Reflection by Edgar Cahn
In a wedding such as this, Time stands still and is simultaneously extended: “till death do we part.” The words “I do” are both a ritual and a commitment, an affirmation of the moment infused with meaning, unique in time. And a commitment to an enduring relationship of interdependence that will have a life of its own, continuous, oscillating, highly mutable and yet immutable.
We vest two people with an awesome power by mutual consent to transform space and time. It seems particularly fitting that timebanking played such a central role on this occasion, providing all the logistical elements of before, during, and after the event. Some of the time credits spent in conducting the wedding had been earned by the bride as a medical interpreter who also provided rides and pet-sitting. Other time credits were donated, to be paid back to those timebank members who did the make up and mascara for the bride, baked and delivered the wedding cake, decorated the sanctuary, played the organ, and captured the event in photographs.
I find myself wondering what Einstein would have said about the configuration of space-time in this happening. Time certainly was not linear: a-to-b. It was constantly variable. But it certainly was not random. This was a wedding, consecrated by timebanking. And that is fitting.
We are still trying to understand whatever orders the universe. But we know what ordered this segment in time: it was purpose. And that is our supreme power: to adapt purpose to reshape the space-time continuum.
Timebanking captures and confirms the power that each of us has to alter the space-time continuum by infusing it with meaning. In a way, it configures our lives as a different kind of union – a bonding process that asserts, confirms, and re-establishes that we are all family, the human family.
Each hour, timebanking can create both ceremony and ritual, affirmation and confirmation of that union. It is embedded in our DNA, celebrated in each act and realized by how we use whatever time we are allotted to affirm that we are wed to the larger human condition and the journey of our species.
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