Prince openly said that "time doesn't exist" and "time ages you", which I have to agree. I've been thinking a lot lately about things Prince said. He had a lot of strong beliefs and I always admired his way of thinking. He thought (hate to use past-tense) a lot like I do, actually!! How do you guy's feel about "time"? I just had another birthday (I know Prince did not celebrate birthdays), and I just feel so different now that I am getting older (not afraid to say I just turned 49 this July). I have been through so much in my life and had many ups and downs, and we start to think differently about life as we get older. We learn, evolve and grow (which Prince never stopped doing). I feel now, more than ever that it is so important to stop and smell the "roses". We live in such a fast-paced world that we do not tend to live in the "moment". We are always thinking of yesterday, planning tomorrow......but we forget to live "today"!! Prince said "age is a number and that is what ages you." I have to agree with him. I think you should strive to be your best, no matter what your age. I try to appreciate and make the best of every day. I feel more comfortable with myself now than I did 10-years ago. I know I said a lot here, so what are your thoughts about "time"? Do you feel the same way Prince did?

Live for today, prepare for tomorrow.

Its alot easier for someone like Prince to speak in general terms. I generally dont get sucked up into the enlightened nonsense that comes out those who have the most in life.

That said, I agree, as one gets older, its easier to only stress over what "matters".....but time still matters.

Time is a trick, I believe. The fact that how many times the earth spins, and/or orbits the sun, etc., is divided into 24 this or 365 that is kind of bizarre if you think about it. Why aren't there 6 days in a week, or 8? Or 12? Why isn't an hour 45 minutes, or 73? Hell, why is it not 10, or 100? And what's a minute anyway? 60 seconds? What's a second? People get so hung up on dates, and times, etc., that it's a huge distraction to just living life.

I've not owned a watch in two decades. I rarely wore one before that. Of course I have my phone to reference if I need to, but in general, I'm more apt to plan my day and do what I need to do based on how I'm feeling, or whatever moves me. Hell, I think a lot of folks, if they just trusted themselves, could tell what "time" it is by looking at where the sun is on any given day. But people just need to know the exact minute or second of something.

I also understand the need to meet up with people or go somewhere and have everyone gather at the same moment. So for that purpose, time is a tool to use. It's still never a god we should bow to.

Come to think of it, I really don't even own pants. I have 1 pair of khakis, 2 pairs of track pants, and everything else is shorts. (And I live in New York.) I own like 15 shirts total. I suppose the idea of pants, and time annoy me greatly. So I refuse to bother with either, if possible.

I too am a huge believer of this and always will be!

People get way to caught up in counting their age which is man made.

Yes time passes and we all physically change but the label of "age" is for most people a way to not enjoy every moment they are alive!

People lose the excitment and wonder for life as they grow older that we all had as kids. I wake up every day thankful and full of promise for each day to be a better person, husband and find ways to learn more and create more and keep evolving

As Prince said...You are what you think about.

cloveringold85 said:

Prince openly said that "time doesn't exist" and "time ages you", which I have to agree.

Well, that's just idiocy.

It would have been nice to find out exactly what he meant by that.

Ironically, Einstein is said to say time is only an illusion.

The saying about Time:

Time is money.
Don't waste time.

Time heals all wounds.
There's never enough time.

2020 said:

I too am a huge believer of this and always will be!

People get way to caught up in counting their age which is man made.

Yes time passes and we all physically change but the label of "age" is for most people a way to not enjoy every moment they are alive!

People lose the excitment and wonder for life as they grow older that we all had as kids. I wake up every day thankful and full of promise for each day to be a better person, husband and find ways to learn more and create more and keep evolving

As Prince said...You are what you think about.

Very well said.

morningsong said:

It would have been nice to find out exactly what he meant by that.

Ironically, Einstein is said to say time is only an illusion.

The saying about Time:

Time is money.
Don't waste time.

Time heals all wounds.
There's never enough time.

Very true! Think about it.....what is time, really? It's just something that was "made-up" by "MAN". We live by the clock.....always trying to beat the clock, always rushing somewhere.....kinda strange existence, when you think about it. When I was in my 20s, 30s and even 40s, I never really thought about "time", and how it affects us.

anangellooksdown said:

Theres only growth in time God is in both time (pain, growth) - and in the present moment (peace, serenity, bliss)

Very true!

With all due respect to the departed artist, Prince came across like a total numbskull when he blabbered on about how "time isn't real" or nearly any other pseudo-philosophical nonsense he was feeling that particular day.

Inasenselost said:

This interview comes to mind, as he said, "... time is a mind construct...it’s not real.”: https://www.theguardian.c..._btn_link

It is a construct. So many accepted things in society are man-made, and ultimately irrelevant to human existence, growth, and peace.

Inasenselost said:

2020 said:

Inasenselost said:

This interview comes to mind, as he said, "... time is a mind construct...it’s not real.”: https://www.theguardian.c..._btn_link

This is a great article. Its more striking now then it was in 2011 and it has nothing to due with the burque Dude had IT. [Edited 8/14/16 20:30pm]

Time wasn't real for Prince but he fined the band members if they were late?

I can see how he wanted to always be looking forward, not back. But "time", as a tool, is very handy.

Prince just didn't like aging, and pretending that time didn't exist was his way of dealing with it.

Okay guys, don't laugh at me, but I actually wrote a poem about this... It's a bit heavy at the end, so if you're feeling particularly down about losing him today, maybe skip it... (*shuffle shuffle* *is embarased about writing poems*)

How Can U Just Leave Me Standing?

When Susannah leaves her lover

It will be, we surmise, because he’s faithless.

This man of such abiding and intoxicating

Faith he can communicate the movement of

The spirit to several thousand people at a time.

It hurts. And so, as always when encountering

A thing that hurts, he writes a song, a song

That will stay

Unperformed for years, long past

Nineteen ninety nine, until

Another women leaves him, perhaps

Or maybe not this time

Because he’s faithless.

But that is not the point.

(Or it is only half the point.)

In that exalted auditorium in

Switzerland, his face all angles,

Inhuman almost, like an

Interplanetary Egyptian cat goddess,

(An impression only amplified by the

Way he licks his bleeding thumb),

He demands to know

Why he’s been abandoned.

The cynic – and the feminist – in me

Wants to tell him it’s

Because he’s faithless,

But his desolation is so lucid

I bite my tongue, and now,

Both of us are bleeding.

The thing with time you see is

You were right

And you were wrong.

Yes, there’s only now,

And God knows, no one lives in

Presence the way you lived in

Presence, and that,

Of all your preternatural gifts

Was possibly the greatest and

Probably the origin

Of the others. But,

If it’s only now,

That doesn’t mean the past has passed

And you can just pretend it isn’t there.

The past is now.

A silent and unbidden lens

Between you and

Every moment,

Framing everything you see and feel but

Unperceived

Until you find the courage

To look directly at it.

I know it hurts. But she did not

Abandon you

For reasons you don’t understand

And you don’t need to ask her why. But,

Nothing in you lies,

You were abandoned,

And whether there are reasons

Matters nothing

Because you were a child.

In your refuge on the stage

You stand

Alone and play

Like you have always played

For your survival.

I want to make you look

Directly at it, that

Ecstatic rage, so

Exquisitely unleashed

And yet controlled

By your fingers on the frets.

And when you ask us

What’s the use in crying?

I almost want to

Climb onto the stage

And wring it out of you,

All the years of grief

That you have carried.

So that, years later,

When you almost die,

You will trust the world

Enough to ask for help.

UGH sorry, tried to put the spaces in between the verses and it won't let me....

[Edited 8/15/16 1:45am]

[Edited 8/15/16 1:48am]

[Edited 8/15/16 1:48am]

[Edited 8/15/16 1:50am]

[Edited 8/15/16 1:53am]

It is true from the perspective of some deep thinkers and scientists that Time is technically an illusion. But our mortality is one of the most basic facts of our existence. It's also one we have the most motivation to try to avoid. No one likes to think about their own death, or that of those they love, and yet these are facts of our existence; it twists our minds to have them out of sync with the reality of it. (This is Buddhist logic if you're curious.)

The following article shows that the pattern of thinking many successful people have, from Oprah (with whom Prince was at least somewhat close) to preachers of the prosperity gospel, is about ignoring what is in front of them. I have long thought that Prince's statements which were basically "I don't get old because I don't think about getting old" were problematic and maybe even dangerous to him.

The power of positive thinking is great, but should not be overemphasized. Those who are rewarded for their talent, like Prince and Oprah and Beyonce and many others, have a particular challenge to keep themselves humbled and grounded. And although I think Prince's faith did keep him humbled and grounded in many ways, I don't think that extended to his thoughts about mortality. And I'm afraid it contributed to his early passing -- he didn't seem to take the danger his health was in seriously until it was too late.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/opinion/sunday/death-the-prosperity-gospel-and-me.html?_r=0

As much as I like the deep thinking around the idea that "Time doesn't exist", I have to think the simple logic supported by 1contessa and bluegangsta in this thread is more useful to us.

Electrostar said:

Time is a concept we barely understand yet, so anything is possible as far as I'm concerned. Once we thought everything in the universe rotated around the Earth! Once we thought the Earth was flat! All logical ideas in their day but with greater knowledge we shatter those illusions. Theories about time from incredibly smart humans like Einstein and Hawkins have laid down concepts which are just mind boggling to the average person like me. But those theories are beginning to be proven as fact. [Edited 8/15/16 12:00pm]

Our life here on earth and the universe is a big mystery!! Why does Man look at the stars and seek answers? The quest for knowledge never ends.

We can only really say that Time is an illusion in the sense that we actually only live in and control the present aspect of time. The past is gone and tomorrow never comes--it is always today. The ever present now holds the only real possibility of change and growth. But, along with that realization is the awareness that life in this present form is finite...and we'd better make the most of it.

Except both music and dance are time, when you think about it.

They depend on time in order to work, and Prince had an excellent sense of musical time.

SpookyNopetopus said:

Except both music and dance are time, when you think about it.

They depend on time in order to work, and Prince had an excellent sense of musical time.

And that's another understanding of time...

purplethunder3121 said:

SpookyNopetopus said:

Except both music and dance are time, when you think about it.

They depend on time in order to work, and Prince had an excellent sense of musical time.

And that's another understanding of time...

Don't I just know it -- I play a couple instruments, and I cannot for the love of dog deal with life without music. I actually time things by how long a song is!

I came accross this video about Einstein beliefs on time. Of course I thought of the phrase everlasting now after seeing it:). I'm sharing it just because it's such a new concept to me and might be interesting to another. not as specifically related to what Prince may have thought. Who knows anyway? https://www.youtube.com/w...YZQxMowBsw

So many interesting understandings of time.

TrivialPursuit said:

2020 said: