Soulful Sundays: Timing

“Those who can be still are able to move; those who can be soft are able to be firm.” —the Neiye

On the fifth of November, 1605, the greatest political coup of all time was thwarted. The Gunpowder Plot was a violent conspiracy hatched amongst a group of Catholic gentry rather than ordinary Londoners, in order to end the religious discrimination that followed the coronation of King James I. The plot was to blow up the entire Parliament building, including the assembly and the King, who was expected to be present at the opening of Parliament, and then set up a puppet government afterwards. The conspirators managed to sneak 36 barrels of gunpowder—enough to level the structure into the building’s cellar and would have likely succeeded in their plan…if it hadn’t been for a single well-timed letter warning the government of the treason.

In the early hours of the morning on the day of the anticipated detonation, the king’s authorities stormed the room where the gunpowder was being stored and found only one man quietly guarding it—Guy Fawkes. He became the symbol of the conspiracy and was interrogated under torture before being executed. In England, November 5th—colloquially known as Guy Fawkes Night— is a holiday of mixed sentiments. On one hand it is a sort of thanksgiving for a disaster averted. On the other it is a rallying cry for rebellion against oppression. Often the difference between a successful tyrant and a thwarted rebel comes down to timing.

Had that infamous letter arrived too late, Britain might have faced a different tyranny altogether.

Timing is the hidden force behind all events. It separates victory from defeat, sometimes only by mere milliseconds. In a boxing ring, on a tennis court, or in a chess match, the same truth holds—whoever controls the timing, controls the game. Bruce Lee famously wrote, “The best fighter is not the one who strikes first, but the one who strikes at the right moment.” And in the spirit of Lee, we can master the art of timing by studying water.

Water will always flow along the path of least resistance until it encounters an object blocking its way. When it does, it performs two actions simultaneously— it flows around the obstruction while working patiently to slowly erode it. When energy is removed from water it becomes still. When energy is added it moves. Water never rushes and never stalls. It goes exactly the speed that it needs to. Water never plots its course, it merely follows gravity.

Decisiveness is most effective when preceded by patient understanding—knowledge of action preceding its execution. The opposite will always lead to chaos. When we rush to judgment we lose sight of the present circumstances. We react to forces that aren’t even relevant. We become possessed by emotion. We harm ourselves and others. We become like the Gunpowder conspirators, pursuing short-term gain at the expense of long-term stability. Had they succeeded, they would have created more violence, not less. Although they would have struck first, the timing would have been wrong.

We must not fall prey to whims. Anything that is well built is done so by commitment and enduring attention. If we can hold the intention to advance when conditions allow and yield when they do not, then we will be as powerful as water. If we can do this with patience and compassion, then time does not control us. We control time.