Time for Answers

You may have gathered by now that I have a fascination with TIME. I don’t really know how or why I developed this fascination but perhaps it was when I discovered that, above all else, it is one of the most important aspects in our lives. In fact, to a large extent, it determines what we can and can’t do, imposing restrictions and other conditions. It certainly has a lot to answer for…

In my ‘one day to be published’ book, I have written a whole chapter on time. What I discovered, and what makes sense to me, is that time is actually an illusion; a man-made concept used to explain the changes happening around us at a particular moment.

According to Deepak Chopra (Power, Freedom and Grace) “time is not a thing, it is an idea.” “…time is an illusion; it’s an internal dialogue we use to explain our experience or perception of change and relationship”.

Our bodies respond to our perception of time because our minds have the power to influence how our bodies work. If you are the type of person who is always trying to beat the clock because you have a thousand deadlines, then this feeling may be apparent in your body by some of the following symptoms: increased heart rate, increase in blood pressure and insulin levels. The external feeling of running out of time has manifested in an internal reaction.

If we had no concept of time, would we physically age at the same rate as we do? There has been some evidence to suggest that people who live in remote areas, and are not restricted by time, age at a much slower rate than those, like us, who seem to live all of lives according to the clock. It makes sense that someone with less time pressure is more relaxed and therefore reaps the benefits of being so.

Animals also have no concept of time. Time for them does not exist. They live in the moment, waiting around for when we humans decide it is time to feed them, play with them or walk them.

“Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And because of this, man alone suffers the paralysing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out” (Mitch Albom – The Timekeeper)

Along with my friend ‘time’, the other thing that has even more to answer for is its close relative ‘timing’.

I am a big believer that everything in life happens for a reason; when the time is right. So, who am I to question that?

But that doesn’t stop me from being baffled by the choices ‘timing’ makes. ‘Timing’ is often late to the party, has a wicked sense of humour, and in my opinion is sometimes out of alignment. ‘Timing’ really needs to take a good look at itself and perhaps undergo some recalibration.

Now, that’s just me being cynical!

I know full well that ‘timing’ is always on time and whilst I often want to be in charge, it is ‘timing that has the final say’. ‘Timing’ dictates what and how things will unfold and despite what I may think sometimes, it always has my best interest at heart….and it is in my best interest to trust ‘timing’.

So through my fascination with time and timing, I discovered that I actually have an interest in Physics. Go figure! I am definitely not one for Maths and Science, I much prefer to deal with words, so this interest was certainly new to me.

According to our friend ‘Google’: “Physics is the natural science that studies matter and its motion and behavior through space and time…and that studies the related entities of energy and force. Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines, and its main goal is to understand how the universe behaves”.

So my main interest lies in the last few words…. “how the universe behaves”. Whilst you may think that scientists, and in particular physicists, are a very rational and disciplined bunch who believe that for ‘every positive action there is an equal and opposite reaction’ and spend their entire lives around mathematical formulas to prove their theories, they are in fact much more ‘spiritually aligned’ than they would lead us to believe.

Take Einstein for example. Einstein’s interest was in Quantum Physics/Mechanics. His most famous work is the theory of relatively and the equation E=mc2. With this “he showed that the speed of light within a vacuum is the same no matter the speed at which an observer travels. As a result, he found that space and time were interwoven into a single continuum known as space-time. Events that occur at the same time for one observer could occur at different times for another.”

But even Einstein had to admit that not everything was that easy to explain. In his study of particles and their relationship with each other, he discovered that whilst one would be led to believe that particles have their own form, some particles actually become ‘entangled’ and therefore continue to share the same form even when separated. So these particles, because they have interacted, continue to be affected by one another regardless of the fact that they are separated by time or space. So any action performed on one of the particles will affect the other particle. Einstein referred to this phenomenon as ‘spooky action at a distance’.

I really like this concept. I think it explains a lot about the connections we have with people in our lives and the timing of those connections.

Just like atoms – two people may collide and separate never to meet again. Others may stick together for a little while by virtue of a chemical bond and separate once that bond is broken. But particles that become entangled, are linked by a mysterious phenomenen that deeply connects them regardless of any distance between them. Despite any separation that may exist, these particles are so intricately linked; it’s as if they share the same existence.

One can observe this through life’s friendships and relationships. Some come into your life for a short time, some come to teach you something and others are just so much a part of your life that the connection remains despite the passage of time and the distance in between.

And if you are fortunate to be 'entangled' in this way, you are very lucky indeed! The strange thing is that you only realise they exist as time goes on....there it is again!

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss Maths and Science in my younger days. It’s not so bad after all….