Joseph Legaspi's Blog - Posts Tagged "time"
A Time for TIME
Time has been on my mind lately (like who isn't reminded of it?) We Americans just moved the clocks forward an hour, and after being bombarded with ad after ad for A Wrinkle in Time, I end up asking myself a question that I never really got answered in Philosophy class in college.
What is Time? On the surface, we use clocks and track the sun go round and round. But Einstein proved that there is no objectivity to it. When you try to define it, you find yourself thinking about your own Time. Everyone measures it differently, and that measurement depends upon the individual meaning we give it. If I ask you to think of a memory filled with the most energy you felt in your life, you might refer to time with an age like 18. If you feel tired, you might say "I feel like a hundred years old."
The way Time metaphorically portrays dramatic events in our lives makes for great literature. For a convict in jail, Time can "draw out a like a blade" as King wrote in The Shawshank Redemption. Or it can catch us off guard with the brevity of it, as in the immortal words of Dr. Seuss: “How did it get so late so soon?” Or maybe we stand apart from Time altogether. As Eckhart Tolle wrote in The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, "What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now."
It is not just for the sci-fi fan. The universal themes found in The Time Machine or The Time Traveler's Wife can just as well be found in mainstream stories like A Christmas Carol or A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Time serves as a constant reminder of all we have and don't have. It allows us to grow. It gives us perspective. It is much more than a mere tool to gauge our lives. As Faulkner wrote in The Sound and the Fury, "Only when the clock stops does time come to life.”
Yet for all its power and potential, Time is mysteriously frustrating and elusive. It is just another paradox of life: Time slows down when you want it to speed up, and speeds up when you want it to slow down. Maybe that is why it feels so good to read stories where we can control Time, or at the very least, FEEL like we have some mastery over it. Read Gustav Flaubert's Sentimental Education, and you'll see a writer play skillfully with Time. His transition of Time is so easy that at one point you won't realize that five years went by.
The beauty of reading literature is being lost in Time. This leads me, as you may expect, to my novel A Three-Year Minute, which is not really about Time travel itself. Although many who read the opening pages free on Amazon will know there is a very brief step forward for three years but that is all. It's that burst of probable future events that sparks a love story set in the present day. It is also a testament to the transitory nature of Time, the way a minute can feel like three years. Something to think about?
So here's to grasping Time (if you can)! Use it or lose it. Have a good one!
Celebrate "Time" with a chance to win free copy of A Three-Year Minute https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
What is Time? On the surface, we use clocks and track the sun go round and round. But Einstein proved that there is no objectivity to it. When you try to define it, you find yourself thinking about your own Time. Everyone measures it differently, and that measurement depends upon the individual meaning we give it. If I ask you to think of a memory filled with the most energy you felt in your life, you might refer to time with an age like 18. If you feel tired, you might say "I feel like a hundred years old."
The way Time metaphorically portrays dramatic events in our lives makes for great literature. For a convict in jail, Time can "draw out a like a blade" as King wrote in The Shawshank Redemption. Or it can catch us off guard with the brevity of it, as in the immortal words of Dr. Seuss: “How did it get so late so soon?” Or maybe we stand apart from Time altogether. As Eckhart Tolle wrote in The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, "What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now."
It is not just for the sci-fi fan. The universal themes found in The Time Machine or The Time Traveler's Wife can just as well be found in mainstream stories like A Christmas Carol or A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Time serves as a constant reminder of all we have and don't have. It allows us to grow. It gives us perspective. It is much more than a mere tool to gauge our lives. As Faulkner wrote in The Sound and the Fury, "Only when the clock stops does time come to life.”
Yet for all its power and potential, Time is mysteriously frustrating and elusive. It is just another paradox of life: Time slows down when you want it to speed up, and speeds up when you want it to slow down. Maybe that is why it feels so good to read stories where we can control Time, or at the very least, FEEL like we have some mastery over it. Read Gustav Flaubert's Sentimental Education, and you'll see a writer play skillfully with Time. His transition of Time is so easy that at one point you won't realize that five years went by.
The beauty of reading literature is being lost in Time. This leads me, as you may expect, to my novel A Three-Year Minute, which is not really about Time travel itself. Although many who read the opening pages free on Amazon will know there is a very brief step forward for three years but that is all. It's that burst of probable future events that sparks a love story set in the present day. It is also a testament to the transitory nature of Time, the way a minute can feel like three years. Something to think about?
So here's to grasping Time (if you can)! Use it or lose it. Have a good one!
Celebrate "Time" with a chance to win free copy of A Three-Year Minute https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
Giveaway
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
As the giveaway period is drawing to a close for A Three-Year Minute, I want to thank everyone who entered.
Good Luck!
Best,
Joseph Legaspi
As the giveaway period is drawing to a close for A Three-Year Minute, I want to thank everyone who entered.
Good Luck!
Best,
Joseph Legaspi
