Recently, the following quote caught my attention:
"Time is the substance from which I am made."
Jorge Luis Borges
Argentine Author & Poet, (1899-1986)
Quotes about time always catch my attention…because (1) I have always been and still am fascinated by the concepts of time-physics and (2) over recent years, I am alarmed by the increasing number of people who think and say they things like, “I don’t have time.”
I am not familiar with the work of Jorge Luis Borges, so I can only speculate on the context around his quote. Without context, I interpret the quote in my own way. 'Subjective opportunities' - perhaps that is the best measure of a quote's value?
Here, I will not be providing an interpretation of, "Time is the substance from which I am made." Instead, I will share some thoughts the quote triggered.
My first reaction to the quote was to do a double-take….I thought I had mis-read the sentence. After reading the quote the 2nd time and reaching a conclusion about its meaning, for some reason, a question-thought hit me:
“If you don't have time, what do you have?”
The answer to that question came quickly:
“If you don't have time, you have nothing.”
Whether or not time is the substance from which we are made, if we don’t have time then we have nothing.
Perhaps, that’s why I have such a problem when people say things like, “I don’t have time.” Perhaps, that’s why I feel their self-brainwashing is so damaging..so spirit-killing…so unnatural ...
Perhaps, that’s why I now feel the most helpful thing you can do when people say "I don't have time" is ask, "If you don't have time, what do you have?"
Since you care, you ought to offer these wrong-thinking people at least that provocation.
If you care even more about helping people make positive changes, and the situation lends itself…
Help them understand, if they continue to think and say they do not have time then they are right – they do not and never will have time.
And, help them understand, if they do not have time then they have nothing.
Footnote - article About Time