The simplest way to specify a time
-
Peace all,
A simple question whose answer may have profound implications
How can someone specify a certain time for people (for example a meeting time)?
Although this may sound like an easy question, please keep in mind that those people don't use the same standard calendars and potentially don't know about each other's calendars.
This is not a hypothetical scenario. Unlike today, ancient people didn't have one universally accepted calendar. Most ancient people didn't even have a seven day week. Weeks between 4 and 20 days were used. Also, keep in mind that, like the weeks, the new-year is completely arbitrary.
Hence, I can't say, for example, let's meet on the first Friday of the 10th month.
I am looking for any ideas, so this is a thread for brainstorming.
Peace and all best wishes,
Ayman.
-
Peace
How can someone specify a certain time for people (for example a meeting time)?
I hope I understand the question well enough, but I would say something that people from different cultures can recognize......different seasons, when an animal starts to come out of hibernation, the moon, stars, the sun........the only problem with a number of things like seasons is that they might not all be recognizable at the same times for people, so over long distances it might be hard to coordinate things.
-
Peace Buzzor,
I hope I understand the question well enough, but I would say something that people from different cultures can recognize......different seasons, when an animal starts to come out of hibernation, the moon, stars, the sun........the only problem with a number of things like seasons is that they might not all be recognizable at the same times for people, so over long distances it might be hard to coordinate things.
People may not be familiar with a certain animal. Also, not all regions have the same animals or even animals that hibernate. For an agricultural community, for example, animal hibernation wouldn't mean anything. So this is not universal.
I think that the seasons are a reasonable universal marker. Although different from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere, one could say
"I will meet you during the hottest time of the year of place x."
However, this is not specific enough.
One would have to add another measure to make it specific.
Perhaps the simplest way to specify a time of the year is to use both the seasons and the lunar cycle. Hence, I can tell someone who doesn't use the same calendar as me
"I will meet you on the first new moon of the hottest time of the year in a certain area."
We would be able to meet on the first new moon after the summer solstice (the day with the longest daylight) without knowing what man-made calendars each one of us uses.
Peace and all best wishes,
Ayman.
-
Salaam Ayman,
"I will meet you on the first new moon of the hottest time of the year in a certain area."
So in the same way that you said about one group not knowing about certain animals, I believe the same can be applied to the seasons, in this case, hottest time of the year.
It's hard just thinking about this stuff, when we're so used to the clock and the calender. ops
Peace
-
Peace be upon you brother Ayman,
I think that one must use all of the planetary objects. I think the "science" of astrology is where this points to. We use the sun and the moon in context of the "background" of the stars.
I guess if we wanted other to meet at the same time, we sould have to say something like, "when the sun RUBS the horizon at dawn in the tropic of cancer" or something like that. I am not that well versed in astrology , so I am not sure if that example makes sense according to its laws, just used as an example.
-
Peace upon all,
How can someone specify a certain time for people (for example a meeting time)?
Although this may sound like an easy question, please keep in mind that those people don't use the same standard calendars and potentially don't know about each other's calendars.
In the past, they didn't needed a high accuracy in planning things, Things were going so much slowly in the past, like moving from a place to another, or sending a message or the invitation with limited tools.
I think they would fix a period of time for the meetings, such as the changing seasons would be a marker for people to meet at a certain place, for a month or two, giving enough time for people to arrive (max 10-20 miles/h), trips lasted weeks and months, when today it takes one day or least to go around the earth.