Is There Such a Thing As Time?

There is a theory that we all have a lifespan of 2,700,000,000 heartbeats - providing we avoid serious illness or being killed prematurely.

It's the same with all living creatures and explains why some live longer than others.

All species have hearts pumping away at differing rates so determining how long they will live. It's why the lifespan of a cat, for example, is much shorter than us humans.

With forward thinking, and just in case this should be true, I'm writing this in a very relaxed manner - a few saved heartbeats now may come in very useful when I'm Granny Suzie in my nineties.

Isn't this what time means to us? All that matters is how long something takes to do in relation to how long we have got to live. Do we want to spend 78% of what's left moaning and groaning and doing things we don't really want to do? Or should we be indulging a little and giving ourselves and others some pleasure?

if we knew exactly when we were going to die, right from birth, we would live our lives a lot differently.There can be no doubt that most of us waste a lot of our time fretting over trivialities that aren't really important - wouldn't you agree? It's all so silly, but we seem to believe that we have a never ending future.

The unfortunate truth, however, is that we have only about 27,000 days or 650,000 hours to spend. So I suppose we should be trying to use these units wisely. And yet we will most likely squander a large proportion of this priceless commodity.

You know, I bet if we knew exactly when we were going to die, right from birth, we would live our lives a lot differently.

And isn't it true that we can give no better gift to others than our time?

OK, all of this is all well and good, but is there actually such a thing as time and is it the same for all of us? Lets see -

Most likely we'd answer that there must be time because we can watch it tick by on our clocks, but this may not be proof that it exists.

Time is the duration between events, we measure it astronomically with reference to the sun or stars. If, however, nothing moved and there was nothing that changed would there still be time? Kant maintained it is simply something we impose on to reality in order to make the world more comprehensible.

There is so much to ponder, so many questions like: Does time have a beginning and an end? Does it flow in one direction and so on. It's mysterious stuff because it can sometimes appear to be manipulated. Here's something interesting, well I think it is ...

Let's imagine two identical clocks, both accurate and synchronised. Now let's place one on a spaceship travelling away from earth and the other somewhere safe and sound in a secure cupboard, let's say in the Squidoo office. Now when the spaceship finally returns, guess what? The travelling clock will show that less time has elapsed than the clock sitting in the cupboard. It's true!

There is no actuality, there is only our realisation of events and happenings and what we believe is the distance between them.On a simpler level we all notice how time flies when we are having fun. It's the same period, according to our watch, but if we are waiting for something, time drags. Get engrossed in an interest and an hour can tick by in an instant.

If we are making love, look how quickly those seven minutes shoot by, even though the guys will swear it was much, much longer - hours in fact!

Time is an illusion, just like the rest of life. It all depends on how we see it. There is no actuality, there is only our realisation of events and happenings and what we believe is the distance between them.

I've tried to manipulate time a little. When I go on holiday, amongst other things, I never wear a watch. I try to live life as I want, eating when I feel like it, sleeping when I'm tired and so on. This works to a degree, but in reality it's difficult to do. You can't lay on the beach in the sun at night, or go to a club mid morning. So I feel I am still not fully in control of time on holiday.

I have to fit in with a standard day if I want to do certain things. Time is always with us because of how we travel round the sun and the way our minds and bodies have evolved over thousands of years.

The best we can do, to control time in our every day life, is to control what we do with it. Getting organised, in other words. We need lists of jobs, priorities and so on so that we can efficiently get necessities out of the way. This will give us more free time to do what we want - providing we know what that is!

The saddest thing would be for us to reach the end of our natural lives on earth saying, "If only ..."Surely all that matters is that we use the majority of the time we have in, what we personally consider to be, worthwhile and enjoyable ways.

This means deciding what the objectives are for the rest of our lives and then going out and making these happen. This would be something completely different for each one of us.

Some may want to travel, while others would be happy at home raising a family, some may want financial success or fame, while others thirst for knowledge. Whatever, as long as we are true to ourselves, we will have controlled time and put it to the best use.

The saddest thing would be for us to reach the end of our natural lives on earth saying, "If only ..."

I feel that time, while we are 'here', runs in a straight line. Our past is all behind us. 'Now' is where we are and the future stretches out before us. We may possibly, by accident, be able to step sideways in time and see 'other' things but this is not how our lives are designed while living on earth.

The only really important time is now - this moment. The past is gone, though it undoubtably still influences us. The future will be decided by what we do now and what we have done in the past. It's all pretty easy, well it sounds it at least: enjoy and make use of the 'now', it's all we definitely have.

"Time goes, you say. Ah, no!
Alas, time stays, we go."I've just taken my pulse! 59 beats to the minute, which I think is OK. Working on the theory of the set number of heartbeats, I mentioned earlier, that would give me a lifespan of 87.06 years. I was hoping for much longer! Oh yes, but sometimes my heart beat does go up, so that will knock a few years off. Ahh, but it goes down when I sleep. Oh I don't know, but my dear Gran is in her eighties and says her life has gone by in a flash.

Frightening!

Such short lives and yet many of us get bored, shuffle cards or do things to kill time, the very stuff that life is made of. How strange that is.

Right, so what do I 'really' want to do 'now'? It's got to be something that doesn't raise my heartbeat, of course. Oh blow it, guess I can waste a few heartbeats ...

A while back my grandfather, who I called Pops, died and it knocked me for six. I was very close to him and in lots of ways we were very similar.

It got me thinking about life, time, our lifespan and other such things. I read quite a lot on the subject to try and find a few answers. I didn't really reach any conclusions other than what I have written on this lens. So if it's all been a bit self indulgent my apologies.

There's more time stuff after the Guest Book
but first a funny, silly video to lighten the mood
The Goon Show: What Time Is It Eccles?
Pops loved the Goon Show
It's very silly so get ready to giggle!

In youth there is a greater succession of ideas that dominate the mind by their newness and appeal. The duration of consciousness, therefore, between the arbitary time points such as weeks, months and years seem longer.

With advanced age, the succession of dominant ideas decreases. The duration between time points, consequently, appears considerably shortened to the consciousness.

Thank you so much for your visit

Here are some of my other lenses:

Is There Life After Death?
My Love For Cheesecake Recipes
My Love For Marmite Recipes
Chocolate And Being A Chocoholic
Suzie's Household Tips
Suzie's English Mustard Talk
The Ludo Board Game Fantasy
Helen Flanagan Pictures
My Embarrassing Experience With Smirnoff Vodka
Suzie