Man’s relationship with time throughout his history has been characterized by difficulty and complexity, due to man’s inability to develop a concept of time that helps him understand the meaning of time and determine its importance to his life. Going back to history, we discover that man did not develop a clear concept of time and recognize his role in life until after the agricultural society with its traditional culture was crystallized about ten thousand years ago; As for human awareness of the importance of time, it did not crystallize except during the transition from the era of agriculture to the era of industry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. While the industrial society was able to realize the importance of time and devise modern ways to use it efficiently, the awareness of the traditional agricultural society of the importance of time and ways to exploit it has remained limited to this day. As for the Bedouin society, whose primitive culture crystallized with the emergence of the first human gatherings about a hundred thousand years ago, it was unable to develop a concept of time or realize its importance in human life.
It can be said that man found himself compelled to develop a concept of time for three main reasons: First: identifying the dates of birth and death of a person, determining his age and how long he lives compared to other animals and trees, and determining the age of fruits and vegetables, and the time they need to ripen and spoil, and the same is the case with For the validity of food and medical drugs of all kinds. Second: Dealing with its natural environment, which has a volatile mood, and preparing to receive its seasons, which include the four seasons of the year, the agricultural seasons, the rainfall, the floods, and the picking of fruits. Third: Measuring production in the unit of time, which is the year, month, day, hour, minute and second, and controlling production processes in general. However, this third reason did not crystallize clearly until the end of the civilized transition period from the age of agriculture to the age of industry. This is because the time before the seventeenth century had little value or significance to be taken into account.
The tribal society that lived on hunting animals and collecting vegetables and fruits was the first society to find itself obligated to deal with time. But he could not develop a concept of time because his life did not depend on the production of anything agricultural or industrial. Nevertheless, the Bedouin could not neglect time, because it affects the life of every person, which made the Bedouin tend to circumvent time by circumventing it, by moving from one place to another on an ongoing basis in order to avoid the hot summer seasons and cold winters, floods, sand and snow storms, and to be present In the right place and at the right time to harvest fruits and pick vegetables at the time of their ripeness, and ensure food security. However, the Bedouin’s failure to realize the importance of time, and his tendency to neglect it, prevented him from achieving any cultural, intellectual, scientific or technological achievement that contributes to improving his standard of living and ensuring his food security.
As for the agricultural society, it was the first society to develop a clear concept of time. But the concept he developed was negative, which made him look at time as a burden on man, not as a wealth. The reason for this negative view is because the farmer lived his life bidding farewell to one agricultural season, and waiting for another, which made waiting long and tedious. Nevertheless, the agricultural man could not neglect the entitlements of time; This made him take advantage of the time available between agricultural seasons to develop several things that helped him deal more efficiently with time and fluctuations in the environment, which included the succession of the seasons of the year, planting seasons, storms, floods, and others. This enabled him to construct homes to protect him from summer heat, winter cold, and sandstorms, to settle near his orchards, farms, and livestock, to build dams to stave off the danger of floods, and to develop some agricultural equipment such as the plow, which helped him improve land productivity, raise his standard of living, ensure his food security, and build civilizations with a unique character. Cultural, intellectual and architectural. Thus achieving some progress in various aspects of life. In fact, the agricultural community was the first society in history to produce a food surplus, which enabled it to think about its life matters and contemplate the universe, and this caused the birth of the idea of progress and development.
The period of transition from the age of agriculture to the industrial age witnessed the feudal lords in Britain expelling millions of peasants from their lands and seizing them; This has caused them to be deprived of their source of livelihood and food security, and sometimes their housing as well. Although this movement began in the sixteenth century, it accelerated in the eighteenth century, which made the number of unemployed increase, and with it poverty and misery. But that period of time also witnessed the proliferation of factories in Britain, which made the farmer who was deprived of his land turn into an industrial worker working under harsh conditions, and living in miserable places that did not provide him with the minimum level of social services. But this factor was one of the most important factors for the success of the industrial revolution, because it provided the capitalist with cheap labor that enabled him to expand production, marketing and trade operations at a time when Britain had become the largest colonial power in the world, and the first country to enter the industrial age.
The industrial worker, in order to earn a living, had to exchange his physical capabilities for time for very modest wages, which made those who did not have the ability to work or the time live homeless on the streets. As a result of this development, time has become a production factor whose value is measured, not in years or months, but in days and hours. Therefore, the saying “time is money” became popular, as the time factor became one of the most important features of the industrial age. With the progress of the civilizational transition period from the age of industry to the age of knowledge, time became measured, not in days or hours, but in seconds and tenths of a second. As time is measured in financial markets and financial transactions by the second, it is measured for racing cars, horses and runners by tenths of a second. This made time become the most important individual, collective and societal wealth. Thus, the efficient use of time determines the progress and backwardness of a people.
Time neglects those who neglect it, and punishes those who try to waste their blood, because time moves forward without looking back, which makes everyone who hesitates to enter the race against time lag behind the era, and becomes subordinate to the forces that make that era. And although the Arabs said in the past, “Time is like a sword, if you do not cut it, it will cut you.” However, they are still among the peoples of the world who neglect the most time, and among the most devoted to captivating time and wasting its blood, and therefore among the peoples of the world who are most backward from the age. Professor Mohamed Abdel Aziz Rabie www.yazour.com
Man’s relationship with time throughout his history has been characterized by difficulty and complexity, due to man’s inability to develop a concept of time that helps him understand the meaning of time and determine its importance to his life. Going back to history, we discover that man did not develop a clear concept of time and recognize his role in life until after the agricultural society with its traditional culture was crystallized about ten thousand years ago; As for human awareness of the importance of time, it did not crystallize except during the transition from the era of agriculture to the era of industry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. While the industrial society was able to realize the importance of time and devise modern ways to use it efficiently, the awareness of the traditional agricultural society of the importance of time and ways to exploit it has remained limited to this day. As for the Bedouin society, whose primitive culture crystallized with the emergence of the first human gatherings about a hundred thousand years ago, it was unable to develop a concept of time or realize its importance in human life.
It can be said that man found himself compelled to develop a concept of time for three main reasons: First: identifying the dates of birth and death of a person, determining his age and how long he lives compared to other animals and trees, and determining the age of fruits and vegetables, and the time they need to ripen and spoil, and the same is the case with For the validity of food and medical drugs of all kinds. Second: Dealing with its natural environment, which has a volatile mood, and preparing to receive its seasons, which include the four seasons of the year, the agricultural seasons, the rainfall, the floods, and the picking of fruits. Third: Measuring production in the unit of time, which is the year, month, day, hour, minute and second, and controlling production processes in general. However, this third reason did not crystallize clearly until the end of the civilized transition period from the age of agriculture to the age of industry. This is because the time before the seventeenth century had little value or significance to be taken into account.
The tribal society that lived on hunting animals and collecting vegetables and fruits was the first society to find itself obligated to deal with time. But he could not develop a concept of time because his life did not depend on the production of anything agricultural or industrial. Nevertheless, the Bedouin could not neglect time, because it affects the life of every person, which made the Bedouin tend to circumvent time by circumventing it, by moving from one place to another on an ongoing basis in order to avoid the hot summer seasons and cold winters, floods, sand and snow storms, and to be present In the right place and at the right time to harvest fruits and pick vegetables at the time of their ripeness, and ensure food security. However, the Bedouin’s failure to realize the importance of time, and his tendency to neglect it, prevented him from achieving any cultural, intellectual, scientific or technological achievement that contributes to improving his standard of living and ensuring his food security.
As for the agricultural society, it was the first society to develop a clear concept of time. But the concept he developed was negative, which made him look at time as a burden on man, not as a wealth. The reason for this negative view is because the farmer lived his life bidding farewell to one agricultural season, and waiting for another, which made waiting long and tedious. Nevertheless, the agricultural man could not neglect the entitlements of time; This made him take advantage of the time available between agricultural seasons to develop several things that helped him deal more efficiently with time and fluctuations in the environment, which included the succession of the seasons of the year, planting seasons, storms, floods, and others. This enabled him to construct homes to protect him from summer heat, winter cold, and sandstorms, to settle near his orchards, farms, and livestock, to build dams to stave off the danger of floods, and to develop some agricultural equipment such as the plow, which helped him improve land productivity, raise his standard of living, ensure his food security, and build civilizations with a unique character. Cultural, intellectual and architectural. Thus achieving some progress in various aspects of life. In fact, the agricultural community was the first society in history to produce a food surplus, which enabled it to think about its life matters and contemplate the universe, and this caused the birth of the idea of progress and development.
The period of transition from the age of agriculture to the industrial age witnessed the feudal lords in Britain expelling millions of peasants from their lands and seizing them; This has caused them to be deprived of their source of livelihood and food security, and sometimes their housing as well. Although this movement began in the sixteenth century, it accelerated in the eighteenth century, which made the number of unemployed increase, and with it poverty and misery. But that period of time also witnessed the proliferation of factories in Britain, which made the farmer who was deprived of his land turn into an industrial worker working under harsh conditions, and living in miserable places that did not provide him with the minimum level of social services. But this factor was one of the most important factors for the success of the industrial revolution, because it provided the capitalist with cheap labor that enabled him to expand production, marketing and trade operations at a time when Britain had become the largest colonial power in the world, and the first country to enter the industrial age.
The industrial worker, in order to earn a living, had to exchange his physical capabilities for time for very modest wages, which made those who did not have the ability to work or the time live homeless on the streets. As a result of this development, time has become a production factor whose value is measured, not in years or months, but in days and hours. Therefore, the saying “time is money” became popular, as the time factor became one of the most important features of the industrial age. With the progress of the civilizational transition period from the age of industry to the age of knowledge, time became measured, not in days or hours, but in seconds and tenths of a second. As time is measured in financial markets and financial transactions by the second, it is measured for racing cars, horses and runners by tenths of a second. This made time become the most important individual, collective and societal wealth. Thus, the efficient use of time determines the progress and backwardness of a people.
Time neglects those who neglect it, and punishes those who try to waste their blood, because time moves forward without looking back, which makes everyone who hesitates to enter the race against time lag behind the era, and becomes subordinate to the forces that make that era. And although the Arabs said in the past, “Time is like a sword, if you do not cut it, it will cut you.” However, they are still among the peoples of the world who neglect the most time, and among the most devoted to captivating time and wasting its blood, and therefore among the peoples of the world who are most backward from the age. Professor Mohamed Abdel Aziz Rabie www.yazour.com
