It’s a Matter of Time

Worldwide Hippies Supports Internet Freedom and Citizen Journalism 

By Phil Polizatto,Worldwidehippies – Perspective is a function of time and space. We are three dimensional beings living in four dimensions, the fourth being time. How we measure time has evolved since ancient Egyptians invented the first solar calendar. It has not necessarily evolved for the better. The first solar calendar, dating back to 4241 BC, had 365 days that were divided into 12 30-day months. The extra five days were dedicated to festivals.

The Greeks came along in 46 BC with their lunar calendar and had to add 7 months every 19 years in order to synchronize the cycle. The Romans made things even less accurate by using the vernal equinox as their starting point. Their year had eight months with a total of 304 days. They tinkered with it for 400 years before they began to approach the accuracy of the Egyptians, and even then had to arbitrarily add four months to their calendar, partially to salve the egos of emperors, until they managed to get the number of days in a year up to 355.

Finally, in the year 46 BC, the Greek Sosigenes convinced Julius Caesar to reform the calendar to a more manageable one. The Julian calendar consisted of cycles of three 365-day years followed by a 366-day leap year. At last they had created a calendar that was as accurate as the ancient Egyptians and one that reasonably reflected the cycles of nature. After all, it was the cycles of nature by which prehistoric man lived. Though he had no calendar, his observations also recognized a “day,” a “month,” and a “year”…cycles of the sun, the moon, and the seasons… returning repeatedly in patterns that could not go unnoticed.

All calendars or none at all, use the cycles of nature as the basis for recording time. It is when man arbitrarily divided the day into smaller measurements that we see the divisions as a matter of convenience rather than scientific calculation. Just as many parts of the world use kilometers instead of miles, and kilograms instead of pounds, we could easily be using something other than minutes and hours to measure the passing of time. We could say that there are 12 donuts in a day and each of those 12 donuts is divided into 120 crumbs. We can use any measurement we like, but it would always be arbitrary while the sun and moon continued their journeys with no regard whatsoever as to how man divided time. Time is relative. The way all beings on earth, nature, the earth itself, and the rest of the universe travel through time, are also relative.

Everything in the universe travels through time at just the right speed. Grass, trees, mountains, canyons, the planets, the sun… each travels at a speed which is harmonious with everything else. What is the proper speed for humans? Man has devised many means of traveling. Some mystics contend that it is only when we walk toe to heel that we notice everything we’re supposed to. Try to keep this pace even when walking heel to toe. It is only then that we notice the moss, the tiny flowers, the old woman sitting on the porch, and the clouds floating by. This is based of course on the assumption that one is traveling in the perfectly present tense of Now.

With each device man has invented to help us travel faster we notice less and less. In a speeding car, we see the blur of trees whizzing by, but we may not notice the hungry family sitting on their front porch, or the crippled girl playing with her rag doll. The more we reduce the time it takes to get from one point to the other, we also reduce our ability to notice the things we should. We become removed from the details of life. Our travel time is reduced as well as our empathy.

Only humans can intentionally think about the past or the future. If you are writing about a past event you are doing so in the Now. If you are calculating the trajectory of a satellite that will reach its desired orbit sometime in the future, you are still doing so in the Now. Whether you think you spend too much time living in the past or too much time imagining the future, it is of no matter, because you are still doing that activity in the Now. It is our choice to look backward to the past, or forward to the future.

A long time ago, I found myself alone, stranded and lost, in the middle of the Angeles National Forest. I looked forward to the end of a freezing night and the warmth of a rising sun. Shortly after its appearance, it began to get hot. By midday it was so hot, I stripped and sat in a shallow stream whose bed was fine sand. I quickly noticed that my buttocks diverted the water around me and ate away at the small banks of the stream. I found this very interesting. I got out and found a big rock which I placed in the spot where my ass had been. I watched in fascination the course of the stream change before my eyes as the rock forced the waters around it, eroding the banks and noticeably varying the depth and design of this miniature river.

I imagined that if I could come back in 5 million years, I might find a Grand Canyon and discover that the beautiful bend in the canyon wall was caused by the rock I had placed in the middle of the now swiftly flowing river at the bottom, still incessantly eroding and reshaping its banks. I was measuring time at a geologic pace… so incredibly slow, only the time-lapse of my mind could make any sense out of it. And only I would know that I had helped form the contours of this natural wonder.

Flying in a jet drastically reduces the amount of time it takes to get from one point to another. And since we live in a three-dimensional world, we get to move not only forward and backward and side to side, but also up and down. From the windows of a jet at 35,000 feet, it is easier to see the effects of geologic time. We can see canyons, and volcanoes; forests and deserts. From the space station, we can see the effects of galactic time and wonder in awe at what “rocks in the stream” of the past caused the stars and stuff of space to be as they are now and how they might look in the future.

Where we happen to be in space and time gives us perspective. We can have the perspective of microbiologists who drill down with their microscopes to watch the molecules, cells and atoms that would otherwise go unseen by the human eye. We can have the perspective of an astronaut who sees from afar a blue marble called earth, fragile and insignificant in the context of the entire universe. We can have the perspective of one who is walking toe to heel, noticing the details of everyday life, the beauty of the flower, the ugliness of war, the joy of children playing, the suffering of an old man riddled with diseases.

The point is it doesn’t matter if you spend your time in the past, or envisioning the world of the future in which you wish to live. Travel from the past to the present to the future and back again. You are still in the Now. It doesn’t matter if your perspective is from the cellular or the galactic. Travel from inner universes to outer ones. It helps to have both the small and big pictures. Travel in four dimensions. The problems come when we get stuck in one time period or in one perspective.

Time is persistent no matter how we divide it into measurable quantities. If we reached the speed or light, perhaps time would stop. When we are so absorbed in an activity that we lose track of time, time seems to stop. When we get stuck in one perspective, we deny ourselves the ability to see clearly. We think narrowly. We become bigoted. When we look at the world from many perspectives, we acquire wisdom and empathy.

So many people suffer because of the greedy few and their corrupt institutions. Those that suffer can see the world they desire and may even have answers to the world’s problems if given the opportunity to implement them. As they conjure this future world, they should be reminded they are doing so in the Now. And maybe, just maybe, the trick is to be willing to live your life knowing you may never find an answer other than Now. It’s enough to be mindful that whichever rock you put in the middle of the stream, it will change the course of the river, which will determine the shape of the canyon. The only real time is karmic time… the time it takes for an action to have a reaction. Sometimes it is instantaneous. Sometimes it takes a lifetime. And sometimes, millennia. You may not be around to see it, but it will come. Good or bad, karma’s gonna get ya! In the meantime Occupy all four dimensions.

Namaste!

To contact Phil or find out more: check out his website and blog For a copy of HUNGA DUNGA
Phil Polizatto – Worldwide Hippies Bureau Chief – West Coast USA, is a graduate of The School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He was a feature writer for the overseas division of UPI, a copywriter for CBS, and an award-winning corporate film producer. Mr. Polizatto is a published poet and a regular contributor to Worldwide Hippies as well as a variety of other arts and literary journals. Hunga Dunga is his first published novel. He resides in the Pacific Northwest.

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