The ancestors thought in generations.

They didn't say: One hundred years ago. They said: Four generations ago. They measured time in human lives. They measured time in story.

Generational time is time-as-lived, time-in-relation. This is collective time, the time of We.

“Many, many years ago,” says the old lore-master, “maybe 500 generations back, when the land shook and all the goats were wild, Sikander Julkhan marched his great armies east.” So begins the saga of his people (Bealby 218).

Thinking in generations makes us part of the story. Thinking in generations saves us from isolation. Thinking in generations makes us take responsibility.

Peoples think in generations. The ancestors thought in generations.

If we are wise, we will learn to do the same.

 

Jonny Bealby (1998). For a Pagan Song: Travels in Indian, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. William Heinemann.