Annie Dillard describes herself as a "Hasidic Christian." Having grown up under Catholic influence, she discovered Jewish mysticism in young adulthood and immediately borrowed from the ideas. For the Time Being is a philosophy book written in prose which describes Dillard's relationship to existence. She meditates upon the nature of life, death, evil, God, nature, etc. Intended to explain her own experience of life, the book is designed to challenge readers to consider their own philosophies as well as the fragile nature of life.
Dillard writes about 10 rotating topics: evil, encounters with people, birth, clouds, sand, Israel, China, numbers, thinkers, and the now. Although most of these ideas are pretty self-explanatory, encounters, numbers, and the now beg further explanation. Encounters is a section devoted to interesting experiences which Dillard has had meeting strangers, moments which have left an enduring imprint on her memory. These people generally taught Dillard something by their mannerisms, words, or deeds. In return she expresses a unique thought or feeling associated with each encounter and the way she changed because of them. In the numbers sections she relates mathematic information regarding population, global averages, and astronomy. The purpose is to quantify the improbable nature of reality. Finally "the now" refers to a lengthy conversation concerning the problems of the 21st century. Dillard diagnoses the majority of the population as suffering from various pathologies.
Interrelating all of the topics, Dillard writes an entirely holistic diagram of her experiences. She states no goal nor really includes an introduction to the book's contents; rather, allowing the ideas to speak for themselves. In tender prose she laments the horrific inevitability of death, devoting some pages to it. This book, more than anything, can be described as an intimate peek inside Dillard's mind. She seems to write about whatever she's been thinking about recently, managing to relate everything back to a timeless, global perspective upon the nature of human life.
