Sunday 22 January 2012

Kairos and Chronos

I learned something new this week, and relevant to my Greek heritage so it has added interest. The ancient Greeks had two different words (and concepts) of time: chronos and kairos.

Chronos is the sequential, clock time that we all know; the clock ticks, the months pass, we grow, age, die.

Kairos (beautiful name, have to save it for number 3!) means a moment between time, a sacred inspiration, a moment out of a moment, spiritual enlightenment, a pure other-worldly fragment, being firmly in the now.

Chronos: kairos.
Quantity: quality.
Past and future: the present.
Body: spirit.
Doing: being.

While chronos is a necessity, a fact and a reality, kairos must not be forgotten. Kairos is the moment you stop and look, see the colour of light or taste the year's first strawberry, slip into a crisp sea, notice a raspberry-hued cloud bank on the horizon, hear your child chuckle, feel that "all is well". Kairos makes chronos a joy, life worth living.

I'm happy to have the words to express something I already knew.

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