Taking Time


Taking time. What an oxymoron. How can we take time that belongs to no one, that really doesn’t exist.  We measure our lives by days and hours. They do add up to something, though for each of us, that measure means something different. As I listen to music from India (in particular Raag Pilu), along with a violin, the musical line floats around my being as ethereal as time. The music being played is played by modern musicians who have learned an art passed down through time.  Anoushka Shankar is the daughter of Ravi Shankar who is another famous sitar player. I’m not as fond of Ravi’s choices, but I love this video and the Raag Pilu Ravi wrote. This is reflection music for me. Beware, sitar music isn’t for everyone.

I can’t pick out a tune, because I can’t hear a particular one. As a result, my mind rests. In a sense, feeling each note like a second hand ticks off the clock my mind dances. The music here does not seem as linear as Western music, it sounds more spiral, but not looped. It’s not to say that there are no rules, only that I don’t know the rules. The exotic scale is different enough to allow my mind to dance without thinking, without counting the minutes, the seconds, until I need to DO something “productive”. I was up all night and unlike usual, I was able to merely enjoy being here. The ticking clock caused no worry or concern. My body was free from pain. The wind blustered outside, but it was merely fall coming over the mountains. Leaves blew against the house sounding like rain. The cat purred beside of me. I wasn’t “taking time” for anything and time wasn’t taking anything from me.


Philosophers, theologians, physicists, and most religions talk about time and its effect on us, or its lack of influence. Regardless, we allow time to affect us in ways that hinder us from seeing the beauty of life. As I pause to consider my next words, I see a leaf outside the window that trills much like the trill being played on Anoushka’s sitar. There is no time. At least, none that one can grasp like a clock. The time we have is eternal and internal. Our times affect others and of course there are consequences in how we respond, react, or reach out. Nothing lasts forever, not even time.


“Time is an illusion.”
― Albert Einstein


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