Life unfolds in the present. Yet, just as our eyes close at night, we’re jolted awake by forgotten emails. At work, we dream about doing nothing on holiday, while on holiday, we dread returning to piles of work, untouched by no one and nothing, bar a smattering of chip crumbs.
The world is at a flashpoint. The centre cannot hold. Actions taken in the name of progress and building a better future have, in too many cases, achieved the exact opposite.
For those of us who care enough to try and reverse the damage, there has never been a more important time to manage time.
In Greek mythology, three deities controlled the clock. Chronos, a stooped old man with long beard and scythe, commanded linear, quantitative time. Aion, often depicted inside a circle, was the god of cyclical or unbounded time. The third, Kairos, was a lithe young man with winged heels and long forelock, the god of opportune and qualitative time.
The great philosophers tell us that Kairos time is a state of active, open and purposeful attention to the present. Observing thoughts without judgement, catching or repelling them, being awake to experience and opportunity.
Where Chronos protected the passage of time with his scythe, grasping Kairos’ forelock accorded openness and attention ripe for experience or opportunity.
To build a better future, we’ll need to strike a balance between Chronos and Kairos time.
While Chronos is adept at moving us through our daily ‘to do’ lists and meeting our deadlines, it’s Kairos that grounds us, reduces our stress, lowers blood pressure, encourages better sleep, and so much more.
All while opening our minds to new possibilities, so that we might imagine the unimaginable and use our newfound clarity to help everyone that calls this planet home.
This will take both wildly audacious innovation and a willingness to entertain ideas we may have thought outrageous in the past.
Remember, people once laughed at the idea of gravity and sharing your observation that the earth moved around the sun was enough to get you burned at the stake.
Make no mistake though, we need ideas of that magnitude. Ideas that don’t just undo the wrongs of the past but transform them into sustainable, self-sufficient, life-giving solutions.
But here’s the problem. In psychology, dwelling in the past can be depressive and focusing on the future induces anxiety. Living in the moment is the mental holy grail. The big question is, how can we examine the missteps of the past to shape a better future without succumbing to depression or anxiety or both?
The answer is to tug the forelock of a god.
Kairos time isn’t esoteric. You don’t have to be a Stephen Hawking-level genius to welcome it into your life.
You just have to open your mind.
This article first featured in Medium in 2019.
