Until The End Of Time Essay Sample

Often people have wondered if time moves in a linear or cyclical motion. But how do we really conceive the concept of time? It is a given that we get up every morning, and that this pattern will repeat itself every day until the day we die. It is also a given that things grow, mature and then die never reversing itself in any fashion. Having never really actively dealt with the concept of time, I can say that this topic has officially caught my interest. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the dual aspect of time being both linear and cyclical has affected the decisions that I make in my life, both in the short term and in the long term.
In Cara Santa Maria’s video blog “What is Time?” on the Huffington Post, Theoretical Physicist Sean Carroll states: “We remember things in the past and you don’t remember the future. But we can make choices toward the future.” I was born, I will grow old, and then I will die. Time as an arrow makes me look at life differently in both the short term and the long term. If I know that time is limited to only going in one direction (as it truly is in concept), then I know that I will do things differently. In other words, my time is limited. Everyday is a different day and in the short term I see it as a new day to not repeat the same mistakes. I want to make sure I’m not doomed to repeat the same bad history, but this is where it gets confusing. If I am not trying to repeat a mistake then doesn’t that make time cyclical and not linear? I will say that my older self doesn’t do the same things that my younger self used to. Seeing time as linear ensures that I become a more mature and responsible person. Or at least it’s supposed to. In the long term, I can hope that there’s a lot of time ahead of me. So if yesterday didn’t bring forth those mature decisions or responsible choices, then maybe tomorrow will. With time pointing in an arrow, I can possibly look forward to the future even if I don’t know what it entails.
“People take time for granted. They don't pay any attention to it until they start looking into it, then it begins getting complicated” (Payn 231). This day will repeat itself 365 days from now. Or will it? Looking at time as a cycle probably only affects me in the long term. It’s not in our culture to perceive time as cyclical. I say this to say that I would love it if I could live my life like the Hindus and believe that I will be born again. In this aspect, if time were truly cyclical, then I feel that I could make all of the mistakes that I wanted. Why? Because, with the belief that time is cyclical, I would have all of eternity to correct those mistakes. But then again, as the quote says, the more I look into how I perceive time the more complicated it gets. Do I base my decisions on the fact that time is linear and will come to an end, or do I base them on not repeating a vicious bad decision making cycle? As it happens, while I know that certain aspects of life are a cycle, I cannot truly live my life in the belief that time will repeat itself. I can make as many mistakes as I want, but I will have to live with the fact that there isn’t much that I can do to rectify most of those mistakes. Perhaps I can say that there wouldn’t be enough time.
Is time real or abstract? This is an interesting question. In Cara Santa Maria’s video blog “What Is Time?” Theoretical Physicist Sean Carroll states: “A lot of people from ancient Greek philosophers to modern physicists have wondered whether or not maybe time doesn’t exist.” This thought process is disturbing because if time does not exist, then it renders the whole meaning of my existence pointless. I operate a lot of aspects of my life on the concept of time being linear. Yesterday I played with my friends. Tomorrow I will volunteer at the homeless shelter. When I was three years old, I learned my address and telephone number. Today at 5 p.m. I will wash clothes. Without my belief in the existence of time, would I be able to answer the question of “when”? Would the word “when” even exist? Whether I look at time as either liner or cyclical, it has a major impact on the long and short-term decisions that I make in my life.

Works Cited

Santa Maria, Cara. “What Is Time? Theoretical Physicist Sean Carroll Explains Time's
Arrow.” Talk Nerdy To Me. Huffington Post. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
Payn, Marshall. "The Nature Of Time." Journal For Spiritual & Consciousness Studies
37.4 (2014): 231-240. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.