Multiple coexisting temporalities exceed a single secular timeline.

Evidence

But in addition to complex space we need to think also of heterogeneous time: of embodied practices rooted in multiple traditions, of the differences between horizons of expectation and spaces of experience—differences that continually dislocate the present from the past, the world experienced from the world anticipated, and call for their revision and reconnection. These simultaneous temporalities embrace both individuals and groups in complexities that imply more than a simple process of secular time. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 875 (#expands, via linked claim)

So much for questions of space in modern secular society—the alleged absence of hierarchy and supposed dependence on horizontal solidarity. What about time? Here, too, the reality is more complex than Taylor’s model suggests. The homogeneous time of state bureaucracies and market dealings is of course central to the calculations of modern political economy. It allows speed and direction to be plotted with precision. But there are other temporalities—immediate and mediated, reversible and nonreversible—by which individuals in a heterogeneous society live and by which therefore their political responses are shaped. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 31 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Temporal succession is a uniting division, not sheer separation; Coexisting cultures cannot be ranked by any single historical clock. — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 822; Distinct traditions run on heterogeneous temporalities that secular time cannot contain (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Multiple simultaneous temporalities complicate any simple model of secular time. #expands (0.93) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 875
• Modern secular society contains multiple incommensurable temporalities, not one homogeneous time. #expands (0.92) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 31