The Ever-Long To-Do List

A Letter from the Editor

Dear Time,

I was considering your priorities this morning and realized I'd better get an Excel calendar going for all the projects I want to complete. As a busy family woman, writer, editor, designer, prayer, swimmer, hiker, author, friend, I give liberally of you to All and Everything. The same attention span allotted for each of your sister, Space. 360°s is stretched over you, in ping-worthy Saran Wrap. As you might imagine, sometimes this attention has me dancing for you like a music-box dakini... that's when I rattle my skirt and bring the rush of your careful illusion to a screeching halt. Where am "I" in this equation?

Of course there's enough of you for everything, because there are two kinds of you, Time, and I just have to choose which one of you suits my current purpose best. Take this article, for example. I'm writing on the fly, and I will edit on the ground afterward. For the moment, I'm into my task in a way that eludes you; that is, until I look up at the clock and realize lunch is due for the hungry joys (jaws) about to rush in the door at any minute.

I include my writing-then-editing experience in both examples of you, explained here, more or less, by professors Herman Branover and Ruvin Ferber from their essay THE CONCEPT OF ABSOLUTE TIME IN SCIENCE AND JEWISH THOUGHT:

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Both contemporary physics and traditional Jewish thought recognize two types of time: 1) absolute or unified world time; 2) relative or local time.

The first and more gleeful part of my temperance lies in the writing of this piece. I know there are many errors as I glide along, interested in the subject matter and wishing to share it with my readership. This is how the Hasidim refer to you, as "absolute, permanently flowing time (etsem hemshekh ha'zman)." But I cannot say it is my favorite, necessarily, because it requires a kind of free attention, of which one has a limited amount—period.

When that freedom exists, to allow what I call Spirit to move through me, then I have very little say on the matter. I must remember somewhere in my mind's backdrop that "measurable and estimable time (zman ha'nimdad veha'meshuar)" is sure to follow. This is the interval, where I pause and realize my earth-bound nature, gravity, and need for structure. This is where I get to set the inspiration into parenthesis, if you will. Editing then orbits the inspired text and gives it form, here, there, and everywhere, until we can all make sense of it.

If we look carefully, we can apply this theory to all we do, every single breath, and forever meet in the middle without employing too much of either type. Similar to the exchange point in breathing, where we pass from inhalation to exhalation in an instant, by the grace of G_d, we stand in front of an intuitive feeling that there is more to come. Yet there is no need to expect it, "it" is taken care of in the simple action of delving into two kinds of you. Ein sof.

Writing this article has left me with a lighter feeling. Knowing that I can go off to my Excel chart with that intuitive feeling in tow, keeping me balanced, less rushed and therefore calm, takes my work to a centered possibility, as I aspire for it to be the best it can be, as it is.

Can I approach my relationships the same way? My cooking, my art?

I await the answers, Time.

Eternally yours,
Sherrill

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Now.
Back to my list:

• curve rainbows
• feed unicorns
• go everywhere
• advance to Go
• collect stardust
• juxtapose wood and gold

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