I was reminded recently of a theory I developed when I was a teenager. Based on Einstein's idea of a time-space continuum, I figured out how time travel could actually happen. My theory involved an intricate arrangement of interlocking spheres and precise trajectories. It seemed it would work perfectly, and I felt quite pleased that I might be one step ahead of Einstein.
Until I spotted one snag to my theory: the required acceleration and deceleration would cause one hell of an explosion at the points of departure and arrival. Everything would be obliterated.
My lovely friend who had reminded me of my theory pointed out a solution: "... you can time travel without the use of any greater device than your mind, which won't necessarily explode."
She's right.
Most of us are already time-travelling most of the time: in our minds. Not just in day-dreams, in the actual way we live our lives from day to day.
We inhabit the past when our minds are clouded by regrets, grief, guilt, grudges... or when we are unconsciously driven by old conditioning for which the rhyme and reason has been long forgotten.
We live in the future when we fear; not just bad things that might befall us, but even good things when we think they might not happen or that we won't match up to them.
Such time travel tends to happen unconsciously, outside of our own control. And that robs us of our lives, because we can only truly live ... make a real difference ... in the present moment. Everything that has ever happened, has done so in the present moment. It still is and always will be so.
There are many ways we can learn to take control of our mental wanderings through time. (There is a selection of them under the "Highly Recommended" panel on the right, as well as in my current and upcoming books.) Taking that control is like turning the key that unlocks our freedom to live more effectively in the present moment.
When we revisit our past consciously and deliberately, we still cannot change the actual events that happened. But we can change the stories we hold in our minds about those events. When we understand things differently, we can free ourselves from the heavy weight of false stories we are holding onto about both past and future.
And that freedom comes to us in the present moment, the only place where we can find the freedom of courage, joy, peace, love...
And that is the secret of effective time travel: to stay in the present moment when we travel to past or future.
Thank you, Janis, for your wise insight. You have completed my boyhood dream.
Until I spotted one snag to my theory: the required acceleration and deceleration would cause one hell of an explosion at the points of departure and arrival. Everything would be obliterated.
My lovely friend who had reminded me of my theory pointed out a solution: "... you can time travel without the use of any greater device than your mind, which won't necessarily explode."
She's right.
Most of us are already time-travelling most of the time: in our minds. Not just in day-dreams, in the actual way we live our lives from day to day.
We inhabit the past when our minds are clouded by regrets, grief, guilt, grudges... or when we are unconsciously driven by old conditioning for which the rhyme and reason has been long forgotten.
We live in the future when we fear; not just bad things that might befall us, but even good things when we think they might not happen or that we won't match up to them.
Such time travel tends to happen unconsciously, outside of our own control. And that robs us of our lives, because we can only truly live ... make a real difference ... in the present moment. Everything that has ever happened, has done so in the present moment. It still is and always will be so.
There are many ways we can learn to take control of our mental wanderings through time. (There is a selection of them under the "Highly Recommended" panel on the right, as well as in my current and upcoming books.) Taking that control is like turning the key that unlocks our freedom to live more effectively in the present moment.
When we revisit our past consciously and deliberately, we still cannot change the actual events that happened. But we can change the stories we hold in our minds about those events. When we understand things differently, we can free ourselves from the heavy weight of false stories we are holding onto about both past and future.
And that freedom comes to us in the present moment, the only place where we can find the freedom of courage, joy, peace, love...
And that is the secret of effective time travel: to stay in the present moment when we travel to past or future.
Thank you, Janis, for your wise insight. You have completed my boyhood dream.