As always, I begin composing this column by staring at a blank sheet of paper, wondering what readers might take time to read. I’m staring out an open window in my farmhouse office, a gentle summer breeze blowing in. The corn looks great — it’s soon time for it to tassel out. Those two Harrelson apple trees are loaded this year. But it will take time for them to ripen.
Time; we all know what it means, or do we? I take the Second College Edition of Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language off the shelf and look up the word. It takes over a page to define “time,” and its related concepts. Definitions begin with, “indefinite, unlimited duration in which things are considered as happening in the past, present or future; every moment there has ever been or ever will be.” That sounds esoteric. It continues with, “a. the entire period of existence of the known universe; finite duration as distinguished from infinity. b. the entire period of existence of the world or humanity; earthly duration as distinguished from eternity.”
That’s interesting enough but begs the question. When did time begin? Did it even have a beginning, and will it eventually end? Or does it exist in a circle, beyond human comprehension?
The human race has long accounted for this mysterious concept by relating it to astronomical phenomena — the winter and summer solstice and the vernal and autumnal equinox. Structures such as Stonehenge, the pyramids of Egypt, and those of other ancient civilizations demonstrate that these phenomena were long recognized. Time has long been measured by astronomical phenomena; a year as the period it takes for the earth to make one journey around the sun, and a day as the period it takes for the earth to make a complete rotation.
Historians credit Egyptians as the first civilizations to divide the day into smaller parts with the use of the sundial, calibrated to divide the interval between sunrise and sunset into 12 parts. Why 12? It could be because 12 is the number of lunar cycles in a year, or because, excluding the thumb, there are four finger joints in each hand. Later generations used 12 stars to mark the passage of night, eventually leading to the concept of a 24-hour day.
Eventually, the hour was divided into smaller units. Why 60?
The Babylonians made astronomical calculations with the “sexagesimal” (base 60) system. Sixty is the smallest number divisible by the first six numbers and by 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30, making it convenient for expressing fractions. This system eventually led to the 360 degree circle, the identification of location by latitude and longitude of the earth, measurement of angles, and, of course, the face of clocks and splitting time into smaller units of minutes and seconds — 60 again.
Ancient observers recognized twelve lunar cycles per year, thus twelve months. Each 29 day lunar cycle consists of four phases, each of about seven days, thus the seven day week, the days named after the sun, moon, and each of the five planets observed traveling across the sky.
Inventions to measure time based on astronomical events were logical, but not without complications, the calendar, for example. The earth rotates just slightly less than 365and 1/4th times in its journey around the sun. If we always kept the calendar at 365 days, calendar time would soon be out of sync with the solar seasons. To keep the seasons as measured by the sun at approximately the same calendar date, an extra day is added to the calendar approximately every four years. Why approximately? It’s because the earth rotates slightly less than 365 and 1/4th times during its journey around the sun. Therefore, a leap year has to be periodically skipped.
Adjustments to measurement of time are sometimes controversial. By advancing the clock an hour, the sun rises later and sets later — according to the clock, that is. “Daylight saving time,” contrary to its name, does not “save” daylight or create more daylight. It merely shifts existing hours of daylight from morning to evening, giving people more time between work and darkness to play golf and mow the lawn.
Opponents of daylight-saving time sometimes argue that we shouldn’t mess with “God’s time.” That’s ludicrous. Even if God created the hours of daylight, She didn’t create clocks by which it is measured.
Ancient civilizations built monuments, based decisions, and celebrated based on the solstices and the equinoxes. Scholars generally agree that Christ was not born near the winter solstice near the end of December. But the birth of the Christ Child near the shortest day of the year symbolizes the birth, or new beginning, of longer days. It’s entirely plausible that placement of Christ’s birth date near pagan celebrations of the winter solstice enhanced broader acceptance of Christianity.
Similarly, Christ’s Resurrection is tied to the vernal equinox, and the reawakening of vegetation in the northern hemisphere. Hence the celebration of Easter on the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the vernal equinox.
In some sense, time is relative. Olympic events are measured to the hundredths of a second while astronomers measure time in billions of years. They tell us that “the big bang” that created the universe was some 14 billion years ago — that is, as we measure time. If our solar system is less than 5 billion years old, those previous 9 billion years must be “as if” the earth that did not exist had been revolving around the sun that had not yet existed. Cosmologists still debate whether time began with the Big Bang, or had previously existed.
Who knows, but time is indeed relative. Seven years of K-plus 6 seemed much longer than seven years seems now to us “older” folks. “Time flies!” That’s logical. A year to a 10-year old is 10% of a life; a year to a 50-year old is only 2% of a life.
Still, time remains a mysterious concept.
— John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Saturdays in the Monroe Times.
