Time to live

In the traditional Indian view, time is measured differently for different celestial beings. The days and nights of the Gods or Devas are different from that of those who live in the world of ancestors. The days and nights of the humans are again different. The concept is similar to the Greek understanding, where time is the movement of celestial bodies. It is eternal inasmuch as it does not begin or end.

The Buddhists saw every beginning as an end and every end as a beginning. Time was really the position of the sun, the moon, and the stars.  In this view, time should be flexible and laid back. Yet, with the advance of civilisation, humans have become more and more enslaved and regimented by time. Life itself is measured by time. There are milestones at every point of time. Work becomes not an act of creating something, but something measured by deadlines. Joy and pride in work take second place. Everything is so time oriented that there is literally no time to stand and stare, no time to contemplate what it all means, and much less time to conceptualise.

The clock, calendar, timer, and organised network may seem very efficient, but they very subtly shift the focus from the joy of actually creating something to quantification and measurement. The milestones force homogeneity on everything and everyone. Any small deviation from such compliance pushes the panic button and can even lead to interventions which may not be necessary. Worse still, it may be dangerous.

The rigid domination of time pervading all aspects of life reduces time itself to a form of technology. This takes a toll on judgements. The obsession with precision has no tolerance for doubt or intuition as forms of knowledge. This has nothing to do with time as such. It is just the change in the mindset which creeps in without even conscious understanding.

Finally, when one inevitably slows down and looks back, there is often an angst or regret. The race against time has given no joy or satisfaction. Did one do anything that one really wanted to do? What was it all worth if there has been no time for ‘The simple, modest and contented life… the way that leads to the end of life to which a man has to come pure, tranquil, ready to depart, and without any compulsion perfectly reconciled…’ The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius could not have made this clearer.