by Brian Darlington
Following a visit to Slovenia’s Skocjan Caves, our columnist reflects on two different types of time and highlights why we should all live in the one as often as we can.
After a recent visit to one of our operations in Italy, focusing on a large rebuild project, I decided to spend two days in the coastal city of Trieste, finding some time to relax and visiting various historical sites. These included royal castles, a Basilica, and some Roman ruins, as well as visiting one of my friends at his wine farm: sharing good Italian wine, cheese, and salami, and talking about everything from Italian culture and the history of the area to, of course, the art of wine making.
Driving back home, we crossed the border between Italy and Slovenia, where we visited the Skocjan Caves. Having already visited various caves in South Africa and Austria, this visit was exceptional, and second to none: what an amazing experience it was as we entered the first chamber! It was totally silent and filled with an abundance of stalagmites and stalactites created over millions of years.
The second chamber, aptly named the Murmuring Cave, resonated with the sound of gushing water. Upon entering, we got an awesome feeling from seeing the river flowing. This part of the caves is between 10 and 60m wide, over three kilometres long, and 100m high. The caves are a unique natural phenomenon, filled with so much beauty that they leave one speechless and in awe. It is home to one of the largest underground river canyons in the world, which was carved out by the Reka River over time.
We sat on benches, staring at the water rushing past us below, and stood on a bridge 40m above the river. We walked along pathways carved into the walls, taking in the experience and living in the moment. At times, we engaged in discussion; at others we found ourselves lost in our own thoughts, reflections, and a close connection with nature.
After an hour and a half, the tour through the caves ended and we were given three options to climb back up to the surface: a short, medium, or long route. The medium and longer options would take us past waterfalls and smaller caves. We decided on the medium-length route, as we still had a drive of around five hours back to Vienna. The walk out of the caves continued giving us an embodied feeling of a connection with nature and biosemiotics.
Two types of time
In the Greek language there are two words for (or types of) time: “Chronos” and “Kairos”. Chronos time is quantitative and exact; it is measured by the ticking of a clock’s second hand, or by the evolutionary phases of Earth’s moon. It is the sound of an alarm waking you up, or the amount of time allocated to an appointment.
Kairos time, on the other hand, is what philosophers refer to as “deep time”. It is the opportune time that one uses to engage with others: be they family, friends, work colleagues, or even strangers.
Chronos time
Holding, conducting, or organising a meeting, as well as its outcomes, have nothing to do with a REAL meeting. In leadership, we have mythology about time, and in management we have time management. Both the mythology of how leaders use time and all courses that include time management relate to Chronos time, where time becomes a monetary value.
Most leaders – in fact, most humans – run and manage their lives in Chronos time. Life as we know it has become a rat race. We hear various metaphors: “time is of the essence”, “time is money”, “my time is precious”, “they were wasting my time”, “time is running out”, “time waits for no one”, and so on.
These expressions are often taken literally in everyday language, but they stem from a metaphorical concept of time – time is not money. In fact, we speak metaphorically in the unconscious mind. In most instances we do not consciously think of which metaphor to use, or when to use it. The words are spoken without any thought.
Consider a normal day in the life of a leader. We manage our calendars as if controlled by them, our watches on our wrists, the clocks on the wall, or the time shown in the bottom corner of our computer screen. Leaders run from meeting to meeting and cut discussions short when the “time is up”. In these circumstances, however, there has often been a meeting – but no real meeting.
We say this because these meetings often lack a true connection between people. In Chronos time we monitor our time, control our activities, and measure our days – and our lives in general – in a quantitative manner. In Chronos time, we are unconsciously controlled, are demanding of ourselves and others, and may at times let life fly past without pausing to smell the roses. In Chronos time, one can meet with a person for a day while having no true meeting at all.
Kairos time
Kairos time is the total opposite to Chronos time. The latter is all about control, demands, and restrictions – the measurement of quantitative or exact time – whereas Kairos time is all about the right time, or the time of opportunity.
Kairos time can be seen as the “timeless” duration of a discussion; it appeals to the emotions of the specific moment in which one finds oneself. It is the time where things seem to stop – where we connect with others and with nature, and even pause to reflect.
Other examples of Kairos time could be a walk along the beach, meditation, yoga, a chat around the fireplace, or sketching. In other words, doing things that allow us as humans to enter the moment and not be controlled by time. Those I have known to have suffered from burnout all lived their lives in Chronos time and not enough in Kairos time.
Our visit to the caves was solely focused on Kairos time: we were living in the moment, neither worried about anything nor managed by the time on our watches. Sitting on the benches, standing on the raised bridge, reflecting on our experience – these were all happening in Kairos time. After finishing the tour of the caves, we decided to have lunch and then drive back home. This is when we moved back into Chronos time, where time once again became of the essence.
The dance
A couple of days after returning to Austria from our visit to the caves in Slovenia, I travelled to Poland to support our team on another large rebuild project. Similar to the project in Italy, I moved back into Chronos time and, before I realised it, I was running from meeting to meeting (like in all project environments), supporting the drive to meet the start-up date, attending discussions, addressing issues on the site, and fitting in as much as possible during my three days on site.
There is nothing wrong with this approach, as this is how we run our daily lives as leaders. It is part of business, as well as how we spend a large portion of our personal lives. It is important, however, to try to find some sort of balance – to find the possibilities to move back into Kairos time and engage with others, live in the moment, and not be managed by the watch on our wrist. While this can be a challenge in today’s world, it is possible.
As with many things in life, finding the right balance is like a dance between Chronos and Kairos time. The challenge is to force ourselves to enter Kairos time and not always be trapped in Chronos time. Being with others and living in the moment is what makes a difference and moves leaders to engage with others without worrying about time.
Leaders who are stuck in Chronos time miss the important things in life, which often cannot be measured: relationships, self-reflection, finding joy in small pleasures, being with others – quite simply, smelling the roses.
All humans need to find the opportunities to move into Kairos time… it just makes sense. Finding the balance is key, very much like me having been mainly in Chronos time in Italy then moving to Kairos time while walking through the caves in Slovenia, and then shifting back to mainly Chronos time on the rebuild project in Poland. We have to take part in this dance between the two categories of time… it’s up to us all to decide how much of the dance takes place in Kairos time.
Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below