Your perspective of time depends on where you sit on the Wheel of Time, and the cycles we occupy look like the seasons.
by Jo Mooy
Time beats a silent rhythm in the background of our lives. It’s present, but outside the realm of the senses. We can’t touch it, smell it or taste it, but it’s a powerful anchor that governs the affairs of humans. We measure its passage in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years, and by describing events in the past, present or future. Time feels endless, until one day it’s not, and it becomes finite.
As children, chomping at the bit to become grownups at age 21, it felt like that milestone would never happen. Time dragged slower than a river of molasses on a cold morning. Our ages were measured in increments like six and a half, as though that might hasten the arrival of 21. When the big day arrived celebrations began. Soon after, we took our place in society, got a job, maybe got married and had kids or vice versa.
The subject of time came up recently at a luncheon with long-time close friends. All of us are retired now, so from that perspective, the topic of time took on a more philosophical tone. The children we were who measured the days till we turned 21 stopped looking at time as a construct during our child-rearing and working lives. Time was endless. We had oodles of it to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted.
The friends spontaneously offered their thoughts on time. Karen said, “When I was working and ‘doing’ all the time, I never thought about anything but work. That was all that mattered. The job, the project, the clients, were the most important thing to focus on. There was no time to think about spirit or death because I had all the time in the world. But now, in retirement, there’s no job to distract me. Now that I have the time, I realize that time is not endless, and some day death is down the road for all of us. It changes what you think about and what’s really important.”
Mary said, “During the years I was raising my kids, during both marriages and in between, I hardly had time to think. I was so busy with managing home, work and kids! Now that I have been retired for so many years, I have had the time to really look at life, its meaning, and how I fit into it. This earthly journey is fleeting and it will end at some point. But, I know that giving and receiving love, respect and appreciation is a major part of our purpose. I’m so thankful that I can now enjoy each day as a precious gift and I embrace this season of my life until it ends.”
Time is endless. Time is also finite. Your perspective of it depends on where you sit on the Wheel of Time. The cycles we occupy look like the seasons. Children are like spring—new, young, full of spontaneity, while rushing headlong into the next season. Adults are like summer—growing, producing, surging with abundant life, never thinking about what comes after. Crones are like fall—wise, able to reflect on life, willing to look back and teach the children coming up behind them.
Seniors are like winter. They’ve retired from the fray yet have the full knowledge of the four seasons to ponder life and their roles in it. They spend the hours that are left in quiet contemplation or in joyous companionship with friends or family. They know time is finite and every second from this vantage point is so very precious. It only took them 70 or 80 years to get there!
Jo Mooy has studied with many spiritual traditions over the past 40 years. The wide diversity of this training allows her to develop spiritual seminars and retreats that explore inspirational concepts, give purpose and guidance to students, and present esoteric teachings in an understandable manner. Along with Patricia Cockerill, she has guided the Women’s Meditation Circle since January 2006 where it has been honored for five years in a row as the “Favorite Meditation” group in Sarasota, FL, by Natural Awakenings Magazine. Teaching and using Sound as a retreat healing practice, Jo was certified as a Sound Healer through Jonathan Goldman’s Sound Healing Association. She writes and publishes a monthly internationally distributed e-newsletter called Spiritual Connections and is a staff writer for Spirit of Maat magazine in Sedona. For more information go to http://www.starsoundings.com or email jomooy@gmail.com.
