American International Journal of Humanities and Social Science (AIJHSS)

In this article, I explore the first installment of a closer examination of time and how understanding time can influence how we live. Examining time as a self-conscious opportunity to adjust one’s future for the better is the premise of this article. Part One The Tangibility of Time “Nobody sees a flower really; It is so small. We haven’t time, and to see takes time…” -Georgia Okeeffe grew up in Queens, New York City where there was never enough time to do much of anything as a young adult. In fact, some say that living in NYC is equivalent to living “the fast life” as in to equate life with speed. Others have said, “If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere”. It can be assumed that the fortunate survival of individuals in a fast paced environment contends survival anywhere in the world. Essentially, human beings in urban areas and in major cities live life so fast that seldom do they ever have time to explore the idea of the essentiality of time in their lives. The essentiality I speak of applies to both the countryman and the city man and is coming to the knowing and acceptance that everything in essentiality will either happen or conclude. In her article, Essentiality Conferred, Sveinsdo´ttir (2008) maintains that essentiality is conferred by our use of concepts—not by how we have used them, but how we are committed to using them (pg. 138). I submit that how individuals commit to using time makes the experience the tangible manifestation of time. Sveinsdo´ttir (2008) adds, “essentiality is conferred by ideal versions of us concept users, when they are maximally knowledgeable and attentive to how we are committed to using concepts” (pg. 138) strengthening the idea that if human beings were able to perceive time as something attainable, then human beings would maximize their time to regard his or her present conscious awareness as a linear manifestation of onward adjustability. Religion, philosophy and science have all been concerned with time (Leisman, 2006). In her book, Big Ideas: Time, Hoffman (2010) asks, does it exist? What is it made of? Can we know it in itself? Or see it as only through a glass darkly? (pg.64). I attempt to answer these questions and define time philosophically as a framework for humans to live better lives and experience better outcomes. The notion that once you lose today, you can never get it back, always struck a chord with me.