Time is one of those things that becomes less clear the more you think about it. It's probably the most fundamental concept that we know the least about.
Well said. Time is and always will be an enduring mystery, no matter how many "unperturbed ground-state hyperfine transition" frequencies the scientists can come up with.
It would also explain why the monastery bells, marking out the hours of the Divine Office, were so important to the daily life of everyone else. It's all of a piece, I can see why you love the medieval time period and the monasteries. I'm loving it more and more with each of your posts.
"It's all of a piece"—exactly! That's why I place so much emphasis on the theme of wholeness in this newsletter. Life in the Middle Ages was far from perfect, and far from easy, but it was, at least compared to modern life, all of a piece: an era of psychological, social, and cosmic wholeness.
I've never given a thought about how time was kept before clocks were made. This is a new world of time, marked by the stars. That is so wonderful and so fitting. Life may have been much harder then, compared to ours, but it flowed so harmoniously with the natural rhythms of life. Stars and monasteries fit so well together!
Truly, there is (or at least there was) deep affinity between the stars and the monastic life. The wonders of the heavens and the pursuit of Heaven go hand in hand. Even Immanuel Kant sensed this: "Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above and the moral law within."
Huh... Another funny coincidence with Robert Keim. I was just writing something today about how the printing press and the early industrialisation of paper production, and the move away from hand made books on parchment, had a massive influence on how we perceive time.
Our author writes: "The monk who painted that image prayed in a church that took twenty-three years to build. ... The bishop who founded the monastery, laid the church’s first stone, and patronized its artwork was long dead when the edifice was finally complete."
For me, this points to that which perhaps most ails humanity in the dreadful way of life we face today. Dreadful because for many it is becoming inexorably more meaningless as they imagine what an even more digitized, optimized and secularized future will bring. For themselves and their descendants, if they have not ruled out continuing their line.
In contrast with medieval life, when even the heart of the stonemason, the smith, the hod carrier who worked on that church could swell with satisfaction and fulfillment in the knowledge that his work made possible a tribute to God, a thing of beauty and greatness that would live on long after him and his descendants. To go weary to bed in the evening, comforted by his small role in ensuring a future that would nurture faith and hope.
Wise thoughts, eloquently expressed. Thank you for this contribution. The gnawing sense of meaninglessness is indeed a dreadful scourge of modern life. It is a scourge of our own making, and we—meaning society at large—can, in theory, unmake it. To do so we must look to the past, not to a "digitized, optimized and secularized future."
Apologies a somewhat glib comment about modern construction projects - it’s an English train line that has been endlessly delayed and over budget, probably so much so that it would have seen off at least a couple of members of the medieval episcopate
Ah, I see, so HS2 is an example of modern corporations/governments continuing the medieval tradition of painfully long construction timelines. Was this the result of bureaucratic red tape? In some cases modern bureaucracy can probably slow things down almost as effectively as technological limitations did in the Middle Ages.
Time is one of those things that becomes less clear the more you think about it. It's probably the most fundamental concept that we know the least about.
Well said. Time is and always will be an enduring mystery, no matter how many "unperturbed ground-state hyperfine transition" frequencies the scientists can come up with.
It would also explain why the monastery bells, marking out the hours of the Divine Office, were so important to the daily life of everyone else. It's all of a piece, I can see why you love the medieval time period and the monasteries. I'm loving it more and more with each of your posts.
"It's all of a piece"—exactly! That's why I place so much emphasis on the theme of wholeness in this newsletter. Life in the Middle Ages was far from perfect, and far from easy, but it was, at least compared to modern life, all of a piece: an era of psychological, social, and cosmic wholeness.
I've never given a thought about how time was kept before clocks were made. This is a new world of time, marked by the stars. That is so wonderful and so fitting. Life may have been much harder then, compared to ours, but it flowed so harmoniously with the natural rhythms of life. Stars and monasteries fit so well together!
Truly, there is (or at least there was) deep affinity between the stars and the monastic life. The wonders of the heavens and the pursuit of Heaven go hand in hand. Even Immanuel Kant sensed this: "Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above and the moral law within."
Love it.
Huh... Another funny coincidence with Robert Keim. I was just writing something today about how the printing press and the early industrialisation of paper production, and the move away from hand made books on parchment, had a massive influence on how we perceive time.
That sounds like a fascinating piece, Hilary, I'm looking forward to reading it!
Our author writes: "The monk who painted that image prayed in a church that took twenty-three years to build. ... The bishop who founded the monastery, laid the church’s first stone, and patronized its artwork was long dead when the edifice was finally complete."
For me, this points to that which perhaps most ails humanity in the dreadful way of life we face today. Dreadful because for many it is becoming inexorably more meaningless as they imagine what an even more digitized, optimized and secularized future will bring. For themselves and their descendants, if they have not ruled out continuing their line.
In contrast with medieval life, when even the heart of the stonemason, the smith, the hod carrier who worked on that church could swell with satisfaction and fulfillment in the knowledge that his work made possible a tribute to God, a thing of beauty and greatness that would live on long after him and his descendants. To go weary to bed in the evening, comforted by his small role in ensuring a future that would nurture faith and hope.
Wise thoughts, eloquently expressed. Thank you for this contribution. The gnawing sense of meaninglessness is indeed a dreadful scourge of modern life. It is a scourge of our own making, and we—meaning society at large—can, in theory, unmake it. To do so we must look to the past, not to a "digitized, optimized and secularized future."
I think we would be much happier living by material time…the natural rhythms of day and year. I envy these monks.
I think it's sad that we don't even have the option of living by material time. We live in the era of clock time, whether we like it or not.
Fascinating and informative.
I recently wrote about this issue of timekeeping but I hadn't come across the use of the stars. Thanks for this, it makes a lot of sense.
You're welcome, thanks for the comment.
It's a beautiful article, but have you heard of HS2?
No, I'm not familiar with HS2.
Apologies a somewhat glib comment about modern construction projects - it’s an English train line that has been endlessly delayed and over budget, probably so much so that it would have seen off at least a couple of members of the medieval episcopate
Ah, I see, so HS2 is an example of modern corporations/governments continuing the medieval tradition of painfully long construction timelines. Was this the result of bureaucratic red tape? In some cases modern bureaucracy can probably slow things down almost as effectively as technological limitations did in the Middle Ages.