Originally Posted Friday, December 21, 2012
The Mayan calendar runs out today. I'm waiting for the earth to explode. I asked my mother before she left to "tour the continent" if she was ready for the end of the Mayan calendar.
"What's a Mayan," she asked?
"Nothing. Just a bunch of religious nuts."
Still, I'm waiting.
I try to think of a life without calendar or clocks. You'd feel time's passage, of course, and you could refer to the past and to the future, but not in the same way. Hopi time arose from language that hadn't any verb tenses. Fucking English has too many. Or French. Plus que parfait/pluperfect, etc. I like the ideas of sooner or later. My sense of time would be "let's do that before the sun goes down," or "before the sun goes down tomorrow." But I am too damaged by language now to think without verb tenses. I am sure that if I were left to invent language, it would be merely a series of hums and whistles like the Piraha tribe in the Amazon.
But calendars? To watch the night's sky and figure out the sequence of movement of stars? Nope. I can't find the constellations now.
"Do you see Orion's Belt?"
"Uh-uh. Nope."
"Can you see Drago the Dragon there?"
Sad shake of the head.
"Can you see the Big Dipper?"
I brighten. "Oh, sure. There it is," I say pointing. Then looking about, "And there's one, and there's one. . . . "
I guess I have a very limited capacity for pattern recognition.
Perhaps, though, it all comes down to interest, for in truth, I owned a sailboat for many years and my dream was to sail around the world alone, so I began to study the sky in order to use a sextant. Yup. That was before everyone relied on satellite location. Back then, I could find the constellations. But all that is lost now, and I spend my time studying the patterns of human behavior.
Last night a big wind came through as the cold air pushed its way into the Sunny South. And it is sunny, too. This is a perfect time of year. Today is the Winter Solstice. Fall is gone. I am hoping for something magnificent. We have all day. We shall see.
"What's a Mayan," she asked?
"Nothing. Just a bunch of religious nuts."
Still, I'm waiting.
I try to think of a life without calendar or clocks. You'd feel time's passage, of course, and you could refer to the past and to the future, but not in the same way. Hopi time arose from language that hadn't any verb tenses. Fucking English has too many. Or French. Plus que parfait/pluperfect, etc. I like the ideas of sooner or later. My sense of time would be "let's do that before the sun goes down," or "before the sun goes down tomorrow." But I am too damaged by language now to think without verb tenses. I am sure that if I were left to invent language, it would be merely a series of hums and whistles like the Piraha tribe in the Amazon.
But calendars? To watch the night's sky and figure out the sequence of movement of stars? Nope. I can't find the constellations now.
"Do you see Orion's Belt?"
"Uh-uh. Nope."
"Can you see Drago the Dragon there?"
Sad shake of the head.
"Can you see the Big Dipper?"
I brighten. "Oh, sure. There it is," I say pointing. Then looking about, "And there's one, and there's one. . . . "
I guess I have a very limited capacity for pattern recognition.
Perhaps, though, it all comes down to interest, for in truth, I owned a sailboat for many years and my dream was to sail around the world alone, so I began to study the sky in order to use a sextant. Yup. That was before everyone relied on satellite location. Back then, I could find the constellations. But all that is lost now, and I spend my time studying the patterns of human behavior.
Last night a big wind came through as the cold air pushed its way into the Sunny South. And it is sunny, too. This is a perfect time of year. Today is the Winter Solstice. Fall is gone. I am hoping for something magnificent. We have all day. We shall see.
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