“Time is a game played
beautifully by children.” - Heraclitus
of Ephesus (c. 535 – c. 475 B.C.) In Fragments (2001) translated by Brooks
Haxton.
Heraclitus is difficult
to understand and to translate, and he thus acquired the epithet ‘The Obscure.’ He is probably more
well know for his meditations on the ‘Logos’ and the controversial ‘Panta rhei’
(everything flows). It seem surprising that children often emerge as subjects
in his philosophical fragments. In this respect they provide analogies of the
way we perceive the world, and in his opinion we could do better to implement
the practical and quite pure (or, innocent) approach that is typical of
infants. Contrasted and compared with the wisdom of the child is the plain
ignorance of men. A drunken man is led and guided by a smooth cheeked youth,
and the elders of Ephesus would do better to leave the governance of the town
to the youngsters. Heraclitus pounds out his view that children are capable of
recognizing phenomena that adults are blithely unaware of. Whether this is due
to the demands placed upon us through education, inherited ideas or concepts,
or simply the daily life of work and relationships is unclear.
The concept of ‘time’ is
an extremely important one for adults, for obvious reasons. How else would the
world work in an efficient manner if time was left to it’s own devices. It must
be harnessed and employed with maximum efficiency. But the child fails to
recognize this. To a child, time is infinite and eternal – there is never a
lack of it. There is no ‘must’ or ‘have to’ within a particular time frame.
Time is that period in which that what should be done, is performed regardless
of limits or boundaries. The essence of
Heraclitus’ proverb is that time spent is therefore pleasure gained in an
infinite present. As adults we attach concepts of investment, reward, and
expenditure to time. In this respect we do not possess enough time to fully
extract any or all perceived benefits from it. Time thus becomes a burden and a
pressing deadline rather than the opportunity to explore, create and interact
with others. We have become prisoners of time rather than allowing it to
liberate us, and we spend our lives attempting to escape from it. As adults we spend our entire working lives looking forward to retirement, only to find that by the time that we reach that stage we are in fact miserably dried up and too wasted to enjoy anything. For the senior, time becomes the possibility to drift into unconsciousness and sleep.
Perhaps we could spend
just one day of our week submerged in a time out of time, not mechanically
check a watch or clock – and instead pursue a wild passion and delight in the
moment, maybe we could or might taste real happiness or bliss. Just one sip of the
infinite in the present is a priceless gift that cannot be bought at any cost.
All Rights Reserved /
Copright: David John Drew 2013.
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