„There are three points in time: the right one, the missed one, and the premature one.“ – (Stan Nadolny) –

The compulsion to choose between the many options the world offers, of which usually only a few can be accepted, and what’s more, only once in a lifetime and thus decisively determine one’s destiny, is one of the basic experiences of people in the globalized world. The imposition of the realization that one doesn’t have enough time to exhaust all possibilities creates – in a phrase coined by the Bochum philosopher Hans Blumenberg – „Weltmissbefinden“ and leads to incessant and futile attempts at compensation. The fear of missing out or being neglected has become a common companion in a world where the feeling of lack of time creates pressure to justify oneself. Why do this now and not something else? Couldn’t the available time have been used better?

The constant danger of missing the right moment when something absolutely must be done is a traumatizing experience that dominates the daily lives of many people. Those who turn down an offer in „world time“ rarely receive a second opportunity in their „lifetime.“ Missing a deadline risks missing life opportunities. Missing a deadline can ruin careers. Missing a connection jeopardizes social belonging. The therapeutic consequence is time management. People develop into masters of the art of scheduling every possible moment so that everything necessary occurs at the right moment. Those who fail to keep up lose their right to participate in social life. They may retain the right to basic social services, but in the great game of life, they are left with only the role of outsider.

Those who begin an apprenticeship or university degree today are well advised to build relationships for their future career right from the start. Anyone who waits until they have their journeyman’s certificate or their exam in hand must expect to find themselves in a competitive labor market that is impossible to manage without this forward-looking commitment. Those who hesitate too long and don’t act quickly enough squander their opportunities. This applies to ordinary citizens as well as to heads of state: „Life punishes those who come too late.“

„Thinking is good,“ Stan Nadolny has the father of his ponderous protagonist John Franklin explain in response to Franklin’s slowness, „but not until the offer is made to someone else.“ The sociologist Niklas Luhmann never tired of emphasizing that all action takes place within the narrow window of the present. Everything that happens, he saw, is tied to the moment. It doesn’t happen before or after. Therefore, he spoke of the „uncontrollability of simultaneity“: Those who don’t act now can no longer do anything to prevent someone else from creating facts in their place. Every reaction to unexpected events comes too late, as Bernhard Waldenfels also explains in his concept of time displacement.

It is this commitment to the moment that determines a traumatic aspect of the modern experience of time. Given traditional socialization, we expect a continuous flow of time from the past into the future. But life experience teaches us otherwise. Every present represents a break with the supposed continuity, for it brings events, decisions, and changes of course that call into question what has previously been valid. It is important to take the turn into a new present at the right time and not to be left behind in the past by following habits. In fact, not much needs to happen. It is enough that contexts and relationships shift, so that new perspectives emerge that must be taken into account.

Literature:

Hans Blumenberg, Lebenszeit und Weltzeit, S. 36
Nadolny, Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit, S. 41 und S. 50
Niklas Luhmann, Einführung in die Systemtheorie, S. 193 f.
Bernhard Waldenfels, Ortsverschiebungen, Zeitverschiebungen

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