The Literature of Time and Space
March 28, 2002
Dr. Samuel Fuerstman

                  "The Past/Future is Now"

                    To the overall population of Earth, the year is 2002. Two thousand and two years ago, we began to track time worldwide. While many calendars, from many different cultures and religions may vary, 2002 is the year we all now accept. But two thousand and two is a miniscule number for a universe that is said to have formed somewhere between Ten and Twenty billion years ago. Fifteen billion years, a number that seems gigantic to the human scope, but a number nonetheless, and what’s more, a number that the human mind can actually grasp. For instance, the United States Government alone spends well over fifteen billion dollars a year. The human inhabitants of Earth now number 6,214,048,033, (according to the International Programs Center, a branch of the United States Census Bureau) this number give or take a few thousand is well in the range of human comprehension. The distance of the Sun and our own galaxy to our nearest stars of Proxima Centauri, and Alpha Centauri, is somewhere around Twenty Three trillion Nine hundred and Forty billion miles away, a colossal number, and yet, not unheard of. For us to live in the year 2002 of a Universe that may have begun Fifteen billion years ago makes us virtually imperceptible on a time line, but realizing that our nearest neighbor is Twenty Four trillion miles away gives new meaning
to the word, ALONE.

Realizing that we are so small in such an enormous span of time and space
has caused great nausea in philosophers, scientists and artist alike. But are
we in fact unnoticeable is the true question? Can we only exist in our own
lifespan, or is it possible for us to be perceived in vast distances and vast time spans? Lippensky’s invention of the telescope allowed us to expand our visible range, which in effect, and quite incidentally allowed us to see into the past. For an object to be seen we must have light, and since light travels in waves and takes time to reach it’s destination, we can understand that an event taking place at Point A in space, may not be seen until it’s light waves reach Point B. If the distance of the two points is quite small such as the distance from the Earth to the Moon, which is only 864,000 miles away than that event will be visible within a relatively short matter of time. In fact, the time in which the event occurs on the Moon, until the moment we can see it on Earth will be almost unnoticeable. But “the light we now see from distant galaxies left them
millions of years ago, and in the case of the most distant object that we have seen, the light left some eight thousand million years ago. Thus, when we look at the universe, we are seeing it as it was in the past.” (Hawking B.H.T pg28) The fact that we view stars now that have died millions of years ago leads us to believe that the human range of vision, and existence is much greater than we could imagine. Isn’t it then true, that if we can see a deceased star at the present moment than this star must exist at the present
moment? This allows us to believe that Earth’s own galaxy may possibly be viewed many years after our own star dies out. This realization alone
increases our galaxy’s lifespan or should I say viewing span, by millions of years, and while it is also conceivable that light waves are never-ending, and that waves do not fade but only stretch and crest at longer intervals, than we can imagine that light from our own Sun may possibly be seen for an infinite number of years to come.

The way we view light can be compared to a stone being tossed into any
body of water. When an event occurs it’s light travels just like the ripples of water created by the stones impact. The crest of each ripple determines
when we will see the event, and the wavelength determines the amount of
time before it will reach the visual range. “Light spreading out from an event forms a three-dimensional cone in the four dimensional space-time. (“Any real body must have extension in four directions: Length, Breadth, Thickness, and Duration.” [Wells T.M. pg2]) This cone is called the future light cone of the event. In the same way we can draw another cone, called the past light cone, which is a set of event from which a pulse of light is able to reach the given event.” (Hawking B.H.T. pg25) A starling possibility to this effect is that if light waves move just as water waves do, than the wavelengths will extend after each ripple. This means that while the extension of the gap between each ripple is unnoticeable upon the first stages of expansion, it will grow much larger as time goes on. An event at Point A will take longer to be seen after each ripple, and its arrival at Point B may take much longer than it would if the wavelength were constant. In effect that event will seem to slow down, as the wavelength increases. “As light travels upward in the Earth’s gravitational field; it loses energy, and so its frequency goes down. (This means that the length of time between one wave crest and the next goes up.) To someone high up, it would appear that everything down below was taking longer to happen.” (Hawking B.H.T. pg32) Hence, our occurrences on Earth at the present moment will last many years into the future for longer periods of time. But since our present events are occurring or appearing to occur presently in the future, aren’t they in fact occurring then NOW? And by
that same token aren’t past episodes that we see with a telescope also occurring in the present? A vision of the past must then be a vision of the present, and a vision of the future must also then be a vision of the present, science proves it.

While Science proves that it is possible to observe the present in the future
and the past in the present, the human mind presents an entirely new set of
possibilities. Since the human mind is separate from all other known entities in our universe it’s bearing on time must then be analyzed separately. The human mind perceives time not by mathematical equation, or even by cosmic reaction, but by sensation. It is quite easy to understand that each person can and will experience time independently. This means that while a tedious task like painting your bathroom may seem like it takes forever, but an enjoyable event like playing at a theme park may seem to last no time at all. While both events may have lasted the exact same amount of time, your perception of the elapsed time may be completely different. This is known as Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Time is relative, but only for the objective witness. If the mind allows itself to move in time than doesn’t it accomplish this goal? “For instance, if I am recalling an incident very vividly I go back to the instant of it’s occurrence: I become absent-minded, as you say. I jump back for a
moment.” (Wells T.M. pg5) Could it then be possible to move the human mind into the future? What else is a vision other than the word we use
to describe when our minds jump into the future? Many prophets have
claimed to see the future. Nostradamus for example, whose many particular predictions have been proven correct. Other prognosticating writers like Orwell, Wells, and Verne have all had some of the futuristic visions confirmed, and countless biblical prophets like Joseph and Moses have foreseen coming events. Are these visions of a real future purely
coincidental, or are they perhaps evidence of the human mind’s ability to
move not only into the past but also the future? Many psychologists from
Freud to Jung have considered the idea that our dreams perhaps hold the key to the future. Episodes of de-ja vu could also be clues to the phenomenon. The feeling of having already experienced a situation or place could be evidence of your unconscious mind telling you it has already been there and done that. Is it possible that your mind has traveled there long before your body? If so, there lies the proof that the mind is not in any way controlled by time, and that the mind not only has the capacity to live in the past but it can live in the future as well. It is even possible to believe that the human body can experience these future visions along with the mind. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Jorge Louis Borges, the character Farquar experiences great amounts of physical tedium in an escape that his body never makes. Is it then possible to move into the future not only mentally, but also physically? The paradox then becomes that if your mind and body both travel into a future event at the present moment, then don’t they become the same? Your mind would be operating in a different dimension of time, which would become the present.

While Hawking tells us that cosmology allows us to break the constraints of past, present, future time, and psychology tells us that the mind may also
move freely in time, we still must understand the simple saying that, “no
matter where you go there you are.” While telescopes, satellites, prophecies, dreams, and recollections may break the barriers of time, we can still only experience an event as it happens. Even if we are have a flashback, or flash-forward, we are experiencing that moment anew.
The present moment may then be the only free moving entity in the realm of
Space-Time. It is interesting that I write this essay in the year 2002, a
palindrome; a number that is the same both ways, perhaps it is the perfect
analogy for the entire universe.

Bibliography:
1) A Brief History of Time by: Stephen Hawking excerpts from pages 25,
28, & 32
2) The Time Machine by H.G. Wells excerpts from pages 2, & 5