This website arose quite organically on August 25, 2025, the first day of the Fall 2025 semester at Central Michigan University, in a conversation in an "in between" space, neither a formal classroom nor a meeting, but a "gap in time" characteristic of the typical university schedule.
The place? The office of Dr. Hope Elizabeth May ("Hope"). A natural flow brought the three of us, Josie, Sia, and Hope, into Hope's office, and we found ourselves immersed in philosophical dialogue. At some point, the different time keeping systems of East and West came up. Sia, who is from Busan, South Korea, was explaining how the lunar time keeping system of China (adopted in Korea) had, in South Korea, been replaced with the Western Gregorian Calendar. This is of course just one piece of the "Westernization" of South Korea, another being the replacement of the former "King" with a "President" following a controversial U.N. sponsored election in 1948. Hope used the phrase "the politics of time", and Josie asked "is there a website on that ?" Hope explained that she had coined the phrase, and that she would see if the domain name "politicsoftime" existed. Lo! It did, and right then and there Hope purchased this domain for $10.94. She built this site shortly thereafter. Clearly Josie's question pointed to a need for such a site, and this is an effort to address that need.
What is the "Politics of Time?" Well, as most of us no longer anchor time to planetary motion or some other naturally recurring phenomenon, the narrative of "the beginning" is political, as is the "geometry" of time. Where does one "anchor" the beginning? What moment, the birth of Christ, the beginning of some earthly Kingdom, or even a mythological story? Once this is settled, then question of the "geometry" of time remains. Is time a line? Is it a recurring cycle? A spiral?
Consider: the Tibetan calendar begins with the first transmission of the Kalachakra teaching 1027 A.D., much later than the Chinese calendar which begins around 4300 B.C. Why is that?
"Kalachakra" means "wheel of time." Originating in India, and transmitted to Tibet in 1027, the bundle concept that is "Kalachakra" includes a complicated teaching about the relationship between "inner time" and "outer time". Lots and lots of study needed here. You can begin by understanding the symbolism of this "bundle image" and "concept map". Then you will need to memorize it. How long will that take you?
For an infographic created by Hope which gives you an "impression" of the Tibetan system of sexegenary (60 year) time cycles, and which required many iterations of her prompts to Chat GPT 5, click here. Work on this infographic continues. It's origin? Another in-between space. It was originally created for a right proper viewing of The Dalai Lama's Gift, with former Central Michigan University philosophy students Randy Olson and Ryley Olson (no relation), at Hope's home on August 16, 2025. We watched the films, and Hope, in her usual fashion, made handouts. These infographics were among them. Work on them continues, first iterations here.
"Memory Work" is related to the Politics of Time.
Memory Work is multifaceted and multidimensional. As an example, let's look at the U.S.Congress' act to bestow the Congressional Gold Medal on Benjamin Ferencz (1920-2023) during a ceremony on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). This story helps us to appreciate that "The Politics of Time" involves "Memory Work" which can include public laws (such as the one setting out Holocaust Remembrance Day) and Public Acts (such awarding the Congressional Gold Medal) that meaningfully intersect.
Keyed to the Hebrew Calendar, Yom HaShoah was enacted into Israeli Law by the Knesset in the 1950s. The text of the law states that the "27th Nisan" shall be "Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day". Passover is always "15 Nisan". "Nisan" begins with the new moon in early spring, and is associated with renewal and liberation. In the Gregorian Calendar, this is March/April. Thus "27th Nisan" is 27th day in the month of renewal.
Awarding Ben Ferencz the Congressional Gold Medal is an alignment of:
1) Ben Ferencz's personal decision to devote his life to "law not war" (as one side of the medal states)
2) The Israeli Government's decision to remember Martyrs and Heroes (Holocaust Remembrance Day/Yom HaShoah)
3) The U.S. Congress' decision to award Ben Ferencz the medal for his decision to devote his life to building a "Community of Ends" in which the 'law of force'
is replaced with the 'force of law.'
To watch the ceremony in which Ben Ferencz is awarded the Congressional Gold Medal (posthumously), click here.
To view of text of the Public Law which bestowed the Congressional Gold Medal onto Ben Ferencz, click here.
To do a deep dive into Ben Ferencz, visit here.
Deepest thanks to Stephen Liu of the Philadelphia Chenrezig Buddhist Center for telling Hope about the film "The Dalai Lama's Gift" when she visited the Center on June 25, 2025, the 75th anniversary of the Korean War. In this photo from that meeting, Stephen shows Hope a poster of the Kalachakra Mandala. What is a Mandala? Again, many things, but for starters we can say that it is a 2-dimensional sand painting of Kalachakra's home or palace. To learn more about the Kalachakra Mandala, click here (text), here (video about sand painting), and/or set the intention to watch The Dalai Lama's Gift, which will require some effort on your part which just might require you to interact with the "real" world.
