Mortality, Time, and the Lessons of Silence: A Hermeneutical Analysis of Give and Take

Abstract

The following will provide a hermeneutical examination of two experiences of time: time as taking-away and time as giving. It will attempt to address the interrelated issues of death, time, and the time of silence in order to see whether time should be viewed as an inevitable force that destroys everything in front of it, or whether another concept of time should be considered, one which comes from the other as the gift of time. It will be argued that the gift of time is only fully audible in the time of silence and that gratitude is most well-attuned response to such a time and to the time that precedes and exceeds us.