Article January 2, 1937 Issue

Signs of the Times

Topic: What is Time?

with contributions from H. L. Herberts

[From the Morning Press, Santa Barbara, California]

Just what is a year, anyway? You say it is a period of time. But what is time? Webster defines it as: "That in which events are distinguished with reference to before and after, beginning and end. ... The measurable aspect of duration."

But if you stop and analyze it, time is just an arbitrary fourth dimension that mankind has set up. This concept of time bids us hurry, hurry, hurry! It tells us to rise when the hands of the clock reach a certain point, eat at other points, start and stop working at other points, go to bed at another point. It tells us we must dash from hither to yon, wearing us out in pointless gyrations. It even tells us that we age, impairs our mental and physical faculties and, finally, tells us to die. In short, time is the most ruthless and exacting taskmaster to which human beings have ever submitted.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Signs of the Times

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access