For the Time Being

Introduction 7

Part I We, self-made slaves
1 The undeniable present 13
2 Don’t touch my Breil 18
3 The clock as a life changer 25
4 Meanwhile is everywhere 31

Part II The feeling of time
5 Man as the owner of private time 37
6 No time to waste 41
7 Waiting 48
8 Urban paradoxes 57
9 Timeline 62
10 Panic as a pastime 67
11 The ultimate entertainment 71
12 Watching the future 76
13 When sci-fi collides with the present 80
14 Sense of timing 83
15 Deadlines 86
16 Time to go 88
17 Midlife and other crises 91
18 Rites of passage or mood-messing moments 95

Part III Take time
19 To sublimate the feeling of time 99
-All sorts of time 99
-Human as in human time 102
-The moment of bliss 104
20 To reinvent time 111
-Magic with age 111
-Deadlines don’t exist 116
21 To outlive time 120
-The blessing of being mortal 120
-Memories define you 122
-Mood like a train in time 128
-The significant presence 132
-Turning time around. Period. 135
22 The moral tidings 144
-All in good time 144
-We, trustees of time 146

Bibliography 153
Acknowledgements 157
About the author 159