We need time

I know I talk a lot about feelings in this space, and about how much time it takes to actually, usefully, have them. Or perhaps more to the point: how much time it takes to be in them without judgement.

I was reminded of this, yet again, for the umpteenth time, this weekend. I was privileged to be invited to listen to various very wise people speak about movement and conflict and space. And a concept that came up was the notion of organic time versus commodified time. The prior being time feeling like a spacious room, where awe and gratitude and presence can unfold. The latter being the concept of time we typically deploy at work: filled with deliverables and outputs and, above all, profit.

There is not a single incident in my memory where I was able to usefully disentangle my emotions and move towards a place of more connection in the context of commodified time.

There have, however, been many occasions where the opposite happened. Where the push for concrete outputs led me (and others) to override my (our) feelings at the expense of relationships that, with (organic) time, would have yielded more and better results. If results indeed are the point at all. The point being: we have feelings even when we are paid for our time, regardless of what capitalism tries to sell us.

The imperative for organic time, so that we can truly know and see each other, is becoming ever more pertinent. The immediacy of pain —through social media, through the effect of climate chaos, through structural inequities — rather than pushing us to feel, can tend to have the opposite effect: either shutting us down or compelling us to see everything as simultaneously urgently needed and much too big to even try. We give up. We are overwhelmed with feelings of resignation or frantic overwork. And so we think rather than feel, we push away rather than connect. And connection is what the world so desperately needs right now.

I am not saying anything new or insightful here. I am saying we need time. Time to breathe, time to connect, time to grief, time to be. Organic time. Time where we can see how truly awesome this star we inhabit is. Time to love.