time

"Now" or the next five minutes? vs. the 7 generations, long view, forward and back. Or the "now" within the 7 generations, the sense of the present within the longer view. The "Be Here Now" title, Ram Dass, the insistence that when you carry water you carry water, when you chop wood, yes, you chop wood. My complications are many, especially with the nervous, self driven who want it all in the next five minutes or less people.

Grandfather Roberts did not go by the clock, when we worked in the garden often times Grandmother had to call us to dinner.
My Father too could get lost in a task that truly interested him; but the clock was always present, nearby. He and my Mother encouraged us to be "on time," to be cognizant of other people's needs, for you to be there when you had agreed to be. Otherwise someone might be inconvenienced, their sense of time violated.

At sea different clocks, not a repetition of twelves but on a twenty four hour basis. Watches (eg. 4 hours at the wheel, on the bridge) based upon revolving schedules. People who reminded me of the beginnings of time, of the relationships between authorities like "the Church," calendars and the like. Who controlled time in the past, who will in the future? Richard Jones had an interest in these things, & the perceptions of them. His was a philosophic interest

Later while in Venice, California I was able to see and feel the way different subcultures dealt with time: including the "time- lessness" of the drug culture, the so-called "manana attitude" (attributed to Mexican-Americans). postponement culture (why do something today when you can very well do it tomorrow -- sometimes attributed to Blacks), etc. Drugs and alcohol definitely played a part in all of this.

My interest in cosmology, another aspect of the "long view" of time ... eg. our universe being 10 billion years old, vs. the Biblical version (how has time changed due to science?). How long it takes for the light of the sun or from other planets to reach us. What is sidereal time? What about time signatures in music, "music of the spheres." Also, astrology.

The fragmentation of time now, the disturbing discontinuities which are largely assumed. Breaks in space and time. People seemingly unconcerned about the time frames of others, not that interested in whether they match up or not.