The sentence sounded like a transition to the music; but it remained speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf our evolution is a day,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, \u201cthen today we are living in the last minute. In this minute, an incredible amount is possible \u2013 and an incredible amount is dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans felt how the word \u201cdangerous\u201d resonated within him, as if Clawdia had said it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can make our life easier than ever before,\u201d Dr. AuDHS continued, \u201cand we can make it emptier than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n
He paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is our task,\u201d he said. \u201cNot to fight against modernity. But to shape it consciously.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said \u201cconsciously\u201d with an emphasis that revealed that consciousness is work.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot to demonize the smartphone,\u201d he said, \u201cbut to use it as a tool \u2013 instead of as a numbing agent. Not to ban consumption, but to embed consumption in meaning. Not to be perfect, but consistent in small routines.\u201d<\/p>\n
He paused briefly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd above all,\u201d he said, \u201cto know your own meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans felt how this sentence went straight to his heart, not as pathos, but as a stab.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor if you know your meaning,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, \u201cgoals become clear. When goals are clear, organization becomes meaningful. When organization is meaningful, routines emerge. And when routines support you, freedom arises.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sentence was like a clockwork. It ticked.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, and his voice became warm again, \u201cthen what we could do as children suddenly becomes possible again: to live in the here and now. With joy and focus. With health and strength. With community and meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked into the room as if he wanted people not only to understand it, but to believe it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if we succeed in that,\u201d he said, \u201cthen that is actually the best definition of a good life: a life that does not just feel busy \u2013 but fulfilled.\u201d<\/p>\n
He paused. One could hear, outside, a bird \u2013 one could swear it did it on purpose \u2013 place a note into the landscape.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you very much,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS.<\/p>\n
The applause did not come like a storm; it came like rain: first scattered, then denser, then even. People clapped because people clap, and because, in such rooms, in such houses, one likes to have the feeling of having heard something essential. Hans clapped too. He did not clap enthusiastically. He clapped correctly.<\/p>\n
And while he clapped, he felt that something inside him did not come to rest.<\/p>\n
For the speech had, like every speech that is good, created a restlessness: it had furnished what one already knew with new images; and images, esteemed reader, dear reader, cannot be removed from the head as easily as numbers.<\/p>\n
When Hans later lay in his room \u2013 the curtain half drawn, the light dimmed, the blanket neatly laid over his legs, as if order were a sleep aid \u2013 he heard the clock in his head: twenty-three fifty-nine.<\/p>\n
He saw, with closed eyes, the green outside. He saw the red column. He saw the grand piano that was not being played. He saw the last minute that belonged to him.<\/p>\n
And the ring on his finger \u2013 this little circle that pretended to be jewelry \u2013 recorded the wakefulness as if it were an illness.<\/p>\n