Philosopher takes the biscuit
Henry David Thoreau once - more or less famously - said:
You cannot kill time without injuring eternity.
Some Leeds University researchers, looking for a proper biscuit, hadn’t heard or just didn’t agree. Mind you, those nicely coined paper snapshots can never stand too much analysis - and even the most jaded gambler would call their bluff any day of the week.
While it would, for instance, indeed be quite hurtful to kill even the small amount of time it would take to watch her biopic, would you really prefer to spend the alternative, eternity, with this woman?
Furthermore, if you were a lobster in an Italian theatre you’d really rather have people kill time than inflict the kind of injuries that moonlight as fast-forwarding portals to eternity.
Anyway, infinity may welcome careful drivers but it’s rather doubtful that its twin sister eternity would welcome, let alone reimburse careful philosophers for the time they wasted, Al Capone style, on her behalf.
It would, in truth, be better to sick Shakespeare on philosophers as well – and stick to poets:
Dry the pool, dry concrete, brown edged,
And the pool was filled with water out of sunlight,
And the lotos rose, quietly, quietly,
The surface glittered out of heart of light,
And they were behind us, reflected in the pool.
Then a cloud passed, and the pool was empty.
Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children,
Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
If you enjoyed this post, subscribe today to get free updates by email or RSS.
