TIME

The cool air came back! Salt shakers work again. The bathroom door doesn't stick. We haven't used our air conditioner yet, this year. We came close, the day before yesterday. We had endured one night that didn't cool off and another loomed. The extended forecast indicated it was going to cool off, at night, for the rest of the week. We have a screen porch, and that is where we spend much of our time in the Summer. As long as it cools off at night, to give us good sleep, and cools the house down, we can start the day in comfort. It doesn't matter that it gets up to eighty in the afternoon, if it cools down as the Sun goes down. We don't like the way the air conditioner shuts us off from the outside. On the other hand, we can't take successive days when it is uncomfortable to sleep. Maybe, we won't have that happen this year.

I was mulling over the idea of writing about time. Supposedly, it only exist in this third dimension. Can we imagine living without time? Every Morning, I get up, get a cup of coffee and sit down with the crossword puzzle. The crossword puzzle takes 30 to 45 minutes. It is then time, to let out the chickens. The clock reads 8:30. I let the chickens out and then, do my bathroom ablutions. I set up the dishes to soak in hot water and if it is a Monday, Wednesday or Friday I begin my blog [which can mean; staring out the window; meditating; staring at an empty screen; ruminating; wondering why I do this; etc.] On Tuesdays, our friend from across the lake, comes over and regales us for two and one half hours. Every other Thursday the cleaning lady comes[ yes, we have a cleaning lady! It is fantastic!] On alternate Thursdays, I have a free Morning. Only twice a month there is nothing scheduled in the Morning; usually something comes up. Saturday is kind of a 'grab bag' day. About every other Saturday I go to recycling. Sunday is truly a kickback day, read the paper etc. Of course, everyday I have my chores. I wash the dishes, water my animals, gather the eggs, count my sheep, mow the grass when needed, pick up sticks, the usual stuff to maintain the homestead.

All these activities happen in time. If one were to clock them they would find very little variation from day to day. Even the animals respond to time. The chickens know when I let them out late. The sheep have their pattern, that is consistent from day to day. They have their time to eat, their time to rest and ruminate. One could measure the pattern with a clock. Our bodies respond in time; doesn't it always surprise us, if we are hungry at an unusual time? Everything is in some kind of rhythm. It can even be interpreted mathematically. It is cycles within cycles forever. Is that what 'no time' is; eternal evolving; eternal creation? If we are just in this moment; there are no past moments or future moments, we are in eternity.

We may experience that someday, for now we are in time. The question is, are we in a natural rhythm or an artificial one? Are we following the natural cycle of life or rigidly following the clock? Jamie and I lived for seven years, for the most part, with no schedule, but the one Nature presented. [In truth that is impossible-we couldn't escape from the larger world]. However, we got more than a glimpse, of what living without clocks, would be like, and the time Nature presented, dominated.

We live close to the natural cycles of life now, yet, I find myself pressured by the reading of the clock. Even today, we need to go to Mora and pick up a dresser, Jamie bought at a thrift shop, and we need to bring in some donations. I glanced at the clock to see how I was doing with time. What is a natural rhythm? I have to follow the clock, if I am going to get the stuff to Mora, and get back here before late afternoon, because some people are coming over.

We have a world that is committed to artificial cycles. Every working person on the planet knows the difference between enforced artificial time and natural time. We put up with it. It doesn't seem like we have a choice. We need to fit into somebody else's artificial schedule in order to get paid. It is a matter of survival.

Can we imagine living in a world where we followed the natural cycles? A world where we wouldn't force our children to get up in the dark to go to school? A world where we wouldn't be slaves to time? A world where we would respect our bodies, and wouldn't ask them to do things because of what the clock says?

I find myself pressured by time. Jamie is rattling around, getting things ready to take to Mora. I am going to need to write more about this another day.

Life is Grand!

Love and Peace,  Gregg