Time

It is so precious. Time is more precious than anything else in a mortal life, yet it is frequently squandered. It is indeed wasted on the young, who are not taught from an early age that their years are numbered. Lives have been extended for years by the quick action within seconds by medical personnel. Lives which seemed invulnerable have been snuffed out in seconds by tragic accident.

 

Learning to use time, rather than being used by time, is an important part of any personal practice. When I meet someone who is averse to any form of routine, I know I am dealing with someone who does not appreciate the value of his time or mine. I act accordingly.

 

Too many people try to cheat time by taking shortcuts in doing what is correct, creative or necessary. They rush to leisure which is often not fulfilling and mentally stultifying.  Watching others throw a ball around a field, watching criminals shooting each other in cheap crime dramas, watching life pass by from a sofa or armchair in front of a wide screen. Chips and beer are poor consolation for the time lost to hollow leisure.

 

Yes, I am at an age when time weighs heavily on my mind. I have watched enough people die to drive home the lesson. The end is the end. No negotiation. No extensions.

 

I do not confuse appreciative use of my time with accomplishment. On a planet which will inevitably be melted by a solar nova, there is no permanence of accomplishment. I surrendered to that scientific knowledge long ago. My sense of valuing time is assuring that the quality of my life experience from moment to moment is the best I can manage with what I have and where I am. Is my time free of violence, anger and regret? Is my time peppered with joy? Is my time experienced with a rested brain, a healthy body?

 

The quality of my time is the true value of my human life. No other person's life, granite monument or plaque on a wall will compensate me for wasting my life on nonsense once I am dead and gone. This is the delusion of martyrs. Heaven is the blissful moment of consciousness at peace with itself and its environment.