The Temporal Dimension

Today we travel into the temporal dimension. Time. What is time? If we could travel back in time could we change the future? It’s a question writers have been asking for centuries. Should we strive to make time travel a reality?

Is the idea of time as simple as a ticking clock? Does time tick slower in space? Should we think of time as a dimension, knowing that scientists believe that time is one of four dimensions. Is space and time connected? Spacetime? What is time travel? I think most writers are naturally inquisitive and especially good at exploring the extreme realms and exploiting the theories of physics. The story I so dearly remember is, ‘The Time Machine’ written by H. G. Wells.

Though, other stories had been written some time earlier with elements of time travel. It appeared in early Hindu mythology, a early Japanese tale, and Walter Map’s 12th century De nugis curialium (Courtiers’ Trifles). Oh, and let’s not forget Washington Irving’s 1819 story Rip Van Winkle.

I must also mention the novella written in 1843 by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. Everyone remembers Ebeneezer Scrooge who travels back and forward in time, visiting his own life in the Christmases Past, Present and Future. Then there’s the very popular love story, The Time Traveler’s Wife, a debut novel by Audrey Niffenegger, published in 2003. And just for balance the wonderful story ‘Planet of the Apes’ first published in the UK, written by Pierre Boulle in 1963.

Movies and television have also taken us time travelling for years. Dr Who, the travelling Time Lord first aired in 1963. Then there’s Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure where the characters bring history into the 20th Century.

Zombies and a time of evil in the “Army of Darkness” Imagine being trapped in the middle ages. Fun or frustrating? The Terminator films explore, faith, destiny and free will, saving the future of mankind. 12 Monkeys explored the use of time travel to gather information for people in the present, questioning the system, science and what’s real and what’s not.

Let’s not forget artists and their fascination with time. The Spanish Surrealist, Salvador Dali painted “The persistence of Memory in 1931

There are some who believe time travel to be viable in the future. There are others who simply prefer to read books that take them back and forth in time. No matter what a person’s preferred choice of belief or entertainment, time will keep ticking. For many years to come it will continue to take eight minutes for the sun’s light to reach the Earth, and we will continue to feel the warmth of the sun’s past.

POET’S CORNER

Souls of Time

By Vacen Taylor

The trace of the water’s edge

changes with time

Ancient trees

wither and fall

Infinite time beneath

the floating haze

of lives lived

Time passes

With the drifting rise