How often do you catch yourself or somebody else saying the phrase: “I have no time”. Having no time per se isn’t particularly different then saying: I have no space, in which we often refer to something that doesn’t fit. The whole human experience in this planet is severely underlined by the whole concept of time. We measure our lives in years, divide our chores and duties by days, our deadlines in dates, our historical moments in centuries; all this for a dimension that even though exists, we just can’t see.

Someone can clearly state: “of course we see time, I can look at my phone and tell you precisely what time it is”. You might be able to tell me what time it is, but you haven’t observed time. You have observed a function that assume values over time, you observe the cyclical movement on a analogical watch, which repeats itself and assumes a different angle at each given time, but time itself, you haven’t seen. You can observe old photographs from loved ones, and see how different they look then and now, so you can say “My, my, how time flies”, but time, you haven’t seen. We can tell apart day and night, the seasons, how things change, we may even observe them change, but what you are seeing isn’t time, but functions and things that assume different values and shapes over time.

So why is it so important for us to measure, keep track, and base our whole lives on a dimension that is by nature intangible to us? Because the patterns, and the cycles, and the changes, and the functions matter. It is an easier way to catalog, and communicate, and comprehend our human experience. It is a way to pinpoint our legacy, to learn further details about this ever changing world we live in, and who knows, maybe comprehend a little better day by day this unknown yet familiar dimension that surrounds us.