Kronos and Khairos

Time can be considered in two ways---Kronos and Khairos---both of which function in the life of the human being. Some of Progoff's Intensive Journal exercises are linked to Kronos, and some to Khairos. We needn't be aware of the difference in order to lead satisfying lives; we experience them both, as a quality of human nature. Once we become aware of the difference, however, we can learn to work with them, to maximize our avenues for growth, and develop our ability to experience both to the fullest.

Kronos refers simply clock time, measurable time, predictable, reliable, regular and steady. We measure of it by means of clocks and calendars, which are divided into units of minutes, hours, days and years. Kronos can also be conceived and measured at its extreme boundaries of space-time and nanoseconds, but we are not concerned with that here. Suffice it to say that our lives proceed along the unalterable rate of Kronos, and that we have nothing to say about it. We do not, and cannot, alter it or manipulate it. We participate in it willfully only to the extent that we use it to organize the activities of our lives.

Khairos is marked not by minutes or months, or years, but by events, changes in the basic conditions of our lives, or even by emotions, when emotions intensify into self-sustaining sources of energy. Khairos is fluid and flowing, but like water, not held in any particular form. Each person perceives it differently, because it functions as a unique segment of an individual's life. The concept of Khairos suggests the presentation of an auspicious moment, an opportunity, and a gate through which an individual can enter into something greater than him/herself. Khairos, unlike Kronos, requires conscious participation. Khairos intersects Kronos, contributing depth and meaning to Kronos.


Both words originate from Greek mythology. Ancient Greek thinkers contemplated Khairos extensively, and sought to apply it in all manner of life situations--legal, political, social, personal. Over centuries, the concept evolved into a more specific notion. We now think of Khairos as the experience of losing the sense of time, as occurs when one fully enters an experience of the moment, an experience of intense involvement with someone or something. The experience of prayer and meditation can fall into the category of Khairos, when the practitioner becomes fully engaged in the activity. Many Kronos minutes or hours can pass before the person experiencing Khairos is aware that they have passed. This is the intersection of Kronos and Khairos.


In Progoff's Intensive Journal, we work with both Kronos and Khairos. Some of the exercises are linked to one and some to the other.