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Perhaps the most challenging of all subjects in the world, other than the brain itself, is the concept of time. While many search for the ultimate time machine in the possibility of worm holes opening, or mega machines approaching the speed of light, our minds have proven to be the closest thing we have to a time machine. The human brain is the ultimate vehicle for time exploration. The brain carries within it the history of the world from the very beginning. What better time machine?

Our thoughts constantly move back and forth between past and present and mental projections in planning for our future. Perhaps the closest thing to time travelers we have today are archeologists and anthropologists, just to name a few. Ever wonder why people are so drawn to wanting to understand ancient Egypt, Greece or Pompeii? These are old relics dead and gone, so why attempt to study them? Because time travelers find limitations within the time frame they exist within and find value in other time dimensions. As Columbus searched for new lands, time travelers search for a new entrance into the dimension of time in order to bring back treasures from history that have since been lost or just for the adventure of it all.

Time Travel is Possible

The nature of our minds is that of exploring time -- we are either imprisoned by it, feeling no way out, or use it to our advantage. The greatest minds in science have proven that our mind is the key to freeing the body from being trapped within a particular time dimension. Einstein revolutionized physics by unlocking a major time door when he presented his Special Theory of Relativity to the world. Einstein's theory of relativity is invaluable because it lays the foundations of modern physics - including the possibility of time travel. In this theory, Einstein declared that time can be altered by speed: the faster you move, the slower time passes. Science has since found that time can be warped in various ways, like clay in the hands of a cosmic sculpter. We are only now attempting to grasp the meaning of time that have alluded so many throughout the history of the world.



New Frontier

In his book, "Upon the Fields of Time," J.R. Challacombe states, "In every mind exists a frontier. At this edge, we may feel, but not recognize. We may sense, but have no words or concepts with the capacity to particularize. The very words we use to think with are property of the culture and deal only with yesterday and tomorrow. Our mind is little more than time machine: our thoughts are continually passing from the past through the present to the future and back again."

Harvard neuroscientist and author, Daniel L. Schacter, says "The idea of remembering as "mental time travel" highlights something that is truly remarkable: as rememberers, we can free ourselves from the immediate constraints of time and space, reexperiencing the past and projecting ourselves into the future at will. What we ordinarily think of as an exotic fear that could be accomplished only in science fiction is something we all engage in each and every day of our lives."

As we begin to understand the true nature of time, only our minds can open the door, put in the key and unlock the time machine that exists within the brain's circuitry.

Information derived from:

Searching for Memory - the Brain, the Mind, and the Past
Daniel L. Schacter, Basic Books, 1996

Upon the Fields of Time - The Four Minds of Man
J.R. Challacombe, The Claire Studies, 1995

Time Travel
Nova Broadcast, October 12, 1999