One night recently I was without my bedroom clock. Because I'm not on any schedule I didn't think too much about it, until I turned out the lights and realized I didn't know what time it was.
How strange it was to lie in my bed, in the dark with no way to tell time. I realized how much time rules our lives. Every room in our house has a clock in it - except the bathrooms. The kitchen actually has three clocks -- the one on the wall, the one on the stove and the one on the microwave. Our respective study and studios have one on the wall and the time on our computers.
There I lay feeling as if I'd gone into a delightful abyss - of timelessness. Did I feel adrift in a bad way or did I feel free? Of course I felt free -- but it was also a bit intimidating. It was almost as if I were the last person on a silent earth.
Is time actually the thing that gives importance to my days? Its lunchtime - must eat - its time to take pills - its time to go pick up the mail. My life seems ruled by TIME. I then realized that time is really what holds a society together. It wouldn't function at all if everyone was wandering around heedless of time. How would we know when to meet -- how would we know when to be at work. Time is sort of the contract we have as humans.
Maybe someday I'll cover all the clocks, close down all the computers, and see what it is like to really 'float' in time.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." - Albert Einstein
