We've Been Worshipping the Wrong God of Time, and it's Capitalism's Fault

Chronos demands we grind til death. Kairos offers us a life worth living. It's time to redistribute some of our reverence. This is part two of a series on Time. If you haven’t read part one, check it out here. Human sacrifice is, of course, illegal in the United States. The act of sacrificing another human being to appease the gods and ask for favors, like more crops during harvest season, hasn’t been an accepted practice for hundreds of years. Modern Sacrifices: Productivity as Worship But even so, we still willingly sacrifice ourselves and loved ones in search of a blessing. If you want to show off societally acceptable markers of success, then capitalism will force you to your knees and sacrifice your short time on this Earth for the blessing of ✨ productivity ✨. Sacrifice, and its Latin predecessor, Sacrificium, originally meant “That which has been made sacred.” In the small little line segment that is our short time on earth, we’re conditioned to try and cram as much productivity and output as we can in that short time: more hours at work, more Instagrammable experiences that we can use to prove to others (and ourselves) that we’re living life to the fullest. If we think of Chronos, the ancient god who represents linear, chronological time, as the only God of Time, then our unfairly short lives simply turn into a race to cram more into them before we expire. What is more tragic is when the social conditioning convinces us that the best way to spend our time is not by doing what makes us happy (despite the fact that “do what makes you happy” is the overused cliché ever), but that to prove our value, we need to use our time to be productive. If you plan on spending time doing something that brings joy, but ultimately isn’t productive (like a hobby that has no hope of earning you money or recognition), then you’re told to spend the least amount of time on it as possible and to focus more on time management so as to spend more time doing what’s productive. But there’s more to life than how much we can produce. Kairos in Pop Culture: BTS and the Two Types of Time There’s nothing quite like hearing a slice of wisdom randomly in pop culture and from an insanely popular boy band: > “In old Greece, there were two ways of thinking about time. One is Chronos, and one is Kairos. In the military, we had to do the same thing over and over again. Time just passed by. That was Chronos. But in L.A., time with the members… this feels like Kairos. Time really stretches, and you really feel… I don’t know how to say it in English… The ‘impermanence’ of time.” When I heard this quote, I was working on the outline for this article. It wasn’t like I was listening to a philosophy lecture on the ancient concept of time. Instead, I had the new Netflix documentary, BTS: The Return, on in the background. If you’re not already aware, the biggest K-Pop group, BTS, recently released an album, Arirang, their first since a four-year hiatus when the seven members were required to complete their mandatory military service. This highly anticipated album is a big deal for the fanbase of this group—incidentally called ARMY—so it seems that Netflix knew that a behind-the-scenes look at the album’s creation and the members staying in LA would be a hit. As a ~very~ casual fan of BTS, I put the documentary on in the background out of curiosity, not expecting much, but got way more than I anticipated when the leader of the group, RM, began to explain his time in LA with the other members in terms of the Ancient Greek understanding of Time. Of course, he and the rest of BTS were in LA to record music for an album that has certainly been productive, as it’s been their biggest album yet, but RM’s reflection isn’t just about making art to sell, but in the bonding time with his bandmates in and out of the studio: eating dinner, going on walks on the beach, and playing basketball. All things that make the sweetest memories, but are the least productive. These sweet memories, as impermanent as they are, are what make life feel like it’s been lived. This quote, and the way RM is bittersweetly already nostalgic about a time that has not yet passed, perfectly show that we here in the modern day have not changed much in our understanding and relationship with time. Chronos vs. Kairos: Follow Your Bliss Like most mortals, I sometimes lie awake at night, pondering (read: having existential crises about) what happens after we die. While many religions seem to have it all confidently figured out. I am, however, not quite as confident as dogma would dictate and remain an agnostic, or perhaps a “Red Letter Atheist.” So, while I will still have these moments of fear as to what happens in the eternity after my death, something I’ve learned to focus on is how I spend the only time that I’m actually guaranteed: the present moment. > “Eternity is not future or past, eternity is a dimension of now. It is a dimension of the human spirit which is eternal. … Find that eternal dimension in yourself and you will ride through time and throughout the whole length of your days.” - quote from the 20th-century mythologist, Joseph Campbell. Campbell also coined the phrase “Follow your Bliss,” and yeah, it’s pithy and easily susceptible to becoming a cliché, but I still think it’s good advice. Thinking deeply about what it means to be alive—to be in bliss—and doing things that make us feel truly alive is what, I think, it means to have human spirit. Kairos in Faith: Transcending the Grind The New Testament, written in Greek, has examples of Kairos. In a theological sense, Kairos is an opportunity that connects you with God or to do what He commands. But if we take that idea out of Christian doctrine and expand on it, then Kairos becomes Time to transcend the daily grind of trying to make it in capitalism to connect with yourself. But to do that, it’s useful to look at the context of Kairos in Christian doctrine and see how it’s moved from the Greek text to Hustle Culture. In Ephesians 5:15-16 (See footnote 1), a common translation of the line is: > “Then walk widely, not as fools, but as the wise / Make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (See footnote 2) What I find tragic is how “…the days are evil” translates to the day-to-day. As mortals with a tragically short amount of time on this earth, the only day that we’re guaranteed is today, and it is the day to do. But let’s go back to the “Make the most of every opportunity…” Opportunity here is Kairos, presented as a chance to connect with God. On the surface, this seems great! Even as a non-religious spiritual person myself, I actively seek any opportunity I have to get out of the daily “grindset mindset” and spend some time not obsessing about things that ultimately won’t matter when I’m dying: like my to-do list for the day, or my bank account, and I try to spend time thinking about the vastness of the universe or the beauty of nature. When I think about the possibility of divinity somewhere out there, and how I, a mere mortal, can understand it, Albert Einstein captures my feelings on this well: > “If something is in me which can be called religious, then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.” But unfortunately, Capitalism has seized on this desire to find opportunities in our lives to find meaning, and now that looks like finding just the right productivity system or tool to unlock that career move or entrepreneur idea that will make you more than enough money to live comfortably and spend time with your family: the things that actually make you feel as though you’ve lived your life and focused on the important stuff. This isn’t a phenomenon that came along with the invention of the internet or artificial intelligence. Max Weber, a German sociologist, writes about how capitalism seized its own opportunity with Protestantism in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. (See footnote 3) In it, he writes about how the Calvinist idea of “pre-determinism” (that God has already chosen who would be saved or not, even before they were born) led many people to desperately seek “signs” that they were among the chosen. Often, this “sign” was the accumulation of wealth; pretty convenient for capitalism. And thus, the busier you were accumulating wealth, the more likely you were to be saved and enter the kingdom of Heaven. After all, “Idle hands are the devil’s playthings,” right? --- ✨ Felt a spark? If something in this piece stirred something in you, and you’d like to support the work but would rather not subscribe monthly, you can leave a one-off tip or buy me a coffee. I keep all my posts free, so your support helps me keep this space shared, not gated. Thank you for reading! --- On Your Deathbed: What Really Matters? If we zoom out beyond right now and look at our life as a whole, then Time shifts from organized minutes, days, and years into a circle: from when you’re born to the moment right before death. The summation of your life is there in that circle. What major themes can you see within your life’s circle? I’m willing to bet that your productivity software isn’t what comes up. Earlier, I mentioned that thinking about Kairos in my own life makes me think of what I’ll find important when I’m dying. I know, it sounds morbid, and frankly, it is. But when I remember that I will die, it in turn reminds me to live. > Memento Mori Memento Vivere To do both, I remember to not spend so much time focused on “time-management” or on finding the best morning routine to boost productivity. Instead, I spend time on things that have no chance of being productive or making money, but are life-giving nonetheless, like: - spending time in nature (and not always maximizing my time by listening to a podcast) - spending time with family and friends (and leaving my phone face down, not worried about checking emails or getting a good photo of the event to post on social media) - spending time making art (or any hobby!) without the expectation of doing well or making money (if it does make me something, then great, but if not, then c’est la vie.) We need Chronos to organize our lives and communicate about past or future events, and hustling has its own positive aspects (in small doses, of course) that let us look back on our lives and see the positive impact we’ve had. But we need to balance our admiration and fierce reverence for Chronos with taking time to admire Kairos. Chronos leaves us a very narrow, straight path to the end of life; Kairos allows us to veer off that path into moments of joy. No matter what, we’ll all reach the end of our own line segment that Chronos provides, but Kairos is what helps us feel as though we’ve lived our little line segment to the fullest. Kairos is truly an opportunity, and I hope that you and I continue to seize that opportunity, capitalism and productivity junkies be damned! Like RM from BTS, let’s see how we can use Kairos to stretch time and experience the beauty of sweet impermanent moments. Time, both in Chronos and Kairos, reminds silly little humans of their one true mortal responsibility: experiencing the full breadth of where we are NOW. Until next Time, Monica --- Footnotes: - This entire chapter of Ephesians is a collection of moral commands to followers. This is also where misogynist Christians giddily get their favorite quote: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands…” seemingly not bothering to read the later passages about how men are to “love wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.” But I digress; this problematic aspect of Christian dogma is a topic for another day. - My translation reads: “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, / Redeeming the time, because days are evil.” - This is an affiliate link to Bookshop.org, a great place to buy books online that gives back to local bookstores. If you’re looking for a more affordable copy, I’d check out thriftbooks.com (not affiliated) as they have great, cheap used books (my bookshelf is full of ThriftBooks!).