Chapter One - Chen
Do you ever think about time? Who conceived it, made the rules, set the boundaries?
I know I do.
I think of little else!
Can you imagine a life without the clocks, watches, sundials, hourglasses, chimes, alarms, buzzers and countdowns that run our lives?
The idea of just being. Eating when hungry. Sleeping when tired. Curling up in the dark. Stretching in the sun. Working when you have the inclination.
Oh, what freedom. What simplicity.
Yet quite impossible. I should know.
We all understand it, don’t we? The concept of time.
How long will that take?
When will it arrive?
What time can I expect you?
You’re late!
It ends at…
You just missed it…
Too early.
When?
The past, present and future, rolling on and on ad infinitum as we watch the hands of the clock sweep round and around, eating up our lives until it spins faster and faster and all we can do is hold our breath and jump in. Lost to our very own ending.
Indeed, it’s how we measure our life on Earth: time of birth, time of death.
Two days plucked by the Universe, made important to you and yours alone, as granite stones and listing wooden crosses set in soil the world over will attest. Small numbers etched in memoriam with a dash between the two. Think about it, some would argue that dash is the most important piece of information, indicating the amount of time we were gifted in a life that nearly always feels infinite, until it’s not.
That carved notch the overriding summary of your existence from which strangers will decide whether you weretaken too soonor hada really good innings. It seems important, how long you endured, ran your race, despite, in nearly all cases, your lack of ability to influence such a thing.
I myself don’t fully understand the importance placed on longevity, having, in my time, known short lives that had the most extraordinary impact! And some of the longest that have been nothing but dull, lonely and lacking in effect or achievement.
To be clear, by impact I mean not the climbing of mountains, the attainment of wealth or any imagined heroics, but more the everyday kindness that means the person in question made a difference tosomeone.
I believe this is the real magic – a smiling face, a kind word, an arm of support, a nod of encouragement – these, my friend, are the levers of change! How I wish more of us employed them. Now what a world that would be.
Yet here we are, bound by the ticking clock, as our hearts beat out its rhythm, and our feet march to its tune.
Yet did you know that time does not actually exist? That’s right. The very first time-makers used the sun and the moon as markers. There was the waking time, the sleeping time, the dark time, the light time – you get the gist.
In our quest to make sense of our world, to grasp at something tangible in the dark confusion of existence, we allow our whole lives – and every task within it – to be marked by units of time. We are beholden to it, we can’t cheat it, avoid it or hide from it. We can’t make it go faster or slower, no matter how much we might wish. And when our time is up – we simply cease to be. Right?
Wrong!
So wrong.
What if I told you that time was not as unyielding as you might believe? What if I told you it was in fact a fluid, bendable thing and that there are gaps in it, if you know where to look?
