Pack Creek Ranch, Moab, Utah
Cooler but dry and windy – fire danger remains.
NOW – WHAT?
Sometimes I turn away from consulting my smartphone, computer, and clocks to ascertain what time it is. This week, for example, I’ve worn a Navajo Indian bracelet on my wrist – it’s a timepiece – instead of a watch face, there’s a piece of turquoise that only reminds me of deep, long time – the formation of the stone over a gazillion years.
And worn alongside it is a compass – not an electronic GPS device – but a simple indication of direction driven by the magnetic forces of the Earth. It reminds me that knowing what time it is doesn’t make much difference if you don’t know where you are, where you’re going, or why.
* * * *
The yellow aspen leaves and the wild sunflowers remind me that Fall is already underway – the trees and flowers know – and they tell a time not subject to clocks.
* * * *
The late-night hooting of a Great Horned Owl from a tree down by the creek says he knows it’s time to mate again. The lady owls don’t hoot back – but they know where he is and what his message means: Come and Get It. The owl doesn’t wear a wristwatch, but something inside him tells him what time it is.
* * * *
The nautilus shell on my mantle points at another notion of time – the slow accretion of size and shape over time – like the compartments in my mind – and I often wonder if the nautilus knows it’s an existential reference to elegance and beauty – obeying the laws of complex geometry and the rule of the Golden Mean.
* * * *
A stone engraved with the words “Hati-Hati” on it is another timepiece – marking the long, slow process of stone formation, and then the long slow process of the stone being rolled and shaped. “Hati-Hati” is a word I brought back from Bali, where I saw it everywhere meaning that something was under construction – meaning “Slowly-Slowly” – advice to take notice, taketime and be careful in one’s Way.
* * * *
Notes in my personal Journal to myself about Time:
According to experimental psychologists, “the present moment” lasts about three seconds in most people’s minds. Now – is three seconds long.
Now never holds still. It is a moving point.
Time doesn’t pass – we do.
Time stays where it is – we move on.
Minutes were invented by the Babylonians.
There are 86,400 seconds in a day – 31,536, 000 seconds in a year – and, in an average life span 2.5×10 to the 9th power seconds.
There are no clocks in Zen Buddhist temples.
Just on Christian churches.
Enchanted time:
A year and a day . . .
Once upon a time . . .
How long is “Just a moment?”
If a cafe offers “Breakfast Any Time” – try ordering French Toast during the time of Napoleon.
“In the wink of an eye” is 300/1,000 of a second.
There’s a distinction between being In Time, On Time, Good Timing, and having a good time.
Some say I’m ahead of my time – maybe – about half an hour at most.
I get up every morning wanting time to change the world and wanting to have a hell of a good time. This makes planning my day complicated.
Time has the last word.
People don’t wear watches anymore – they consult their cell phones or computers. Watches have become bling – jewelry, but not tools.
What time do you have?
What time has you?
When told the reason for Daylight Saving time the old Indian said, “Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket.”
Phrases I notice myself frequently using:
Time and again . . .
In the meantime . . .
Time after time . . .
Time flies . . .
Time stood still . . .
Have a good time . . .
Can I really save Time?
Can I really spend Time?
Can I really waste Time?
Who knows where the time goes?
How long a minute is, depends on which side of the bathroom door you’re on. ~Zall’s Second Law
The words to a song:
“A kiss is just a kiss – a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply as time goes by . . .”
Finally, today’s factoid – noted in my personal journal:
Every second of every day of your entire life, sub-atomic particles shot out from the sun pass through your body – more than a trillion neutrinos. They have no mass, so they don’t affect you – so science says. But sometimes I stop and wonder about that – when I wake up feeling a little weird.
“Now what?” I wonder. For about three seconds.
Enough.
That’s all the time I have . . . I’ve run out of time for this for Now.