Kairos

This week’s passion blog is a little different from those I’ve written in the past. My previous blogs have focused on concrete ideas (uniform, spirit, boys, sports, and religion), but this week I’ve chosen to discuss Kairos.

Here at Penn State – specifically in our CAS 137H class – we define kairos as a “special notion of space and/or time.” It is a time defined by an opportunity, not necessarily by chronology. Kairos enables us to further analyze rhetorical situations. If we understand the kairos of the situation, we can better understand the argument. It is a very abstract idea that is difficult to define.

My group on my first Kairos retreat (Kairos XLV).
The best piece of advice I got from my teacher leader is as follows: “It’s better to be pissed off than pissed on.”

Although I have a lot of trouble defining kairos, the idea makes complete sense to me due to my senior year at Notre Dame. In the spring of junior year and the fall and spring of senior year, students have the opportunity to attend a four day, three night religious retreat called Kairos. The entire retreat is kept a secret until the retreatants arrive to the retreat house. While signing up to attend, I had no idea what to expect because no one ever openly discussed what occurred. Unfortunately, I cannot give full details about what happens on the retreat, but I will do my best to describe how the retreat affected me. This Kairos, like rhetorical kairos, is very difficult to describe.

My group on my second Kairos when I was the coordinator and a student leader.

Almost everyone who goes on Kairos is affected in a positive way. After dropping off their phones in the basket by the front door (Kairos was a no-distraction zone – no phones, iPods, magazines, books, etc.), the 45 or so girls are split into about six small groups led by a student and a teacher. They pray together, laugh together, cry together, and eat (a lot) together. These groups, the members of which barely knew each other before, form such a strong trust that they are able to open up about all their troubles – abusive relationships, death, fear of loneliness – anything that seems important or troubling at the time.

Leadership Team for Kairos XLVI

I left Kairos a much more confident person. I had always had insecurities that I let get in the way of me opening up and reaching out to new people. Kairos provided me with the opportunity to let go of those insecurities and learn to help people with problems much more severe than mine. It helped me put things into perspective. If the girls around me can deal with deaths of their best friends or overcome an abusive relationship, I certainly can learn to be strong and conquer my insecurities. I took this to heart and was lucky enough to be chosen as the coordinator and head student leader of the following Kairos. Being able to help my group experience Kairos – truly a “special notion of space and/or time” – was one of the greatest blessings I’ve ever received.