Tian and time / understanding and doubt (Hennegen)

"Because the signs of time’s coming and going are obvious, people do not doubt it. Although they do not doubt it, they do not understand it.”

The obvious signs of time's coming and going are manifest in all things, for we perceive these signs in the changes exhibited by other beings: a man's hair grows gray and thin, the crabapple tree swells rosy with spring, an infant begins to babble and then to speak.

This reminds me of an understanding I reached while reading Zhuangzi regarding the Chinese character tian, which is often translated as "Heaven" or "the heavens." But, tian does not indicate a distinction between the natural and the divine. In fact, it can be translated simply as "sky." Tian evokes a sense of pondering that which is indisputable (we do not question the sky’s existence), yet enigmatic and elevated above man. There seems to be something similar happening here with respect to our not doubting and yet not understanding time. Not only do we perceive the signs (of tian, of time), but we organize our lives according to these changes. 

Our activity and physical condition are subject to weather and seasonality (which relate to both tian and to time). The sky cues our activity and rest with its day and night. Its foreboding clouds herald the storm that forces us to shelter indoors, and its sun and precipitation determine our harvest. We sleep and wake, act and wait, and eat and starve according to its whim. We modify our behavior accordingly, harness its patterns as best we might, but we cannot make it yield to our design. Nor, for that matter, do we have access to its design. We may desire to impute rationality onto time and tian, but they are beyond our comprehension. Though distinct from the Western treatment of the divine, wherein an agent (God or gods, an “unmoved mover,” etc.) acts according to a plan, we do not consign tian to sheer chaos for lack of a certain agent. Simply because we cannot fathom an order does not mean we resolve the world to be a realm of mad thrash and random chance. So too do we approach time -- we do not have access to its workings, yet we experience time being.



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