Time and Life Planning

Life is short. If things go well, I have 2/3rd of my life to go. Time continues to flow at a fixed pace. There is no way to pause, rewind or even fast forward time. Though when I'm waiting for an event to occur it seems to pass slower and when I'm engrossed in a thought or an activity it seems to move faster. We can't undo or redo our past either. We can only regret, repent, suffer over past episodes or forgive, forget and move on. I actually spend less time living in the present and more time planning for the future or simply worrying about it. Sometimes, idly hoping and waiting for life to happen.

Time causes change. With time is associated the notion of aging, decaying, withering and also the notions of growing, healing, taking birth. Time is a healer. With the passage of time, we forget pain and suffering. Time administers justice; law, misfortune or disease and death catch up with the perpetrators of evil. Without the passage of time, there would be no music. The same seven musical notes can form infinite melodies because they can be placed in infinite sequences in time.

Time flows. Time is perceived with the occurrence of events in the order they happen. This perception is subjective to the observer. Each user has his or her own notion of time. Because observers could relate their observations to a common set of phenomena, caused by the earth’s rotation and revolution, an absolute scale could be attached to the notion of time. The biological clock in each species, on the other hand, runs at its own pace. Losing a tooth during infancy so permanent tooth can grow out, or hitting puberty are biological changes the body times internally.

Albert Einstein changed one notion of time and space dramatically. His theory of relativity suggests that there is a space-time continuum. His general theory suggests that if you sit in a strong gravitational field, time slows down. His special theory suggests that if you travel close to the speed of light, time slows down. This means it is possible to travel into the future. So, the future is out there. The future is certain. The space-time continuum was laid out at the time of inception of the cosmos. The future has already been and has always been determined. Time doesn’t flow, time is all out there. This means our notion of freewill is a subjective perception, and our thoughts, words or deeds do not determine the future.

Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, suggests there are only possibilities, no certainties. Quantum mechanics studies the behavior of particulate matter at subatomic level, while relativity works at larger scales. Quantum mechanics is based on wave-particle duality, i.e. matter and light exhibiting properties of both particles and waves. It states that the position and momentum of a particle (for eg. an electron, atom or a molecule) at any instant in time is not known. The values of these measurable variables can at best be described with state functions that encode their probability distributions. So, if the location of an electron is unpredictable, the future of matter and energy is non-deterministic. Hence, our free-will determines which of the infinite possibilities is committed to truth.

The Eastern concept of Karma has a cyclic view of time, just like the seasons or the day and night cycle, there is the cycle of life and death. After death, we cycle back to this world in a different form enveloped in a different consciousness. History repeats itself; empires come and go, so, in a sense, history has cyclical nature too. Karma says, what goes around, comes around. So life begins with a body that’s a function of past deeds, desires and tendencies. By adulthood, some desires are realized, some become continuous urges or addictions, and new ones crop up. It’s our active set of material desires that repeatedly brings us back to life in one mortal form after another.

Consider a plot of life (a function of life energy, drive, mental and physical health, societal power) against time. We're born with nothing; the life curve starts at zero. We're helpless in our tiny newfound bodies, dependent on our guardians to provide us with our basic needs. During childhood and youth, we prepare for our adulthood by nourishing our body, developing our personality, honing our skill sets and working on our social network. The life curve goes up as we grow into our bodies, discover our abilities and potential, and realize our dreams. Once an adult, we venture in the material world to pursue our desires. The curve sees its ups and downs based on how we perform in life. We are attached to our material existence. With success and good health, our attachment grows (i.e. we cling on tighter to our reputation, position, power, degrees, possessions; our family, friends and employees tie close to us) and time flies. The curve of life continues to go up. With failure and disease/dysfunction, we find the objects of our attachment wither or shy away and time seems to slow down. The curve of life goes down. Adulthood gradually transforms to old age. Old age can be similar to early childhood; some old folk find it difficult to chew on solid food, while some others lose control of their excretory activity. Old age is marked with impaired senses/memory, weakened constitution, and deteriorated biological functioning. Old folk depend on external assistance for their basic needs or to perform basic operations. The life curve seems to reflect on an axis at a time of adulthood when life seems to be going well. Life terminates with death, we’re left with the same nothingness we started with, and the life curve falls sharply to zero. The longer in life we are engrossed in our material existence the steeper the negative slope of the life curve at death. In our formative years we prepare for adulthood, later in adulthood we should prepare for the onset of disease/infirmity, for death, and be ready for what lies beyond. The retirement ages set by the state, are meant to optimally utilize citizens while they are physically active, before they become a liability to the employer. The earlier we are detached from material existence, the gradual the slope of the curve; which implies a graceful, relaxed, smooth and easy transition at death. A steep slope implies being forced out of our body, forced to lose our identity and ego, to give up our paraphernalia and to sever our attachments, all at once at the time of death.

Most of us don’t have answers to the following: Why was I born? What am I supposed to do in life? Why should I live? Is it to pursue a successful career? Is it to pursue a successful family life? Is it to pursue money, women and power? Is it to pursue happiness, peace and freedom? Is it to serve ourselves or to serve others? Is it to work or to play? We are proud of what we create and maintain, but is that our purpose when everything, including us, is guaranteed to be destroyed? We need to know the answers, or else we live in ad-hoc mode, chasing our desires and running away from troubles.