[Today I finished teaching a summer course on the philosophy of time for JCI Scholars, and I asked the students to come to the final class with one page about how this class has changed what they think about time. Kyle Williams, a student I mentioned in an earlier post, decided to read his reflection aloud in the last few minutes of class. The other students insisted that it be published, and he gave me permission to publish it and to use his name. Except for tweaking some punctuation and spelling, and adding two words in brackets to make it match the way he read it aloud, the following constitutes his reflection, exactly as he wrote it. –Joseph Trullinger]

 

7-12-16

Dr. Trullinger,

Time to me is an oppressive reality that we as humans can’t control yet are dictated by. While we can’t dictate time, we can dictate how people use their time in order to control them.

I never thought about time, so this class has not changed my thoughts, this class has given me a ground to think on. Honestly, this class was depressing to me because it made me realize how much of my time has been wasted, stolen, and mismanaged by an unseen hand. Even more, this class showed me that since birth I’ve been suppressed and molded into a structure that only has the bottom line as it pertains to monetary domination as a priority, along with the maintenance of the status quo. My very existence has been pre-ordered, and I am only and will only ever be a worker bee living on borrowed time, unless I revolutionize our people by first revolutionizing my own mind in order to break the chains of psychological slavery from clock time.

This class has made me want to enjoy a quality [life] instead of a long life and I believe that that is the true purpose of life: to live life to its fullest and enjoy every minute of it harmoniously with everyone else. But Western civilization has a way of life so imbedded with greed and power that I will most likely run out of time and die unhappy because I spent my life chasing a clock and not enjoying every day, only expecting peace and a quality of life once I’m dead. I’m upset because this class has ended too soon and I feel like there are so many questions that I need to ask but I don’t even know [how] to ask them yet. My mind is forever opened to itself, also I see that my youthful imagination needs to kick in and validate me as an adult and a truly free man.

 

Kyle Williams