Wild Time

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Wild time is playful. In the mythology of India, a sense of play—serious play—is the deepest energy in creation. Johan Huizinga, author of the anthropological classic Homo Ludens: (“Mankind at Play,”) argues that play is a “stepping outside of ordinary time.” Against the gray backdrop of workaday life, play is the rainbow, the energy source, the wicked flirtation, the unstoppable laughter, the Cup Which Runneth Over. Play is harvest, abundance, generosity, pleasure, excess and gusto.

Western society fears play, frightened of its subversive, anarchic nature. Grown-ups resent the Peter Pan in every child. In the U.K., the government is issuing guidelines that require children as young as 4 to do homework daily.

Traditionally, many indigenous peoples do not work for more than four hours a day. This fits with philosopher Bertrand Russell’s view that “there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous.” Aristotle said that “nature requires us not only to be able to work well but also to idle well.” But that’s hard for most of us.

To really play is to let go of the hand of the clock, to dive deep into the fathoms of wild time. It is a chancy, risky, fluxy world where immersion in the moment reigns. Wild time is far richer, though far flukier, than clock-time. It is not necessarily easy to be in, for its waters are uncontrolled, uncommanded, and uncharted. Without a clock you are on your own, and it is a challenging but richly rewarding experience.

Jay Griffiths’ writing has appeared in the London Review of Books, the Guardian, the Observer, The Ecologist, and Resurgence, of which she is an associate editor. She lives in London. Excerpted from A Sideways Look at Time (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam). 

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