A visit to the planet Kairos by Dennis Rodriguez

There are two words in the Greek language for time. One is chronos- the time of linearity and cool clocks and the other is kairos- the ever-present now, which is observed outside of space-time.

This year, our summer trip to British Columbia was especially beautiful. For the first time in the 15 years my wife and I had been vacationing in Canada, we were to spend a full week on Hornby Island, a piece of hippy paradise between Vancouver Island and the mainland.

On the last day of our Hornby stay, I made a decision. “This time I’m going to make it happen!” I’m going to get up before the crack of dawn, walk 20 minutes with flashlight in hand to Heliwell Provincial Park and snap a picture of the rising Sun over the coastal mountains. I had no idea exactly when the sun would rise. No internet connection or newspaper to fill me in on the handy detail so I set the alarm for 4:30am, noticed that it was still pretty dark out and trotted down the road. It was close to five when I arrived at the Heliwell cliffs. It looked really bright out by then and I couldn’t find the sun. I started getting worried. “Did I miss the sunrise? Why didn’t I prepare more? I don’t get it. The sun rises in the east. The mountains are to the east. Where is the sun?” I sat down on a boulder, dejected, feeling ignorant of my direction.

I then made another decision. “Forget about the sunrise, it was not meant to happen. Just sit and meditate, look out at the ocean and give the mind a break.” I didn’t have a watch except for the one on my camera so I did not time my meditation session. I just sat until I got up and started walking again. I was at peace with missing the execution of my plan. What choice did I have? Heliwell is a loop so instead of walking back, I kept walking through the cliffs in the direction of the forest. I stopped to catch a picture of a lone deer chowing down on early morning grub. I slowed down so as to not scare the five campers in sleeping bags still lying down contemplating God’s celestial creation. About five feet from entering the forest, I am stopped dead in my tracks by a burning heat and blinding light on the right side of my face. I turned to the source and that is when I saw it. The sun had begun to shine its face over the mountains. I took out my camera and with a delectable experience of suspended thought, I snapped the picture.

I had caught up with the kairos moment. It was not lost after all. The lack of diligent preparation did not matter. The meditation was neither a consolation prize nor a diversion. My wanderings were part of the plan; the deer slowed me down and the native campers were in on it. Even though everything was telling me I missed my moment, that my desire would not be met, it all proved to be a necessary part of the planned moment and I ended up at the right place at the right time.

Incidentally, the time on the camera when I snapped the picture was 5:55.