Does time exist?

Thousands of years ago, people noticed the movement of the sun, moon and stars. They started to record these events and, in a way, “discovered” time. One of the earliest sundials was invented to measure the passing of the sun over the earth. The period from sunrise to sunset was determined to have a specific length of “time”. At night, the movement of the moon also indicated the length of time at night.

Throughout the centuries astronomers and astrologers, using increasingly sophisticated instruments, made significant progress in ways of measuring time. At present we can tell the correct time within seconds in any part of the world! Today people would find it very difficult if not impossible to live without clocks and calendars and all the other methods we currently have for measuring time.

However, with the exploration of space came the realization that in space there is no such thing as “time”. Why? Because there are no points of reference. As soon as we leave the earth, time as we know it ceases to exist. The astronauts rotate the earth several times a day. Unless they have a clock or watch they do not know what time it is. The sun and the moon don’t function as reference points in space the same way they do on earth. And without a calendar, the astronauts also don’t know what day of the week it is, or what month or year. Birthdays? Impossible. Without clocks and calendars, we really have no way of knowing how old we are.

Therefore, it is my conclusion that the only real, measurable time we know is found in the human heartbeat. Each person who is born on this earth is given a predetermined number of heartbeats, ie, their biological clock. When that number is reached, the person is finished.