“One of the defining characteristics of modern industrial societies is the extent to which they are future-oriented. The past is forgotton, destroyed, built over. Oral history, the story of what a family or community achieved in the past, survives only to the most minimal degree. The past is re-defined, packaged, and sold as ‘heritage’. Traditional, collectivist societies, by contrast, are predominantly past-oriented.”
John McLeod
Religion is both past- and future-oriented. Spirituality is a quest to be outside of time.