The secret of the Ancients: synchrony of inner life and Nature
In the ancient world, life and everyday activities were very different from what they are today. Nowadays, everyone is in a hurry and we live according to a linear calendar. Time limits and deadlines determine the rhythm of our lives. It's difficult to let go of this fast pace because of our dependence on time frames set by IT devices, and a great deal of time is spent adrift social media streams and floods. People no longer know how to get a grip on the rhythm of their own lives, let alone find a common rhythm with others and with Nature. In the early period, when civilizations were in their nascent stages, people lived in natural environments where they adhered to the seasonal vegetation cycle. The stages of life and the seasons were rhythmically synchronized.
Draw-aim-release
The people who built the civilization of Old Europe and organized communities were aware of their lives in the context of a natural rhythm of life. A key concept has been preserved from those times which describes that natural way of life. "Kairos" is a very old loanword in Ancient Greek that originally comes from Old Europe. It refers to the way in which people experienced the effects of time, and this is why the concept differs greatly from that of "chronos", which refers to time as a measured unit separate from human experience, i.e. calendrical time.
Kairos encompasses a broad spectrum of different meanings. The most comprehensive of them describes the internal energy source of the body. When one's consciousness was attuned to life's rhythmic movements, kairos also contained the aspect of energy currents in motion. Kairos also includes the idea of the right time to act, represented by an example from archery. When archers aim at a target, they must wait for the right moment. When the moment comes, all the factors which might affect the aim of the arrow and the hitting of the target are in synchrony, for example the direction of the wind and the position of the archer. Only at the right moment should the arrow be released. One can't determine or judge the right moment in advance - one only knows it in the moment itself.
Living according to the rhythm of energy flows was a skill that the Old Europeans mastered, but it disappeared gradually already in the Ancient period. The German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe invented the concept of "Achtsamkeit" (mindfulness) at the end of the 18th century - also “achtsames Schauen” (an attentive, thorough way of seeing). He stated that perception in accordance to the flow and rhythm of life was much more fruitful than a hurried way of looking, which was a novel idea for Goethe's contemporaries. The basic idea still anchors onto the ancient concept of kairos. The idea of a mindful way of seeing became fashionable again in the beginning of the 21st century. People became aware that they were lacking something, and mindfulness became a popular pursuit. Some traces of kairos are thus still alive today. An example is the expression carpe diem, "pluck the day", which also includes the aspect of seizing the right moment. This calls for a conscious way of seeing, because it requires perceiving the right moment.
Nowadays, in comparison to the Old Europeans, we are aware of only a fraction of the secrets of seizing the right moment. The concept and practice of kairos has a long history. Its secrets should be explored, because they may contain more elements for a good life than we might have thought.
Harald Haarmann and Virpi Lehtinen
Read more about kairos on this blog.
Read this blog in Finnish here.