It has been written, “Time is a manmade construct.” Scientifically speaking this is true and Einstein’s “Theory of Relativity” addressed this point. Einstein wrote, “The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” We’ve learned that time can be distorted at the edges of black holes, yet we are deeply impacted by this “illusion” in our existence.
Our lives are shaped by our experiences and our own willingness to examine our pasts so as to live a better future. We mark our time by the things we have done and the people who have touched our lives. I can’t wrap my head around this time thing, though. My elder friends told me how fast life goes and they really weren’t kidding. When I was young, I thought I’d live forever and time seemed to pass so slowly. Now people have come and gone from my life and decades are marked by major events, places and people who shaped them. I scratch my head and ask “where has it all gone?”
My young twenty-something niece just got engaged! I thought to myself, “Damn, time is fleeting. It dissipates into thin air like a snowflake melting on the skin. It seemed like yesterday she was climbing into toilets and wreaking havoc getting into the pantries to find “toys” she could play with like bowls and mixers. Now she’s an intelligent, artful chef making chicken alfreddo from scratch and creating cuisine that divinely evokes pleasure for all the senses.
My niece has a dalmatian and this dog could care less about time. Although he has the attention span of a small child on a constant sugar high, I watch him and he is not worried about where he needs to be or any obligations. He’s a puppy and spent “time out” in the box for committing a “doggy crime.” I don’t know if he knew how long he was in there. At any rate, he knows what he needs to do to survive. Like the quiet grumpy old dog, whose days are numbered, his duty is to offer unconditional love and affection, so his human will continue to feed him and keep him alive. He’ll live for the time he has.
Human beings on the other hand are born with a restlessness. St. Augustine wrote, “My heart is restless, Oh Lord, until it rests in thee.” Father Ron Rolheiser put it in another way: “It’s rare that we find ourselves truly inside of the present moment. Why? Because of the way we are built. We are overcharged for this world. When God put us into this world, as the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us, he put “timelessness” into our hearts and because of that we don’t make easy peace with our lives.”
Unfortunately, we become beholden to time. Sadly, some of us are stuck in the past, while others are living in the future, but the goal, as asserted by most world religions, is to live in the present. The goal is to become “unstuck in time.”
I borrow this phrase from the great writer Kurt Vonnegut who depicted a character, Billy Pilgrim, in his autobiographical novel “Slaughterhouse Five,” which was about his time surviving the bombing of Dresden in WWII. In the book Billy, who becomes “unstuck in time,” is able to jump to and from past and present experiences. He’s a man leapfrogging in and out of worm holes of experiences to make sense of his crazy life.
This act of becoming “unstuck” lends itself to the powerful experience of life itself. When I examine life as onething, I see what time has done to me:
As years pass and the wounds of personal experience and the tumultuous trials mark my face and score themselves in the wrinkles of skin, I have learned that these scars are rings of honor and to be worn with pride. Like a tree that bears the rings of time, every wrinkle in and of itself has marked an experience and passage of time. These eyes have witnessed the evolution of humanity; the rise and fall of empires, technology’s progress and the tenuous grips of modernity taking hold of us and guiding us into the future. My eyes have seen injustice wreaking havoc but the “arc of history bending toward justice.”
I’ve listened and appreciated the wisdom of elders. When I consider the time of my grandfather’s life, whom I spoke with as often as I could, I have learned from a man who was born in the 19th century. As we venture headlong into the 21st century, I realize there were things he experienced in his time that were limited by the inventions that served his generation. A farmer and country store owner, in the grand scheme of things, he lived during a time where photographs were few and far between. These days, people are recording and marking every moment of their lives by placing them on “timelines” and marking their evolution on social media. My grandfather was born in a time without radio or television and airplanes. They relied on newspapers and good old fashioned snail mail for connecting with one another.
Transitory experiences produce an understanding for every soul venturing into a deeper chasm of being. I’ve heard my influence in my students who have used my words to help others understand. I’ve been informed by my elders whose understanding shaped their character and virtues. History serves no purpose if we have not learned from those who have gone before us.
As I sniff the beauty of this life, I try to live in the present; taste and see the goodness of life in its totality and reside in the heart of understanding that I am here right now; a survivor. Breathe. Ah, yes, I am “unstuck in time.”
spirit beat 