“The beginning is the most important part of any work”
Plato
There are
many reasons why I am preparing to explore the concept of time but the short
answer is because it has always fascinated me. Time is everywhere and nowhere. In
many ways it can be compared to an itch you can’t quite reach.
There are. apparently, at least 1567 synonyms and 177 antonyms for
the word time. www.powerthesaurus.org . Time exists as the past, present and future. “Time has been
called an illusion, a dimension, a smooth flowing continuum and an expression
of separation among events that occur in the same physical location” and it has also
been described as “… a practical convenience in modern life”.
Brainy
Quotes www.brainyquote.com offered these quotations
for consideration: “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time” (Leo
Tolstoy) and “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to
succeed is always to try just one more time.” (Thomas A Edison)
Not to be
outdone, Goodreads www.goodreads.com offered two additional time
quotations: “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today.
Let us begin.” (Mother Teresa) and “They say I’m old-fashioned and live in the
past but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast.” (Dr. Seuss)
A visit to www.whatis.techtarget.com startled me. I
discovered that this site lays claim to an unbelievable 3,127 different tech results
which include the word time. Examples included access time, talk time, cycle
time, face time and time management on just the first page!
Time is
spring flowers and snow blown drifts separated by only days and weeks.
Cyclical time and mind time enable us to visualize our planet earth
as a space ship annually and eternally circling our sun in a precise, measurable pattern.
Our daily perception
of time exists in clearly defined units such as seconds, minutes, days, weeks, months
and years. The time expressed in the word ‘eon’ on the other hand has an
indefinite meaning and a vague period of time.
We casually speak
of great achievements such as man reaching for the stars where the time required
for the journey to a new home is measured in light years. A light year is a unit of astronomical
distance equivalent to the distance that light travels in one year. Remember
light travels at roughly 186,282 miles per second.
Time is
present in the awe we feel when we are actually able to see and read a message which
has been written on the back wall of a tunnel carved by people of an ancient
culture who knew and understood the concept of a solar equinox.
Time can be
viewed in the accumulated layers of stuff from past civilizations which is revealed
in an archeological dig. Each newly revealed layer gradually carries us back to
the observable and imagined time and events for that site.
Time leaves
the story of growth cycles easily seen, read and understood in the rings in the
cross cut section of an oak.
Time can be seen
on the face and heard in the voice of a Grandfather clock.
Time can even
be illustrated through the written music and the lyrics from stage plays like
Fiddler on the Roof. “Sunrise, sunset. Sunrise, sunset. Swiftly fly the years. One
season following another, laden with happiness and tears”. Can you hear or feel
the time of the music from this play?
The common
hourglass presents the passage of time as something simple in concept, clearly
visible and, importantly,easy to reset. In its simplicity, the hourglass is a
wonderful visual example of time in motion. The top portion of the glass
container represents the future. The pinched middle portion is the present and
the bottom is the past. Standing in the middle of the hourglass we see the time
above and experience time as something yet to come and the bottom portion
represents everything that was.
Pause here for
a moment and consider another perception of the movement of time. Our Caravan, this
blog site, attempts to provide a different view of the passing of time.
The caravan traveler
remains in the middle of the cycle and gazes forward toward the past. Future experiences
remain behind and are yet to come. The difference between the two is subtle but
it can be seen and it can be explored. I strongly believe our understanding of
the past enables us to repeat positive outcomes with certainty and teach us
what we should not repeat again. Now compare this simplicity to the complexity
of quantum physics or an expanding universe.
During a recent
conversation with my daughter, I clearly heard and recognized a long list of time
concepts I want and need to explore. Christianity, for example, presents a
wonderful combination of circular and linear time. Consider this: Christ was
born. He died. It is promised that he will return. This is linear time. “The
liturgical year, also known as the church year or Christian year, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in
Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of
saints, are to be observed, and which portions of Scripture are to be read in an annual cycle ...(circular time)”
Time is used
and understood differently by people celebrating different faiths and cultures.
Those differences reveal a completely different story when examined through the
lens of the differing perspectives.
She talked
of Periodic Cyclical time in Hinduism, reminded me of the Mayan time expressed
and explored in 2012, spoke of cultural time, China and time, suggested an
exploration of Japanese Buddhism and asked me to consider humans as meaning
makers.
She also encouraged me to explore Developmental
time and discover Spiral time and even reminded me of mind time as seen in
fishing time compared to waiting time in an emergency room. I smile when I
remember that quite a few fishermen have made trips to various emergency rooms
to get fish hooks and lures removed from their ears.
Please
excuse me. A pun has asked to join my
written thoughts. From time to time I will intentionally share a book title and
perhaps a wee bit of the book itself. I
have already read some of the books I will mention and I hope you will come to
enjoy them as much as I have. I will
probably also share some additional unread books which are silently waiting to
speak.
I am now
ready to begin a great personal Walkabout. By definition, a Walkabout
historically refers to a rite of passage during which Indigenous male
Australians would undergo a journey during adolescence, typically ages 10 to
16, and live in the wilderness for a period as long as six months to make the
spiritual and traditional transition into manhood. I missed such a journey in
my youth but I suspect it is never too late to begin and so I will. There is no
real predetermined design. The essays will come in no specific order and there
is no planned timeline or deadline. I invite you to come along with me. We both
have much to see and learn.
