Praying for time

 Praying for time


Often unintentionally 

we invent or assume

causal explanations 

as components

of our mental maps or models

of the world

meaning our worlds 

and will often 

continue to rely on them

despite contradictory evidence


Memes in this category

are propagated

far more rapidly than

genetic information is by genes

with a much higher 

mutational propensity 

and more likely

for better or worse

to be disseminated asexually

in a relatively unconstrained manner


Checks and balances

of remarkable complexity 

have evolved in biology 

to enable survival and procreation 

and play a similar role

in civilizations 

where they are far more mundane


In the twenty first century 

of the common era

literacy and education 

and access to information 

are widespread

and so is belief in mythology 


Very few of us

are physicists

mathematicians

molecular biologists 

astronomers 

cosmologists

geologists

evolutionary biologists 

archeologists 

or paleoanthropologists

so our concepts of deep time

are poorly developed 


Long ago is

in common parlance 

ancient Greece

or the biblical creation 

not even close to a nanosecond 

on the evolutionary scale


Most of us know

that the visible world of humans

is not all there is

and that we are blind

in the infrared and ultraviolet 

and cannot see motion

that is superslow or superfast


Our other senses 

have similar impediments


Some senses

in all animals

are associated with

easily recogniseable organs

like eyes and ears

and noses 

tongues and fingers


The organ of time

is certainly the brain

based on cyclical events

to which we are sensitive 

like light and darkness

but deep time is invisible

to common humans


Most of us will have

some sense of the fact that

random combinations

of molecules in 

a conducive environment 

governed by natural constraints

may become self propagating 

may replicate

may clump or become membranous

repel other atoms and molecules

and become electromagnetic 


This hand is shuffled repeatedly 

over geologic and evolutionary time

with random outcomes 

some of which will become 

recognisable life forms 

on this planet

or the myriad of exoplanets

in this galaxy and

the myriad of galaxies 

in the universe 


The human inclination 

to attribute all of this

to mystical forces

and invisible powers 

is easy to understand 

as are the compelling 

stories and rituals

and much that is beautiful 

that has been invented 

and propagated as a result 


The essence of the magic

is the elusive concept

of the quantity of time

involved in the equation 


In this sense 

God is time

impartial and insensitive 

to human emotions 

hopes and desires

but critical to 

the comprehension of the world


In this moment

in the here and now

time is critical 

to coherence in our lives

the past flowing reliably 

into the future 

day by day


To grasp

if only momentarily 

this aspect of reality

from time to time

is like being an astronaut 

looking at our planet from afar

and the universe 

in which it immersed

no space suit neccessary 

to grasp its magnificence


Aubrey Lieberman 

2/28/25





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