“The whole purpose of existence is to bring love into existence where it is needed.”
~Barry Long

What is the relationship between time and love? I began to wonder about this when it dawned on me that I was trying to escape my child who was having a series of breakdowns that were explosive and difficult to stay present for. That particular day felt long, slow hours ticking by. I wanted the day to end. I sometimes feel that way. My mother used to say, “Let’s try to kill time.” What does it mean to kill time, to wish away time, to try to escape the realities of time – that it is limited and linear? And if being present has something to do with love, and vice versa, what does time have to do with love?

The inquiry itself has meaning to me inside the orientation and offering of sufficiency, to the possibility of expanding time, to the idiom that Love Conquers All. Could – does – love conquer time?

Don’t go to the Google Gods for certain answers. From a cursory search, the most meaningful results lead us to the arts – to literature, photography, poetry – industries of exploration and innovation. I was thinking the wisdom traditions might show up, but often those guys are in caves not blogging.

Wisdom traditions often speak about love as energy, a force in the universe that exists in the recognition of the oneness of all things, material and ethereal, a reflection of our interconnection and interdependence, timeless in it’s always existence. We see the laws of interdependence in the shapes of our ecology, bodies, minds, food supplies, education systems, cities, politic structures. Our interconnection is non-negotiable, but the paradigm that does the shaping is. Currently, scarcity dominates and it’s how every single human being I know views time.

Do we all feel that same way about love? I don’t think so, at least not consciously. It’s hard to imagine though, that any of us received perfect parenting, so I suspect that some longing for more love exists in most of us, some deficiency of not feeling enough love.

And irrespective of this conjecture, what if we experimented with the simple idea that where we spend our time (or dollars for that matter) demonstrates what we love? Or, conversely, if we lived by loving where spent our time?

Time is an investment. Time is an investment of our energy, our inner resources, the most precious ones of all. How would our lives look and feel if we related time to that which and who we loved?

Could I on the day of tantrums settled into the time and rhythm of the day inside of my love for my child? Stayed present, trusting that my presence, the gift of attention in time, was an expression of my love, even in all its imperfection?

Popular lore speaks of love growing with time; but time can also grow other things, like bitterness and separation. I’m curious about the present and the distinction of presence related to time, related to love. I just wonder. I have no solution or answer. I am curious. What do you know, or sense, or feel about the relationship between love and time, and presence? How does love inform your experience of time? How does time inform your experience of love?

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