Sun dial ~ Time

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Dinesh ^club

We can’t directly estimate time the way we can directly (if erroneously) estimate space, by eye. Time isn’t visible. We can only measure the effects of time, processes that occur in time and that go hand-in-glove with the passing of time. We can count seconds silently: one one thousand, two one thousand, but we wouldn’t use the heuristic for hours much less for days. Sundials, water clocks, hourglasses, the burning of oil or a candle (“Out, out brief candle”) have all been used to measure time by observing the visible consequences of processes that occur in time. T.S.Eliot’s J.Alfred Prunfrock: “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” More recently the decay of radioactive substances. What’s especially elegant for these is that they are self-measuring. Time is correlated with visible changes we can read. In egypt, obelisks were not only monuments to the sun god but also sundials, providing the approximate time of day and year to those at the distance. Undoubtedly, because of the significance of agriculture in our lives, Stonehenge and Mayan temples are aligned with the solstices and equinoxes. Capturing the movement of water, sand, or shadows captures time. These are self-illustrating instruments; they visualize time directly. On a larger scale, the phases of the moon, the rotation of stars, and the angle of the sun all can be used to indicate time. `Page 213

4 years ago.

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