In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

PRESENT = PAST
(ETERNITY)
The future often becomes absorbed in a Present that seems to be ahead
of itself. But this is not the only shift taking place in everyday time-structures.
[see Present vs. Past] Likewise, the distinction between Past and
Present risks disappearing because the process in which each Past is
replaced by a new Present seems to have quickened so dramatically that
individual ways of thinking and collective modes of life can no longer
adapt: "Man's prospects are not at present so rosy that he can neglect
any means of improving them. He has recently made a number of
changes in his customs and ways of life, partly with intention, partly by
accident. These changes are involving such widespread further changes
that the fairly near future is likely to see an almost complete reorganization
of our lives, in their intimate aspects as much as in their public. Man
himself is changing, together with his circumstances; he has changed in
the past, it is true, but never perhaps so swiftly. His circumstances are
not known to have ever changed so much or so suddenly before, with
psychological as well as with economic, social and political dangers. This
suddenness threatens us" (Richards, 15). Such rapid change causes pain,
and it sometimes leads to situations in which the Past, instead of being
left behind, haunts the Present. People refer to the swiftness and depth
of the transformation with words that are normally reserved for important
events. But the historical change remains a quasi-event because,
paradoxically, its accelerated rhythm precludes its being conceptualized
400