OPEN CALL - Rolling Admissions - No Deadline 2025ANCIENT GREEKS
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My experience of working in Crete is best described by the ancient concept of Greek time, Kairos, a propitious moment for decision or action. I understand Kairos as being ‘engrossed in the moment’ so that the time for action becomes clear instinctively. Since change is the only guarantee trying to force the issue of a plan is a pointless exercise and can be considered rude in Greece. Making deadlines and diary arrangements becomes stressful as by contrast events happen in a moment by moment basis, energy seems to flow on an almost psychic plateau, this sensation has also inspired the Event Horizon analogy. I have learnt not to scorn the apparent ‘wasting of time’ because this is not the right approach. When you strive for achievement in Kairos time the right or critical moment presents itself to you, it is up to you to grasp the opportunity. In rhetoric, kairos is "a passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved." Kairos was central to the Sophists, who stressed the rhetor's ability to adapt to and take advantage of changing, contingent circumstances. In Panathenaicus, Isocrates writes that educated people are those “who manage well the circumstances which they encounter day by day, and who possess a judgment which is accurate in meeting occasions as they arise and rarely misses the expedient course of action". Harmony' and Rhythm "Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature. Next, there is the
instinct for 'harmony' and rhythm, meters being manifestly sections of
rhythm. Persons, therefore, starting with this natural gift developed by
degrees their special aptitudes, till their rude improvisations gave
birth to Poetry." - Aristotle It's impossible to forget, living here in Crete that Greece was one of the most important places in
the ancient world. The Greeks were great thinkers, warriors, writers,
actors, athletes, artists, architects and politicians. |
