We have already entered the new year by the grace of the Triune God. Along with our hopes and expectations for the new year, these days fill our souls with reasonable reflection on the meaning of the flow of time. And that's because time with him "space's twin brother", according to the late Justin Popovich, they are the two heavy yokes of man throughout his life on earth, which limit his burning desire for absoluteness.
The concept of time is an age-old mystery for man. No other being has the sense of the flow of time, much less the ability to measure it, except man, who alone was endowed by God the Creator with reason, thanks to which he transcends the instinctive state, common to all living creatures, and is thus reduced to the realm of philosophical contemplation.
He, from a long time ago, based on the constant mobility and changes of the natural environment, in which he lived, conceived the concept of time flow. Space and the movement of material beings troubled him and filled his soul with admiration and many questions. The most important phenomenon that involved him was the alternation of day and night, which became the primary measurement of time. The length of the day was also timed based on the movement of the sun. Depending on its position in the celestial body, the time of day was also determined. The total number of days and in relation to the annual solar cycle determined the temporal year.
The conception and definition of the concept of time is therefore closely intertwined with the position and movement of the material surrounding world and is also directly related to the changeability of material creation. This was first conceived by the great ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (580-490 BC), who summed up his entire thinking about time in his proverbial phrase "everything is fine". The world was ordered by God its Creator not to be static, but to be in constant change and movement, in an uninterrupted flow, which leads it to its teleological purpose.
Man is an integral part of divine creation. Like her, he too is subject to the cosmic flow, which he himself called time. In order to be able to better express this subtle concept, he integrated it into his mythological symbolic representations. To the Indians, time is represented by the perpetual circular cosmic dance of the destroyer and creator god Shiva. To the ancient Egyptians the goddess of the night sky Nut every night swallowed the sun, digested it and rose in the morning in the east, this was the continuous process of the cycle of time. The Indians of the Micmac tribe of pre-Columbian America the concept of time had a magical character, they perceived it as a continuous present.
The ancient Greeks represented the relentless time with the Titan Kronos (=Time), who ate his children, wanting to declare the childless law of the birth and decay of beings. Pythagoras considered time as a sphere that surrounds everything and nothing could be left outside the inexorable temporal law. Plato, extending the Heracleian philosophy, connected the variability of the material world with time (Tim.37D). Aristotle considered the concept of time as the main aspect of the perpetual motion of material bodies throughout the universe. Finally, the Stoics considered time as an incorporeal being, intermediate in the movement of the universe (Diog. Laert. G΄1,141).
The Jews, guided by the Old Testament, believed that God is the creator of everything, even time. He leads the world through temporality to the purpose for which He created it. Time is also included in this expediency. Nothing exists outside of divine providence and will. Time is the course of the world to its end.
In Christianity time took on a completely different view. It involves profound theological, anthropological and moral dimensions. Time has a beginning and it will have an end. This is clearly expressed from the first and last sentence of the Bible. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen.1,1) and "yes i'm coming fast" (Revelation 22,20). The first verse expresses the genesis of time and the second states its end, together with the end of the present form of the world. This is one of the fundamental positions of Christian teaching, which in contrast to the various pantheistic faiths, which accept the self-existence and eternity of the world. God's word unequivocally emphasizes that after the final triumph of Christ and His second and glorious presence, the imaginary heavenly Jerusalem she needs neither the sun nor the moon to be seen, for the glory of God has illuminated her, and the lamp of her lamb... her pillars shall not be closed by day; night, for she is not there" (Revelation 21,23-25). It is obvious that as long as there is the re-creation of the material creation and its incorruptibility, change will cease to exist and therefore temporal correlation will also cease to exist.
There is another important parameter of the consideration of time. He is now sanctified after God the Word decided to enter him, become a man and suffer the space-time limitations of His creations (John 1,14). After God's Incarnation, time and space, these two basic idioms of material creation, assumed a different role within the teleological cosmic perspective.
Before God's incarnation spacetime served evil, which had entered as an unnatural condition into God's creation. The passing of the centuries of the pre-Christian era was essentially the perpetuation of evil in the world. After the coming of Christ to the world, the concept of time was included in the work of saving the human race. Now time serves the divine work of saving the world. It serves the salvation of man. Time is not just a mechanistic march towards the end of the world, but every moment is precious for man's salvation skywalk towards God. He is an incessant "weather welcome" and continuous "salvation day" according to the apostle Paul (10,11 Corinthians XNUMX). The time of our earthly life should be utilized to the fullest. Every moment lost can prove fatal to our future position in eternity. The great apostle of the nations in another of his teachings exhorts us: "now for salvation is nearer than when we believed, the night has come and the day has come" (Rom. 13,11). The eternal God will come suddenly "as a thief in the night" (Matthew 24,43:5,2, 3,3 Thess. XNUMX:XNUMX, Rev. XNUMX:XNUMX) and woe to anyone who is found sitting down. Outside of this view the concept of time is meaningless, useless to man, and perhaps quite meaningless. Our earthly life, as a preparation for endless eternity, gives real meaning to our lives, drive and strength to overcome all obstacles and realize our high purpose.
The limited space of the column does not allow us to expand our philosophical reflection on the concept of time, which is indeed inexhaustible. We are content to recall the personal obligation of every intelligent person to make positive use of every moment of his earthly life, for personal and social progress. Progress and civilization are conquests and results of toil and much effort. Let the new year be for all of us yet another challenge and opportunity to give our own noble struggle in all areas of our lives, which will make us famous and ultimately show us god-like personalities.
photo AndreyС, https://pixabay.com
