justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

Time

Long ago, I heard that one theory of time included time passing in a flat circle, rather than taking a linear path from the past to the present.

Eternal return, or recurrence, is referred to in the works of two prominent philosophers, Nietzsche and Heidegger, as follows: “The idea that with infinite time and a finite number of events, events will recur again and again infinitely…”

In the anthology series True Detective, where police investigations unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved both within and outside the law, the character Rustin Cohle endorses the theory. The protagonist posits, “Time is a flat circle. Everything we have done or will do we will do over and over and over again – forever."

Rather than get any deeper into the weeds of philosophical thought, I’d like to share my personal perspective on how time appears to pass in my world.

Ever since I was young, I’ve occasionally caught a glimpse of something passing quickly at the edge of my peripheral vision, just a flick of motion that was fleeting, but noticeable. I still experience those occasional flickers, and chalk them up to what my eye doctor labels as floaters – but I think they’re different.

So, what does all that have to do with how I interpret the passing of time?

I’m fascinated by the 1979 science fiction movie The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan, where “Jennie” moves between two periods of time, and eventually stays back into an earlier time. In an interview, I heard the star, Lindsay Wagner, discussing the time travel theory that focuses on all things experienced in life are present at the same time, just passing in different dimensions.

So when I consider mortality, my theory includes the possibility that my “passing” could be just a change of dimensions, where I’ll be free to “live again.”

Sound crazy? What do you think?