The greatest gift of human consciousness, I would maintain, is time — in other words: life itself. It has more value and stunning cachet than all the baubles and fame in the world. Few, if any, would trade less time on this Earth for more material wellbeing on a shortened daily basis. Even Dr. Faustus was greatly remorseful when the Devil came to claim his soul. (1) Our temporal reality is so misunderstood, unfortunately, and is covered in confusing romantic trappings. At its “quick,” at its most elemental, it is very simple. It is “potential” in its purest form and is awarded at birth, and is thus unique to me and to only me. What I do with it is one of the greatest conundrums facing man. Some opt to remove themselves into ethereal worlds of solitude, isolation, and prayer while others seek vast empires and historical glory. In either extreme example, the net result is the same: death and transcendence. The Egyptian pharaohs sought physical immortality through mummification, but this too proved elusive. Tutankhamen has not reappeared to lecture on the 18th Dynasty. (2) Time is dynamic and stationary at the same moment. There is always a future until we die that is, and yet the present is the only reality that we can really know, for it is now.
Continue reading Life: the allusion to the illusion of time.