Готовый перевод Мы строим деревню / we are building ecovillage: сезоны: время по кругу

The passage of the seasons

Russians don't have history. History exists for kings (tsars), patriarchs, aristocrats,

and even for workmen, if you wish to know. History is a passage of events.

Russian people, in opposite,

remained the same as they used to be during the time of Vladimir Red Sun.

The faith, the language, the clothes, the harness and the cart stayed the same.

The knowledge and the culture are the same. Damn the history!

Ivan Kuprin

At the countryside a traditional greeting «How are you doing?» sounds silly for some reasons. It's because there is nothing to do here. Well, more precisely,
there is lots to do, but the essence of the business is never changing. It repeats itself as the seasons pass. There are spring thing to do in spring, summer things –
in summer, autumn – in autumn, and winter – in winter. It's the same every year, every century. I like the way Nils Christie writes about it in
«Beyond Loneliness and Institutions...». He recognizes two types of perception of time. They are linear and cyclic.

The linear perception pictures time as a sort of motion from A to B. From birth to death.
In this motion there are life and career development, passage of milestones: kindergarten, school, work, retirement. In this development
one can change the pace; somebody moves quicker, another moves slower; one has his/her life events, another – different events.
Everybody can have life different to the others. This time perception varies for different people.
People have different lives. On the one hand, in some extend it makes life more interesting for the mind.
On the other hand, life becomes less stable, because there is no straight movement without ups and downs:
the growth of career can be followed by the decrease and dismiss. It puts person into stress. If there is more stress than one can bear,
all sorts of problems come along. They are diseases, depressions, ...

At the countryside, the perception of time is more traditional. It passes in cycles and is clearly linked to the rhythms of the nature. In all the seasons
all the villagers have approximately the same things to do. Life may become less certain if somebody
«comes off» the rhythms, begins different life. If one instead of earthing up potatoes decides to go
for a journey, neighbours will disapprove it. There is no priority for individuals in traditional society, and the main
fear is to be different: «What will the neighbours say?»

This style of life is less interesting than the urban one, but it's more stable and secure. People reach their targets; as the seasons pass,
they know exactly, that all their essential needs will be satisfied. They will get warm and fed. Let them not to take a step forward in their career,
but nobody needs it here. However it happens that somebody find this way of life
too boring and monotonous. Then they wish to move to the city. Alternatively, they wish to drink in order not to feel
any repetition and monotony.

When we moved to the village, we discovered that our perception of time had to be changed to
the cyclic, traditional. Things had to become «monotonous», boring. How can we do it? Perhaps, it's good to observe
the nature. To watch the life of birds, mice, insects, spiders. They seek after nothing but keep working hard.
The local people are always busy, but never too much in a hurry. They're always occupied but
always in time.

Переведено на Нотабеноиде
http://notabenoid.org/book/45942/183490

Переводчики: ivanovishe