Forty years ago, Swedish economist Staffan Linder wrote, The Harried Leisure Class. In it he made some frightening predictions. Essentially he said that our fixation with time would lead us to making previously unheard of decisions. Linder foresaw a day that, because time became so scarce and our need for productivity so high, we would start farming out such things as relationships, romance, raising children and caring for our elderly. Unfortunately, he was all to accurate in his predictions!
When we compose a jazz shaped faith we reclaim time.
In my book, Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith, I ask, “Do you have time or does time have you?” Our answer to that question will determine whether or not we “farm out” some of the most important aspects of life. When we “have time” we become timekeepers.
Like a drummer in a jazz ensemble we seek to ever adjust time to the unexpected improvisations of those in our life. As needed, we speed up or slow down time down so as not to miss out on life. As Ornette Coleman once said, “When the band is playing with the drummer, it’s rock and roll, but when the drummer is playing with the band, it’s jazz.”
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