It is the moment
that first imposes a chronological sequence and order
upon the stimulations operating on an organism,
and, in turn, through the sub-noticable joining together
of successive units of this smallest time-span,
time originates.

In the moment,
the world stands still.
A series of moments in which, respectively,
time stands still,
leads to the emergence of time consciousness.
Time consciousness would then be something like a compromise
to avoid the two extremes:
a world standstill or
world disintegration.

Each state of consciousness is governed by time,
and, indeed, in two senses of the word.
For one, each state of consciousness creates its own time;
secondly, it is contained within a certain time bound up with the subject’s lifespan
which, in turn, is bound up with world time
through which it is determined.
Consequently, the subjects views of the world
and of himself possess a double reference
to the time-conditioned
state of consciousness…

Man’s views of the world and of himself
can be seen as part of an attempt,
if not to close the gap
between time dimensions of the individual and those of the world
at least to make it bearable.
They establish a meaning to life,
to make the subject feel at home in the world,
and help conceal from him
the brutality of this temporal difference.
They induce him to delude himself
about the hopelessness of his ephemeral existence
by presenting themselves as certainties…

Excerpt The Temporality of World-Views and Self-Images
by Christoph Wulf, p. 60-61, Translation by Robert Golding

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These  lines make my head spin.  One reflexively turns away by “reading on,” never mind the potentially disturbing content just passed over, or one pauses to re-read and absorb the panoramic description of our human situation as presented here by Christoph Wulf.  How does each of us at the beginning of the awareness of distinction between ourselves as alive, and that of an exterior world, begin to stitch-together a sense of self that has continuity, a self-in-relation to the world?  No doubt that was and is, the most difficult task ever undertaken.  It is a task of concealment and deception.  And the task continues.

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What about a tune?  What is life without music?  This one fits.  If anyone, Mick Jagger knows how to deliver a traditional refrain with sardonic wit…