Jim's Gems: Relationship of Time and Reality

Reality becomes what we believe. To explain this concept, let’s discuss time.

Time, as we typically think about it, only exists as a human invention. For instance, the concept of time given as weeks, days, hours, etc., can be scientifically measured. But these familiar concepts would be essentially meaningless if we were on another planet. Therefore, in the vastness of meaning they're simply subjective.

Basically these time labels present a convenient way to function as a society. Even though they are really just subjective labels which we agree upon, they can be very powerful. To make an interesting point, if there is no such thing as an hour, 9 a.m. does not exist. However, as an example of how this concept of time can have a powerful hold over us, more people have heart attacks at 9 a.m. on Monday mornings than at any other hour of the day or week.

Think about that for a moment! People would rather die than go to work! Time, in essence, becomes reality and the reality is that many people hate or fear the pressures of their chosen work.

It would, therefore, be wise to balance time wisely. We would do well to create a personalized way of interacting with time and the things we would like to accomplish in it. That's essentially what this article is about. However, to do this, we first need to understand a little more about the nature of time.

Time is not anything you can see. It's not a force that has a demonstrable effect on its own, like gravity. Gravity is actually a property of matter, but time is a property of space or space-time. Understanding this concept may help us master our use of time. Essentially we're used to thinking of things as happening in space. The same amount of space could hold a house or a barn or a lake or a landfill, just like the same amount of space could hold a Cadillac or a rusty old Chevrolet.

We need to think of time in the same way. Space-time is nothing more than an arena for us to fill as we choose. We can fill our own personal space-time with junk, or we can fill it with treasures. The same area can bring us productivity or relaxation, joy or regret. Like many other things, how we fill any amount of space and time comes down to simple decisions that we make every moment of our life. These decisions can actually affect reality.

To make this point let’s consider the story of a group of coal miners who were trapped underground by a cave-in. None of the miners were injured from the falling rocks but they were cut off from the surface and, even worse, from their air supply. The miners realized they only had a few hours to live before their air ran out. They prayed for rescue before that happened, but given their position survival seemed hopeless.

Miracles do happen though. They were kept alive because of their concept of time. One of the miners, Daniel, had a watch which he used to keep his friends alive well-beyond the time their limited air supply should have been exhausted. But, how was this possible? Since he was the only one who knew how much time was really passing, Daniel convinced the other miners that what felt like an hour was only a half hour. Because of their isolation and panic, their concept of time was manipulated by a lie but it worked. The miners, convinced that only three hours had passed, were able to survive the six hours it took for the rescuers to dig to them, just as the air was running out. Only Daniel, the man with the watch, died. You see, only Daniel was aware of the "impossibility" of survival so he didn't survive.

Maybe the above story is only a apocryphal tale but similar stories exist which illustrates two valuable points.

1.) What we believe becomes our reality.

2.) It's possible for people to break the seemingly unquestionable hold that time has over them. It's simply a matter of changing the way we think about it. That's all it takes to be the master of time, rather than one of its slaves. In the finale analysis it is truly up to us to decide.