Got Time?

The concept of space and time is a philosophical expression, indicating reality in this world. We experience things in the frame of spacial environment and in the defined time as recorded history.

          What is time? Perhaps the very question is impossible, for it presupposes that time"is". Time is not spacial, but we can not relate to it in any other way. Time is not sequential, but we measure it in segments, to organize our lives in relations to past and future events.

          Time, some say, is relative, and by that meaning that we experience time differently in different situations in life. We talk about a long minute - the longest minute -, and the same length of measured time as a blink of an eye. We think back to our childhood and remember time as moving much slower than in the adult years.

Salvador Dali: Clock Exploding

          Philosophers and scientists alike have pondered the nature of time. In one sense it is not an entity, still we have a concept, a term, and we speak of it as if it is real. We measure movement in time segments, we measure the speed of light and sound. Is time constant? Is time flexible? Is time malleable? Interesting young philosophers ponder these questions and time will tell what they conclude in the end.

          "The eternal now " is another expression for the ever present presence. As such, we can claim that history does not exist. All we have is memory, recollection, and this will naturally be subjective and interpreted. No one can prove what happened, even an hour ago, without taking into considerations what people remember, a witness account, related artefacts which might be put in reasonable connection with the acts of one hour ago. We have methods we use in dealing with the past. We build our cases on probability. But any of the acts of the past are no more in existence, only as a memory.

Salvador Dali: The Persistence of Memory

          My use of language reveal that in my world view, there is something called time through which I can understand events and acts in my spacial reality. Further, it reveals that my concept of time is linear. There is a beginning and there is an end - at least to the sequence of acts and lived life. I age. I change over time. I will face the end of my life in this world, but as a Christian, I believe in the gift of eternal life. So, there I defy the limits of space and enter into an endless reality. Interestingly enough, although it is eternal, in my Christian faith there is a clear sense of physical existence: a new body, an essentially different one, but still physical, body will define me. I am not like a wind, or like a shapeless ghost floating about. In our confession of faith, we state: I believe in the bodily resurrection. Indeed.

          In essence, I will claim that time does not exist as a separate entity. I also claim, that given this premise, history as such does not exist, not in any present sense. We have recollections, memories, and we put it all together in our interpretation. The better attested an event is, the more probable it is as a building block in our historical inquiries.

           Time, then is simply an aspect of our spacial experience. At the same time, it is the sacred time that defines the sacred space, as I have mentioned earlier. It is the presence of God which sanctifies the time and space. Some may say: Is there a time and space where God is not? And that is a genuine question. The omniscient and omnipotent Creator is not limited. Still, what I refer to is the special promise given by Jesus: "Where two or three are gathered, I am in your midst." This meeting is personal. This meeting has consequences; this meeting sanctifies the ones who are there.