Chapter 11 Time, Life and Death in the Context of Extinction – An Essay
Time, Life and Death in the Context of Extinction
The use of poetic language to depict the immense cosmos always ignites an immeasurable sense of wonder and awe. And this is how I react to the Critical/Creative Reflection in the chapter on Extinctions. It speaks to me for its lyrical aesthetics and its concept of Time. And Time invariably intertwined with life and death.
The article begins with, “In the beginning, chaos birthed a universe by processes of formation and destruction. The natural order of the universe made the former of these forces dependent upon the latter. Planets formed in the fiery rage of dying stars …” For us humans, terrestrial lives inevitably follows the celestial path of life and death: “[D]eath is necessary outcome of life, and death in totality is extinction […] Life exists to delay death, but not defeat it.”
So far, all that said are common knowledge, a kind of intertextual truth (Barthes). Then comes the concept of Time, a subject that is more debatable. It belongs to the fourth dimension. It is “immutable, immovable, impossible to change.” But this linearity is purely a Western anthropocentric construct. Time travel, time-manipulation by future astronauts and our dreams aside, time is not linear for many indigenous cultures; it is circular (Jance, 2003).
For the Australian Aborigines, there is no past-present-future, like an unbending timeline that goes on forever. Instead, events are allocated their respective places, like how an arrow finds its target, in concentric rings of time according to their relative importance for the individual or his/her respective community. The more important the event, the “closer in time” it is. For instance, the death of a beloved family member or an elder occupies a slot in time that is closer to the centre. And even though such death has taken place a long time in the past, the emotions experienced are still raw as if it has occurred just hours or days ago. This view of time is not linear but static, timeless, eternal and circular. Apart from the death of a loved one, other examples of timelessness include the colonisation of Australia, loss of Aboriginal culture and identity, the stolen generation and land rights.
It is not only Australian Aborigines but many other cultures that do not see time as linear, such as indigenous Indonesians and American Indians (Abram; Standing Bear). The spirits of their ancestors linger even though their bodies have long gone. Stanner coined the term “everwhen” to highlight the notion of non-linear time. For instance, in Aboriginal cultural convention, the name (given or traditional) of a deceased person is not mentioned, not only because it causes distress to the family but also “call into life” the deceased spirit (Janca). The person is dead only in a physical sense. In a spiritual sense, the person is still “alive” and still plays a important role in society. He or she is everywhere and everywhen.
To this time concept I reminisce on James Hutton – his notion of “Deep Time” in the 18th century – “no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end” (Farrier). Although he was talking about linear time, the same statement also holds true to circular time. Where does it begin, and when does it end? My final reflection though, is not to be enslaved by linear time; try to behold circular time wherever and whenever we can, to place only important life-events near its heart, everything else belongs to the periphery of time. And in that context, where in the circle of Time should we place Extinction? Near the centre, or at the periphery? At the 11th hour or at 1 o’clock – knowing that after extinction, there will be rebirth?
A final note on chapter structuring in this section of The Living Book. It starts in Chapter 1 with a Bison, whose extinction was neigh but eventually saved. The final chapter, "Chapter 11" is a legal term used in the finance industry to allow a company in difficulty a limited period of time to allow it to reorganise, to recover, to survive. Humans may well also grant a Chapter 11 to the Anthropocene.
Works Cited
Farrier ........
Griffith ..........
Janca ..................