Time - Vacuum or Repository? Is today 1/1/09 or 09/1/1?

I should be vacuuming the dust bunnies this morning. Instead, I'm pondering time. Is time a giant vacuum, sucking the very life and soul out of the Earth and its inhabitants, pulling it all into a giant vacuum bag in the Ethers and then depositing it in the Big Trash Heap of The Cosmos. Or is it like a giant repository, storing it all in giant Bins of Memory? Keeping every thought, every cell, every moment forever locked in a time/space continuum for future's past reference? As the cogs whirled, I figured they're the same thing. What's different is only in how we *think* they're different or the same. Anyway, I drifted into sleep (well after midnight) thinking that today 1/1/09 is the inverse of 9-1-1. It gave me pause. I figured that it's a possibility that the world *could* end today. Not probable, but possible. Since 1/1/09 is opposed to 09/1/1, it would seem to be a time of construction rather than destruction. Hope rather than despair. A New Year, a beginning and an end all wrapped up in the collision of an old greying man and a small pink baby. So, I laughed in the face of the dust bunnies. If the world should end, who cares if the dust is in the vacuum bag or under the sofa? Last night, in the U.S., one second of time was "added" to the official New Year countdown clock. This was done for a number of reasons, but suffice to say that the Giant Heads in charge of the atomic clock of precise time said it had to be so, due to fluctuations in the axis of the Earth. I can't think about this, as it hurts somewhere in my brain to do so. Did they go "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 1 ... Happy New Year!" Or would that actually take away time? They withheld the "official" start to the New Year.

Rather than "adding" a second of time, it took away something. Then, to really confuse it all, it's called a "leap" second. Don't you generally go forward during a leap? (Unless you're falling off a cliff.) If you go forward, you gain; but, as noted ... sometimes you lose! You see my inability to perceive this in any rational manner? The world should be very happy that I am *not* mathematically inclined and probably hopeless in advanced physics. I would *so* stink at monitoring the ominous-sounding "atomic clock." Well, Rome was not built in a day and my logical brain will have to mature in another life. Here's how they explain it. Sort of:

If scientists did not periodically correct the difference between the atomic clock and Earth's rotation, within a few hundred years the position of the sun in the sky would noticeably differ with the time on your kitchen clock, an aspect of earthly timekeeping that has caused much consternation historically, vexing everyone from Julius Caesar to Pope Gregory XIII. So, in 1972, an international agreement decreed that instead of continually revising the definition of a second, atomic clocks would be adjusted by adding a leap second each time an appreciable discrepancy was detected by observations made at the International Earth Rotation Service in Paris. Since then, 24 leap seconds have been added, either on June 30 or Dec. 31; the last one was tacked on in 2005.

At that rate, "it will be 5,040 years before we gain an extra hour," Novick says. (.. from Time.com)


[original atomic clock -- 1949]
So, time. I wondered this morning about time. Time waits for no man. Time and tide. Time to go. Time for supper. Time to begin. Time for bed. Time and again. Time after time. Timeless. A matter of time. Time conquers all. Time heals all wounds. Time wounds all heels. It's about time! Time's a-wasting.

Time is money. A stitch in time saves nine. No time like the present. I asked the children for their "definition" of time.

Orion, Asperger Syndrome, Dinosaur expert and fanatic: 11 years old: I don't know how to describe it! It's like a game.
Ben, Kanner's Autism: 10 years old: It's like jazz music (nonverbal, he shows a jazz music trio playing.) Then, he points to "Teach Your Children Well" (a phrase in an ad) (this is how Ben communicates. He answers with songs, phrases, point outs in books, magazines, clips of movie trailers ... whatever is on hand in the moment. It's incredible to be a part of that.)
Sarah, Queen of Candyland, Trivial Pursuit, and most games: 9 years old, going on 40: Um, I don't know! It's numbers and it shows us when to do things.

So, we have a game involving numbers and music. This requires more time to think! lol I've often thought of jazz music as a bit chaotic, but there is order to that apparent chaos. Each part is orderly and flows in rhythmic patterns. Much like the chronological aspects of measuring time. And yet in music, there is that ethereal-mystical, qualitative, elusive, orderly yet appearing random sequences of numerical vibrations. Pythagoras would have loved my children!

There's the beauty, as well, in my son who is severely autistic. He is not bound by our time-keeping. He has an ethereal quality that is breathtaking, when not constrained by our need to "time" things, events, places to go, where to be. He floats in gentles circles around and around - sometimes to his own unheard drummer or song and sometimes to the musical beats of diverse artists. Much like a clock with no beginning and no end. Just a flowing, soothing, rhythmic circle. Very much at peace with himself. Very much present in the here and now. As far as I can tell, no thoughts to the past ... no concerns for the future. All right now.

But time, in essence, is very difficult to define. When time meets our sensate bodies, it can be unforgettable. Like a diarrhea attack in a long traffic jam.

We can describe it by its function, its purpose ... but to pinpoint a precise definition produces a brain glitch. A mental block. A brain fart. Lots of head scratching. ::scritch scritch scritch:::

"What, then, is time? I know well enough what it is, provided that nobody asks me; but if I am asked what it is and try to explain, I am baffled." (Saint Augustine, AD 354-430, Confessions 11.14).

Time rules perception

Chronos is Time, a god who has never been underrated. For all-consuming Time, who for the human mind increases endlessly, cannot in any way be separated from the orderly experience of life, which is not conceivable without him. Therein lies the power of this god, who rules, not only the appearance of things—making them look newer or older—, but also the Soul, who would not be capable of apprehending anything without his gifts.

The Past is the segment of Time that cannot undergo change, except by the variations of Memory, on which it entirely depends. The Present, which vanishes permanently without ever exhausting itself, is a challenging meeting with Time, on occasions managed by Boredom, Indifference and Forgetfulness, on others by Enthusiasm, Wonder and Engagement. The Future is the segment of Time that is unknown (except for the claims of seers, prophets and the like), and for that reason it may be awaited either with Hope or with Anxiety, or with neither; for it might not arrive. The events brought by Time is what actually happens; that may be, in several instances, called Fate. How Time and the events he brings are met, is the way in which life is lived; this depends completely on the disposition of the Soul.

Carlos Parada ~ Genealogical Guide To Greek Mythology

The ancient Greeks had two words for time, chronos and kairos. Chronos refers to chronological or sequential time. Chronos time is measured by the clock and calendar. It is orderly, rhythmic, and predictable. It is what we moderns typically think of as time. Kairos time, on the other hand, has a more nebulous meaning. It does not have an equivalent word in English. The least descriptive translation would be “in between time”—a moment of undetermined period of time in which “something” special happens. What the special something is depends on who is using the word. A comparison between the two words would be that chronos is quantitative while kairos is qualitative.

from Mark Woodward at CowPi.com (where a picture of "Laughing Jesus" graces its front door) (along with a bovine bearing the symbol for "pi") (lol)



Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (from King James' Version):

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

According to some accounts, the Meso-American (specifically the Mayan)calendar "ends" its linear timekeeping around December 21, 2012. Some have interpreted this to actually be October 28, 2011. Some say it's the "prophetic" end of the world. Some say it's only the end of the world "as we know it." In other words, it's going to be a time of a "new era." Whatever it may mean, the most important thing to remember is that the only "time" is God's Time. No matter what we imagine, prophesy, wish, project, or demand, only the One who created this Universe really knows. And so far as we know, no one who walks this Earth is privy to what it all means.


[ancient sundial]
So, if you're still awake ... thanks for joining the Weird Wagon on its little excursion through Time. It's time for a nap. I wish I had the time! :o)

"...the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).