June 9, 2010 "The Long Now" (Spirituality Shoppe NewesLetter Vol 14 No 2)

Reflections

I'd like to begin my reflections by asking you the question I asked my philosophy class a few weeks
ago, as I taught the class on "time": what is now? Just how long is now? If you are like most of my
students, you probably answered in terms of seconds, or perhaps minutes. For many of us today, life is
lived in a short now, a brief horizon of conscious activity.

But it has not always been that way, and for much of the world. There was a time when change came
slowly, when "now" was perceived in terms of generations, and when "what I am doing now" spoke of
a lifetime project rather than a momentary activity.

[for the rest of the article in pdf format click on the attachment below]