To avoid the suggestion of any pretentious expectations, we would initially declare that this writing is not contextually relevant to any scientific or mathematical treatment of “time” for example, in an Einsteinian or esoteric context. Rather, its context relates to the empirical human lifetime on Earth. a.
In our view, the thematic word, “time.” is normally and ubiquitously used to describe quantum concepts like the length of seasons, hours, prefatory periods, events, the duration of activities or conditions, natural or man-made, and seasons of life. In our view, Man expends so much of his lifetime, consciously engaged in mundane tasks or preconceived responsibilities, that he escapes the awareness of its existence and expenditure as a quantified phenomenon,
Time proceeds, universally unnoticed in its distinct definitional sense, and is not pragmatically perceived as a conscious phenomenon or existent entity. For most of our lives, time remains overlooked, being camouflaged or distracted by our many substantive activities and concerns. One admittedly does experience temporally related physical evidence of his aging and is, at least in theory, generally aware of his ultimate mortality, yet, in the hustle and bustle of his busy lifetime, he remains essentially unaware of its vitally enduring presence.
One’s conscious appreciation of the metaphysical significance of finite time evidently appears to be a conception, most often universally reserved until its eventful and enlightening discovery in old age. Indeed, it was essentially upon reaching our 80th year, that the essential and invaluable essence of circumscribed time was realized, being no longer distracted by the substantive conduct of earlier life.
As we perceive it, the consciousness or contemplative discovery of “time,” was synchronistic with the final passage of our natural periods of maturation voz., education, career, and child-raising; all of which, as stated, served as effective distractions from any temporal awarenesss of the existence of the discrete phenomenon of time.
Our personal attainment of eight decades of life, in retrospect, as a result of such contextual unawareness, seems to have run as quickly and as unobtrusively as a swift downward current of river water; inarguably, as a consequence of, in our busy empirical lifetime in which we took little notice of it as an extant conception, At our current stage of life, by contrast, the distractions of education, career, family support and dynamics, social interaction, and undertaken temporal responsibilities have receded into barely accessible memory. We continue to be fortunate and grateful for spousal and family love and the self-affirming memories of past accomplishments as well as acquiring an understanding of the mitigating context of instances of painful memories. At long last, we find ourselves invited by the universal and eternal flow of life to the unique company of ourselves on an intimate and personalized basis.
The later years are accompanied by ample time and opportunity for a personal, contemplative audit or retrospective autobiography. Such a valuable franchise, unfortunately, is accompanied by a diminution of physical prowess, at times, as in our case, accompanied by a “walker,” joint pains, and significant loss of personal agency. Yet we are extremely fortunate to have such impediments minimized by the invaluable love of family and friends. We find ourselves awakening each day, especially fortunate with the existence of a relatively healthful continuance of life and most especially our positive outlook, based upon our developed mature perception of life, enabling appreciation for our past accomplishments and lifelong moral perspective, the latter borne of a lifetime of personal contemplation guided by a lifetime of extramuraL involvement in literature and the humanities.
Our life happily continues, albeit, somewhat painfully, albeit, accompanied by an overfull cornucopia of personal happiness borne of a matured contemplative understanding of life and of familial love, for all of which we are gratefully aware, despite the empirical recognition that precious time, our newly discovered phenomenon, is unremittingly finite.
-p,
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