The Greeks on the other hand: TIME

 The Ancient Greeks had two words for time: the time we can measure, linear, and the time we experience within that expands and contracts, some call it soul time. 

Chronos which we've already spoken of and

Kairos...

Kairos The opportune moment. 

It is one of two words that the ancient Greeks had for 'time'; the other being chronos (χρόνος). Whereas the latter refers to chronological or sequential time, kairos signifies a proper or opportune time for action.^{[citation needed]} In this sense, while chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative, permanent nature.^[2]   

Some attribute to Einstein this quote, it's not, but that's not the point: 

“When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity.”  ... and that describes kairos. 

In the literature of the classical period, writers and orators used kairos to specify moments when the opportune action was made, often through metaphors involving archery and one's ability to aim and fire at the exact right time on-target. For example, in The Suppliants, a drama written by Euripides, Adrastus describes the ability to influence and change another person's mind by "aiming their bow beyond the kairos." Kairos in general was formulated as a tool to explain and understand the interposition of humans for their actions and the due consequences.^[5]

Kairos is also an alternate spelling of the minor Greek deity Caerus, the god of luck and opportunity.^{[6]  --Wikipedia} 

Kairos through the eyes of Francesco Salviati in a 16th-century fresco

In Hippocrates' (460–357 BCE) major theoretical treatises on the nature of medical science and methodology, the term kairos is used within the first line. Hippocrates is generally accepted as the father of medicine, but his contribution to the discourse of science is less discussed. While "kairos" most often refers to "the right time," Hippocrates also used the term when referencing experimentation. Using this term allowed him to "express the variable components of medical practice more accurately." Here the word refers more to proportion, the mean, and the implicit sense of right measure.

Hippocrates most famous quote about kairos is "every kairos is a chronos, but not every chronos is a kairos."^[22]

So What Is It About Zen Buddhism?

 Click HERE Japanese Zen Buddhism

Zen is a way of living rather than a religion. It is not dualistic.

From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

The most distinguishing feature of this school of the Buddha-Way is... that wisdom, accompanied by compassion, is expressed in the everyday lifeworld when associating with one’s self, other people, and nature.

"...the Zen practitioner can celebrate, with stillness of mind, a life directed toward the concrete thing-events of everyday life and nature.” 

 "Generally speaking, Zen cherishes simplicity and straightforwardness in grasping reality and acting on it “here and now,” for it believes that a thing-event that is immediately presencingbefore one’s eyes or under one’s foot is no other than an expression of suchness. In other words the thing-event is disclosing its primordial mode of being such that it is as it is. It also understands a specificity of the thing-event to be a recapitulation of the whole; parts and the whole are to be lived in an inseparable relationship through an exercise of nondiscriminatory wisdom, without prioritizing the visible over the invisible, the explicit over the implicit, or vice versa.

As such, Zen maintains a stance of “not one” and “not two,” that is “a positionless position,” where “not two” means negating the dualistic stance that divides the whole into two parts, while “not one” means negating the nondualistic stance occurring when the Zen practitioner dwells in the whole as one, while suspending judgment in meditation. The free, bilateral movement between “not one” and “not two” characterizes Zen’s achievement of a personhood with a third perspective that cannot, however, be confined to either dualism or non-dualism, neither “not one” nor “not two”.

It's taken me all these years to realize, that all I know about Zen Buddhism, I learned from my mother. She was 98% Japanese, I know that because my DNA is 49% Japanese. But that's not the point. The point is that she taught me about Zen without ever mentioning the word. Without lectures, dogma, or readings. She lived a life of Zen, and that's how I learned everything I know about Buddhism.

Japan: the land of peerless craftsmanship

We're visiting Japan in the fall of 2023. You are invited to join us. 

Scroll down for the growing itinerary for our trip.

ITINERARY OPTIONS

1. There is no better way to explore Japan than starting with a homestay in Asuka. (Details coming soon.)

2. Nara 

Click HERE FOR SUMIE (JAPANESE INK) AND THE ART OF CALLIGRAPHY

and Akiko's Yamato Tours, she is my first friend in Japan who has since become a certified guide. She's the only guide I recommend, her knowledge of Japanese culture and history is vast.

3. Kyoto: Heian Shrine Gardens where I proposed to Patricia.

4. Gassan Sadatoshi's Studio where he crafts 'Emperor Quality' Samurai swords. His father is a Japanese National Treasure.

5. Ninja School

6.

7.

8.

9.

10. Nousaku Japanese Tea Sets and Takaoka City

10. Takaoka City, home to 400 year old casting techniques.

The land of peerless craftmanship.

Click HERE to cast your own creation in the NOUSAKU workshop. 

Click HERE for a  factory tour.