Time is often described in the form of a sandglass in our daily life. Time was adopted into the scientific world in a form of countable “quantity” by the researches of Galileo and Newton. However, concerning the fact that time, 365 days, 24 hour and even leap years, has been counted with a sundial from the Greek period or even the former Egyptian period, we can see that numerous philosophers, mathematicians and astronomers have worked with their entire lives just to clarify the mystery of time.
Galileo and Newton are said to be the first to research time in the Western society. However, the person who had the most influence on the development of research of time in the 20th century is, without doubt, Einstein.
Einstein’s theory of relativity changed the idea of time completely. His theory was that not only human beings, but also both space and time are flexible and changeable. This theory revolutionized the understanding of time. Since its conclusion is not yet understood enough, many people are still researching to fully understand the mystery of time using many scientific measures. What is time? From where was time born? How old is the universe? Or does the universe have neither age, beginning nor end at all like the Buddhism teaches us? Is there a possibility of time traveling? Does the universe end when time vanishes? How are the concept of time and consciousness related to each other? Being snowed under with daily works, we tend to forget to think deeply about these various things that constantly cross our minds. In the world of Zen, the universe is often apprehended as the expression, “a point if clench, infinity if unclench.”
The astrophysicist, Paul Davies, has written a book about time recently. The book is called “About Time” published by Hayakawa Shobou. This book is so interesting that I strongly recommend this book. Paul Davies tries to resolve time from various aspects: astronomy, philosophy, physics, anthropology, psychology, physiology, cognitive science (the newest and the most popular science of today,) quantum mechanics, and chaos theory. Very easy and fun to read.
I sometimes think about time too. I feel a same period of time very differently such as; when I do something fun, the time feels very short, and when I do something not fun like taking exam, the time feels much longer on the other hand. Five minutes feels very long if you do only simple calculation meanwhile. Also, a recent research has proved that time goes by slower than what you feel when you have fever; or time seems to flow very slowly and everything feels like flowing slowly in your brain at the moment you are about to have a traffic accident. This is because much adrenaline in your brain makes your body operate and respond so fast that time feels much slower than usual. Thus, more and more scholars are now researching the relationships between hormones or substances in brain and perception of time by brain.
One research has found that some birds wait for the food to come out of the hole for about one and a half minutes before moving to another hole to pick. The researchers are proving the existence of a receptor to perceive multiple concept of time, second, minute, hour and date in animals and plants too. The research of time is entering in a very interesting era now. Why don’t you stop and think about time in your busy life sometimes?
