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The invention of purgatory and the development of modernity has caused people to become obsessed with the passage of time. An examination of Dante's purgatory reveals why time became highly significant in both secular and sacred life. 'The Cloud of Unknowing' and Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress' also present a purgatorial understanding of time. In modern societies, particularly America, purgatorial views of time have become secularized.The stress placed on time in modern societies often leads people to lose track of the rhythms of nature.