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ISSUE 58
A publication of the College of Stoic Philosophers
September 2024
In the Nick of Time
Liam Stephens
“...that everything has always been the same, and keeps recurring…”
“Nature’s job: to shift things elsewhere, to transform them, to pick them up and move
them here and there. Constant alteration…”
- Marcus Aurelius (2003, pp. 21, 102)
Encapsulated in these quotes above, we see two themes running through The Meditations of
Marcus Aurelius, which are also repeated in other Stoic sources: constancy and change. A glance
might assume they are in contradiction with each other, but further probing shows us that this is not
the case. The universe follows orderly rules. There are not only physical and mathematical constants,
laws of gravity, thermodynamics, and the like, but we repeat our stories on a human level. Empires
rise and fall. Greed and heroism can appear in every time period. But if we are to make an accurate
account of our shared reality then we also find that nature loves change. Stars and planets evolve, as
well as organisms. Human beings grow and decay, as do animals and plants. In the short time that we
have here, and the limited wisdom we can muster, how do we adapt ourselves to both?
There is a notion of “timeliness” that can help us understand this question. The right time, or good
timing, is built into Stoicism in a way that is easy to take for granted as a modern practitioner. It was
expounded clearly and briefly in a few sources, but otherwise, not repeated often, because it was
taken as an assumption. Yes, fate, or nature, places us in circumstances that are not of our choosing,
which can follow consistent patterns, but often vary. Then it is given to us to
respond with skill and grace when the time arises. The Stoics tried their best to
follow
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this to the letter, but they would not have been alone in this view. They
had support from myriad voices, including Homer and the Bible. In the following
paper, I will help clarify some of these views on the “right time”.
Orderliness and Timeliness
Central to the doctrines of the Stoics is the sage. The
perfect person who embodies goodness, virtue, in its truest
sense. But who is this perfect person? I have never met one
myself, but A. A. Long says that the philosophers of the
ancient Mediterranean had a few tests. The first was that
they should perform “appropriate action” in body and mind,
not only doing the right thing, but knowing it deeply and
clearly. They should show “steadiness and orderliness”,
performing reliably in the face of change. But, also adapting
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ISSUE 58
A publication of the College of Stoic Philosophers
September 2024
to circumstances, being timely, called opportune in Latin (1986, pp. 205-206).
Here is the same contradiction mentioned above. On a normal day, we would expect the Stoic
sage to follow a routine, reliably doing good in their community. But a Stoic sage is also able to break
with social taboos when circumstance requires it. Suicide is the most common example of this pattern.
We expect people to reliably tend to their health and well-being, but there are numerous examples of
Stoic practitioners committing suicide in the name of a cause, or responding to injustice. The Stoics
even made exceptions for cannibalism, incest, and non-burial of the dead if the time was right (Inwood
& Gerson, 2008, p.175).
One example given by Cicero is that of the Saguntines, Roman citizens, living in the Iberian
Peninsula. While facing a siege against the Carthaginian army, they committed the act of patricide.
They had a hard choice to make. They knew that as the enemy approached, many of their family
members would be taken as prisoners and sold into slavery. These people had lived as free citizens
their whole life. Under any other circumstances they would have shown unshakable loyalty to their
families, but they believed the most rational action was to take the lives of their parents as an act of
mercy, and to preserve their dignity (Tsekourakis, 1974, p.56). When we think in terms of timeliness,
the Sanguntines had a window of opportunity to act rightly. Too soon, and they would be criminals, too
late and they would be in bondage.
If we agree with this view, what are we assuming? Firstly, that time is not separate from its
contents. Yes, it may be useful to abstract time as a stand alone, measurable thing, for the
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sake of
scientific measurement, but this does not match experience. We always observe time as a change in
something we observable (people aging, movies starting and ending, plants growing, etc.). The Stoics
were obsessed with continuity. Everything is connected through an interdependent web of cause and
effect (Frede, 2003, p.185). To them there would be no reason to treat time separately, as it seemingly
links into all the other processes that are also part of nature.
Secondly, there is an assumption about the “appropriate” time to do things, like a sword fitting its
scabbard. Believing in providence makes this view very tenable. We can imagine an intelligent agent
directing circumstances to match our needs and abilities at the right moment, like a chef cooking a
meal to fit our dietary needs, or a teacher tailoring a lesson to our understanding. However, even
without this belief, we could imagine natural circumstances where it is most appropriate for us to step
out of comfortable habits and act. If someone has a heart attack on a plane, and there is only one
doctor there, it is appropriate and necessary for them to help in that moment.
Of course, both of these assumptions fit into an understanding of time that is qualitative, instead
of quantitative, and challenges some of the beliefs taught by our culture in the Twenty-First Century.
So, let’s delve further into how ancient peoples thought about time.
Kairos and Chronos
Of all our cultural traits, time perception may be the hardest to change (Livermore, 2013, 1:30).
Our schools train us from a young age to be mindful of the time. We are rarely far from a clock. Many
of us are used to bells going off to mark the start and finish of each period. This was left over from
Nineteenth Century Prussian reforms in
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education, which mimicked bells used on factory floors to
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ISSUE 58
A publication of the College of Stoic Philosophers
September 2024
keep the time (Gatto, 2009, p.130). But why should we measure time in minutes and seconds? Why
not instead focus on the quality of the task to be completed?
Philosopher, Lewis Mumford, suggested that the clock is the quintessential invention of the
Industrial revolution, calling it, “… a piece of power machinery whose “product” is seconds and
minutes…” (2010, p.23) This way of thinking, in discreet, measurable, passing time, had a Greek
name, chronos. People of the ancient Mediterranean were aware of it, but it was not the only way they
thought of time, especially since clocks did not become ubiquitous in urban centers, in Europe, until
the Thirteenth Century (Mumford, 2010, p.22). Instead, many ancient peoples would have spoken of
time as kairos, or time as organic moments. This was time as a quality, and not just a quantity (Hadot,
1995, p.221).
One writer stressed this when he said, “For the Homeric Greeks time was not homogeneous; it
had quality… There are all the changes from dawn to the end of night, all the changes of the year
from the beginning of spring on through summer, autumn, and winter. For the Romans time was
weather, weather time, tempus, tempestas…” (Onians, 1951, p.411) This is important to understand.
Kairos (Greek) or tempus/ tempestas (Latin) can mean time or weather, as this was how they related
to time (Onians, 1951, p.411). While we might understand that kairos and chronos time demand
different processes mentally, they literally conflicted physically. If ancient people kept time with a
sundial the clouds could hide the hour. The winter could freeze a water clock (Mumford, 2010, p.23).
They had to think in terms of the time to grow the crops, or when to go to battle.
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When we think of the
famous line from Ecclesiastes, “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under
heaven.”, the Greek translates to kairos, not chronos (Ecclesiastes, 2024, 3:1).
Two analogies were popular for the workings of kairos, that of a bow and arrow, and that of the
weaver’s loom. Ancient Greek playwright, Euripides, spoke of, “aiming the bow beyond the kairos.”,
kairos here, not just speaking of timing, but a specific mark to aim for (Onians, 1951, p.343). Homer
and other Greek writers often spoke of the kairos as a point on the human body where it was most
easy to drive a weapon in with force, which explains the root of the English, “temple”, derived from
Latin (Onians, 1951, p.344). Many of us know the story of how Odysseus had to face a trial to regain
his family and home back, by shooting a bow through a series of twelve axeheads (Onians, 1951,
p.345). Just like the temple, these were small holes that he had to hit at just the right angle and timing
or he would fail his trial. It is important to understand that this is why the English, pore (hole) and
opportunity are closely related (Onians, 1951, p.345). The kairos was literally an opening, a fleeting
moment in time for us to act, a chance to hit our mark, or miss it after it was too late. We still think this
way when we use the expression, “in the nick (hole) of time.” (Onians, 1951, p.347)
Once we understand how these terms for, holes, opportunities, and time were closely related, it
helps us grasp Cicero’s metaphor of the archer in a new light. As he says, “…actually striking [the
target]… is as it were to be selected and not to be chosen.” (Inwood & Gerson, 2008, p.153) We try to
hit targets, but it is not up to us whether they land. Kairos time is a window where action becomes
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possible, and the use of our talents increases the chances of hitting our target, but if we are too early
or too late, the opportunity will be lost. It is the time when the crossing of fate and choices become the
most appropriate.
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September 2024
This is also why weaving was such a fitting analogy for the kairos, the best moment to act. The
Greeks loved using weaving and thread as a metaphor for human fate (Onians, 1951, p.349). A loom,
a weaving machine, provides a method for vertical and horizontal threads to mesh together, the warp
and the woof. Using such a device requires a sense of rhythm, as each section of the cloth develops
its color and pattern, the threads of the vertical warp open. A talented craftsman needs to find the right
moment to send the shuttle through, or ruin their design. While this analogy is more elegant, and less
violent, than that of a bow and arrow, the intention is the same. Fate provides the moment, the
opportunity, but human talent and effort needs to seize on it to achieve its culmination.
Counterpoints and Key Takeaways
It should be stressed that none of these views are Stoic per se. They reflect some known views
from literate peoples of the Mediterranean, from a wide period of time. There could have been
individuals who disagreed with these analogies, preferring others, but I do believe that these views are
coherent with the Stoic one. Seneca’s views on death drink from the well of kairos time, “So it is: we
are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is
long if you know how to use it.” (Seneca, 2005, p.2) Counting every second is not important, but
seizing the moment, and using the time we are given is important.
Are there any concerns that would make us discount this view? I can think of a few. Firstly, it
could be used as a justification for moral relativism, or a kind of self-serving egotism. Someone could
say, “Yes, I am a good person,
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but I had to murder my parents. It was all I could do in the moment.”
Maybe the Saguntines were more self-interested than we thought from the story. For now, I can only
say that the ego will rally any argument to its benefit when it wants to. Motivated reasoning is endemic
to all people, but that is not the intention of this view. Virtues such as justice and bravery can also be
thought of as tools that can apply to malleable circumstances. While they do not change in their
direction, they can often change in their outcome and certainly will change from circumstance.
Secondly, there might be some professional roles who favor chronos time over kairos. If an
engineer wants to build faster rockets, well, that is purely about quantity not quality. They might have
to refocus their attention onto minutes and seconds out of necessity. The Greeks used both terms for
a reason, they each had their purposes and domains. There is nothing wrong with exploiting chronos
to our benefit, but let’s not forget that the same engineer eventually has to go home to friends and
family. Or they may need to choose what they are doing with those rockets when circumstances
change. We are still humans who have to make hard choices when the time comes.
Lastly, I will just mention that kairos time coheres nicely with the theory of virtue ethics. It
concerns itself with cultivating and using our ethical talents at the right time. Because of this it has the
same shortcomings of the virtue systems. While a Kantian might have a clear set of rules to follow and
a utilitarian will choose what brings the most happiness, virtue ethics tries to promote ethics as a skill.
It will not always be clear what the wisest or the bravest things will be, but we try to practice these and
get better at this. In this
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matter I will not try to convince true believers of the other systems, but leave it
as something to consider.
Is this view insightful? Logically consistent? I think so. But the biggest challenge is how to apply
it. First, how to recognize a kairos moment, the opportunitas temporum? Then, how to bring it to its
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A publication of the College of Stoic Philosophers
September 2024
fulfillment? Briefly, recognition will come from applying our wisdom and practicing vigilance (prosoche)
everyday. We must gain as much experience as we can and cultivate our ability to recognize
principles when they arise. We can use our talents for temperance (sophrosyne) for maintaining
everyday habits, but then, to act on unique situations, we need our sense of bravery, to grab the
moment when it comes. Most interesting, however, timeliness requires us to start practicing a light
touch, to be able to switch gears when the time calls. Dwight Eisenhower once said, “In preparing for
battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” (Nixon, 2015, p.253)
Let’s stay our course, follow our best plans, but when reality decides to surprise us, be ready to switch
on a dime.
References:
Frede, D. (2003). Stoic determinism. In Inwood, Brad (Ed.), Cambridge Companion to the Stoics (pp.
179-205). Cambridge University Press.
Gatto, J.T. (2009). Weapons of mass instruction: A schoolteacher's journey through the dark world of
compulsory schooling. New Society Publishers.
Hadot, P. (1995). Philosophy as a way of life. Blackwell Publishers.
Inwood, B. and Lloyd P. G. (Eds.). (2008). The Stoic reader: Selected writings and testimonia. Hackett
Publishing Company, Inc.
King James Bible. (2024). Thomas Nelson Publishing. (Original work published 1611).
Livermore, D. (2013). Time: punctuality versus relationships. In Customs of the world: Using cultural
intelligence to adapt, wherever you are. [Audibook]. The Teaching Company.
Long, A .A. (1986). Hellenistic philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics. University of California Press.
Marcus Aurelius. (2003). Meditations (Hays, G.,