Time: Named, Numbered, Imagined

Celebrating the Illusion

Within reality as it is for humans, time clicks onward, and there’s nothing anyone can do to change that. What we have done, however, is name the moments (seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries) and numbered them, so that we now have a name (4:32am November 16, 2016) for every moment – past, current, and future.

Why’d we do that? Was it a way of deluding ourselves that we own and control time? Maybe. But it certainly also serves a clear purpose – as a societal connective tissue, a coordination tool, a common language of sorts. “Let’s meet on August 3rd at 3:30pm” only works if we’re playing by the same rules.

It’s like social duct tape.

But then something weird happened.

Part of a date – the month and day number - recycles usually every 365 Days. That seemingly trivial, meaningless and inevitable happenstance took on (or was bestowed) a life of its own and triggered our emotional component. Our ego, which may have decided it owns time, asserted its ownership and took it a step further.

I was born on the same numbered date that’s coming up? I met you on this date? Sentimental juice flows. How could we let that numbered date pass without acknowledging what occurred on a past, same numbered date? Value is added to the named time slice. Birthdays and anniversaries became a thing.

We imagine a specific moment now, to be connected to a specific moment in the past, solely because of names and numbers we apply to a time period. Today we will celebrate you, because the month name and day we applied to today, was also applied to the time slice in which you were born.

Once that became a thing, people’s wellbeing got snagged. Forget someone’s “birthday”? You monster. Plan a big bash? You da man.

This isn’t efficiency anymore. We went from using time, to worshiping it; the brain creating a connection where there isn’t.

The brain’s pattern-seeking inclination helps us survive, get pleasure, or avoid pain, but it also sometimes misfires and decides there’s something there that isn’t. Optical illusions show that the brain creates for itself things that aren’t reality, while thinking it’s serving itself.

Our naming time slices created emotional illusions.

So, why do we keep playing along?

Because even if the system is fake, the effects are real. Named time gives structure to chaos. It gives people a reason to pause. A reason to celebrate. A reason to reflect. A reason to eat cake. We just seem have forgotten along the way that the whole thing is voluntary.

We can celebrate someone for existing whenever we want. We can reflect on an event without waiting for a calendar prompt. We just… usually don’t. We prefer the illusion.

So, the next time “Happy Birthday!” rolls around, pause for a moment to consider what is and what is not. Or don’t. Try saying “Thank you for honoring this socially agreed-upon hallucination.”

Or, maybe just go with Happy.