KAIROS

The Ancient Greeks often found many ways to describe a concept. In the English language for example we only have one word for love. We can love ice cream, rugby, sunsets, our family, reading, golf…whatever.

The Ancient Greeks had different words to describe facets of this concept – the love you have for your brother (Filia ?) is very different to the love you have for your Mother in Law (Storge ?). The erotic love you have for your partner (Eros ?) is going to show up very differently for the unconditional love you might show to your children (Agape ?)

I put question marks behind these because I am unsure if these are correct, and in no way is this reflection meant to be a lesson in Ancient Greek.

The same is true though in the concept of time. In English we have a linear, measurable understanding of time as a finite concept, and we call it chronological time. This apparently found its Ancient Greek roots in the word “CHRONOS”.

Where there are always sixty seconds I a minute and sixty minutes in an hour and twenty-four hours in the day. It is linear, finite and measurable.

A quite different definition lies in the Word “KAIROS”, and this is best defined as when the minute of sixty seconds becomes a moment. Where the clock stops, time stands still for a while and the value lies not in the quantity of time, but on the impact of that time, and the relationship you had with someone or something in that moment.

It seems as though Chronos moves past from one minute to the next, but Kairos lasts for AEONS, a third concept of time from the Ancient Greeks meaning broad sweeps of time.

I found a wonderful piece of writing describing how ‘kairos’ time fits in with the picture of an infinite world.

“The action in a universe of possibility may be characterised as generative, or giving, in all senses of that word – producing new life, creating new ideas, consciously endowing with meaning, contributing, yielding to the power of contexts. The relationship between people and environments is highlighted, not the people and things themselves. Emotions that are often relegated to the special category of spirituality are abundant here : joy, grace, awe, wholeness, passion and compassion.”

“There are moments in everyone’s life when an experience of integration with the world transcends the business of survival – like seeing a grandchild for the first time, witnessing an Olympic record broken or the uncommon bravery of an ordinary citizen. For many, the experience of attending the dismantling of the Berlin Wall or of witnessing the emergence of Nelson Mandela from twenty-seven years of imprisonment may have been such a moment. Some find admission to the realm of possibility at a religious gathering, some in meditation, some by listening to great music. Often people enter this state in the presence of natural beauty or at the sight of something of infinite magnitude, an expanse of ocean or a towering sky. These are moments when we forget ourselves and seem to become part of all being.”

From The Art of Possibility – Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander

So, Kairos is not the twenty minutes I spend playing cricket in the garage, it is the value of the relationship we build in the process. Kairos is the one great thought in a two hour Zoom meeting which elevates the energy and the sense of possibility in the team. Kairos is not the hour long walk we might enjoy at the end of lockdown, it might be that moment of freedom we experience, or the greeting from a neighbor we haven’t seen for weeks.

The greeting might only last for a few measurable seconds, but the impact of the greeting might last for years.

William Blake wrote about this concept beautifully, and though he didn’t call it Kairos, I think the Ancient Greeks would be nodding in sage agreement:

“To see the world in a grain of sand

And Heaven in a wild flower

To hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity…

…in an hour.”

Even though it may be more difficult in times of lockdown I wonder if there aren’t an abundance of these Kairos moments all around me.

A moment where I can notice a bird at the birdfeeder, where I can love my dogs, savour something special with my wife at the end of the day, watch a Romcom with my daughter…

… and survive some brutal garage cricket with my son !

What is a Kairos moment which you have enjoyed today?

And what might be one you look forward to tomorrow ?

Steve