A Test of Trouble
“Do not lessen the time of following desire, for the wasting of time is an abomination to the spirit.” — Ptahhotep, 2350 B.C.
The last two issues of the newsletter have invoked the concept of time. Rest assured, I talk about other things here regularly.
I suppose it’s the new year that has got time on my brain these past couple of weeks. Give it time.
So, just to round this out, I’ve got some related links of interest all about the concept of time. Articles, essays, and other content that’s truly timeless and timely.
We’re often told that after a traumatic experience, we’ll get over something because time is the great healer. Emily Dickinson wasn’t of the belief that time heals all wounds. On the contrary, she wrote in an untitled poem in 1863:
They say that “time assuages”—
Time never did assuage—
An actual suffering strengthens
As sinews do, with age.Time is a test of trouble—
But not a remedy—
If such it prove, it prove too
There was no malady—
Her conclusion is clear: Time itself doesn’t do the work; we do.
We still (mostly) have work schedules that are bound by generally accepted hours of business. Times when we are expected to be working. Changes are afoot, though.
The four-day workweek is beginning to break through. Pandemic work schedules demonstrated (to anyone who was paying attention) that we could measure teams by work generated rather than by hours worked.
Time doesn’t do the work; we do.
And much of our work is asynchronous. Emails and even Slack messages are sent with the expectation of a delay in response, however slight.
If we want synchronicity, we have meetings and phone calls.
But how much work really gets done in meetings, anyway?
Emily Dickinson was right: time is a test of trouble.
“Time’s violence rends the soul; by the rent eternity enters.” — Simone Weil, 1947
A Fool’s Errand
Just this week, my friend
explored “The Passing of Time. In Search of Longevity and Eternity,” touching on the concept of ego. (DIALOGOS - Meaningful Conversation)The Time Tax
American citizens carry administrative burdens as a “time tax”— paperwork, aggravation, and mental effort imposed in exchange for benefits that exist to help them. This time tax is a public-policy cancer, mediating every American’s relationship with the government and wasting countless precious hours of people’s time. (The Atlantic)
The 25-Hour Day
You say you don’t have enough time to listen to podcasts? Well, turn that podcast upside down, says Tom Webster: “What if a podcast could turn all of that “wasted” time you spend paying bills and making omelets into new, found time just for you? What if a podcast could unlock a free, 25th hour in your day?” (Sounds Profitable)
“No preacher is listened to but time, which gives us the same train and turn of thought that elder people have in vain tried to put into our heads before.” — Jonathan Swift, 1706
Clock-Wise
Here’s an interesting question: why do clocks go clockwise? It may seem a chicken-and-egg question, but it comes down to sundials and clocks having been invented in the northern hemisphere. (Country Life)
The Tyranny of Time
The clock is a useful social tool, but it is also deeply political. It benefits some, marginalizes others and blinds us from a true understanding of our own bodies and the world around us. (NOĒMA)
Getting a Bede on the Year
It is 2024. But who is responsible for that? You can thank a monk from the 8th century for our A.D. and C.E. era. (The Conversation)
“Time is a veil interposed between God and ourselves, as our eyelid is between our eye and the light.” —François-René de Chateaubriand, c. 1820
📚If you haven’t had the opportunity, give The Time Machine by H.G. Wells a read. It’s the book that kicked off the science-fiction craze of time travel. You’ll journey to the year 802,701 and discover the bifurcation of the human race into tame Eloi and fierce Morlocks. And, perhaps like Marina Warner wrote in the 2007 introduction, you’ll find yourself as the narrator did, recognizing “how close he felt to the melancholy seeker after a door that he once opened on to a luminous vision and could never find again.”
🎧 That’s exactly the feeling that overwhelmed Richard Collier, the protagonist in the 1980 film Somewhere in Time, when he realized he couldn’t return to his true love whom he found after traveling back in time. John Barry composed one of his most moving scores for the film, and it’s worth listening to, even as background music as you go about your day.
There’s so much to learn,
