Time. The great equalizer of all things. Great and small, powerful and weak, peaceful and violent; all of reality is subject to the great leveler of every hierarchy. Time has long been understood by her rhythms. The moon waxes and wanes, the sun rises and sets, hours pass by, and in all these things we believe we see time. But to measure something is to have only the faintest glimpse of the thing itself. To measure is to know a thing by some characteristic, it is an obtuse ricochet of the thing. You would be right to resent the man who believes he understands who you are because he knows your body height. This ability to measure time has given us a tremendous arrogance in how we relate to her. Humans have long made the attempt to control every thing we can touch, and in the modern world we tend to deny the existence of any thing which eludes that control. Time allows for neither option. She will not let go of us long enough to allow us to pretend she may be a delusion. Yet with deft and graceful agility she slips through our fingers at every turn. How long will we continue to be fools and attempt to tame her as if she were a beast of burden?
In prior times, when most production was centered around maintaining one’s own life (creating food and clothes for your own family) this was different. Highly agrarian societies don’t seem to have the problems that are created in a modern society with cities, high concentrations of people, and a population mostly removed from creating the means of basic existence. Wealth itself is also relative. What is valuable to one man, can be totally worthless to another, this is why money matters. It is the ultimate scoreboard for success that sits on a more objective playing field.
In prior times, when most production was centered around maintaining one’s own life (creating food and clothes for your own family) this was different. Highly agrarian societies don’t seem to have the problems that are created in a modern society with cities, high concentrations of people, and a population mostly removed from creating the means of basic existence. Wealth itself is also relative. What is valuable to one man, can be totally worthless to another, this is why money matters. It is the ultimate scoreboard for success that sits on a more objective playing field.