It is sometimes said that time is an illusion, merely a construct created to help us live in a way that is measurable and manageable. That it is a framework created by society, and that we want it to flow in a linear fashion, past to future through the present. Blah, blah, blah. Even Einstein couldn’t get a definitive grip on it, theory or general relativity or not. Time dilation is real, time travel probably isn’t, we experience it in different ways and I, for one, sure as hell don’t view it as absolute. I can’t pretend to understand most of what Old Uncle Albert gave us, but I am on the same page when he said:
“The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
He also said “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” Super genius and wry wit, what an amazing cat.
You can probably guess, based on the date, what put me in mind of time and its meaning. While I am not always a fan of created celebrations, I do love New Year’s Eve. As I get older – there’s that pesky time thing again – I find myself drawn more and more to the milestones and waypoints of the natural world. Solstices, equinoxes, phases of the moon, etc, are constant and measurable, as opposed to an arbitrary date on a created calendar. Let us not forget that the Gregorian calendar, while based on the solar year, is a creation (okay, a revision, don’t be picky) of the Catholic church, and yes, they used the solstices to keep track of some important dates, like Easter, but it is still a somewhat arbitrary invention. Not for nothing, it is also not a very good one. If we need a rhyming mnemonic to remember which days have 30 or 31 and then have to throw in February there are some issues. By the way, there are better ways, but I’ll let you fall down that rabbit hole on your own. (Fun fact: we treat our calendar like it has always been there and is universal, but Greece didn’t adopt it until 1923 and Saudi Arabia in 2016) I often feel that our placing less emphasis on the rhythms of the world around us might be part of what we seem to be so out of sorts. So having said all that, why the love of New Year’s Eve? I think part of it is the solidity and specificity of it. Despite our having made up the clock and the calendar, it is for now what we’re stuck with, and counting down to the very second a new year begins is very exciting and satisfying. And there is no denying that years are our greatest markers. You don’t remember the day you graduated from high school or when a favorite movie came out, but you do remember the year. There is a reason we celebrate anniversaries after all.
Another aspect is the sense of transition, an opportunity for something fresh, a demarcation of where we were to where we’re going. We generally don’t make resolutions on birthdays, despite it also being an annual marker, because they lack that feeling of delineation. There is a feeling of stepping from one place to another (giving weight to Al’s ideas on the spacetime fabric?) that birthdays don’t have. For me at least, while birthdays – anniversaries of our birth – can make you feel old, New Years feels more like a celebration of not only surviving but moving forward. A sense of progression without the aging, maybe? I don’t know. Like I said, this time stuff is tricky.
It is sometimes said that time is an illusion, merely a construct created to help us live in a way that is measurable and manageable. That it is a framework created by society, and that we want it to flow in a linear fashion, past to future through the present. Blah, blah, blah. Even Einstein couldn’t get a definitive grip on it, theory or general relativity or not. Time dilation is real, time travel probably isn’t, we experience it in different ways and I, for one, sure as hell don’t view it as absolute. I can’t pretend to understand most of what Old Uncle Albert gave us, but I am on the same page when he said: “The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” He also said “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” Super genius and wry wit, what an amazing cat.
It is also far and away the best excuse to throw a party. We have lots of holidays across our nationalities and cultures and beliefs, but December 31st, thanks to that suspect but unavoidable calendar, is one the largest number of us can agree on. Like most folk, I used to be very keen on having or going to parties, finding places to join in big celebrations and generally getting wild and crazy. Then I realized that my favorite New Years memories were almost always the ones where I spent a relatively quiet evening with favorite people. Some good food and drink, maybe a game, and just being together was more satisfying than excitement. That is not to say I haven’t attended more than a few epic New Years shindigs, and doing it at Epcot is something I am very glad to have checked off my bucket list. But yeah, a little more easygoing seems to be the ticket, and besides, starting the new year with a hangover probably isn’t the best tone setter. So tonight I will hunker down with my cherished wife and one of our oldest and dearest friends and bring in the New Year gently but with love. I obviously wish more of the people I love the most could also be with us, it is enough to know that they are also with people they love marking the passing of another trip around the sun (kind of). I hope we all might take a moment to think of those who didn’t get to finish this orbit, and remember to be grateful. Not just because we made it and for all the good things in our lives, but because we have a whole new cycle ahead of us. That tick of the clock from one year to the next is as good a time as any, and maybe better than most, to decide what to do with it.
I will leave you on this New Year’s Eve with the wit and wisdom of Monty Python, and songs that seem appropriate to this potentially overwrought philosophical jaunt. The first to provide always useful perspective and the second to, well, you’ll see. Happy New Year and thanks for reading.