Sin: The Taint of Time

Abstract

“Modern societies have … synchronized activities to the point that time exerts an exquisite pressure on all who are regulated by their interdependence with others rather than by the flow of tides and seasons or by biorhythms and the stars. Instead of leading to a world of pure contingency, purgatory has become a world in which contingency is mediated and controlled by institutions and corporations whose calendars, schedules, and time imperatives constrain the fate or daimon of everyone who is seeking to be approved, credentialed, tested, promoted, probated, tenured, appointed, ordained, adjudicated, or elected, to name only a few of the processes of purgation that modern societies have developed.”