Thoughts on Endings and Time

Roger McDonald

In the last years of the twentieth century on intellectual and cultural mood may be identified in the developed Western world. It is a pre-occupation, even a desire, of Endings. The millennium (year 2000) becomes a metaphor for many feelings and fantasies; it represents change, the future, the unknown, a fear and a feeling that Western civilisation is near on 'edge'.

Recent years have seen the appearance of many books concerned with Endings. Francis Fukuyama's book 'The End of History' has been followed by works that claim the end of Time, Science, the nation state and philosophy amongst other things. No doubt there is much that is interesting and perceptive in these publications, although I am invariably led to ask why such theories have become so popular. Perhaps in part it is to do with on anxiety or nervousness in the shadow of increasing political, economic, cultural and environmental uncertainties. Or perhaps it is the result of an exhaustion; perhaps Western progress has become 'tired' and seeks an end. Or perhaps this trend for Endings happens at the close of every thousand years, every hundred years? One may go on speculating but it seems to me that an important contributing factor rests upon a particular cultural outlook underlying such developments. It is a motivation that concerns the way in which Christian based cultures perceive time.

The very idea of an End assumes a beginning and a linear progression or development from one point to another. In the Christian cosmology one is judged in the end, going upward to heaven or downward to hell: the religious life or path is one that proceeds from sin to salvation, from ignorance to ever-lasting life. Implicit in such a way of understanding is, I think, a recognition or acceptance of Endings. The famous Catholic theologian Teillard de Chardin called this spiritual End the Omega point. What is interesting is the metaphorical use of endings in a religious context (the ending of ignorance or earthly existence) and the way in which this has been taken literally by Western cultures today.

Complementing this pre-occupation with Endings in the West is on expectant mood or preparation for the millennium which was begun in earnest in the first few years of the 1990's. The idea of the millennium has become a significant part of the mass media/entertainment industries, at least in Britain where I live, generating articles, films and products about it in many ways. This too is perhaps reflective of on underlying Christian based attitude towards Time that sees it as linear and progressive. A certain moment has been treated with the highest significance, towards which the entire culture waits in anticipation.

I have often thought that the very different ways in which people in Japan and Europe or America celebrate New Year's is also indicative of different ideas about Time. Whilst in Japan 'O-Misoko' is usually spent with the family, in the West it seems to be more a time to spend with friends. This is perhaps the reverse to Christmas, when Westerners are with their families and many Japanese people associate Christmas with romance and short-cakes. The Japanese New Year is greeted quietly and passively by the ringing of temple bells, whilst in the large city squares of Europe and America everything is drowned out by the noise of revellry and music. In Christian based cultures the New Year seems to represent an on-goingness or continuation of time‐the joy of the occasion is almost a joy in the fact that time itself is still moving onwards (in the name of Christ). In Japan the New Year is perhaps marking the start of another cyclical movement-time does not lead any where, but rather returns upon itself like a coiled snake. I have often thought that the 'kane' or bells ringing in the New Year echo the emptiness of time with their hollow gongs, reminding me of the impermanence and fluidity of each moment.

I began by reflecting on the recent intellectual trend in the West for Endings, as the millennium approaches, Japan, located within its own contexts and discourses, does not seem to share this fascination for Endings. There is undoubtedly much that modern Japanese society shares with the West taking into account its long associations with Europe and America, but perhaps its ideas about Time remain essentially different from those of the West. The very notion of an End is understood and felt differently in Japan, emerging from predominantly Buddhist experiences. Time is seen to be cyclical and local‐it remains felt and close to human experience through the changing times of the day and seasons. It does not develop upwards in a line but returns to its source. Perhaps in Japan, every New Year is truly new in that there is a re-generation or re-creation process at work that is not confined by anything. For the West, the millennium may very well represent a moment for decision or judgment, from which the potential for success or failure emerges.

(January 1997)