Jody Larson
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Time and the River

5/23/2021

7 Comments

 
About six years ago I posted on Facebook about a plastic, European Medieval clock kit that we kids put together long ago, which resembled the photo here. The horizontal bar at the top with square blocks acts somewhat like a pendulum; it seesaws forward and back, powered by a dropping weight. Changing the positions of the blocks on the bar allows adjustment of clock speed. Gears and a sprocket wheel advance the single hand around the face to track the hours.
Picture
Brass-faced Matutinus model clock by the ArdavĂ­n company, Madrid, Spain (www.ardavin.net).
      At the time I posted about this, I wondered whether daily life would have a different pace if we paid attention only to hours, rather than to minutes, let alone seconds.
      The development of mechanical clocks allowed tracking of time during both day and night, and on cloudy days—a definite advantage over the sundial. 
Picture
A helmsman’s marine sandglass. Public domain (1859).
​Ships had a different timekeeping problem because of movement on the sea, sometimes drastic movement. The marine sandglass provided a workable solution from at least the 14th century. It’s an “hourglass” that tracks time in half-hour increments. The sandglass was hung from a hook, so that it could sway and keep vertical as needed with the movement of the ship; thus the flow of sand continued—more or less accurately. Each increment and turn of the glass was marked by ringing of the ship’s bell.
   Much of my work life was run by deadlines. That’s not true now, but sometimes I still tend to behave and feel as though it is. I get over-invested in punctuality and making sure things are done “on time.” I almost never have a set schedule these days; my day planner is largely empty space. But that old drive lingers on.
      The drive is the problem, not setting a time or meeting an appointment. It’s about how I approach these set points. 
      In 1970, Gestalt therapist Barry Stevens published a book titled Don't Push the River (It Flows by Itself). The title was arguably the best part.
       I have spent so much time pushing the river.
​In 2019, I stayed at Upaya Zen Center for about ten days. At Upaya and many other Zen centers, a wooden board called a han is struck in three sets of repeating patterns as the time for morning meditation grows closer. I found that upon hearing the han, I could rush around to get ready and dash to the hall to be on time, or I could move in an unhurried but directed way to do the same. 
Picture
A han at Tassajara Zen Center. Calligraphy by Linda Ruth Cutts, 2017.
    Either way, I still got to the hall. When I moved deliberately but without rushing, staying in the flow, I found my mind was already more at rest when meditation began.
    Time passes, whether precisely measured or not. Sometimes we do need to work quickly or move swiftly—but we gain nothing when we translate that into feeling pressured, pushed, anxious, or rushed because of old habits.
7 Comments
Teresa
5/23/2021 11:45:57 am

Thanks Jodi, since I retired I don't really need to be in a hurry anymore, but I still notice the habitual pattern of rushing around. There is no need to be in a hurry anymore and when I catch myself doing it, I take a breath and slow down. Thanks for the reminder1 Love that clock kit, I think I need one!

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Susana
5/23/2021 12:18:44 pm

Dear Ms. Larson,
The relationship between place and time is an interesting one, whether we think of ourselves as being in both or more in one or the other. If you get in the river, has the place passed you since that water has moved in or has time massed you?
I have a 100 year old pendulum click made from a kit, my Grandfather’s prize for selling the most Tribune subscriptions of all the carriers. He was an adult simply holding an extra job to make the frayed ends meet. I don’t wind the clock because it needs cleaning and it’s rather loud. But it keeps time by its constant reminder that things were not always this and thus is not necessarily better.
My iPhone would disagree.
Yours, A Hopeful Tardigrade

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Jody
5/23/2021 06:12:02 pm

Dear Hopeful,
You raise intriguing questions. Perhaps time is always passing you from place to place, until it isn't.
I'm glad you have that historical timepiece that your grandfather won and assembled. Your forebears have passed time onto you, which means you are keeping time. All we need now is a small band of musicians.

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Susana
5/23/2021 06:38:52 pm

Thanks for your cogent reply to the mess Spellcheck made of what I tried to write. Now I can barely remember what that was because too much of that strange stuff, time, has passed. But I meant something, I’m sure of that.
Timelessly yours,
S

Jodie
5/24/2021 05:57:51 am

How lovely not to be controlled by the clock and always checking to see “what time is it?”

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Jody
5/24/2021 07:45:55 am

My morning "alarm clock" is the sound of the coffee maker at work. :)

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Deborah Robbins
5/24/2021 07:53:26 am

Your essay has a nice meander, moving from timepieces to time itself. When sheltering in place lowered upon us, my battery-powered wristwatch promptly stopped. I couldn’t run out to a jeweler’s for a replacement battery, so my husband offered me his to wear. After a few weeks, I left his watch in the drawer. We were only going out for medical treatments, and in that setting a watch on the wrist looked like a germ-catcher. Now, many months later, I have lost the lifelong habit of glancing at my wrist to know the time.

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