what time is it, anyway?

From 2015. 

I've been reading Scientific American's special collector's edition, A Matter of Time. What a fascinating read! Mind-bending, in fact.

Here's the thing. Time doesn't exist.

They make pretty clear arguments for there being no such thing as time. One author, Craig Callender, compares time to money. Money is a thing, to be sure. But there are many types of money, right? And, at the end of the day, money is simply an agreement we all honor to equate the value of something, say a day's work, with something else, say a number of dollars. In turn, we trade those dollars for a car, a loaf of bread, a newspaper, or anything we want to possess -- another agreement that saves having to barter for every transaction we make these days. So the dollar (or euro, or rupee) is just an agreement. Money in itself doesn't have any value or substance. In itself, it's really nothing; it just represents something we all agree upon.

Time is the same sort of thing. It's an agreement. A minute is 60 seconds, or 75 heartbeats, or some number of units in Minecraft. It's all relative. But it's not really a thing at all, is it?

So if there's no time, how can you be here now? How can you leave the past behind if there is no past? How can you create a plan for your life if there is no future?

Like I said, this is mind-bending stuff. But, to be fair, a lot of it is at the quantum level. Not a level where you or I operate...at least, not consciously.

So, here's my takeaway. Reading about physics, neuroscience, biology and anatomy is pretty darn fascinating. But living your life is pretty darn meaningful. So balancing fascination with meaning really comes down to this: whether you are a theoretical physicist, a 6th grade teacher, a retiree volunteering at the local soup kitchen or the mother and her kids eating soup at the shelter, your now is your now.

Grab it. Live it. Be in it. Love it if it makes you happy. Change it if it doesn't. Do your best now. Just do your best. Now. Every now.