Ancient Futures

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             As a basis for comparison, "time" in Ladakhi culture was merely a concept, not a commodity coveted by everyone. Norberg-Hodge quotes, "Time is measured loosely; there is never a need to count minutes the distinction between work and play is not rigidly defined." (35) On the same page, she states, "With only simple tools at their disposal, Ladakhis spend a long time accomplishing each task. Spawning from this practice of loose time keeping is a Ladakhi phenomenon: "In traditional Ladakh, aggression of any sort is exceptionally rare the feeling that peace is better than conflict is so deeply ingrained that people turn automatically to a third party." (47) This is surely in opposition to the modern Western world, where citizens want the most for their time and most will stop at nothing to achieve what they feel is worth their time.
             With the introduction of Western ideas of living, commonplace activities and rituals are displaced and merely remnants of what used to be tradition remain. No longer is "most work done within the family or village done in a relaxed, spontaneous way by either sex." (67) The status quo personified equality and sharing; "For centuries, people worked as equals and friends - helping one another by turn." (102). Now, however, "there is paid labor during the harvest, the person paying the money wants to pay as little as possible, while the person receiving wants to have as much as possible." (102) This staple of Western economy may (arguably) work well in America or Europe, but for a people such as the Ladakhis, relationships based on money become a wedge between the people and they push further and further apart.
             Norberg-Hodge sums up the transition between the ease of slow-paced Ladakhi life to the hectic Western ways in this abbreviated quotation: "In the traditional economy, time was plentiful and limited only by the course of the seasons by contrast, the modern economy turns time into a commodity - something that can be bought and sold - and suddenly it is quantified and divided into the tiniest fragments people acquire new "time-saving" technologies the pace of life only gets faster.