Gently Resting in the Shady Woods
A wise and benevolent father protects the day-by-day life of his progeny and prepares them for an endless journey of growth, development, and maturity. Gregge Tiffen (Father Time – June 2007)
In what was a big leap into possibility last week (you can read it here http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/the-end-of-time-a-fantasy-of-possibility), I suggested what the world might be like without clocks and other tools we use to control one another. I’ve continued to reflect on this for myself, reexamining my own relationship to cycles and time.
As I began to think about this week’s musing, I found myself reviewing previous June posts. I wasn’t surprised to find that I’d explored time several years back. And, that I’d done so just in time for Father’s Day here in the U.S. (Good timing, I’d say!). My musing then rings true today, so, I brushed off and polished that post just a bit to share this week.
In his early writing, Gregge Tiffen reflected on time, the clock and how it is used as a mechanism for manipulation and control. His writing along with my own struggles with time led me to think that we might be wise to look at time anew.
This week, in many parts of the globe fathers and father figures will be celebrated for their roles in preparing us for this journey called life. For some, the benevolent, wise father created context and order in our early life giving us a foundation on which to set sail on our course in life. For them, we are grateful.
Others lived a different experience: fathers, who lacking wisdom and benevolence, sought to control. For them, with forgiveness, we can also be grateful. Perhaps that forgiveness can come more easily when we understand that fathers often feel trapped in systems that equate success with control and that honor time over natural instinct and cycles.
Harmony is the essence of nature, instinct, and natural cycles. As I continue to experiment with living less by the clock and more by awareness of my personal cycles, I feel more harmonious within. Doing so is not so easy in this 24/7, fast-paced world.
We use time as a weapon. Finding it hard to let go and trust that events will unfold in divine perfect time, we set deadlines. I’ve come to understand just how ‘deadly’ they are. I wonder: How deeply have I bought into this world’s accepted systems where time is used to control? How might life be if we were more compassionate with ourselves and others about time? How can I be wiser and more benevolent with time?
At one time or another, we’ve all put pressure on ourselves with words and beliefs about scarcity of time (‘I don’t have time …’). Some years ago, I broke the habit of using that language and replaced it with ‘I have enough time for everything that is important in my life’. Slowly that became my belief. It feels like wisdom, and it opens the door to being benevolent to me and to others.
With practice we can ease the pressure and begin to make choices that honor our natural rhythms – not as a program to complete, but as exploration of a different way to live. Eat when you’re hungry. Rest when you’re weary. Bloom when you’re ready. That may be the best of benevolence and wisdom in a world that sometimes seems to have lost both.
Romping Through Water on the Trail