Chapter 8

A family extends over generations and has a lifespan of centuries. It can be thought of as a community existing through time that includes ancestors, people living now and those yet to be born. In this larger temporal context, which we call Deep Time, we step beyond our personal, or even familial, lifespan and see ourselves as living within a far wider timescape. Tracing our ancestry, we can follow an unbroken thread of life that extends back billions of years. Thanks to our moral imagination, we can let future beings become more real to us: their lives and health depend on us. Chapter Eight, A Larger View of Time, illustrates how expanding our view of time opens us to new sources of solidarity and support, and offers exercises that workshop participants have found profoundly inspiring. At a time when many experience time pressures and hurry, this awareness brings a sense of spaciousness and ease.