Time Travel
your feedback
A big thank you to everyone who wrote.
Here are just some of the replies...
Jonathan's Thought for the Day Tuesday 11th April, that began all this...
The circle of time
Time, they tell us, is infinite. It goes on forever. And ever. I find this very hard
to wrap my brain around this idea. It tires and frustrates me to try. So usually,
I don't bother. I think, instead, about easier things. Like what's for supper. Or
which park to take a stroll in on a Sunday afternoon. Last Sunday though, I
had a little thought. I don't suppose it is a new one - but it is at least, new to
me. A circle is a line that has no beginning or end. It goes around and round,
forever. And ever. In that respect, it is infinite. Just like time. What if time IS a
circle? What if you can never get to the end of it because if you travel along it
long enough, you just come back round to the beginning? Might this explain
how our distant ancestors would appear to have had access to technology
that we have only just begun to invent?
plus more on Time Travel from Jonathan 12th and 13th
Jackie is Hawaii wants to go 'timeless' and longs for the day when she can:
"Time has always been of interest to me with a focus on letting go of time and the constraints of the manmade system which I see partially as a means of controlling society. In fact, one of my main goals in life is to lead a timeless life. I've partly achieved this goal, so much so that I have a page-a-day calendar on my desk lest I forget where I am in the year. If I forget to tear a page off, it takes me a second to figure out where I am. I know there needs to be a system of some kind to function in the world so I continue to respect what has been put in place but long for the day when it will no longer be important."
Ikko reckons we might already be 'back from the future':
"Having come from the future, we are here right now to mend ourselves, so we can change the world for future."
From the Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of England, Melanie evokes a very soothing vision:
"Time is such a weird concept to get your head around. Mostly I have to stop thinking about it because it is so out of our control and yet also so MANMADE. I see life and death like a river that flows around in a complete circle.
On the banks of this river there is 'someone' or 'something' who picks us up and sets us down on this river, as and when it is our 'turn' to be on it. It is a very gentle process and the river meanders slowly and peacefully along, with the 'entity' on the bank, bringing us in and setting us down. As the river is going around in a circle we are neither there or never not there. We exist as much now as we did 500 years ago, and as much as we will 500 years hence. It is only the changes to our exteriors that make us so concerned. We are not worried about where we were before we were here, but people fret a great deal about where we will be after we are 'gone' Love lasts and love stays. You feel it inside you so strongly and like time it is invisible. And like time it controls us so much."
Katherine in Massachusetts has gone geometrical on us:
"I find this theme most interesting. Now here's another thought: What if instead of being a circle, time is a moebius strip? Hmmm..."
Note: For those who do not know what a moebius strip is: it is a continuous one-sided strip formed by twisting one end of the rectangular strip through 180 degrees about the longitudinal axis of the strip and attaching this end to the other.
Nancy advocates Remote viewing, but not, we're sure, for military purposes:
"What about exploring Remote Viewing. If we could all learn how to do this, we would be able to 'slip back in time' or 'forward to the future' for that matter. I've been reading about this and it is more popular that a lot of us are aware of. Of course, the military has been using remote viewing for quite some time now. The secrets are just starting to come out."
For further reading on the subject, Leo Steve offers his recommendation:
"If you are looking into the convoluted subject of time and time travel, I have just read a good novel that takes a somewhat different look at time. I found the book quite fascinating. The author is Michael Crighton. The book is called 'Timeline'."
Circles and lines are more than just speculation for Winston in Montreal
"One day in 1988 I was having dinner at a restaurant in Montreal. It was still early for dinner I suppose, and there was only one other lady and a gentleman dining. Quite unexpectedly, the lady approaches our table and stands there staring at me. I think I said something like 'May I help you?'
She asks to see my palms. I show them to her. She then says to me, with a surprised look on her face: 'Why are you back again? You've been on earth for hundreds of years.'
There must have been other words exchanged, but her words which I cannot forget are: 'You can do anything with circles and lines, but you're not doing what fate has given you to do.'
For 12 years now, I've been asking myself what 'circles and lines' could mean. Can you imagine my regret for not asking her to elaborate?
Whenever I think of asking someone for clarification, I'm afraid the answer might be: 'You already know', or 'It refers to the Circle-Line boat tours'.
But I wish someone would hit me on the head and say, "this is what it means".
What would YOU mean if you were to tell me 'circles and lines'?"
Phoebe in the southern state of Virginia in the USA describes an infinitely flexible version of time
"I believe Richard Bach addresses the subject very well in his book 'One'. The premise is that we all live in and through a virtual labyrinth of choices...
Each effects the other infinitely; the result is an endless web of reality that can be travelled in any direction."
Einstein has a graspable vision of this mind-boggling subject, according to Robin in Port of Spain:
"Albert Einstein is most famous for his Theory of Relativity. However, Einstein had a prolific and enquiring mind and was the author (if that is the right word) of a number of other theories: amongst them, time travel. He believed that it WAS possible. Einstein likened time to a river slowly meandering down to the sea. We, he postulated, are on a boat in the middle of the river drifting slowly along with the current. The present is the banks of the river
that we can see; the future is the banks of the river just around the coming bend; the past is around the bend of the river that we have just passed.
If we could somehow get to either bank, Einstein said, we could get off the boat and walk forward or backwards, as the case may be and as we desired, into the future or the past. Something to think about, no?"
Another recommendation for Michael Crichton's book, 'Timeframe', from Arleen:
"I am sure someone may have already suggested it - but, in case someone hasn't, I think you would immensely enjoy Michael Crichton's book called 'Timeframe'. A master storyteller with a lot of understandable quantum physics thrown in. A very good read and in line with what you have been discussing."
Madeleine reckons what matters when it comes to time travel is matter itself:
"I'd like to offer my thought on your wonderful idea of spokes bringing us forward or back in time. It's such an exciting thought. But we'd have to be inserted into someone or something else as there is only a certain amount of matter around at any one time. However if we can photograph time in space, make an image of a specific moment then maybe we could visit that way. Like hearing past air waves. What do you think?"
Sci-fi fan in Boston, Linda, identifies the 'big' snag about time travel into the past:
"Your speculations about time travel are fascinating - especially the notion of time as a circle. But there is a problem that all sci-fi freaks understand that a lot of people don't seem to get: the paradox. Briefly, you can't go back into your own past because you might alter something that would make it impossible for you to return.
The best example of this was in 'Terminator II' when the humanoid destroyed the computer chip that made his invention
possible. Therefore, he could never have been built. Therefore, he could never have existed to return and destroy the computer chip that made his invention possible. You can travel to the future, but you can't go back and change your past.(At least not by physical time travel.)"
Former teacher and Virgo Anne recommends the books of Madeleine L'Engle:
"Since you have begun to think deeply about the time travel issue, I would like to suggest an author worth reading. Madeleine L'Engle, an American author, has written several books dating from the early 1960's concerning time travel. Her imaginative theory on tesseract (the four dimensional equivalent of a cube) is explained in 'A Wrinkle in Time'. These books are actually written as young adult fiction. However, as a former teacher and
librarian, I really have enjoyed all of her books as an adult. They're a nice getaway from trash fiction that is found so much in today's society."
Mary sees moving through the fourth dimension as being more than a bit problematic:
"I think it would be rather a problem if ever we managed it on a large or even small scale. Certainly, we have ideas based on Einstein's theories, but, on a basic, human level, I do not think it could be done 'right.' By right, I mean, I do not believe that the human ego or need to interfere in things could possibly allow us to leave well enough alone if ever we could travel through time.
Even the small change engineered by some well-meaning time traveller, snatching a child from the path of an oncoming carriage, for example, could have unimaginable repercussions - both positive and negative - on our own time period.
Is there any way to insure fully that we would never again cause a virtual disease holocaust of the magnitude created by Europeans when they came in contact with native peoples of the Americas and surrounding islands for the first time? Could we be certain that diseases, such as small pox, currently considered eradicated would not flare up once more if travellers were exposed to them?
As for time being circular or wheel-like in some way - I really like that idea. I think that time is linear ONLY in the sense that we have to put dates on things for the convenience of sorting for the simplest of minds. Everything DOES indeed link up in some way because of the nature of cause and effect.
I think you could probably diagram the links, but it would hardly look like a wheel once you finished - certainly not anything organized in any way I can imagine.
While a person SHOULD be able to arrive before he or she left if true time travel were ever possible, there is always the risk of paradox - something a number of sci-fi movies on the topic deal with in various ways - none very positive. If paradox can cause destruction on an individual or civilization-wide level, it stands to reason that time travel could have some huge risks for even those who do not engage in the activity or possibly even
know of its existence. I think they should have a right to determine if it is okay if it is going to affect their futures as well."
Read no further, unless you want to short-circuit your brain, courtesy of Nick, alias Moebius.
"Thinking of time as a circle is okay - and thinking it has spokes is certainly logical (and, I believe, correct), however I sincerely doubt all of those spokes would be the same size.
Here's the picture I've imagined - derived from all of the books I have read concerning the structure of time/the universe.
First, they are one and the same: space-time. So when you try to imagine time, you get the same effect with space. Why?
Well, think of the Standard Theory of Relativity: take, for example, a black hole. Infinite gravity. Thus, as you get closer to it, it makes a bigger indention into space-time and time itself seems to 'speed' up. Eventually you get to the center of a black hole, which is actually a literal hole in the fabric of space-time - so time is infinitely fast and gravity is infinite - which means that your weight is infinite... and because time is sped up, and e=mc2, this
means your mass is infinite as well - you exist everywhere for all time.
So you see how everything relates to one another - in this case time and space.
This being so, let's go back to our idea of time being a circle. Hmm, well since time and space are the same, if you keep going in one direction for an indefinite amount of time... then that means: yes, you will arrive at where you left. How philosophical is that?
Now, as I said earlier, a picture of a circle works, but to get a better idea, think of space time as a donut. It IS circular, but also three-dimensional. This is the best image of space time we could ever really imagine in my opinion - as we can only really muster to think in three dimensions. There are actually 10 dimensions (according to Machio Kaku - who has 'proven' this mathematically - but who's to say?).
Just think about time now using this image of a donut - it brings even more head-spinning ideas to mind.
While I'm on the subject of dimensions, let me point you to another head-scratching idea: imagine you - in all of your three-dimensional glory - are magically transported to a two dimensional world where this is only length and width. Imagine there are 2d people. They basically look to you like little circles or squares - basic 2d shapes.
Now, a war is currently on-going (see, we're not the only ones...). The general of the Squares is trying to figure out how the Circles have organized their army... but all he can see is one big line, because he is only two-dimensional. You, however, are three dimensional, and so you can look at both armies from above.. and thus know where each and every man lies.
To the general of the Squares, you are omnipotent and must be a god, for you see everyone at once. Here's an exercise: imagine how a 2d person would see you, a 3d person. Now imagine us trying to see a god. We'd never completely understand them until we rose to their level..]
So now let's take ourselves -3d persons - and imagine a square - 2d, correct? Now how do you make the 2d square 3d? Ah, you comprise it of multiple squares. BOOM, a cube. So how do we make our 3d square, a cube, into a 4d shape? Hmm, well, we comprise it of multiple cubes. Ouch, that's hurts to think about. See how limited our way of thinking is? As reflective/introspective as we are, we can never fully understand our universe.
What we do understand through mathematics and observation are really feats in and of themselves."
Velocity is the key to is all, suggests Terri in New Jersey
"I agree with your notion about the 'spokes' that give structure to the concept of time. I think that atomic matter is the main ingredient to the structure.
When you add velocity to the sub-atomic particles you transcend the structure and have energy. Since energy exists outside of time, I think we need to work on the 'velocity'."
Struggling screenwriter Polly has a point, you'll have to admit - enjoying each moment as it comes our way:
"I think there's a movie here somewhere. 'Spokes of the Wheel' or something like that. The whole point being that we should all let go of the past, stop fretting about the future, and enjoy each moment as it comes, for it could be
our last."
Gary ponders time and reaches an evolutionary conundrum:
"Quite honestly, we are all time travellers. Time is just as much a sense as taste, touch, hearing, seeing, and smell. We just choose to ignore our awareness of it. Consider the cockroach crossing the floor. This insect has absolutely no knowledge of your existence. Yet, it senses your presence and the danger therein. Move close and the roach quickly runs. A mere vibration. If you feel that the human race is the absolute highest level of existence
stop here. If, on the other hand, you believe that there is a hierarchy to the universe, we are the 'cockroach crossing the floor'."
Time is both a collective and singular experience, according to Dean:
"I agree that time is like a wheel. All events and moments are interconnected to each other. Inherent in the fact of existence is the idea that we are, on some level, connected to all moments in time. Each individual is a spoke and each individual perspective contributes to the make-up of time. This is because time is not objective. The perceived passing of time is directly related to the experience of the observer. Each of us singularly, and all of us
together, create the phenomenon of past, present and future. To travel in time would require a vehicle born of this perception. It would not be an instrument or a physical apparatus. It would be intangible in the same way that time is intangible. This is not to say that time does not exist in the physical world. It is simply to say that to grasp the structure of time, and manipulate it, would require the grasping of the interconnectedness of the human
perception that creates it in the first place. Therein lies the seat of our truest and most consequential power."
Leigh in North Carolina is also a fan of the author Madeleine L'Engle:
'Not only did I follow your thought, I am as intrigued as you by time travel. My interest was piqued as child. I read the book, 'A Wrinkle in Time' by Madeleine L'Engle. It contained a theory on time travel. and was presented as such: if time is linear, then if you pull both ends of the line together, you make a 'wrinkle' in it. I wish I could include a diagram, such as was in this book. It is a children's book, but I thought the concept very advanced, but
still put plainly enough for children to grasp.
The diagram was of two hands holding a thread out tautly and an ant walking, essentially, a tightrope. If however, the hands were brought together, the ant would get from point 'A' to point 'B' instantly. I hope that makes sense. If, however, time is, as you discussed, not linear, but circular, then one should be able to move freely about the circle. If you include the spokes, it would almost be, as in the picture, a bridge from one point on the circle to
another corresponding point. I hope you find these thoughts helpful and that we continue to explore this in your column."
Donna speculates that all there is, is 'now':
"What if time were happening all at once, that all of time were occurring NOW (the present is all that exists), but we only perceive it as day to day, so we can experience it and turn around and see ourselves...
What if time looked like a spiral, sort of like how DNA strands look. What if this represents all of time, forever and ever like a book of pages but never ending....
Now picture these pages piled one on top of the other going up and down the spiral. Now see and place yourself on one of these pages right now where you are in the 'time continuum' and see your life and all those you know and love and the things you experience.
What if (without your knowing it) you were on each of the pages...
How would looking at time like this change your life? For me, it has allowed me to relax and know that all the dreams I ever had or will have, somewhere, sometime are now taking place. This could account for d�j� vu, knowing we have been 'here' before or that we are now drawing to ourselves what we sense of the future.
What if we knew that we were creating our future world 'right now and projecting it into the future... that would take into account - free will, just think what a wonderful world we could create! Maybe just knowing that we have this power within us can make a difference in our day to day lives."
Capricorn Karen in London is philosophical: time for her is emotional and unique and thus immeasurable.
"Time is not a circle, but it makes us run round in circles every day of our lives. Time is something invented by man to earn clock manufacturers a living and to stress out the rest of us, most of the time! It is such an emotional thing: five minutes in a doctor's waiting room are an eternity, five days when a loved one doesn't call are pure torment, five years of a happy marriage pass like lightning.
Maybe time is just inside our heads then. But one thing's for
sure: however time makes you feel as it passes, it is a one-way street. There's no going back. You can't close a flower back up into its bud, you can't unfry an egg. Though sad to some, this linear aspect of time is a relief to others. Thus time is a great leveller amongst us: we are all in the same boat,
moving forwards together into the future, making what we can of it. And we all have to let go of past times. But though we can't go back to the past, we can at least manipulate it according to our needs. Some of us keep it alive in our memories and that is a good thing if it is a source of happiness.
Some of us bury it if it's not worth keeping and why not if that makes one feel better! Of course nowadays time has to be quantified in terms of minutes and hours without that the modern world would be in chaos. But beyond that rather limited view of it, time is also very much connected with our sense of being who we are, and in that respect it is unique to each of us and thus immeasurable."
With time as a figure of eight the possibilities, for Pam in the USA, are amazing
"Instead of a wheel, I've always envisioned time differently. Take a large rubber band, or some other flexible circular object. Twist it once (so it forms a figure of eight) and place in on a flat surface. You probably will twist it evenly so it forms a nice 'figure of eight'. But now move the point where it crosses, so one side of the 'eight' is smaller than the other. If the universe is an infinity - a circle - then it could also be like the figure eight. As a circle,
time would be one way; but as a figure eight perhaps time would be (behave) another way. And if time actually touches at the point the eight crosses, well then...imagine the possibilities."
Alan reckons that time travel is simply not on:
"Time is an expansion into the infinite, and there's no way we can time travel. And that's good. Why would you want to time travel? That's why we have museums and science fiction."
Getting into the groove might prove to be the way forward - and back, writes Rhonda
"In his series of books regarding the teachings of Don Juan, Carlos Casteneda states the Indian shamans 'saw' time as a tunnel with many grooves.
Each groove is a timeline. He also states that a person with enough 'personal power' and the right energy configuration (he called them 'stalkers') can turn the wheel and change the timeline. Interesting to think that there may be many alternative existences going on at the same time, and in the same space and that a person could move from one to another."
Tobin favours another shape - the spiral:
"I do so like your time wheel metaphor. May I suggest a slight modification. Instead of a wheel consider a spiral with spokes back to a center pole.
The spiral is a very strongly occurring natural shape. Or, to expand one level higher, consider the double helix (like the DNA structure). This may be an
even more frequently occurring structure in nature. As you may have guessed, I think that nature repeats itself in many different areas."
Time travel as an antidote to retarded development is a notion that Gina entertains:
"The center on your wheel is infinity, to which all time is connected. The time travel issue could be for emotional development, I have seen so many
people get 'stuck' in a time period, like the 70's and never come out of it. I have seen people go back and redo that period specifically and then be
able to move forward and likewise to have relationships with other people at ages when then went off track. I find this concept very interesting. The
power in the concept of infinity is awesome, and must hold the key to any possibility that actual time travel can occur."
Leo Lee likes the idea and has a thing or two he would like to 'go back and fix':
"I follow your 'spoke' theory. I really do... If you ever possibly figure out what to do with this, I've got about 10,000 things I'd like to run back and change/fix in the recent past. If I come up with an 'in' on this, I'll certainly let you know."
Another Jon finds the circle and spokes idea too rigid:
"An interesting idea, but I feel you are attempting to simplify a complex and difficult theoretical concept. I am no expert on the matter, but as I understand it, the idea of time being analogous to a wheel is like saying it is a piece of string tied together at each end - ie that it can exist in a loop. I am
not convinced of the credibility of this I must admit. However, in your analogy the construction of spokes to a wheel rigidises the circle concept and
renders it inflexible. The flexible loop idea however provides more interesting potential for time travel in the sense that areas of the loop that could be
considered 'close' to each other ( in which dimension I have no idea !!!) and could represent potential for shifts in time."
Canadian Connie is starting to get her head around time travel:
"What a profound thought! This could very well be the answer! Wouldn't it be amazing if someday it could be proven? You've certainly given me something to think about..."
The infinity symbol gets Martin's bet:
"Instead of a circle, how about the infinity symbol, an elongated figure eight. This might explain deja vu and how one thing leads from another, or how people have a spark of genius, when the almost overlap of time, gets close enough to spark, (or fizz, crackle, or pop) and a thought from a previous moment in time transfers its energy and thoughts from one moment into a moment of present time, and/or vice versa.
I still think it is very funny that we humans, in present time, with all of our advancements and technology, can't even figure out how primitive people built things like the Pyramids, Stonehenge and Easter Island. Funny very funny."
Sylvia in San Diego feels like she has been on the wheel of life for a while:
"Wow! I must tell you this really touched me. What a concept. I've always felt like an old soul, as if I had gone through these steps in life before but
have not really understood how or why. I like this idea you've come across, who knows you might not be too far off."
Diana in the US just used this web site to time travel:
"I just did it! Clicked on yesterday's predictions to get my today. Got my tomorrow by just surfing today. I prefer to think of time as a long line on which you should be able to set down anywhere. At least it makes understanding being seven or nine or 12 or 14 hours behind or ahead somebody else a little less eye-crossy. It's a place to start, anyway."
Morgana share just one of her theories:
"Consider the possibility that time is not a circle, but a spiral. Each time we come around we pass the same place but a little farther up. That is why some eras seem to reflect qualities of earlier times, and forgotten knowledge and technology gets rediscovered.
As to time travel, I suppose it would be easy to fall down a ring on the spiral, but you might have difficulty climbing up. Just another theory. I have a few on the subject."
Utama reports on an Italian 'time machine':
"Have you ever heard about Damanhur, the underground Temple in Italy? Apart from it being a beautiful place, they claim to have built a 'Time Machine'. It looks impressive full of copper coils, and some members of the community claim to have travelled to Ancient Egypt and such. I've heard these stories from them first hand, I am not sure though if they are believable. I prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt! I will try to not tell you my
own opinion too much so you can see for yourself. If you are interested, please see their web site:
www.damanhur.org
To get into the temple you need to first go through some rituals and exercises, but it is worthwhile because of its artistic grandeur and beauty. I never saw a recent work of art of such proportions or intricacy. An absolute new 'World Wonder'."
Meg sees many wheels in the fourth dimension:
"Your wheel concept is interesting. Only problem is that if you moved in a non-linear fashion through time (eg forward, then back down a spoke), you would arrive at the spot you started at, creating the paradox of time travel ie you would meet yourself before you had left. Also, what if you did something in the future that changed the past, or vice versa?
An alternative scenario is that there are an infinite number of universes, so when you jump into the future, the past that exists in that scenario differs from the past you left, ie the original past where you did NOT time travel continues, while the new past in your new scenario has you time travelling into the
future! So I guess, using your scenario of wheel spokes, every time you move forwards or backwards along a spoke, you end up in a new wheel, ie
you could NEVER return to the same spoke."
Robert says that the key is meditation:
"I asked the time question to a friend of mine who had done some physics work for the CIA. His answer in short form was that the higher you move your consciousness above the level of your mind, the more you can see over the horizon, making it possible to see forward and backward in time. This was a conversation about 10 years ago. Since then, from further study and some experience, I realised that if you meditate, you need to practice
identifying with the point of 'awareness' that 'watches' your mind get quiet. The Egyptians called this the 'watcher'. Some traditions call it the 'listener'."
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