rush

The only reason for time is so that
everything doesn't happen at once.
~albert einstein

undoubtedly the hardest thing about discovery, aside from my own stench, was the lack of time. or rather, the unlimited amount of time and the lack of labels to assign it. when we left the college on foot with only what we could carry on our backs, our loads were noticeably missing time-telling devices.

no watches, no clocks, no cameras with clocks allowed.

every morning, we got up and were given a 'destination' and that was it. sometimes we'd get to that destination and then be given another and sometimes we'd be told to settle in for the night. sometimes we got there and it was bright sun and sometimes it was pitch black. our arrival 'time' had zero impact on the agenda for the day, but as participants rather than facilitators, we had only the given moment's agenda to consider.

at first, the challenge of trying to figure out 'what time is it?' would be a topic for half the day's trek.

'the sun is about half way up the eastern sky... it must be 10 or so'
'no, i think that mountain range is throwing you off, it's really more like noon'
'well, we went to bed not too long after dark, i think maybe 9 or so.. so if we slept 8 hours.. it's probably only 8 am now..'
'the sun is three hands above the horizon and it rises around 6:30, so i think it's 9:30.'

everyone had a theory and a way to justify it. gut, calculations, hunger, fatigue - a combination of these.

after a few days of these head games, time started slipping from our trail conversations though. the phrases 'hurry up, we need to make 5 miles before lunch at noon' and 'it's probably going on 8, everyone get up!' shifted to 'you guys hungry? let's stop and eat at this creek' and 'how'd you sleep? i found the softest spot last night under those trees over there.'

even without time to keep us regulated, we managed to eat and sleep and reach our destinations every day, without exception. and only twice in three weeks did we hike and set up camp in the thick dark of night, long after sunset.

this holiday weekend haley and i deliberately evaded all scheduled plans and commitments. yesterday i didn't even notice what time it was until after noon and then not again until evening. i was wearing a watch, because my wrist feels bare without one, but time never crossed my mind.

there's something so freeing about letting it go. i think einstein got it wrong, in fact. everything didn't happen all at once, at all. just one thing at a time, in perfect order. simplified by the security of a rush that's in no rush.

a discovery on discovery that's been timeless.
when?now!
a story with no end...

d: a release of the constraints of time for you
b: i took a lesson from discovery beyond 'i hate patchouli'
g: two more days of timelessness.