Facing Time

“The world presents itself in two ways to me. The world as a thing I own, the world as a mystery I face. What I own is a trifle, what I face is sublime. I am careful not to waste what I own; I must learn not to miss what I face.” -Abraham J. Heschel, Who Is Man?

As I live, I fall into the trap of seeing time as a commodity. I “spend” my time working, eating, sleeping, and doing leisurely activities and consider myself to be “using” my time purposefully. By doing this, I miss time completely. Time is what I face, just as the world around me is what I face. The two come together. 

I am careful not to waste what I have, yet they are a trifle. While I don’t exactly own time, it sometimes feels like an empty room that is leased to me one day to the next and asks, how will I fill it, if at all? Regardless of what I do, it gets filled. On the other hand, it is not a space at all. Even as my eyes roam from one object to another in my field of vision every waking hour, as I face the world in the most minute way, whether or not what I experience is new, time looks back at me. The world is imbued with time. I want to look back at it with a sense of optimism at its possibilities.