hate
A time of peace, I swear it’s not too late!

[HangnJudge]

Some physicists believe time is a function of Entropy

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_(arrow_of_time)

[hecticskeptic]

This what the first song is that comes to mind when thinking about ‘time’....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHfB63ln1Ig

Time has come today

Time has come today
Young hearts can go their way
Can’t put it off another day
I don’t care what others say
They say we don’t listen anyway
Time has come today
(Hey)

Oh
The rules have changed today (Hey)
I have no place to stay (Hey)
I’m thinking about the subway (Hey)
My love has flown away (Hey)
My tears have come and gone (Hey)
Oh my Lord, I have to roam (Hey)
I have no home (Hey)
I have no home (Hey)

Now the time has come (Time)
There’s no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)
I’ve been loved and put aside (Time)
I’ve been crushed by the tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)

(Time)
Now the time has come (Time)
There are things to realize (Time)
Time has come today (Time)
Time has come today (Time)

Time [x11]

Oh
Now the time has come (Time)
There’s no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)
I’ve been loved and put aside (Time)
I’ve been crushed by tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)

(Time)
Now the time has come (Time)
There are things to realize (Time)
Time has come today (Time)
Time has come today (Time)

Time [x4]
Yeah

[Noumenon]

Yes we do

[Noumenon]

First thing I thought of, too.

[Carthego delenda est]

“I was trying to illustrate that the present is only a moment before it, almost instantly, moves into the past and the future, almost immediately, moves into the present, for a moment, before that too moves into the past.
Confusing, isn’t it?”

Eternity is but a moment...

[elcid1970]

“Time is:

“Too slow for those who wait,
“Too swift for those who fear,
“Too long for those who grieve,
“Too short for those who rejoice,
“But for those who Love, Time is Eternity.”

“Hours Fly, Flowers Die, New Days, New Ways, Pass By, Love Stays.”

An inscription often found on sundials, from a poem by

- Henry Van Dyke, d. 1933

[Georgia Girl 2]

“God, who exists outside the time continuum.”

This is the salient point to remember.

[samtheman]

The 3 arrows of time:

1. Psychological. We remember only the past, not the future.
2. Entropy. Always increases overall as time moves forward.
3. Cosmological. Universe expands into the future. (This one might need some qualification in some other universe, but definitely the case in ours.)

[HangnJudge]

Time is the School in which we Learn
Time is the Fire in which we Burn

[Syncro]

Someone once described time as a parade.

We are watching from one place on the route, and thus see the whole parade.

But, God, who exists outside of time, watches it (time as illustrated as a parade) from above so sees it from the beginning to the end.

Time was created, came into being, when God created the sun, moon, planets etc.

Made sense to me!

[onedoug]

Time is the difference twixt now and then.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Also much of the lyrics to “Time Is”, on It’s a Beautiful Day’s eponymous album, from about 1968 or so. Was just listening to it a few weeks ago. Great drum solo.

[jmacusa]

“Time was invented so that everything didn’t happen at once.’’ Albert Einstein.

[BlueLancer]

Time renews tomorrow,
When we've used today.
It will find the sorrow
And wash it all away.

Love can play a new tune
On this carousel.
It may be tomorrow,
But only time will tell.

Somewhere in the darkness
There must be a light,
Leading us together
Through the misty night.

And maybe in the new dawn
We can break the spell.
It may be tomorrow,
But only time will tell.

There can be a new dream,
One for us to hold.
Wait with peace and hope
And it may finally hold.

No one has the answer
To give away or sell.
Tomorrow holds the secret,
But only time will tell.

Only Time Will Tell
Wizards

[buckalfa]

Time is nebulous, However as a grandparent of a three year old, never ask the child what time is it, You will get the Mr. Grouper song singing it's time to go outside.

[Mastador1]

Ah, good old Ralph Bakshi! Good thing you didn’t find something from “Fritz The Cat”.

[Ditter]

Time doesn’t matter to me. One of my favorite songs.