While Spousal Unit and I were on a Three Initial Company (TIC) business trip to Taiwan, we took an enchanting trip across the country’s interior that included Taroko Gorge, Sun Moon Lake, and the hillside fruit orchards amidst the central mountains.
After all those years, I remember the song that became fixed in my mind during our trip: Judy Collins singing Bob Dylan’s “Time Passes Slowly.”
It was in direct contrast to the nightmare at TIC – 60/70 hour work weeks, bitter co-workers, toxic executives, dubious corporate interests.
Why couldn’t the world be as simple as Dylan describes? Why can’t we be satisfied with simple pleasures, simple possessions, simple gifts?
Time Passes Slowly
by Bob Dylan
Time passes slowly up here in the mountains
We sit beside bridges and walk beside fountains
Catch the wild fishes that float through the stream
Time passes slowly when you’re lost in a dream
Once I had a sweetheart, she was fine and good-lookin’
We sat in her kitchen while her mama was cookin’
Stared out the window to the stars high above
Time passes slowly when you’re searchin’ for love
Ain’t no reason to go in a wagon to town
Ain’t no reason to go to the fair
Ain’t no reason to go up, ain’t no reason to go down
Ain’t no reason to go anywhere
Time passes slowly up here in the daylight
We stare straight ahead and try so hard to stay right
Like the red rose of summer that blooms in the day
Time passes slowly and fades away
But there are other, less pastoral interpretations of this song.
“Time Passes Slowly”
This is another deceptively simple song where Dylan appears to sing the praises of stability and stasis. There is some sense with lyrics like ‘ain’t no reason to go anywhere’ and ‘time passes slowly and fades away’ that maybe Dylan is not as satisfied with inaction as he appears on the surface.
David Weir consistently has insightful, though-provoking commentaries on Dylan’s lyrics. His thoughts on “Time Passes Slowly” is a rather dark interpretation. Although his analysis is well thought out, I disagree with the intensity. I agree with the sense of disquiet when leading an artificially simple life – a sense of restlessness, boredom, and shirking of responsibilities, but surely nothing apocalyptic. Use it as a time of reflection before getting back into the game.
The song is about the effects of wasting one’s life. The reason time passes slowly is that too little is done. Neither bridges nor fountains have their potential exploited. Bridges are not crossed, in the sense perhaps of being used to resolve differences. And fountains – presumably a symbol of spiritual cleansing – are walked beside, but not washed in. The inactivity continues in the second verse where the couple sit and stare while the mother alone is active in cooking. In the final verse there is even less activity – the couple ‘stare straight ahead’ and ‘try … to stay right’. Furthermore the staring has become less aspirational – from having the stars (heaven or salvation) as a focus, to merely staring ahead at nothing in particular. The suggestion is that indolence breeds indolence…….
That the narrator’s indolence is misguided from a religious perspective becomes apparent not only from the value represented by the stars, but by the mention of ‘fishes’. This form of the plural has a biblical ring and suggests ordinary people in need of salvation (cf. Matt. 4.19). However the couple do not save people when metaphorically they catch the fish; it’s too late – the fish are already dead (live fish don’t float). Just as the dead fish float through the stream, so the people they represent (like the narrator) float through life. The cost of inactivity – the narrator’s and these people’s – is the loss of salvation.
There is so little that is absolutely required of us – death and taxes, maintaining our corporal existence, etc. Some level of hygiene is recommended but not absolutely necessary. Not being a jerk is a good thing, but again not required. So, what do we do with all this time we have on our hands?
Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) is a lake in Yuchi Township, Nantou County, Taiwan. It is the largest body of water in Taiwan. The area around the lake is home to the Thao tribe, one of Taiwan’s aboriginal tribes. Sun Moon Lake surrounds a tiny island called Lalu. The east side of the lake resembles a sun while the west side resembles a moon, hence the name.
Sun Moon Lake is located 748 m (2,454 ft) above sea level. It is 27 m (89 ft) deep and has a surface area of approximately 7.93 km2 (3.06 sq mi). The area surrounding the lake has many trails for hiking.
By Amymu123 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 By Justin Hwang (Justinhwang1996 (talk)) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0Wikipedia
Sun Moon Lake is featured on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) passport, which was issued in 2012. This move led to protests from Taipei to Beijing. – Wikipedia
“Looking at my girlfriend’s passport, I noticed each page has a picture and name of a famous place in China. One of the pages lists Taiwan’s Sun Moon Lake.”
Yu Shan or Yushan, also known as Mount Jade, Jade Mountain… is the highest mountain in Taiwan at 3,952 m (12,966 ft) above sea level, giving Taiwan the 4th-highest maximum elevation of any island in the world. It is the highest point in the western Pacific region outside of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Yushan and its surrounding mountains belong to the Yushan Range. The area was once in the ocean; it rose to its current height because of the Eurasian Plate’s movement over the Philippine Sea Plate. Yushan is ranked 40th by topographic isolation.
The mountains are now protected as the Yushan National Park. The national park is Taiwan’s largest, highest, and least accessible national park. It contains the largest tract of wilderness remaining on the island.
By Grantabc99 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 By 欣盈 – 玉山主峰, CC BY-SA 2.0 By 邱文強 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 By Prince Roy from Washington, DC – Yu Shan Summit Trek, CC BY 2.0 By James Ho – IMG_0426, CC BY-SA 2.0 By 温文佑 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Cathy Chen has a delightful story from 2013, where she visited orchards in Taiwan to learn of their organic farming techniques.
“I have 600 wives,” he says. Yihong, driving his little truck, drove 40 min to pick me up from Douliu, is the owner of six hundred guava trees….
Being a city girl, I bring doubt and alarm with me instinctively everywhere I go, but when I approached these people, they never responded with any alarm. They smiled and welcomed me into their home, feeding me with whatever they had, the healthy food and drink. What they’re really good at is destroying the walls and the worry that you bring with you and make you feel yes someone trusts you, regardless of how you first look at them. The first time seeing him, I was surprised how tiny Yihong was, but after a while, I stopped noticing his height, but saw his optimism, his way of dealing with his farms, his consideration and his generosity.
