As I have often written, time is such a difficult subject, but nonetheless a fascinating one.

But in this essay I want to direct my reader’s attention to another fascinating issue about time. It is the notion of the benefit of “Spare Time”. The traditional Protestant ethic would suggest that having spare time is surely a sign of indolence and idleness, which is an indulgent and sinful state of being and frowned upon by an austere, judgmental God!

I am now going to put the case, somewhat tongue in cheek, that this is an aberrant point of view! In fact, I will argue, historically our search for freedom was inspired by some historical figures who indeed had “time on their hands”.

Most historians would agree that Greece provided the intellectual foundation of Western civilisation. We might wonder why this ancient civilisation provided the source of this providential leap forward in modern history. The intellectual efforts of these historical figures saw an unprecedented development in science, mathematics, biology and so on but most particularly it accelerated the development of philosophy.

The answer to that question about what enabled this huge development in human progress seems to be time.

Whereas other ancient societies were by necessity focussed on merely maintaining subsistence, the Greek nobility seemed to have lived in a world of relative prosperity and therefore had the time to think. Indeed among the Greek aristocracy manual labour was deemed to be only the province of peasants and slaves!

Most indigenous populations were focussed on mere survival and consequently spent their days eking out a meagre existence that left little time for contemplation and abstract thought.

As we would now say, these Greek aristocrats had “spare” time. As a long time student of the nature of time, this term has always intrigued me. If for example I had some spare cash I can put it aside and spend it at my leisure. But time rolls on relentlessly and it seems impossible to put some aside and save it.

While the old adage tells us that “time is money “and it is a sentiment with which most business people would agree, it is still only a metaphor. When I open my wallet I might reveal some spare cash but I don’t know where to look to find my spare time.

Nevertheless the Greek aristocrats seemed to have spare time and they used it in intellectual pursuits that still benefit us today. But it was nearly lost on us.

To begin with Greece was later subsumed by the Roman Empire. Whilst the Romans supported most of the intellectual enterprises of the Greeks, eventually the Roman Empire was conquered by by a cluster of barbaric tribes like the Huns and the Vandals that had little interest in intellectual pursuits.

Europe subsequently fell into the “Dark Ages” which was dominated by the Christian Church. It was only the church that now provided opportunity for formal education and intellectual debates. Monks and Nuns sequestered in their monasteries seemed to have the only real opportunity for philosophical inquiry and quaintly seemed less interested in “What it means to be human” than how many angels could dance on the head of a pin!

That is not to say that the church has not provided us with some formidable philosophers (Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas spring immediately to mind) but philosophy was the province of a very few religious scholars whose works were not generally available to the public at large.

While on face value we might think that in these were times of religious dominance and hostility to scientific progress we must not forget the marvellous contribution of the Franciscan friar, Roger Bacon. Bacon, in the thirteenth century challenged the Aristotelian view of nature which suggested that nature could only be understood by philosophical debate. Bacon on the other hand pointed out the value of scepticism and the importance of empirical testing which laid the foundations for modern scientific method.

And yet, during these dark ages the works of Pythagoras, Archimedes and Aristotle and other such luminaries  were erased from the memory of Western civilisation and generally science. mathematics and philosophy consequently regressed.

But surprisingly this important knowledge was not lost. And enigmatically in the context of today’s ideological stances, this knowledge was preserved by the Saracens, – the Muslim Arabs. This occurred during Islam’s “Golden Age”. At this time the Muslim Caliphate extended from the Iberian Peninsula, through North Africa and most of the Middle East.

There were three enduring outcomes from this extensive colonisational period of Islam.

(As an aside, it is worth drawing attention to this Muslim colonisation. It was very extensive. Yet today one of the slurs radical Islam makes against Israel that it seeks to colonise Gaza. This seems a bit hypocritical to me!)

Firstly the confidence it provided Islam enabled the flourishing of scientific knowledge. It encouraged such luminaries as Avicenna who was a pre-eminent philosopher and physician and like-minded people to extend the horizons of knowledge.

Secondly, and relatedly, it encouraged the rediscovery of historic knowledge and particularly that inherited from the Greeks.

Thirdly and unfortunately for us in the West, when the Islamic golden age faded, many Muslims came to believe that Islam could only become great again if it reverted to the medieval Islamic practices that had existed at the time of the prophet Muhammad and the time immediately after his death. This sowed the seeds of radical Islam which has wrought such havoc on modern society.

But in the Western Renaissance we again were reacquainted with the thinking of the ancient Greeks. Much of this was facilitated by Johannes Guttenberg who invented the printing press. As a result the writings of many of the ancient philosophers became available to ordinary people. Eventually, with this stimulus, the West was led down a path eschewing feudalism towards democracy. This was done in a geographical context where Christianity also prevailed.

In the 17th and 18th centuries the Western march towards liberation was often thwarted by the dogma that kings derived their legitimate power over their subjects by the Divine Right of Kings.

This stultifying propaganda came from a medieval concept that God awarded temporal power to a monarch and the exercise of this power could subsequently only be judged by God. It was not up to a monarch’s subjects to pass judgment on their monarch – that was the exclusive province of God. Such monarchs as King James I of England and Louis XIV of France relied on this dubious dogma to reinforce their authority.

This cosy symbiosis between church and state lasted into the eighteenth century successfully suppressing the common people. It was eventually overturned by a number of citizens’ revolutions in the UK, continental Europe and finally North America. Perhaps the necessity of separation of church and state was propagated most forcefully by the American statesman, Thomas Jefferson.

And in the wake of all tis we saw a gradual but relentless prospering of liberal democracy throughout the West.

In some way then, the democratic ideals, the notion of logical debate and the initial sparks of a concept of human freedom and dignity that emanated millennia ago from aristocratic Greeks who had substantial time on their hands has contributed (admittedly among other important influences) finally to the fortunate position that we who live in liberal democracies find ourselves.

I am led to wonder if we in this modern world use our spare time as productively? Today when people have time on their hands they seem drawn to post inane things on Facebook, play computer games or overindulge in Netflix!

The left has waged an ideological war against Western fundamentals. They have taught our children to be ashamed of our history and have constantly demeaned the democratic ideals which we once so cherished. Recent polls, as a result, show that young people no longer believe democracy is the best form of government!

Can it be that Western society has reached its apogee? We now seem more interested in distractions and puerile entertainment than engaging with the real issues of the world! It is entirely possible our liberal democracies which have taken millennia to evolve might be allowed to fritter away by citizens not prepared to defend them.

Unfortunately there seems more support for a draconian international Caliphate than there is for furthering democratic ideals. As US President Ronald Reagan warned us:

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.