An addendum to the last post. Hadden Turner on “the Burdens of Speed”:

Speed, being a modern “invention”, is in one sense “unnatural”. Before mechanical time was invented (there is nothing natural about seconds, minutes, or hours - these are defined and created by the clock), speed was hard to define and impossible to quantitatively measure. Natural rhythms were determined by the sun, and by extension, the sun’s Creator. Such rhythms as the sun’s rising and setting and the pattern of the seasons were characterised by slowness, long cycles, and imperceptibility. Time was governed, it seemed, by different rules and a wholly foreign pace of life dominated the lives of our ancestors.

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Time is indeed a precious commodity - it is the ultimate limitation. We cannot make time, we can only use it up. Saving time is a misnomer - it cannot be stored, even if the advertising for time-saving devices begs to differ. We are well aware of this limitation - one of the most common complaints of the modern man is “I don’t have enough time” - which sadly is usually shorthand for, “I don’t have enough time to do all that the modern hyper-efficient society leads me to believe I need to do.”

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We need role models of slowness in our modern fast-paced age, men and women who are not afraid to go against the flow, remain in the slow lane, and who have mastered the art and virtue of slow, well-paced, and thoughtful living.

I’m also against speed in all its forms. Obviously, I don’t expect that I’ll be able to completely excise speed from my life. But I resolve to work against it with as much disciplined effort as I can muster. Slowness…that is the ticket.