Time..

Once upon a time.
Since the beginning of time, we've tried to understand her nature. Why? Because we want to control her..like we want to control everything else in our lives. What we have to learn is that she is an extravagant gift..meant to be experienced, not understood. And certainly not controlled. Why do you think we're half crazed all the time?
This mysterious gift is difficult for must of us to appreciate because we have so little of it. Although we are all allotted the same 24 hours each day, we can never seem to stretch it enough. And it doesn't seem to go very far anyway. So what we experience is dread...because we know we are going to run out. Probably before we are done. Again and again. Over and over. And it doesn't even matter what kind of time it is...Greenwich, daylight savings, standard, eastern, mountain, central, pacific, island. All that matters is that we don't have enough.
For centuries, those with time on their hands...saints, poets, mystics, masters, sages, and philosophers...have pondered times enigma. They have discovered her duality. The ancient Greeks called this chronos and kairos.
Chronos is clocks, deadlines, watches, calendars, agendas, planners, schedules. Chronos is time at her very worst. Chronos keeps track. Chronos is a delusion of grandeur. In chronos we think only of ourselves. Chronos is the worlds time.
Kairos is transcendence, infinity, reverence, joy, passion, love. Kairos is intimacy. Kairos is time at her best. Kairos lets go. In kairos we escape.
We exist in chronos. We long for kairos. That's our duality. Chronos requires speed so that it won't be wasted. Kairos requires space so that it might be savored. We do in chronos. In kairos we are allowed to be.
Most of us think we have never known kairos..but we have. When making love. When praying. When lost in music or literature. When planting seeds or pulling weeds. When watching over a sleeping child. When reading the Sunday paper together in bed. When experiencing a sunset. We know joy in kairos, glimpse beauty in kairos, remember what it means to be alive in kairos, reconnect with ourselves in kairos.
So how do we exchange chronos for kairos? By slowing down. By concentrating on one thing at a time. By going about whatever we are doing as if it was the only thing worth doing at that moment. By pretending that we have all the time in the world..kicking our subconscious into believing it. By making time. By taking time.
It only takes a moment to cross over from chronos to kairos. But it does take a moment. All that kairos asks is our willingness to stop running long enough to catch up.
Today, be willing to stop time.
Oh...and don't forget to change your clocks on Sunday!

XOX