About Time - Chapter 2 - The day

Time is change. And to our early ancestors this change was cyclical and repetitive. We lived from day to day in the mysterious, measureless now without the need to plan ahead very far or look back. There were no units of time as we know them now, let alone a calendar to order them in. Concepts like ‘next week’ or ‘last year’ simply did not exist. Our sense of time was limited to the endless cycle of light and darkness.

During the day, our ancestors were covered by the pleasantly 00:55 - warm rays of light that were responsible for making our planet suitable for life. Our biological rhythm and that of most other animals and plants has very much been shaped by the visible presence of this light’s source, the most prominent star in the sky; our Sun. To this day, her faithful, radiant appearance determines when we sleep, work and eat. To our ancestors, her recurring motions of rising and setting represented a metaphor for life and death. It is no wonder they were awed by the Sun’s power and worshiped her in an endless variety of ways, as the all-seeing God, the bringer of light, ruler of time and the world and as the creator and protector of all life.

01:54 - Long before we were conscious of time itself, the daily cycle of the Sun was ingrained into our being as its first unit. .