I’m happy to admit that I value time; yet I find myself considering much of what I do on my own time wasted upon reflection. Does this diminish its value, or is it a problem with my perspective on time? I believe that it is quite intuitive that time has some kind of value. If someone values anything, time is necessary to enjoy that thing. The lack of time always stresses me out, no matter how minuscule the problem is. With the new school term starting, being overwhelmed has become my default state.
Yet, when given the opportunity to spend time on my own ventures, I choose to ‘waste’ it. But did I truly waste it? Because I did enjoy the time I spent playing video games, and although I didn’t reach philosophical enlightenment or relearn piano, surely just bringing joy means it’s not void of meaning. Within hedonism there are many useful perspectives; some say that pleasure is good, but offering no distinction between types of pleasure. Societal norms seem to take the other account, where higher and lower pleasures exist. Today, I feel that we are expected to strive for greatness, ergo higher pleasures, perfecting our crafts and passions. Lower pleasures would be drinking, watching Netflix, playing video games and so forth. This makes me suspect that my feelings of regret after ‘wasting time’ are similar to ‘moral truths’ implanted by society. The feeling of wrongness when confronted with the act of killing is because that is what you have been taught, but is the act of killing always wrong? Of course, this morality can easily be defended, but reflect on how much the morality of the
average person mirrors society as a whole.
The great Stoic Seneca said that: “People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.” The problem comes down to identifying what wasting time is. I would entertain that claiming that you are wasting time, even if you enjoy that time, usually implies that the value of time is objective. Even if it were subjective, what is the origin of this value model? This is problematic because where would objectivity come from? Reason or meaning? Unfortunately, my recent course in philosophy revealed how utterly betrayed we are by our own reason. How can I bring myself to trust it? Furthermore, what we consider knowledge stands on a very vulnerable foundation. I am skeptical of meaning in the objective
sense, perhaps due to my lack of imagination.
How would hypothetical worlds with objective meaning be? Is it a divine being that
determines or accesses the form of goodness for us? Will advanced creatures know with reason what is meaningful to spend time on? Could there be natural laws? To avoid going insane, I want to trust my own lived experience over speculation.
Writer: Erik Eklund, editor
This is an opinion piece in Qualia. The writer is responsible for their opinion.