Change in Time

Where does the time go? When we are in the thick of it, time feels so incredibly slow that we can practically hear the echo of every tick as it beats around the clock. It is often when I brew a cup that I forget, lose track of time and walk away, only to find it hours later, cold and bitter. It is when we want to treasure the moment, savor it, and make it last, that time seems to escape us. And really, what is time? Is time just a measurement of our day? Is time a way to put order to the many things that happen throughout the year? Is time a way to control the chaos of our lives? Who gets to decide what is a long time or a short time? When is a good time or a bad time? When we find ways to pass the time, hours turn into minutes, minutes turn into seconds, and before you know it, the moon has replaced the sun, the day has turned to night.

Lately I have been time sensitive–the kind of time sensitive where you feel changes brewing. It is the kind of change that keeps you up at night. It is the kind of change that preoccupies the mind–the kind of change that pulls at your heartstrings. It is the kind of change that brings wonder and excitement to what lies ahead. I not only feel these changes on the inside, I see them on the outside too. As daylight savings sets in we lose time overnight and it stays lighter later, green buds sprout from the ground, and blossoms are on the verge of erupting. In time, my sweaters will make their way to the back of my closet to hibernate for the summer.

As Bob Dylan so candidly put it, “The times they are a- changin’.” For me, this week brought the end to a long life, the birth of a new life, the send-off of a close friend, the break up of a perfect couple, and the celebration of my birthday. Dylan reminds me that change is really what is keeping track of time. Change is what leaves me wishing that I had more time, more days in the month, and more months in the year. It is weeks like this that I feel I need more time to process all the changes, and get ready for what lies ahead. However, in the end, I know that there is no time like the present and so I put the kettle on, pull out my favorite cup, and quietly recite Dylan, line by line:

“The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin.”

This cup is for Joe (I hope you have the time of your life)
and for Logan (our twenties are temporary, our friendship is forever)

About Cup of Cosmos

Cup of Cosmos has been brewing for a long time and now it is finally ready to serve! Walk carefully as this cup can (at times) be filled to the brim. Sip slowly so that you are able to digest everything inside. Not only is this a look into my cup of cosmos, but I hope that it will inspire you to brew up your own pot, share and serve. To kick off this first cup, I wanted to share an essay that I wrote my freshman year at the Evergreen State College–the very place where my first cup of cosmos came to be...

This Cup is for Professor Chuck Pailthorp
Formal and Final Cause
Rudy Shaffer
November 26, 2007

Wrap you hands around your warm coffee mug on a cold morning. What makes its shape pleasing? How is it designed to serve its particular purpose? What makes it work? The four causes presented in Aristotle’s Physics—substance (the material), form (the pattern), primary principle of change or stability (the manufacturer), and final (the end result)—show how substance and intent combine to create the whole. In Aristotle’s words, “we think we know something only when we find the reason why it is so (pg.102).” Applying the four causes to the coffee mug enhances your understanding of the process and appreciation for the result.

The substance used to make the mug is clay. Aristotle says, “…that from which…a thing comes to be is said to be the thing’s cause (p. 102).” The properties of clay make it the material of choice for creating the mug—for causing the mug to come into existence. It can be shaped and molded. When dries it becomes a solid. When it is fired it resists cracking and crumbling. The clay lends itself to the shape and structure and purpose of the mug. According to Aristotle, knowing these properties informs choosing clay for the mug’s substance: “Clearly, then, we must also find the reason why in the case of coming to be, perishing, and every sort of natural change, so that when we know their principles we can try to refer whatever we are searching for to these principles (pg.102).”

The form the mug takes is its essence. In its ideal form, it is bowl-shaped and has a handle big enough to stick your finger through. These characteristics comprise the pattern for a mug that everyone would recognize. Aristotle says, “…the pattern is a cause (p. 102).” By naming the object a mug, “all of the parts are in the account (p. 102).”

Aristotle goes on to say that “…the producer is a cause of the product (p. 103).” In the case of the mug, the potter is the producer. The potter makes the decision to create a mug and makes choices about substance and pattern based on his intention. The potter knows how to work and control the material and follow the pattern, changing clay into a vessel with a handy hook for a finger.

Finally, Aristotle states that “something’s end—what it is for—is its cause (p. 103).” The mug was made to hold coffee. You use it because you recognize that it will suit its purpose. Aristotle goes on to say, “The last three often amount to one; for what something is and what it is for are one, and the first source of the motion is the same in species as these, since man generates a man (p. 113)”: The potter makes a mug to hold coffee.

In nature, the causes are reduced to substance and form, which combine to define purpose. Absent is the producer making the self-conscious intention of producing something for a particular reason or use. Aristotle says, “since nature is of two sorts, nature as matter and nature as form, and the form is the end, and since everything else is for the end, the form must be what things are for (pg.115)”. The material the mug is made from, the clay, comes from nature. It consists of mud, minerals and water. Without a producer imposing his purpose onto the clay, it simply exists as is; its form is its final cause.

The substance and form of the clay (found in nature) combine to produce the material the potter uses to make the mug. The choice is based on the properties of the clay and its ability to be formed into for its intended use. The mug’s pleasing shape and the way it feels cannot be separated from the potter who made it or the clay that he used. Its ability to hold coffee cannot be separated from the pattern than defines its purpose. It is because of the four causes that we find pleasure in such a small object and can wake up day after day and rely on a mug to get us through the morning. How it feels in our hand, where it came from, or what is inside are all matters of what make it special depending on the hand that holds it.