Editing Time (section)

=== Religion ===
[[File:Jain scale of time.JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Scale of time in [[Jain]] texts shown [[logarithmic scale|logarithmically]] ]]
{{Further|Time and fate deities}}

==== Cyclical views of time ====
{{See also|Wheel of time}}
Many ancient cultures, particularly in the East, had a cyclical view of time. In these traditions, time was often seen as a recurring pattern of ages or cycles, where events and phenomena repeated themselves in a predictable manner. One of the most famous examples of this concept is found in [[Hindu philosophy]], where time is depicted as a wheel called the "[[Kalachakra]]" or "Wheel of Time." According to this belief, the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation, and destruction.<ref name="newman51">{{cite book |author=Newman |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGDCQNn0C9oC |title=The Wheel of Time: Kalachakra in Context |publisher=Shambhala |year=1991 |isbn=978-1-55939-779-7 |editor=Geshe Lhundub Sopa |pages=51–54, 62–77}}</ref>

Similarly, in other ancient cultures such as those of the Mayans, Aztecs, and Chinese, there were also beliefs in cyclical time, often associated with astronomical observations and calendars.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-02-27 |title=Chichén Itzá: Venus Cycle |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/chichen-itza-venus-cycle |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=Travel |language=en |archive-date=8 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240508213816/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/chichen-itza-venus-cycle |url-status=live }}</ref> These cultures developed complex systems to track time, seasons, and celestial movements, reflecting their understanding of cyclical patterns in nature and the universe.

The cyclical view of time contrasts with the linear concept of time more common in Western thought, where time is seen as progressing in a straight line from past to future without repetition.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Future: A Very Short Introduction |author1=Jennifer M. Gidley |edition= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-19-105424-2 |page=13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3NdDgAAQBAJ }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=I3NdDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 Extract of page 13] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614171103/https://books.google.com/books?id=I3NdDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |date=14 June 2024 }}</ref>

==== Time in Abrahamic religions ====
In general, the Islamic and [[Judeo-Christian]] world-view regards time as linear<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rust |first1=Eric Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AcSw6GDlLVwC |title=Religion, Revelation and Reason |publisher=Mercer University Press |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-86554-058-3 |publication-date=1981 |page=60 |quote=Profane time, as [[Mircea Eliade|Eliade]] points out, is linear. [...] In the Judaeo-Christian religions – Judaism, Christianity, Islam – history is taken seriously, and linear time is accepted. |access-date=20 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403232350/https://books.google.com/books?id=AcSw6GDlLVwC |archive-date=3 April 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> and directional,<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Betz |editor1-first=Hans Dieter |title=Religion Past & Present: Encyclopedia of Theology and Religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kjIOAQAAMAAJ |volume=4 |edition=4 |publisher=Brill |publication-date=2008 |page=101 |isbn=978-90-04-14688-4 |quote=[...] God produces a creation with a directional time structure [...]. |year=2008 |access-date=20 August 2015 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924154435/https://books.google.com/books?id=kjIOAQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> beginning with the act of [[Creation myth|creation]] by God. The traditional Christian view sees time ending, teleologically,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lundin |first1=Roger |last2=Thiselton |first2=Anthony C. |author-link2=Anthony Thiselton |last3=Walhout |first3=Clarence |title=The Promise of Hermeneutics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Y2F6rSq9VMC |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |publication-date=1999 |page=121 |isbn=978-0-8028-4635-8 |quote=We need to note the close ties between teleology, eschatology, and utopia. In Christian theology, the understanding of the teleology of particular actions is ultimately related to the teleology of history in general, which is the concern of eschatology. |year=1999 |access-date=20 August 2015 |archive-date=19 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919095555/https://books.google.com/books?id=3Y2F6rSq9VMC |url-status=live }}</ref> with the [[Christian eschatology|eschatological]] end of the present order of things, the "[[Eschatology|end time]]". Though some Christian theologians (such as [[Augustine of Hippo]] and [[Thomas Aquinas|Aquinas]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Staley |first=Kevin M. |date=2006 |title=Omniscience, Time, and Eternity: Is Aquinas Inconsistent? |url=https://www.anselm.edu/sites/default/files/Documents/Institute%20of%20SA%20Studies/4.5.3.24_32Staley.pdf |journal=The Saint Anselm Journal}}</ref>) believe that God is outside of time, seeing all events simultaneously, that time did not exist before God, and that God created time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barr |first=Stephen M. |date=February 7, 2020 |title=St. Augustine's Relativistic Theory of Time |url=https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/augustines-push-against-the-limits-of-time/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240415085520/https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/augustines-push-against-the-limits-of-time/ |archive-date=15 April 2024 |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=Church Life Journal |language=en-US |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Selzer |first=Mark Albert |title=Augustine on Time: Human Time, Divine Eternity, and Why the Former is Really the Latter |url=https://www.csueastbay.edu/philosophy/reflections/2009/contents/mark-selz.html |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=California State University, East Bay |language=en |archive-date=15 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250115122951/https://www.csueastbay.edu/philosophy/reflections/2009/contents/mark-selz.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the [[Old Testament]] book [[Ecclesiastes]], traditionally ascribed to [[Solomon]] (970–928 BC), time is depicted as cyclical and beyond human control.<ref>Ecclesiastes 1:4–11</ref> The book wrote that there is an appropriate season or time for every activity.<ref>Ecclesiastes 3:1–8</ref>

==== Time in Greek mythology ====
The Greek language denotes two distinct principles, [[Chronos]] and [[Kairos]]. The former refers to numeric, or chronological, time. The latter, literally "the right or opportune moment", relates specifically to metaphysical or Divine time. In theology, Kairos is qualitative, as opposed to quantitative.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkairo%2Fs1 |title=(Dictionary Entry) |work=Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon |access-date=13 July 2015 |archive-date=7 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507073935/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkairo%2Fs1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In Greek mythology, Chronos (ancient Greek: Χρόνος) is identified as the personification of time. His name in Greek means "time" and is alternatively spelled Chronus (Latin spelling) or Khronos. Chronos is usually portrayed as an old, wise man with a long, gray beard, such as "Father Time". Some English words whose etymological root is khronos/chronos include ''chronology'', ''chronometer'', ''chronic'', ''[[anachronism]]'', ''synchronise'', and ''chronicle''.

==== Time in Kabbalah & Rabbinical thought====
Rabbis sometimes saw time like "an accordion that was expanded and collapsed at will."<ref>New Myths and Meanings in Jewish New Moon Rituals
David M. Rosen, Victoria P. Rosen
Ethnology, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Summer, 2000), pp. 263–277
(referencing Yerushalmi 1989)
</ref> According to [[Kabbalah|Kabbalists]], "time" is a [[paradox]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Kabbalah and Modernity: Interpretations, Transformations, Adaptations |first1=Boʿaz |last1=Hus |first2=Marco |last2=Pasi |first3=Kocku von |last3=Stuckrad |author3-link=Kocku von Stuckrad |publisher=BRILL |date=2011 |isbn=978-90-04-18284-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mIGMsLiol7EC |access-date=27 February 2016 |archive-date=13 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513114415/https://books.google.com/books?id=mIGMsLiol7EC |url-status=live }}</ref> and an [[illusion]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Alef, Mem, Tau: Kabbalistic Musings on Time, Truth, and Death |first1=Elliot R. |last1=Wolfson |publisher=University of California Press |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-520-93231-9 |page=111 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozhPY2fcNCcC |access-date=7 May 2020 |archive-date=19 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819171639/https://books.google.com/books?id=ozhPY2fcNCcC |url-status=live }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=ozhPY2fcNCcC&pg=PA111 Extract of page 111] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511191004/https://books.google.com/books?id=ozhPY2fcNCcC&pg=PA111 |date=11 May 2022 }}</ref>

==== Time in Advaita Vedanta ====
According to [[Advaita Vedanta]], time is integral to the phenomenal world, which lacks independent reality. Time and the phenomenal world are products of [[Maya (religion)|''maya'']], influenced by our senses, concepts, and imaginations. The phenomenal world, including time, is seen as impermanent and characterized by plurality, suffering, conflict, and division. Since phenomenal existence is dominated by temporality (''[[Kāla|kala]]''), everything within time is subject to change and decay. Overcoming pain and death requires knowledge that transcends temporal existence and reveals its eternal foundation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Puligandla |first=R. |date=1974 |title=Time and History in the Indian Tradition |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1398019 |journal=Philosophy East and West |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=165–170 |doi=10.2307/1398019 |jstor=1398019 |issn=0031-8221 |archive-date=13 June 2024 |access-date=13 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240613231718/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1398019 |url-status=live }}</ref>