Physics and the Fallacy of Saving Time

We are told we must spend our energy in the right places. We are told constantly that time is of the essence, live urgently. Hurry.

Essence. Time. Energy.

Not quite the power of E=mc2. But important and powerful in its own way.

Time travels only in a straight line – forward. Time is everything. “In the essence of time” we hurry, skip steps, words and visits, abbreviating life. All our energy pushed into “saving” time, the law of inertia driving us relentlessly to keep moving. But we really don’t save anything. There is no wallet for time saved, no secret lock box to open and savor all the things we said we would do later because in the essence of time we simply didn’t do those things when we had the chance. Phone calls, letters, trips to places far and near. Time saved, opportunity lost. Energy scattered randomly across the universe.

But time. Time as an entity doesn’t care about your savings plan. Doesn’t give a shit that you saved a moment or two by not returning a text or call – that savings plan is a pyramid scheme for the gullible. Time ain’t giving you those minutes back or sewing them onto the end of a longer rug. Time is selfish. Like a crooked casino dealer it holds all the cards and the odds are in its favor. Because time will move forwards in a linear fashion, head on. Head on into any delusion you had of collecting your bank roll of saved time.

Waiting to reach out?

Waiting to go to the shore, the mountains, your family rerunion?

Saving time today to spend tomorrow?

Sorry – that account was not insured and is bereft of funds. The lock box is just a sieve where everything that goes in leaks remorselessly out. Net zero sum. The only accounting is a deficit in what you didn’t do. Red ink in the minus column and no savings to make it right. That is just the plain physics of time. It does not bend. It does not stop. It does not give back. So just stop.

Essence. Time. Energy. Take the time, spend the energy and savor the essence of life offered to you in this moment. Be that force that can change how you move forward. Because time is paving that road ahead of you and it will not stop. Time has its own plans.

Time is truly of the essence. The essence of life. Which also doesn’t wait. Be warned.