Time traveling
Time traveling.
In the opening scene of Ali Smith's novel Spring, a famous film director stands on an empty train platform out in nowhere. Nothing is happening. "He has had it with story." He has ditched his clocks, his schedules. Ditched his labels. Just a man. Not even. Stop time in its tracks. No trains on any track.
The ancient Greek language had two words for time. People traveled between both. We have forgotten this.
“Chronos” (χρόνος) was linear, sequential, quantitative. Time bound to story. Past and future. Relentless. Eventually clocks and time as we know it grew out of this. Time became something in measurements independent of the nature of earth, our bodies, and what is going on.
“Kairos” (καιρός) was qualitative, in-the-moment. It signified a momentary opening in a fleeting present, in which we could act. Time was about events as they happened, dependent on relationships, connected to earth. Unfolding and current. An actual active state of being in the world.
Because time is anything but universal. It's a personal perspective Today, chronos controls. Outside of ourselves. We perceive our world as disconnected. Rush. Pressure. Starved for time. The train platform: A battle to reclaim kairos.
In quantum physics, only events and relationships are relevant. But we humans must make sense of a world where things appear as linear, solid, even as they change. We need linear time as our way to measure this arrow of change, narrated in story. This has beauty: We can live into the imagination of what can be because we have reference points in our past. It's also dangerous: Forgetting kairos, I loose out on momentary love, connection, the truth of what is.
Playing with layers of time. Choosing which perspective of time serves me in the moment. Non-storied. Or storying. Wise action and big shifts in the window of moments, a smile, a breath. Time as fulfillment. And yet traveling into arcs of purpose. What matters? Awareness. Then space, choice.
In Spring, chance events and encounters, connection and disconnection, and inevitably the first crocus of spring pushing through. No escaping the story. Yet, in the end, this inevitable love for our earthbound humanity in kairos.
How will you play this week with choices in kairos and chronos? How will you commit to more kairos? Share it! I will respond.
Thanks as always for choosing to read this: I do not take it lightly. And so my intent is for these writings to serve as a compass (for all of us) to wake up, wisen up, show up. A mix of resources, links to articles, and quotes, a question to lean into, an invitation or an announcement. It's an ongoing experiment: Your thoughts are welcome.Together we soar wider, and grow our impact for good 10x. With gratitude, sophia.
