Cycles of Time

Das Rad (English title: Rocks), a German animated film written and directed by Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel and Heidi Wittlinger, is amongst my favourite video clips to share.

The film tracks the passing of time as perceived by two rocks on a hillside, alternating between high speed, representing geologic time, to real time and the relative obscurity our greatest inventions have in relation to the scale of Earth's history.




The short brings to mind a Charles Dickens poem, The Ivy Green. In particular:

Whole ages have fled and their works decayed,
And nations have scattered been;
But the stout old Ivy shall never fade,
From its hale and hearty green.
The brave old plant in its lonely days,
Shall fatten upon the past:
For the stateliest building man can raise,
Is the Ivy`s food at last.
Creeping on, where time has been,
A rare old plant is the Ivy green.

Deep time, a concept our minds rarely skim over, renders humanity a mere blink in the context of the Earth's past and likely it's future - that is unless you believe our species, by one means or another, will continue to flourish for at least a few million years.

One is neither a doomsayer nor a fatalist for understanding that a natural cycle of growth, decay and entropy exists. We have become so fixated with the boons of linear growth, ever expanding progress, that we fail to notice that this notion is flawed for the same reason why a perpetual motion machine can not exist. From ideas to civilizations human history depicts the existence of such cycles. My very life is an example, as is yours. The planet from carbon to water operates in cycles as well.

It is not tragic, but merely a fact of existence. Ever notice the reoccurance of spirals etched or painted on earthen pots belonging to neolithic peoples? Our ancestors did not have the luxury to ignore the natural flux of seasons or migration as their diets and very survival depended upon tunning into these cycles. They weren't spiritually enlightened as much as practical. With our built environments and growing ability to shelter ourselves from the "wild" we have created an imaginery bubble that reinforces our outdated 20th century systems, based off of 19th century thinkers, and 18th century concepts.

So whatever happens in terms of climate change, the planet will continue to exist albeit under conditions less favourable for life. Though extinction is an inevitability in the long run, it can be postponed for a significant period of time if our economic, political and social systems are readjusted to operate in tune with the rate of recharge (e.g. groundwater) or decay (e.g. greenhouse gases) of the resources we exploit.