On these first days of Advent Sr Teresa White fcJ reflects on the ways in which time is marked. A version of this article first appeared in Church Times and is reproduced here with permission.
Time, the Book of Wisdom tells us, is but a shadow that passes away. But what is this ‘time’, in which we are immersed, this ‘time’, in which we live and move and have our being? Time measures change, and we commonly calculate change by means of two constructs: linear time and circular time. Linear time is more prosaic – uncomplicated, easy to compute; circular time is more poetic – profound, open to mystery. The Psalmist, who says we should use time to ‘gain wisdom of heart’ (Ps. 90: 12), seems to be pointing to circular time…
Linear Time
Linear time, sequential time, has a beginning, a duration, and an end. The ticking of a clock, counting the seconds and minutes and hours, is a symbol of this kind of time, and the calendar a concrete expression of it: Monday followed by Tuesday, Tuesday by Wednesday, week one followed by week two, December 2024 followed by January 2025…. We have appointments marked in our diaries, deadlines to meet; projects start at a certain point in time and end later, at another.
Our concept of history is largely based on chronology, which is simply a way of conceptualizing linear time. The Gregorian calendar, used by many cultures today, including our own, is a modification of the so-called Julian Calendar (attributed to Julius Cæsar, who died in 44 BCE), and is a clear example of linear time, as it moves from the past through the present to the future in a straight line. This calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it to the Christian world in 1582, followed the dating scheme invented by a sixth-century monk called Dionisius Exiguus. Dionisius proposed the year of Christ’s birth as a dividing line for the whole of human history, leading to the practice of appending BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini) to historical dates of major importance[1].
Has our preoccupation with linear time trapped us in stress-filled schedules which keep us on our toes all the time? Does linear time brainwash us into thinking that everything must be done quickly, all problems solved instantly?
No matter how we answer such questions, it is good to be aware that the linear is not the only method of marking the passing of time. While at one level many of us seem to be unable to live happily without knowing the precise date and hour of each day as it passes, it is possible, for example, to perceive the circadian rhythm which governs our sleep-wake cycle without consulting our digital timepieces. Also, by noting the position of the sun and the moon, we can calculate time in a circular mode, aware of the days and seasons endlessly coming and going, arriving and returning. Circular time touches into eternity. It reminds us that in the circle of life, events take place which are beyond us, events not limited by our ability or inability to see, understand or record them.
Circular time
Circular time has an infinitely wider compass than linear time. It has its own symbol: not a clock but a sundial, which responds to the trajectory of the earth as it orbits the sun. Morning comes, evening comes, then the cycle re-starts after the darkness of night. From the dawn of history, humans, perhaps because we are global creatures, seem to have had an innate sense of this cyclic mode of time, which recognizes and respects the rhythms of the natural world. The Industrial Revolution brought profound changes to the way people lived and worked: in the context of manufacturing, with a start time, a finishing time, allotted tasks to be completed in between, and pre-determined targets to be met, linear time became all-important. As a result, in the modern era, as human populations moved from agricultural to urban settings, the linear sense of time became far more pronounced, especially in the West.
People who migrate to the cities may retain in their psyches a remnant of the circular sense of time; but alongside this, as the urban mindset grows, linear time often takes a firmer hold on their lives. City-dwellers learn not to waste time because time is money. In some parts of the world, however, even today, in spite of globalisation, the circular mode of time, which has no specific function, appears to trump the purposeful linear. Linear time can hold us hostage to its demands to be useful and productive, while circular time offers us greater freedom to become better, happier inhabitants of the universe. Yet it must be said that the two concepts are not mutually exclusive: circular time and linear time can and often do co-exist in our lives.
Advent
The Church’s year belongs to circular time, for it mirrors God’s time, which has no beginning and no end. Advent beckons us to re-enter the liturgical cycle of feasts and seasons, which creatively repeats itself, dancing back and forth, with no boundaries, returning to bless us again and again. Advent invites us to re-enter the unique atmosphere of reflective waiting and silent anticipation that, each year, precedes our joyful celebration of the coming of Jesus Christ. Tagore says it well:
Have you not heard his silent steps?
He comes, comes, ever comes.
Every moment and every age,
every day and every night
he comes, comes, ever comes.Rabindranath Tagore
Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to bring good news to people of the troubled world of that time. He comes today to do the same for us, and the message is the same: God’s faithful love is at work in our world, with all its beauty and tenderness, its brokenness and woundedness. Singing articulates in human language and music what words alone could not fully express. So once again, we sing the beautiful songs of the Advent season as we await the new coming of Jesus who brings light into the darkness that surrounds us.
O God, amid the clamour of our violence, your Word of truth resounds.
Over nations enshrouded in despair, your justice dawns.
Keep your household watchful and alert, mindful of the hour in which we live.
Hasten the advent of that day when the sounds of war will be forever stilled,
the darkness of evil scattered, and all your people gathered into one. Amen.
Courage! Do not be afraid. Look, your God . . . is coming to save you.
Isaiah 35.6
[1] Today these two acronyms are often replaced by BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era).
Read more of Sr Teresa White’s contributions to our website. Her book, Hope and the Nearness of God: The Lent Book 2022, was published by Bloomsbury..
Photo credits: Prague astronomical clock – Wikimedia/Moyan Brenn on flickr. Hour glass photo by Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash. Sundial photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash
