On Christmas morning I saw a Facebook post from my cousin regarding a video game called Braid. As it is rare to see any female make a post about a fun video game – I decided to check it out.  The write-up seemed interesting and the graphics beautiful – so I dropped the $10 and purchased it for the Mac.  For the next few days I played an absolutely brilliant game – that was like many classic games I had played – but yet completely different then anything I had ever seen before.

The game focuses on time.  The main character, Tim, has the unique ability to control time, forward or backwards.  I first discovered this on the second level when I accidentally fell into a pit and died.  Rather than the typical fade-out, and starting the board again – I simply pressed the SHIFT key, time began to rewind, and I was back alive as if nothing had ever happened.

However – something had happened.  I had a memory of an incident occurring that no other creatures in the game did.  I now knew what was about to happen, and nobody else did.  What a spectacular power!  But the brilliance of Braid is that as the game unfolds – you begin to look at time entirely different – and both the positive and negative consequences of your actions.

The main storyline follows Tim’s quest to reclaim his princess who was taken away by an evil knight.  There are 6 chapters – each with it’s own unique take on time.  At the start of each chapter there are a series of books that provide insight not only into Tim, but also the characteristics of the world you are about to enter.  As the boards progress, your interaction with time become more and more profound and required.  Some solutions can only occur in reverse, or when time is manipulated entirely.  By the final boards, the natural pace of time is in reverse – and you must anticipate how things began in order to move forward.

However, this post is not a game review – this is a discussion on time.

As humans, we are 3-dimensional creatures witnessing glimpses of our 4th dimensional-self.¹ We experience time as a linear path completely out of our control.  Whereas we have full control over the dimensions beneath us (I can walk forward/backwards, left/right, can go up and down) and have almost no observations of the dimensions above us (a topic for another blog post) – we remain trapped in the 3rd, aware of time (4th), but unable to move back and forth within it.

However – human beings have this amazing gift of being able to predict and conjure up scenarios in our brains.  No other species known to man can project plausible outcomes the way humans can.  Nor does any creature have the ability to reflect on the past and re-associate past experiences the way humans can.  You will never meet a dog with long-held regrets, or a fish with long-term goals. Our species alone has the capacity to explore beyond the moment. One has to begin to wonder – is it possible we have some mild control over this 4th dimension?  That time is not the master.  Or rather, that our minds can see the fringes of the 5th dimension where all those possible realities exist?

Regardless of your views on Quantum Physics, it is quite easy to see that one’s actions have consequences, positive or negative.  Two years ago, before I was getting ready to move to Spain for two months, I decided to sell my car.  The money would be helpful for the trip I felt, but more importantly, I began to believe it would have positive consequences for me in the future.  Sure enough – upon my return to the States, I began walking to work every day.  More amazing moments and coincidences have occurred during these walks to and from work then I could have ever experienced before.  I’ve discovered a grocery store I never would have stopped in while driving, that has changed my diet and the foods I cook.  Then there are the realities that never occurred that I might be unaware of.  Car accidents on the negative, perhaps unexplored road-trips on the positive.  Regardless, the trajectory of life was changed drastically, as it almost always is by our decisions and many of the positive elements that have occurred I was able to foresee before I sold the car. That realization that I can make sweeping changes for the future with simple actions in the present has become a major force in my life.

It is safe to infer then, that actions in the present will create new realities in the future.  Unfortunately though – the implication here is that everything that is occurring in your current moment, is the direct result of your past actions.  Most would prefer to think otherwise – that the moment is the moment – and the past is memories, the future unforeseen.  This is where I disagree entirely.  The future is quite foreseeable, the past quite easy to manipulate – and the current moment is nothing but an opportunity to explore time and create reality.

So how do you begin to control time?  First off, as almost every guru/preacher/life-coach/grandmother will tell you, you need plans.  You need to know what it is you want to do – how you want to live – where you want to be – with whom you want to be with – and all the other details of the life you desire.  There are plenty of other blog posts that can explain the importance of knowing yourself at the core, and the pitfalls of the unexamined life – hopefully you have already begun this process. If not, turn off Mad Men and begin exploring.

With a plan in mind – the next step is to truly envision that life.  Not in the abstract – not just the feeling – or some photos from a magazine – it needs to be as clear as the memories in your past.  You need to be able to call on it at any point, explore it, and connect it to other memories. Don’t just focus on the goal of that memory – look around.  Seriously, turn around and see what is on the wall behind you in this fantasy.  If you’re envisioning a person, what types of socks are they wearing?  Force your mind (especially if you’ve let it sleep most your life) to begin working its magic.  All the details are there.  Put down the iPhone – the greatest piece of technology you own is your mind.

Do you have it?  Can you feel it?  Your brain is touching the 5th dimension – and you are now moving within the 4th.  Here comes the tricky part – working your way backwards through time.  With a clear vision in mind, press the SHIFT key and rewind your life from this future point back to your present.  Go as slowly or fast as you need to, and as often as you need to.  Just make sure your mind is doing the work and the details are showing up.  Your mind will produce the details – and more of them the more often you review these future memories.  Take note of the actions, and patterns that exist in these conjured scenarios. You will have a less challenging time jumping the pits and dodging the fireballs of life when you know they are coming, and how you defeated them.

If there are conflicts prior to your current moment in the 4th dimension, do not be hesitant to go back in time and fix those issues.  While you will fully remember that they occurred, if you go back and fix them, you will find the rest of the world for the most part forgets that they ever occurred (okay, this is more like the game, but in reality nobody really cares that much about anything other than themselves, so if you truly do make amends for past issues, or just face up to problems that have been plaguing you – rather than just ignoring the past – you do change the current moment).

Most importantly – remember that life is occurring… always.  That just like in the game, we don’t know why we’re moving forward in the 4th – or where we are headed in the end – but if we are smart, clever and persistent with our efforts, we will have a wonderful experience.

“Know yourself; And urge yourself ceaselessly.”

SOURCES:

1. Imagining the Tenth Dimension
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkxieS-6WuA

Filed under: Health, Life, Science by gspies
1 Comment »