If time is supposedly an illusion, why do we still age? Isn’t that contradictory? If time isn’t real, shouldn’t aging also be an illusion? We’ve all heard those mind-bending ideas about time being a human construct, something we created to understand change. But if that’s true, why does the body follow this invisible timeline so faithfully?
Why Some People Believe Time Is an Illusion
The idea that time is an illusion isn’t random philosophy. It’s rooted in science, especially relativity. When you really look at it, time isn’t something you can see or hold. Nature didn’t give us hours, minutes, months, or calendars. Humans did.
Clocks and calendars exist because we needed a system to track the sun, the moon, and the seasons. And, historically, to organize taxation, which is why early calendars were created. They help us structure our lives, but they’re not “truth” in the same way gravity or atoms are.
Einstein showed that time doesn’t tick the same for everyone. It stretches and contracts depending on movement and gravity. If you were traveling near the speed of light, time would slow down for you compared to someone on Earth. Near a black hole, time practically stands still.
In other words, time isn’t a fixed, universal thing. It’s flexible. Relative. More like a measurement of change than a substance that exists on its own.
But Aging Feels Very Real
If time bends and stretches, why do wrinkles still show up? Why do we tire faster after 30? Why do our bodies change even if time itself is just a human-made concept? Because aging isn’t actually tied to time. It’s tied to change.
You don’t age because time passes. You age because your cells change. DNA accumulates damage. Hormones shift. Organs slowly wear down. These changes would happen whether we called it “30 years,” “10,000 sun cycles,” or nothing at all.
- You might see a 60-year-old man running marathons.
- And a 30-year-old struggling to carry groceries.
- A 50-year-old with thick dark hair.
- And a 30-year-old already getting gray strands.
If 100 people are all 50 years old, they look completely different from each other. Some look youthful. Some look older. Some feel energized. Others feel worn out.
If aging were strictly tied to time, shouldn’t everyone age at the same rate? But they don’t. Because aging isn’t about time. It’s about biology, lifestyle, environment, and genetics, all working together.
The Spiritual (and Mythological) Side of Aging
Some people see aging as a built-in part of the human experience. If we lived forever with no sense of progression, would we ever feel motivated to grow? Would we chase our goals, mend relationships, or appreciate anything while we have it?
Aging shows us that life moves in phases. It gives weight to our choices, urgency to our desires, and meaning to the things we care about. If time were endless, most of us would drift. We’d postpone everything, emotionally, spiritually, and practically. But with limits, we move. We learn. We evolve. We step into new versions of ourselves.
Maybe aging isn’t punishment or decline. Maybe it’s structure. Maybe it’s the rhythm that shapes the human journey.
And this is exactly where Saturn comes in, the planet, the archetype, the ancient god Cronus. Saturn rules time, aging, boundaries, responsibility, and the slow, steady maturation of the soul. In astrology, Saturn isn’t the bringer of misery, despite its reputation. Saturn is the force that teaches us how to handle life with realism and resilience. It governs cycles, milestones, and the lessons that unfold only through lived experience.
Saturn represents:
- the passage of time
- the patience required to grow
- the maturity that develops through challenge
- the wisdom that only aging can deliver
- the discipline that shapes who we become
In myth, Cronus devoured his children to keep control, a symbol of how time can feel consuming. But in astrology, Saturn doesn’t devour. Saturn shapes. It refines. It strips away illusions and leaves what is real and lasting.
Aging, through the lens of Saturn, isn’t decay. It’s integration, the slow crystallizing of who you are.
Saturn reminds us that limits aren’t prisons; they’re frameworks. Without limits, life has no form. Without time, growth has no direction. Without aging, we would never appreciate our evolution.
What’s the Real Answer?
Time might be an illusion in the scientific and philosophical sense, but aging isn’t. The changes that come with aging are biological, not chronological.
If time is something humans invented to measure change, then the pressure to “act your age” is also invented.
Which means you don’t have to follow it.
You can age in a way that doesn’t match society’s timeline. You can define what getting older means for yourself. You can stay curious, engaged, active, and fully alive. You can let your life unfold in phases without letting numbers tell you who you’re supposed to be.
Aging happens.
Time doesn’t control it.
You do, through how you live, how you think, and how you grow.
