Article April 4, 1953 Issue

TIME

ERIC W. CARR

Time seems to play an important part in our lives. Every household possesses a clock, and many have more than one. Most of us carry a watch which is consulted at intervals during the day. Time appears to be friendly on some occasions, particularly when one is having what is called a good time; but in the midst of one's enjoyment one may find himself asking, "How goes the enemy?" indicating that time has become sufficiently unfriendly as to be bringing the good time to a close. Time may seem to be an enemy indeed if one is having what is known as a bad time or if the passage of time is claiming to deprive one of health, of bodily activity, or of such faculties as seeing and hearing.

It becomes clear, then, that time viewed from the human standpoint, which presents it sometimes as a friend but often as an enemy, is associated with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil referred to in the second and third chapters of Genesis, whose fruit Adam and Eve were told to beware of. Mary Baker Eddy sums up the human sense of time very clearly in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where she writes in part (p. 595): "Time. Mortal measurements; limits, in which are summed up all human acts, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, knowledge; matter; error."

In considering these terms in relation to our daily experiences we shall see clearly that time is a mental state, for time appears to pass quickly or slowly according to the way we are thinking and in proportion to the interest we have in what we are doing. During sleep our sense of time varies considerably. Sometimes we seem to pass through a long experience, then we awaken and find that it has occupied only a few minutes. On the other hand, man hours may elapse in what may seem a few moments of unconsciousness.

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