Time is not a human construct.
At least not according to the ancient wisdom.
The ancient Hebrews, in an effort to give a framework to their reality, penned a book called “Genesis”. Genesis begins with an accounting of the beginning of all that is. But it is not written like an annal, or history, or at least not what we would consider one in our 21st Century Western context. It doesn’t look like anything we would see on a Wikipedia page, for instance.
It is written as a poem.
And a poem has rhythm and cadence and timing and beat.
Eugene Peterson, in his book Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, masterfully teases this out.
There are three days for ordering creation.
On the first day, God creates light. One.
On the second day He creates the sky. Two.
On the third day there are two movements: God creating land/sea, and vegetation. Three. Three.
Next are three days for filling the void.
On the fourth day He creates the heavenly bodies. Four.
On the fifth day He creates fish/birds. Five.
On the sixth day, two movements again: God creates land animals, and humanity. Six. Six.
And then the seventh day is repeated three times. Seven. Seven. Seven.
And so there is this rhythm built into the very fabric of the universe. One. Two. Three, Three. Four. Five. Six, Six. Seven! Seven! Seven!
In other words, it is not just that the Hebrews believed that God created light and lemurs, crocodiles and quarks, diamonds and deltas. They believed God created time. They believed that rhyme and season were a part of the very reality in which they lived.
And it is within this story that humanity shows up…late to the game. Of the six days of creation mentioned in the Genesis poem, we show up at the end of that final sixth day. And the man is named adam, who we are told is made from the same stuff as everything else, the adamah.
Which meant that the Hebrew people were very aware that this time and tempo, rhyme and season to everything was also a part of them.
You can see, then, why the modern era has been so destructive to our living.
On one level, the modern era has been really good. It has taught us how to control and manipulate and shape our environment in such a way as to live longer and stay healthier. Penicillin. Fiber optics. Pasteurization. MRIs. Medical plastics. Electricity.
But on another level, the modern era may have led us to believe that we have total control over and against and separate from our environment, leading us to ways of operating that are actually detrimental to our well being. Strip mining. Pesticides. Internal Combustion Engines. Medical plastics. Electricity.
In the modern era, maybe faith in our ability to overcome our connection to the creation has led to an over-reaching, to the point that even time is seen as a human construct we can manipulate at will to accommodate our desires and intentions.
When we then think we can live apart from the rhyme and season that we are made to inhabit, things begin to stress, crack, and then crumble.
I think we all know this at a molecular level.
Perhaps we are most aware of it during daylight saving time.
(More on that later.)
What would it look like if we were to take our time-bound-ness more seriously? To embrace the clock rather than race it? To welcome the seasons rather than battle against them? To stop and pay closer attention to the beat of the universe, listening for and staying in step with the rhythm of which we are so intimately a part?
Maybe we begin this journey with a simple question…
Where do I feel out of step with the rhythm of what is?