Time Is Honey

"Time is really the only capital that any human has, and the one thing he can't afford to lose".  I lifted this quote from The Week, who lifted it from the AP. Thomas Edison, who seems to have made the most of his time, wrote these words.  I daresay, despite the redundancy,  this glowing pearl of wisdom is ever so "timely" given the fact that so many of us, for whatever reason, find ourselves with a whole lot of time on our hands.

  I suppose this quote can be understood in a few different ways.   Perhaps Edison is beseeching us to make sure that we always have something to show for our valuable time.  I believe that Edison indeed treasured this thing that is free for us to use, this blessing which can seem so overwhelming when confronted with so much of it.  These days, in a culture marbled with esteem for wealth and the insidious sense that wealth equals time well spent and even virtue, it is difficult to come to terms with how a new definition of "time well spent"  might read. This new facet to the meaning of Edison's words is what I wish to explore in this post.

  To anyone despairing, fearing the onslaught of time, troubled by job loss and financial distress, I hope to offer a bit of a distraction...god knows you need it.  It requires a bit of a mental shift, which can be helped along by a glass (one glass) of wine, a bottle of beer, a bong or pipe hit, or, if you are not inclined toward that kind of help, a cup of chamomile tea.  The point is to relax.  

  Allow me to make an analogy.  Someone drives a nail into the trunk of a tree.  To ensure that damage from the injury does not spread to the rest of the organism, the tree begins to compartmentalize the wound.  It walls off the area in order to maintain structural integrity.  Just for one day, try to compartmentalize your troubles...don't allow them to dictate your behavior for an entire day.  Use whatever relaxation technique you need, break some rules and allow yourself the absurdity of spending the day in a way that flips a rigid finger at convention and decorum.  You may feel delightfully naughty.  Why shouldn't you?  Naughtiness is another blessing that time can give us.

  Imagine the time that you have as a silken robe wrapping itself around your form, as a voice whispering, "hush, hush, now you must just be", a gently humming, green grotto abuzz with fecundity.  Really!  Embrace the absurdity, now one is watching, no one cares.  Stay in your head; by that I mean don't try to surmise what anyone else thinks, entertain any and all of the possibly wild and woolly notions that free float in and out of a mind that is open and serene.  Fantasize.  Speak, sing or belch if you need to. Hell, masturbate if you need that kind of release!  Stare at your face in the mirror and gaze each component.  Then gather yourself together, take a deep breath and go, go out into the world, regardless of weather.  

  Walkabout.  Like the Australian aboriginal rite of passage, go out into whatever wilderness is right outside your door, into your own temporal dimension in which you are suspended as you observe the other three.  The Australian natives believe that their ancestors sang everything into being.  Imagine that everything you pass during your walk about has its own song to sing...even the pristine patch of manicured lawn sings out in a bright tenor, although you will only hear it within you, resonating.  

  Ogle any object that grabs your attention as you pass...if that thing is a person, to avoid discomfort, get a decent look at him or her and take a mental snapshot.  Observe the colors of the day or night, imagine what the colors might taste like or how they might smell. Stand outside a bakery and take the aromas into your soul, past cravings and hunger.  Indulge cravings and hunger, but savor the flavor, eat as if it were your last.  Stroke the coat of a friendly cat or dog.  Think of what it might feel like to bury your face into the fur of a fuzzy squirrel.  Picture yourself locked in a passionate kiss with a sexy stranger. Get dirt under your fingernails, break the leaf off of an aromatic shrub and release the scent by crushing it.  Drink water and feel the gratitude.  Feel the coolness or heat given off by rocks, boulders, or concrete.

  If this all sounds too new agey or like something you might hear Oprah  rhapsodize about, I am sorry. All of that crap is icky to me.  Remember that there really is no dogma attached to this exercise.  It's simply putting into practice the old adage that tells us to take the time to smell the roses.  Nor is this a treatise on positive thinking...there are no secrets here (beware of those peddling secrets).  Smelling the roses does not mean ignoring the thorns...we must acknowledge the thorns, appreciate their function, be perfectly aware of the blood they can draw. Unchecked optimism can be quite destructive.   And while relaxation is crucial to this exercise, so is awareness.  A cozy marriage of the two can produce wonderful insight. 

  And really, isn't that what we all seek? Insight?  Whether we call it the meaning of life, god's will (god's swill?), purpose, whatever, we are not going to find it for ourselves (and it's different for all of us) if we don't slow down, luxuriate in the time we are given, and learn about the world.  In this way we can use Edison's insight into time to discover our own truths.  And so time truly is this free and priceless gift.  We must use it to get to know our world, our environs, stroll through it, not simply walk past...walkabout!