Elastic Time
The notion of time I refer to here is a concept that is different of the mechanic of clocks. Humans cannot measure it because it has the capacity to expand and retract according to one’s unique situation.
The idea that time is expansible and contractible is overwhelming. Albert Einstein was the scientist/physicist who shocked the whole world, including the entire scientific community, with his theory of General Relativity. Einstein discovered that time and space are (or is) not linear but curved. More recently, prominent scientists have gone further, offering evidence that space and time were finite; that there was a beginning of time and there will be an end. The theory is valid for “our” universe.
How is it that time had a beginning and will have an end? It is unconceivable. What was there before and what will there be after? Nothing? Before that time there was no time and afterward, there will be no present, no past and no future. This is a scientific theory, supported by scientific observations and evidences. Time and space form one unique dimension. They are not only related, they are also curved. Starting at point zero, after expanding and contracting, they will terminate their “existence” together and simply vanish. At that moment, space and time will cease to exist. Mind boggling, isn’t it?
The theory of relativity could be right but it is my firm opinion that it doesn’t tell the whole story. My conviction is that time is a creation that is born out of others to serve a definite purpose. When it will have completed its role it will be recycled into something else. Scientists considering the phenomenon from this limited angle can rightly come to the conclusion that the space-time notion is finite. I still sustain that It is impossible for us to learn where the Universe comes from, what it is made of, and what entity created it, but to affirm that it represents a continuum. Not unlike any other creation, when it will have fulfilled its mission it will simply and gradually evolve and be recycled into something different. The process of evolution spares no one and nothing. Time is subject to its fate just as stars and just as human beings are. However the last word has not been spoken yet and that moment is far into the future as humans perceive it.
My own observation of time has made me believe that time is not the same for everyone. Forget your clock – time is expansible, contractible and molds to every person and every situation independently. Time is perception rather than reality. Every independent organism treats time differently. We know that happiness is a state of mind; that the same event can make one happy and the other miserable. So is time, a flexible and adaptable personal perception. Once more, the notion is difficult to master but no more shocking than the concept of finite time and space.
If asked to explain, scientists would probably say: “Time expands or contracts according to a number of physical factors in a define situation. Time varies with conditions and so, a clock running during the Big Bang that created this universe would not show the same result as one running on the criteria of this era.”
In fact, no scientist can fully explain the phenomenon and neither can I. However we can affirm with certainty that our universe was born from a creation the size of a playing ball where time and space were quite different from what we now experience. If we follow this line of reasoning, we have to conclude that, at a certain point in the past, there was no time, no space, no energy, and no substance, which leads us to an irresolvable moot point.
Such reasoning takes us back to the question of reality. Is reality the same for everybody? The answer to this question is a resounding “no”. What I perceive as reality is unique to me. The same goes with time. My perception of time is different from anyone else’s. Clocks are based on repetitive events but cannot register the flexibility integrated within the notion of time. Time is personal. It is flexible and varies according to various situations and emotions. Reality is also a perception absolutely unique to any living type of creation.
Consider this: of the billions and billions of snowflakes falling each year, no two are the same. Each and every snowflake is unique. I’ll go further and say that all elements composing that unique snowflake are also unique, none being the faithful replica of any other. There are billions of people and animals on earth and no two of them are absolutely alike. Each of us is unique. I’m also sure that each and every one of our components, even the smallest, differentiates itself from any other.
All clocks on Earth do register the same time which is a convention based on the revolution of our planet around the Sun. This measure of time is like measuring physical resistance and resiliency by counting the number of steps a man takes in a period of time, without taking into accounts many other factors like weight, slope (gravity), wind, fatigue, the resistance of the ground, and so on. The time I refer to is like a rubber band – expansible and contractible but when you let it go after use, it returns to its original shape and length.
Older people will tell you that time go by at a variable pace. Its duration feels longer or shorter at different periods in the course of their lives. As a rule, at young ages, time is stretched, while it shrinks in old age. It they’re particularly happy, the elderly feel time pass quickly. Under conditions of restraint, disease and suffering, it seems to last forever.
The elasticity of time is comparable to the plasticity of reality.