The Nature of Time

Dear Reader,

Last night, while I was trying and failing to sleep, I found myself contemplating the nature of time. (And then I wonder why I can’t sleep!) Even after writing a time travel novel, I’m not sure what I believe. Does the past actually exist? Do historical documents replace the events they describe? If there’s an error in such a document, is it actually an error, or has it then become true?

On the surface, the answers seem obvious. Of course the past exists, because we feel its effects in the present. But if Person A and Person B have conflicting memories of something they did, the objective truth is long gone. Does that make both versions true, or neither? The effects of that event felt in the present will be different for each person. Now, strangely, both versions seem equally true. If the story is something passed down through their families, Family A and Family B know different truths, which become stronger and more entrenched with each generation. So does that past event exist, or are the effects in the present the only truth?

Unfortunately, I fell asleep before I came to any conclusions, but the questions won’t go away that easily. Though I love fiction in which characters visit the past, I can’t imagine it would ever work in real life. If Person A traveled back to his memory and Person B to hers, they would never meet there to discover the real truth. Instead, they would each visit their own version of events. Memory is a time machine, but it’s a faulty one. It can only reinforce the truths we already believe.

Or so my thoughts ran last night as I tipped toward slumber. Maybe tonight I’ll try to solve the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. That’s still a mystery, right? I’m certain that’s the way I remember it.

Love, Melissa