I'm currently in the consumerist capital of the world. The United States of America. Wooooow. Not only that, but I've been staying in one of the most powerful cities in the world; New York City. This is where its at. O...M...G.
As I meandered the wide streets, laden with yellow cabs and lit up signage, one sign really caught my eye; a painful American paradigm that read TIME IS MONEY.
I have seriously wondered on this idea and I am sure I've got stuck on it given my travels will extend as long as the money in my bank account has funds. I hope like many of the travelers out there I provide a strong insight that one might live abundantly without needing to spend frivolously or be imprisoned by ones own fears. Or at least that even in those moments of nothingness, somethingness will always appear... many of these somethingness moments having lit up my travels in memories that will forever be treasured.
So how, I wonder, is time equated to money? What on Earth is time, or money for that matter, beyond a bench stick for an idea we attach energy to? The advertisement didn't answer that question not even in the small prints for one to grasp. So I got to some points in my limited mind of understanding which has had tendencies to delve to proverbial deep and dark parts of the ocean where the vampire squids live (awesome David Attenborough footage here):
Time scientifically is the movement of objects through space. So time only exists in relation to something else. So does it even exist? Meh.
In Hindu philosophy, "Time is Death" Gasp! So every moment we die a little. I still don't find the connection to money. Money cannot reverse that. Perhaps the 'signs' of it by virtue of cosmetic skin cream... but inevitable decay is the nature of life. Yes morbid and dark but true unless you are Walt Disney.
Then in profound Ms Reynard (aka Lyra Ray) wisdom "The soul doesn't know time". A perfect excuse for someone living perpetually in the present and subsequently struggling at times with her 'time keeping'. I love you Ms Reynard. So perhaps; the soul doesn't know death. Tick. Immortality. An elixir. Alchemy. Absolutely nothing to lose if one wishes to speculate.
Now Freudian goes in to the dualistic forces of Death and Love. I'm going to sit pretty on that point and leave anyone reading this to work out which might be the most powerful or what duality even is and perhaps jump in to a rabbit hole of ah-haaas and oh nooos. Good luck with that. My advice would be to take a wind up flashlight or good SCUBA gear with an extra oxygen tank.
That rainy day may never come.
As I meandered the wide streets, laden with yellow cabs and lit up signage, one sign really caught my eye; a painful American paradigm that read TIME IS MONEY.
I have seriously wondered on this idea and I am sure I've got stuck on it given my travels will extend as long as the money in my bank account has funds. I hope like many of the travelers out there I provide a strong insight that one might live abundantly without needing to spend frivolously or be imprisoned by ones own fears. Or at least that even in those moments of nothingness, somethingness will always appear... many of these somethingness moments having lit up my travels in memories that will forever be treasured.
So how, I wonder, is time equated to money? What on Earth is time, or money for that matter, beyond a bench stick for an idea we attach energy to? The advertisement didn't answer that question not even in the small prints for one to grasp. So I got to some points in my limited mind of understanding which has had tendencies to delve to proverbial deep and dark parts of the ocean where the vampire squids live (awesome David Attenborough footage here):
Time scientifically is the movement of objects through space. So time only exists in relation to something else. So does it even exist? Meh.
In Hindu philosophy, "Time is Death" Gasp! So every moment we die a little. I still don't find the connection to money. Money cannot reverse that. Perhaps the 'signs' of it by virtue of cosmetic skin cream... but inevitable decay is the nature of life. Yes morbid and dark but true unless you are Walt Disney.
Then in profound Ms Reynard (aka Lyra Ray) wisdom "The soul doesn't know time". A perfect excuse for someone living perpetually in the present and subsequently struggling at times with her 'time keeping'. I love you Ms Reynard. So perhaps; the soul doesn't know death. Tick. Immortality. An elixir. Alchemy. Absolutely nothing to lose if one wishes to speculate.
Now Freudian goes in to the dualistic forces of Death and Love. I'm going to sit pretty on that point and leave anyone reading this to work out which might be the most powerful or what duality even is and perhaps jump in to a rabbit hole of ah-haaas and oh nooos. Good luck with that. My advice would be to take a wind up flashlight or good SCUBA gear with an extra oxygen tank.
I took these points on board as I pondered on said giant black and white brainwashing sign telling me that 'TIME IS MONEY' with a New York accent in my head.
Which is one more afraid of not having? Here's a big question written in giant marker pen on a piece of scrap cardboard. And how about bringing this paradigm home. Home to a place of family. Of unconditional love. Of true connection, responsibility and understanding.
Keeping it simple.
I am a perfect example of a child brought up with way too many hours of television, Mario Brothers and Tetris, I had nannies and didn't see much of my father busy working to 'earn a living' that despite affording me a really wonderful foundation of education, meant that I also didn't get to spend much time growing up with him. We've made up for this in adult life, thankfully, but when I look at this on a grander scale, when I look at some of the biggest issues that plague the 'developed' world; I see countless children who've grown up dreaming of making lots of money to buy lots of toys and destroy lots of land and exploit lots of people in the process.
There are way too many powerful naughty boys out there not playing fair with the other children... I won't be surprised if mother nature came and spanked their bottoms.
Which is one more afraid of not having? Here's a big question written in giant marker pen on a piece of scrap cardboard. And how about bringing this paradigm home. Home to a place of family. Of unconditional love. Of true connection, responsibility and understanding.
Keeping it simple.
I am a perfect example of a child brought up with way too many hours of television, Mario Brothers and Tetris, I had nannies and didn't see much of my father busy working to 'earn a living' that despite affording me a really wonderful foundation of education, meant that I also didn't get to spend much time growing up with him. We've made up for this in adult life, thankfully, but when I look at this on a grander scale, when I look at some of the biggest issues that plague the 'developed' world; I see countless children who've grown up dreaming of making lots of money to buy lots of toys and destroy lots of land and exploit lots of people in the process.
There are way too many powerful naughty boys out there not playing fair with the other children... I won't be surprised if mother nature came and spanked their bottoms.
SPEND TIME NOT MONEY ON YOUR KIDS sings true to my heart. That's what I wish the sign really said. That's the message that perhaps the most powerful city on this planet could be sending to its people.
Money will never, ever, replace the experience of being in the presence and sharing time with a loved one. Sure it might buy an awesome toy to distract one from missing them and even stop them from nagging (brilliant article here), but no amount of money can replace that lovely warm feeling of sharing those treasured moments and memories with the ones you love.
Kahlil Gibran writes it beautifully in The Prophet when he says much more poetically;
Money will never, ever, replace the experience of being in the presence and sharing time with a loved one. Sure it might buy an awesome toy to distract one from missing them and even stop them from nagging (brilliant article here), but no amount of money can replace that lovely warm feeling of sharing those treasured moments and memories with the ones you love.
Kahlil Gibran writes it beautifully in The Prophet when he says much more poetically;
And is not time even as love is, undivided and placeless? But if in your thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons, And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.Embrace every moment with or without money.
That rainy day may never come.
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