Time
It occurs to me that the phrase losing time is an indirect way of saying that I often waste time doing what is not that important, waiting for some event to which I am looking forward, unhappy because someone or something is not behaving the way I wanted them or it to, or not treasuring each moment that I have with an old or potentially new friend. Some friends accuse me of wasting time; time I could be learning from them instead of rejecting the pearls of wisdom they are offering.
As I age I am increasingly aware that my grandparents and others were correct in saying that time moves faster as one ages. I have no idea of why this is. i know that in some respects I have more commitments and interests than I had as a child. On the other hand, as a child there was a lot to do; homework, gardening, drawing water, chopping wood, tending to various farm animals such as the chickens, periodically digging a new hole and moving the outhouse, and whatever other chores life on the farm without electricity and running water demanded if one wanted to eat, take a weekly bath or stay warm in the winter.
I now know why some older folks do not bother to take down the holiday decorations since the next Thanksgiving or other holiday will arrive momentarily.
Yet, it does seem as our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan have been going on forever; that Brexit has always with us and unkind and crude political tweets are never ending.
What is that I am wasting when I “waste time”? What is time? Some would say it is an artificial construct although my friend Ben is quick to refute that idea. Some would state is a simple way of measuring the bridge between events or activities. One can play a quarter or half note on a musical instrument. One can, as I did recently, move through space over a period of something we elect to call time from my house to the Apple Store some 50 miles.
Time is such a simple concept until we realize that It obeys laws identified by Einstein and others. If one asks Merriam-Webster for the definition of time one finds: “The measured or measurable period during which an action, process or condition exists or continues; duration.” It would appear from this definition that this is an objective fact which can be stated and experienced as such. It may be that indeed it can be measure on a clock or a calendar but ask any child waiting for his or her birthday how much time between birthdays or ask a person waiting for the return of their love how long a year is. I was just chatting with a friend who is recognizing the anniversary of his son’s death from a drug overdose. For he and many parents time has stopped since that fateful day.
The Franciscan writer, teacher and founder of the Center for Action and contemplation in an April 13, 2017 (updated and rebroadcast June 13, 2019) conversation with Krista Tippett, host of On Being reminds the listener of the Greek word kairos which can be translated as “deep time” As he says deep time is when you have moments of being present; moments of deep contemplation; moments of getting it; moments when one feels perfectly aligned with the universe(s) and there is no time because time is the past, present and future. One just is. One experiences one’s purpose - a purpose which cannot be named - and is perfectly content.
The past is always a part of the present but does not have to define it. The present always contains the possibilities of the future. When I am at peace with my past in the present and open to the possibilities of the future without thinking I am in control or am going to be in control or need to be in control I may experience deep time. When experiencing deep time, I have no need to label it as time or Kairos. It just is.
Written June 14, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
It occurs to me that the phrase losing time is an indirect way of saying that I often waste time doing what is not that important, waiting for some event to which I am looking forward, unhappy because someone or something is not behaving the way I wanted them or it to, or not treasuring each moment that I have with an old or potentially new friend. Some friends accuse me of wasting time; time I could be learning from them instead of rejecting the pearls of wisdom they are offering.
As I age I am increasingly aware that my grandparents and others were correct in saying that time moves faster as one ages. I have no idea of why this is. i know that in some respects I have more commitments and interests than I had as a child. On the other hand, as a child there was a lot to do; homework, gardening, drawing water, chopping wood, tending to various farm animals such as the chickens, periodically digging a new hole and moving the outhouse, and whatever other chores life on the farm without electricity and running water demanded if one wanted to eat, take a weekly bath or stay warm in the winter.
I now know why some older folks do not bother to take down the holiday decorations since the next Thanksgiving or other holiday will arrive momentarily.
Yet, it does seem as our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan have been going on forever; that Brexit has always with us and unkind and crude political tweets are never ending.
What is that I am wasting when I “waste time”? What is time? Some would say it is an artificial construct although my friend Ben is quick to refute that idea. Some would state is a simple way of measuring the bridge between events or activities. One can play a quarter or half note on a musical instrument. One can, as I did recently, move through space over a period of something we elect to call time from my house to the Apple Store some 50 miles.
Time is such a simple concept until we realize that It obeys laws identified by Einstein and others. If one asks Merriam-Webster for the definition of time one finds: “The measured or measurable period during which an action, process or condition exists or continues; duration.” It would appear from this definition that this is an objective fact which can be stated and experienced as such. It may be that indeed it can be measure on a clock or a calendar but ask any child waiting for his or her birthday how much time between birthdays or ask a person waiting for the return of their love how long a year is. I was just chatting with a friend who is recognizing the anniversary of his son’s death from a drug overdose. For he and many parents time has stopped since that fateful day.
The Franciscan writer, teacher and founder of the Center for Action and contemplation in an April 13, 2017 (updated and rebroadcast June 13, 2019) conversation with Krista Tippett, host of On Being reminds the listener of the Greek word kairos which can be translated as “deep time” As he says deep time is when you have moments of being present; moments of deep contemplation; moments of getting it; moments when one feels perfectly aligned with the universe(s) and there is no time because time is the past, present and future. One just is. One experiences one’s purpose - a purpose which cannot be named - and is perfectly content.
The past is always a part of the present but does not have to define it. The present always contains the possibilities of the future. When I am at peace with my past in the present and open to the possibilities of the future without thinking I am in control or am going to be in control or need to be in control I may experience deep time. When experiencing deep time, I have no need to label it as time or Kairos. It just is.
Written June 14, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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