Timely Musing

When thinking about time, do you regard it as linear or perhaps as an agreed construct? Lets travel ‘back’ to the September of 1752 in Britain, in the ‘midst of what became known as the urban myth of the English Calendar Riots. My five times paternal great grandfather, John Kelley, would have been blissfully unaware of any political consternation and hubbub, as he was two years old at this time. Yet according to belief at the time, he was about to have his life shortened by eleven days!

The British Empire up to then had used the Julian calendar, implemented by Julius Caesar at a time before the Iron Age Britons became part of the Roman Empire. A calculation error of the solar year (of 11 minutes) was pushing the date of Easter away from the date of the spring equinox, at a rate of one day every one hundred and twenty-eight years.

The solution to this problem was the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, the one we work by today. Much of western Europe had been using it from 1582. To facilitate the new regime, 1751 lasted two hundred and eighty-two days; from 25th March (New Year in the Julian calendar) to 31st December. 1752 then began on 1st January. To align with Europe, a correction of eleven days was necessary. The decision was made that Wednesday 2nd September 1752 would be followed by Thursday 14th September 1752. Handy information for the Genealogist to work with.

Esteemed horologist ‘Steve’ from the Repair Shop TV program, would have had to wait from Roman times until around 1275 to start using the invention of the escapement, the first regulator used in horology. Christian Huygens increased the accuracy of mechanical clocks by a factor of around sixty when he invented the pendulum clock in 1656. Today, the atomic clock is our most accurate way of ‘measuring’ linear time. Yet when we dream, we are experiencing a form of psychological time that is more flexible. Our mind still exists, I would argue our experience is just as ‘real’ as when we are awake. Our consciousness is experiencing a different relationship between time and space. This where I think our current thinking science wise is missing half an equation; it factors in the physical logical human, yet not the non-physical intuitional being, who has a strong connection to the cosmos.

This leads us into Mayan time territory, to the western mind five hundred years is a long time, to a Mayan ‘Keeper of the Days’ its the blink of an eye. The Mayan’s had a number of calendars, each with its own purpose and meaning. I have had the Tzolk’in as an app on my phone for some years now, finding it both eye catching and informative on the ‘Energies of the Day’. It is based on a 260 day count, integrated into the Gregorian calendar with 20 day signs and 13 numbers. The Tzolk’in can be combined with the Haab, a 365 day calendar based on the solar year, to form a synchronized cycle known as the Calendar Round.

The Mayan’s used a base count of 20, as opposed to our 10 decimal or the 60 sexagesimal system of the Sumerians. The Calendar Round repeats after 52 Haab (solar) years or 18,980 days. We are now moving into the concept of ‘Cycles of Time’, where just as a human has a cycle, so does the planet.

The Long Count calendar was used for larger cycles, dates seem especially inscribed on monuments. The Long Count was not purely base 20, as the second digit from the right (and only that digit) rolls over when it reaches 18. so the date 0.0.1.0.0 would represent 360 days rather than 400 days. The numerals would be represented in dots and dashes rather than our western system. So we are already experiencing a degree of sophistication that enables a Long Count cycle that for the Maya began on 11th August 3114 BCE and ended on 21st December 2012 CE (when integrated into our Gregorian calendar) giving an end date of 13.0.0.0.0 prior to the reset of the following cycle. The Mayans were also aware of the cycle of the Precession of the Equinoxes, over its 26,000 solar year period, seeing this as a natural cycle for mother Earth.

The cyclic way of looking at time also allows for a direct connection between us and the planet, something our modern society could re-learn from the remaining indigenous people that we co-exist with. The Australian aboriginal ‘dreamtime’ also alludes to a non-physical ‘Being’, a continuum of past, present and future. This idea can be extended to contemplate a continuous ‘now’, of physical existence in the present, yet also encompass that time is simultaneous. Following this idea, a change of belief in the present can alter the past, as well as the future. Food for thought.