Kairos • (kai-ros) • noun
Definition: the proper, decisive, or opportune time for action; quality time
Origin: Greek
Two Types of Time
I think it is fair to say that due to COVID-19, our relationship with time has shifted. A deadly global pandemic has brought about an existential crisis that has made all of us realize the fragility of time and how easily it can run out. As we stay in our homes, those of us fortunate enough to still be able to work find that the time we normally spend commuting or socializing with friends has evaporated, and it has become alarmingly easy for work to fill that time. We have more and more time to fill as we figure out things to preoccupy ourselves with as we social distance. What we do with our 24 hours has radically changed.
As I thought about my, and our, new relationship with time, I realized that the fact that the English language essentially has only one word for time actually limits our ability to imagine what we can do with it. This is why the Greek word kairos can be so important today.
Kairos is both a Greek word and a Greek god. Both the god and the word serve as the inverse for the Greek god Chronos and chronological time.
Chronos and chronological time are what most of us think about when we think of time. The European concept of “Father Time” actually derives from Chronos. However, Greek mythology can be quite confusing and as Greek mythology spread across Europe and was adapted into various languages, the Gods Chronos and Cronus began to intermix. Chronos is an old man who is the personification of time. Cronus was a Titan god who killed his father in order to become king, and then proceeded to eat his own children because a prophecy foretold that one of his children would kill him and take the throne. The painting by Francisco Goya, “Saturn Devouring His Son,” is the best representation of Europe’s relationship with Cronus (Saturn is his name under Roman mythology).
The merging of Chronos and Cronus has created the narrative of time sucking the life out of people, which I believe dominates much of European thought and society. We have professions that consume our time and suck away our life, and we aspire to counter this relationship by existing almost without time. Society encourages people to create a timeless comfort where no action is needed. Retirement speaks to this ideal and people can earn this timeless comfort after spending most of their life being consumed by Chronos/Cronus time. All of this speaks to a passive relationship with time, and this is why kairos can be so helpful.
What is Kairos Time?
Kairos speaks to a relationship with time that requires action. It consists of finding the opportune or proper time to act. Kairos also means weather and the time associated with seasonal change, which is representative of action. This word cultivates an active, and not passive, relationship with time. Your action makes time, instead of your passivity taking time.
Kairos is in many ways the opposite of Chronos/Cronus, and the Greek God Kairos is depicted as such. Kairos is personified as a young god, who is always on his tip-toes because he is ready to act, and he has wings on his feet to help him fly. By personifying the opportune moment to act, Kairos represents “opportunity.” He is forever young, not because people do not age, but because “opportunity” never gets old. Kairos represents a qualitative, and not a quantitative, understanding of time.
I think about Kairos and Chronos a lot because it is important for us to know that both exist in equal measure. You cannot live in a world that is only Kairos or only Chronos, but because of our society, it is incredibly easy to succumb to chronological time. Calendars and various timekeeping instruments remind us of Chronos’ ever-presence, but just as the world has created things to remind us of Chronos, we also must think about what we need to remind us of Kairos. Clearly, the first step is to learn that kairos time even exists. The next step is to create reminders and encourage yourself to act and create quality time.
I picked kairos to be this week’s word after geist because I believe they work in tandem. It is not the same as the “spirit of the time” or zeitgeist, but you instead create time by expressing your spirit, mind, and intelligence: both at an individual and collective level. Kairos time is the proper, decisive, or opportune time to act both big and small. It’s the actions you take to create positive memories and make lives better. They are the moments in time that we will cherish and remember for a while. We cannot escape chronological time, but we have an obligation to make kairos time. Not having a commonly used word to remind us of the importance of kairos impedes our ability to create quality time and new opportunities.
Since today is Mother’s Day, I hope all of you make the time, create the opportunity, express your geist, and engage in kairos by calling your mother or an impactful maternal figure in your life and let her know how much you appreciate her.
For the rest of the week please think about kairos as you create quality time, and share your thoughts with us via email, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter using #TheWord to join the conversation. We will be hosting a Live Q&A session on our Instagram today at 5PM EDT so that we can answer your questions about Kairos. We hope to see you there.
P.S. - The killing of Ahmaud Arbery has reminded all of us about the fragility of Black, or Freecano, life and time in America, and given a vivid example of the terror of systemic ethnocide. To discuss this tragic American norm, I wrote a piece for The Daily Beast about his murder, "Ahmaud Arbery's Killing Exposes the Banality of American Evil." (The column is behind a paywall, but the paywall will get lifted on Monday.)