Time is all that allows one to create, invent and measure the change, civilization, prosperity, development, sustainability, progress and owns all precious things ever imagined in life. In fact, time is the mother to every step towards success and every experiment taking place. If we link our internal feelings and take objects as they are in themselves then time is the root to its physical appearance or creation. So, time is an illusion to the world creativities and inventions; it is better to use it properly and spend it with care and caution.
However, one of the greatest deluders of mankind, time has puzzled everyone from philosophers and poets to the modern day scientists. However, examining the concept of time under pure logical thought, time is an imaginary and illusionary concept invented by man to measure change, progress and any form of civilization and inventions. It has no real existence physically but has the power to create physical materials for every comfort of life. Only change is real and time is merely an imaginary concept invented to measure and compare change and control both of them.
In order to test this opinion, we can perform an interesting thought experiment. Let us imagine a universe where there is only one utterly unchanging piece of rock and absolutely nothing else beyond it. In this system, there is no change. The rock stays as it is forever. Curiously, we also notice that in such a universe, time has no meaning or relevance! Even if we substitute the single piece of rock with multiple galaxies, which however do not change at all in any way, still the concept of time is understood emphatically as meaningless.
Thus, we see clearly that time alone cannot stand on its own without the crutches of change. Change alone is real and it is possible when one takes good care of it. The concept of cosmic time, real and flowing forever from past to future, independent of everything else is nothing but one of the greatest of mass illusions affecting mankind and his all future! If time is understood to be an illusion, then the concepts of past, present and future are also nothing but illusions and we should feel sorry for those dreamy folk who invest much thought and even money to invent a time machine to fix things and even our life! None the less, to say it will always remain in their brains as a fantasy but you must realize that only fantasy gives birth to your every desire and biggest ambitions in life.
Here we have to be clear that though the imaginary concept of time is useful to us as a way of measuring changes in our daily life, it becomes counterproductive and downright dangerous when we accept it as one of the basic units of physics. In Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, time is treated as a real though relative entity. It combines with three dimensional spaces to form four dimensional space-times. In Einstein’s universe time can expand, contract and perform other curious gymnastics. The very fact that it is relative indicates it’s not absolute and has illusory nature and is the first step towards understanding it as a man made concept with no existence in the actual physical universe.
The concept of time originated because of man’s comparison of all observed processes and changes to the rotation of the earth on its axis, the revolution of earth around the sun, year and the phases of the moon, month in some cultures. Other entities such as hours, minutes and seconds were obtained by subjectively subdividing the day.
In fact, time is a free force. It does not wait for anyone. It is commonly said that time and tides wait for no man. Time is money. A minute not usefully spent is an eternal loss. You can never get back the lost minute. One has to strike the iron when it is hot. The time flies and never returns. If you waste time, it wastes you and wastes your future and all your desire and ambitions.
The ever present consciousness of its mortality and the observance of ever changing nature gradually led man to submit more and more to the domination of time. He started to fear his own Frankenstein creation and began to regard this child of his mind as the ultimate reality of the beautiful universe!
Thus, the concept of change signifies nothing but the everlasting kaleidoscopic dance of energy in the universe. The phantom of time arose from the seemingly never ending sequence of cause and effect, which we see in our world. The movement and transformation of energy and matter is the ultimate cause of all changes in the universe.
In essence, time is the conscious awareness of change. For us to perceive the flow of time, both consciousness and change are absolutely necessary. Does a dead body or an inert stone perceive time? On the other hand, the more conscious we are in a situation; more acutely is felt the passage of time. Now, we can understand why a watched kettle boils slowly!
What is the great intellectual leap and practical benefits in destroying the mass illusion of time? First, we may advance to a much more real understanding of our world by accepting and thoroughly analyzing the role of energy and ultimately consciousness as the fundamental principles of the universal truth existed in each one of us.
Treating time merely as a subjective phenomenon means that we can control, delay or even reverse the process of aging in our bodies. Aging has to be understood as just another process or change involving energy flow and transformation obeying the second law of thermodynamics. But unlike the imaginary flow of time, the flow and direction of energy changes can be altered by us!
We may continue to use time for all practical purposes in the world without forgetting the essential and elemental fact that time is a creation of man and not of nature. Time lives in us, not we in time. Time is the power to changes every circumstances. So, use the time to create, invent and persuade every positive change you want in life.