Kairos: the art of forgetting time for a while
You probably know the feeling. You spend an hour at your laptop, answer twenty emails and work through your to-do list. Time flies, yet at the end of the day you wonder what you actually did. And then there are those moments when you get so absorbed in a conversation, a book or a creative idea that you forget time altogether. Half an hour feels like an afternoon. The ancient Greeks had a special word for that: Kairos.
Two kinds of time
The Greeks distinguished between Chronos and Kairos. Chronos is the time we all know. It ticks on relentlessly, carves our days into hours and minutes, and decides when the next meeting starts. Kairos stands for a very different experience: the right moment, when everything briefly falls into place.
Greek mythology pictured Kairos as a young god with wings on his feet and a striking lock of hair on his forehead. That lock meant something. You could grab it as he came towards you. Once he had passed, the moment was gone.
Dutch philosopher Joke Hermsen describes Kairos as the time in which room opens up for new insights, creativity and unexpected possibilities. What it takes: attention, calm, and the ability to open yourself to whatever presents itself.
Why we give Kairos less and less room
Chronos rules most of our days. We schedule thirty-minute meetings, measure our productivity and try to squeeze as much as we can out of every day. Meanwhile messages, notifications and social media fill the last free moments.
In a Managementboek article on the balance between Chronos and Kairos, neuropsychology professor Margriet Sitskoorn describes the difference between clock time and event time. In event time, you let the course of an activity help decide when you move on. You give something the attention it needs.
Think of a walk on which a good idea suddenly strikes. A conversation that unexpectedly goes deep. Or an hour in which you lose yourself in making something beautiful.
Moments like these are hard to plan. You can, however, create the conditions for them.
A timer that helps you forget time
Here lies an interesting paradox. minagi is a mechanical timer that counts down the minutes precisely. At first glance, a typical instrument of Chronos. Yet it is exactly this bounding of time that can make room for Kairos.
It starts with a simple act. You put your phone away, choose what deserves your attention right now, and wind up minagi. From that moment on, you no longer need to keep an eye on the time. You have handed that responsibility over.
You can devote yourself fully to writing, studying a difficult subject, meditating, or simply doing nothing at all for a while. When the time is up, the soft tone of the brass singing bowl sounds. An invitation to pause for a moment on what you just experienced.
Of course, a timer cannot guarantee remarkable insights or meaningful moments. What it can do is help you create the conditions in which they arise.
Time that matters
Chronos and Kairos need each other. Without clock time we could barely organise our days. But whoever is constantly counting the minutes risks missing the moments that matter.
So try something different. Set aside thirty or forty-five minutes for a single activity. Put your phone out of reach, wind up minagi and give your full attention to what you chose.
Maybe you'll have a great idea. Maybe you'll discover something new. Maybe you'll simply enjoy half an hour of calm. The best moments often happen when we forget, for a while, what time it is.
Sources
- Joke J. Hermsen (2015). Kairos, een nieuwe bevlogenheid (in Dutch). Filosofie Magazine. A philosophical reflection on Chronos, Kairos, attention and how new insights emerge.
- Paul Groothengel & Aad Goudappel (2024). Grip op de tijd: balanceren tussen Chronos en Kairos (in Dutch). Managementboek. On how we deal with time, the modern performance society, and the difference between clock time and event time.
- Kairos. Wikipedia. Background on the Greek personification of the opportune moment and its symbolism.