What does this aphorism mean exactly? Time is a human construct designed to regulate our existence, as if just living, and being, is somehow in itself unnatural. We adjust almost everything we do to adhere to these designated moments which are too often predetermined by others. Even those who specify that instance for this or that purpose lose control because then they too are bound by it. To be bound, confined, restrained, limited is anathema to most yet somehow compulsory when it is directed outwards, but it’s okay when it’s not you.
The meaning of “Doing Time” is actually defined under ‘time:- 3d: a prison sentence’, so a certain dark connotation is further applied to this concept. Those of us in prison now know that all too well.
I can’t just think to eat or go outside, or even to use the toilet any time it’s needed because I am bound by a schedule. At times I am physically confined to a cage where doing those things is literally not an option.
To have your life taken for some made-up thing, a concept specifically designed to control is particularly abhorrent. But isn’t everyone restricted to a degree, no matter our circumstances, because of this imposed fiction?
People both choose to restrict themselves, and force it on others, so what does freedom and free will mean when your ‘time’ is predetermined?
Comments