CHRONOS Vs. KAIROS

Have you ever noticed that time can move differently? Some minutes seem to drag along while other hours shoot by like a comet. One of my favourite authors, Madeleine L'Engle, uses the Greek words CHRONOS (that time which can be measured in minutes... hence the root for the word Chronometer or watch) and KAIROS (that time "outside of time").

There are many ways we experience KAIROS. Spending time with someone we love or in the company of good friends, the warm dreaminess of a good nap or sleep, a day of vacation, time doing something you love like stitching, cooking or reading a captivating book that you can't put down, prayer and of course, for me, creating images.

Some designs and illustrations are just pure work. Other than the moment of inspiration, they are like pulling teeth. They need to be wrestled with and coaxed and fixed until I am happy with them. Others spring forth like a magical gift and the time spent designing them is truly "outside of time". I surface from moments like that only out of sheer hunger or the jarring sound of a phone call. Perhaps that is where the "flaky artist" stereotype comes from... always late, marching to a different clock. I am sure that musicians and writers face that same wrench of trying to pull out of that magical creative zone where time has no limits to the world where time is so carefully measured and controlled.

Perhaps we creative types do spend more time in KAIROS than others... but I think that everyone could use a little more of getting lost in those magical moments each day. Don't you??

Treasure those moments when they happen... for they really do rest the soul!

Jen at Dragon Dreams