Time is a Season, by David Whyte

El Tiempo es una Estación
--por David Whyte
Las culturas humanas más tradicionales han visto las horas del día de la misma manera que se han encontrado con las estaciones del año: no como líneas claras dibujadas a lo largo de nuestra experiencia, sino como anunciando una cualidad, una presencia, una aparición, y un surgimiento de algo que crece tanto dentro de nosotros como en nuestro mundo externo. Una estación o una hora del día es una visita cuyo retorno no es seguro. Cada primavera tras un largo invierno parece tan milagrosa como si estuviésemos viéndola por primera vez. Del jardín muerto nace la abundancia más allá de la comprensión de la mirada del invierno.

Las horas y las estaciones son, a veces un florecimiento, otras veces una desaparición, y a menudo una brevedad imperceptible entre las dos, pero todas las horas del día y las estaciones del año exponen alguna cualidad en el mundo que tiene su propio momento y lugar. Hacerse amigo de las horas es llegar a conocer todas las conexiones escondidas dentro de nuestros cuerpos que emparejan con la riqueza y el movimiento de la vida que vemos a nuestro alrededor. La tragedia de planificar constantemente en nuestro trabajo es su efecto mecánico sobre las horas , y más tarde sobre nuestros cuerpos, reduciendo el espectro de nuestro carácter individual y coloreándolo de un gris monótono. Cada hora que dejamos a su aire tiene su humor y su diferencia, una cualidad que debería de cambiarnos y re-crearnos según su efecto en nosotros.

En muchas culturas tradicionales, una hora particular del día se ve como que tuviese una presencia personal, casi angelical, algo que ha de ser nombrado- aunque sólo en voz baja, y sólo en formas que refuercen su desconocimiento. El Benedictino, Hermano David Steindl-Rast, define un ángel como la ruptura eterna en el tiempo, cada avance particular de lo numinoso absolutamente extraordinario y absolutamente sí mismo. El tiempo y cada hora de tiempo es una estación, casi una personalidad, con su propio anunciacio , su propia canción, su susurro de lo que va a nacer en nosotros. Su aparición, como una conversación nueva en la que somos privilegiados de oírnos a nosotros mismos participando.
Escapar de la prisión del tiempo es conceder a las horas su propia vida; desenredar la sujeción de hierro de nuestras manos en cualquier momento dado mientras al mismo tiempo encontramos la habilidad de estar más presentes, más fuertes, más abiertos a nuestros evidentes absurdos, mientras segimos la conversación.
Sacado del libro de David Whyte', "Cruzando el mar desconocido."

Excerpted from David Whyte's book, "Crossing the Unknown Sea."

Seed Questions for Reflection

What does viewing time as we view seasons mean to you? Can you share a personal story when you felt the eternal had broken into time? What practice helps you escape the prison of time and grant the hours their own life?

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Add Your Reflection

9 Past Reflections

Michael

Jul 26, 2024

So true so real makes great sense in which a context for outliving you might say in work and play

Feb 16, 2016

Time?
i was always punctual & then after brain surgery I seemed to forget time & it's so called importance.now living with a GBM grade 3 I am continually late or am I?

Kristin Pedemonti

Nov 17, 2015

Time as seasons in my view is time as ebb and flow, light and dark, sowing and reaping and allowing ourselves to be aware of all those rhythms. In many parts of the world there is now an unnatural frenetic pace and people and the planet are paying for it in sickness and in stress. When we slow down and are aware of the rhythms through mindfulness it can be transformative and so relaxing. I have felt eternal break into time when I am fully present whether that be in solitude in nature; closely and quietly observing the flow or a river for example or when I am with another and I allow my heart to fully open to that person and that moment; it is as though time stops to allow us to soak it al in. Meditating helps me escape the prison of time as does going for a walk especially out in nature if possible. Being with animals sometimes helps too, they are so in the moment whether sleeping for hours on end or blissfully playing. Thank you for a reminder I needed today. Hugs from my... View full comment

Mamta

Nov 17, 2015

Thank you for this beautiful sharing. Helps me to make friends with time. I feel this is one of the vital ingredients for peace. I had never thought about time like this before. I had been wishing to be more present - but of course present moment is a slice of time. Something seems to be clicking into place deep inside me through your sharing.

Sunil,Bangalore

Nov 16, 2015

Time is also the Age. Every age is a different season in itself. Child- Youth- Adult- Old age. Each stage in the life has its own flavors - happy appointments - sad disappointments but the life force(soul) remaining the same in each time. The point of time during this journey when one understands this truth,is the time(age) of reckoning- revelation. Different for different persons.Fortunate/Divine are those to have this as early as possible. Then one can strive to be timeless/agenda less. Follow Kabir who said"Lere Nam Lere Nam,Nam Se tire Re Bhai. Minakh Janam Fir Na Mile". " Yugan Yugan Hum Yogi, Awadhoota(wanderer)". "Apni Madhi Me,Khelu Sahaj Swa-ichha". "Hum Hi Sidha Samadhi Hum hai".

Liz Raphael Helgesen

Nov 16, 2015

I struggled to grasp this Reading and had to read several times. But as walked away from the recording studio, I found myself asking, "what is the personality of this hour, this moment? How can I be in it, contribute to it, change it for the better, for someone else's life?" I will go and do that now. With love. Liz

Somik Dec 23, 2015

Liz, your recording helped me soak in the wisdom of the passage, and I listened to it many times before entering the circle at Awakin Santa Clara.

Two thoughts came from that soaking and the sit. First, I like to be in a time of wisdom, but if time is a season, that means I must have passed through the opposite season, that of stupidity, to enter into this one. The season analogy seems to work, not just for the past, but also for the future. If I am in a season of wisdom, I must gently advance into the season of stupidity. No two seasons are the same as David Whyte says, and so also my future stupidities are of a different nature than my present ones - and they are direct enablers of future wisdom, that are quite different from my present wisdom. Staying attached to what I know now would make me learning-disabled. In order to continue learning, I have to learn to be vulnerable and be ok with not knowing, making a fool of myself, and enjoy a season of stupidity, so I may then receive a new season of wisdom. I can only hope that it is not the same season of stupidity over and over again :).

Second, I found myself wondering about time itself. While it is true that mechanical time is largely an illusion we have created (one of my teachers always responds to the question "Do you have time?" with "I always have time, the question is what am I going to do with it"), the same teacher once reflected that time is that which prevents everything from happening all at once. It causes separation, and separation allows for experience. Without separation, there can be no experience. And with separation, it becomes possible to experience the joy of unity.

Some people at the circle reflected on the wonder in a child's eyes that reminds us to look differently at each season afresh. I was reminded of my own toddler daughter who is currently in India while I am in the US. When I call her these days, she notices (if I am on video) that it is dark at my end, while it is light at hers, and asks in a squaky voice, "Daddy, is it night time at your home?" I say, "yes." And she says, "Oh, it's day time at grandpa's home." And she giggles. I didn't realize how wondrous this is - two people connected at the same instant of time, and yet, experiencing two very different times!

Thank you, Liz, for everything that you do, and thank you to all the Awakin commenters for the beautiful reflections - I love reading them!

Jagdish P Dave

Nov 15, 2015

We bind ourselves by closing ourselves to the ever flowing river of time.When my mind is fully present in the moment, I feel the touch of the ever flowing time. I am in the flow of time fully immersed in it.The water of time is flowing and I am flowing in the water, with the water. I am blessed to have such flowing time when I listen to music, take a walk in nature, meditate, and place my self in the loving hands of people who are fully present in the moment.There is fullness in such timelessness. I describe it as the being zone, a zone of doing nothing but just being.Such being zone is described in this beautiful poem: Sitting by the river doing nothing, spring comes the grass grows by itself. Another poem captures it in the following words: Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in the autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter, if your mind is not clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.-Wu Men May we all learn the art of living i... View full comment

david doane

Nov 15, 2015

There is a scripture passage that there is a time for every season under the sun -- a time to reap and a time to sew, a time to laugh and a time to cry, etc, etc. I've always liked that passage. I think there is a season for everything, as everything and every person has its time, comes and goes. Nothing is permanent. The challenge is to seize the time that is present, live it with awareness. The eternal has broken into time for me in moments of intimate interaction with a person or with nature. In those moments I don't pay attention to time, I forget about time, and I've felt outside of time and in harmony and oneness with the other or nature. Such moments have only been for a few seconds or minutes in clock time, though they sometimes feel longer and are very special in experiential time. Living by the clock makes me a prisoner of the clock and wasting of time. Being present and open helps me escape making time a prison, and tim... View full comment