Carpe Momentum

There is no such thing as time as we know it. Time is not a substance that can be detected with the senses; it is not even an ephemeral something which we assume exists, but escapes definition. There are no empirical data catalogued in some esoteric library documenting the physical description of time. Time, quite literally does not exist.

Time is a construct which humans have invented to record the passage of events. As far back as the rising of the first sun on the first human being, we have divided our existence into segments. Before mechanical measuring instruments were developed, the passage of the heavenly bodies marked the divisions of time. (More accurately, the rotation of the earth dictated the astral positions.) The Egyptians invented the hour but were unconcerned with its variable nature, lengthening and shortening with the seasons as it did. They were satisfied with twelve periods each of day and night, mindful but not concerned that they were unequal from day to day. The Babylonians became more precise, inventing the first small division of time, the she, which represented a barleycorn-length of the sun’s shadow on a sun dial (3.3 modern seconds.)

Today we have atomic clocks which measure in nanoseconds (one millionth of a second.) We are carefully concerned with infinitesimal distinctions, needing for some reason to track the movement of subatomic particles and electronic computations. Yet we still are no better than Adam and Eve at managing our time. No matter how hard I try, I still run out of time nearly every morning as I prepare to leave the house. Even when I allow myself hundreds of extra barleycorns, I always seem to be rushing to beat the sun to my appointed place on time. The only purpose for time is to keep me cognizant of the fact that there never seems to be enough, unless I am in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles, on which occasion time stands still.

Ultimately, the only time we have is the present moment (or nanosecond.) This moment is entirely contingent on the moment which precedes it. By this I mean that as you sit reading this right now, you exist in the reading moment because you sat down to read in a previous moment. You can see your computer because you approached it in a previous moment. Etcetera ad infinitum. There is no “time past” other than a memory of events arranged in a chronology and stored in either a human brain or some type of mechanical recording device.

If you are still reading this you are undoubtedly one of my dearest friends or else curiosity has compelled you to discover where in heaven’s name I am going with this. Here is my point. The Apostle Paul admonishes Christians to “redeem the time” in his letter to the Ephesian church. Paul was still operating under the adopted Babylonian barleycorn time (Hebrew halakim,) but seems to have understood that time is a unit of commerce that can be bought and sold, metaphorically speaking. Today we most frequently encounter this concept as we consider how most of us make a living. Whether paid by the hour, by the piece or with a salary, we can compute the time “spent” to earn a wage. Less obviously, we speak of “spending” our time in all sorts of unremunerated pursuits.

If time is as I have suggested, merely a chronological arrangement of all the moments in which we exist, every moment dependent on the one which precedes it, then “redeeming the time" means making every moment count. My title plays on the famous phrase, "carpe diem," meaning, "seize the day." The Latin "momentum" speaks of movement, adding urgency to the admonition while echoing the brief nature of our existence in any one moment.

Was the first century apostle advising us to invest every bit of our lives as wisely as possible because he realized that what you do in any given moment affects all the remaining moments of your existence? Did his travel to another dimension (the third heaven) give him a prescient understanding of the space-time continuum? I don't know. I suspect at the very least he would have said, "Make the most of every moment; it's all you have."