After church services a week ago, a friend stopped me and asked, “Is it just me, or does it seem that time is speeding up?” Without a second thought, I agreed.

The New Year’s holiday brings with it a heightened sense of time. On the one hand, the holiday invites us to look backwards, to reflect on the last 12 months. What are we grateful for? What do we regret?

On the other hand, the New Year’s holiday invites us to look forward. What are our hopes? What are our fears? What changes do we wish for in ourselves and the world before another year passes?

It seems that time-consciousness is one of the unique traits of human beings. We don’t think that fish, fowl or other mammals reflect on the past or make wishes about the future. In other words, our dogs, cats and goldfish won’t be celebrating on New Year’s Eve. We’re the only species that will be counting down from 10 to one this Sunday night.

But there is more to the human experience of time than wearing watches, consulting calendars and singing “Auld Lang Syne.” This is where religions and philosophies come into play. Religion and philosophy both stress the importance of making good use of time and caution us about wasting it.

A modern and particularly Western view is that every person is free to decide how to use her or his time. Hey, it’s my life, isn’t it? But religions and philosophies won’t let us off so easily. Having the freedom to choose how we live doesn’t guarantee that we will make the right choices. From Socrates to Confucius, from Moses to the Buddha, from Jesus to Muhammad to Guru Nanak, and myriads of teachers in between, we are reminded that not all paths are worth following. There is a good path and an evil path; there is a high road and a low road; there is a broad path that leads to destruction and a narrow one that leads to light.

About now, you might be thinking, “Enough with these abstractions. What should I be living for in 2024?” Many people will be writing down resolutions for the New Year. Instead of doing that, I suggest the following exercise. Choose the wisest religious figure or philosopher that you’ve ever encountered. Consider that person your guide. On this New Year’s Eve, take a sheet of paper and at the top write the words “May 2024 be a year full of meaning.” Below that, write your guide’s name.

On the left-hand side of the space below the guide’s name, list what your guide would suggest that you live for and strive for in 2024. An easy way to identify what those goals should be is to think of how your guide lived.

On the right-hand side of the space below the guide’s name, list what your guide would suggest you avoid in 2024. Again, an easy way to identify what you should avoid is to think of what your guide avoided. You will then have a kind of roadmap for the year ahead.

In the end, I think Frank Sinatra was wrong with the song “I Did It My Way.” There have been far wiser people in this world than ourselves. Let’s start the new year as humble followers, keeping our eyes on the truly wise teachers of the world, the light bearers, those who continue to illumine the way forward.

David Carlson of Franklin is a professor emeritus of philosophy and religion. Send comments to [email protected].