Tonight I have a thought that I just can’t seem to suppress. A few days ago a meme came up on my Facebook feed. The meme asked what super power you would choose and one of the choices was time travel. I began to think about all the science fiction stories on t.v. and in books as well as movies and how they depicted time travel. Normally they accelerate the subject and the surrounding environment freezes. (Except for Dr. Who, he just vanishes with a psychedelic whirring noise. ) I have a slightly different concept. I think that time travel would require one to leave time-space completely and reenter at the destination point. It’s a concept that I came up with while working on a science fiction story. The complicated part would be that time isn’t really a specific quantity and destiny isn’t fixed. Our destiny is a result of our choices and our choices are influenced by our past experiences. Therefore, a time traveler who exited time-space would have to choose between infinite possible futures and perceive infinite past choices that were never made. The quote that applies is “Good decisions come from experience and experience comes from bad decisions.” (Which is attributed to so many people that I’m not sure who actually said it. ) The obvious temptation for our time traveler would be to go back and correct the mistakes of the past. But in doing so he would prevent the experience of future and therefore gain no wisdom. Of course being outside time-space he would have all of eternity to explore the possibilities without any effect on the present. Perhaps the lesson he would learn would be to leave well enough alone and let things happen naturally. He would learn how important his past mistakes were and why he must learn from them.
Tag: time
The Waterfall at The Old Mill Restaurant in Pigeon Forge Tennessee
By special request of my dear friend Sophia Ismaa I’m going to share with you the waterfall at the Old Mill in Pigeon Forge Tennessee.
I was asked to describe the atmosphere of the scene.
As the late fall sun eases it’s way West the crystal clear blue sky fades into a soft purple in the Eastern direction and a golden band on the Western skyline. The shadows of the Great Smokey Mountains began to grow long as the crowd makes it’s way from shop to shop in the little tourist village. Pigeon Forge is a showcase for Appalachian artists. Paintings, pottery and woodworking can be found in almost every shop. The breeze carries wonderful aromas wafting from the Old Mill which is now a restaurant. As we make our way down to the Pigeon River below the mill the sound of falling water overcomes the clamor of crowd in the streets above. The golden sun is now disappearing behind the mountains and the streetlights are starting to come to life. This is magic hour and I have the power to freeze time.
Rust
I was taught that in order to be art, an image must show the passage of time. Perhaps that has something to do with my being attracted to old barns and cars that have been left to rot away in the middle of a open field. Time is the thing that we’re all born with but never can hold. Not even with iron spikes and steel clamps. Day after day and night after night the elements slowly reclaim the iron. Not even heavy steel bolts and clamps can resist the entropy ( the idea that all things move towards disorder) of the universe. The rust will always come.
Scientists say that our universe should not exist. The nature of the universe is such that energy is easily lost but not easily gained. The implication is that something or someone is adding energy to keep it going.
We’re made of tough stuff. But even as strong as we are our bodies along with our minds and spirits require maintenance to keep the corruption away. Some days I feel like Superman! Other days I say that the Man Of Steel is showing some rust. On those latter days I have to seek out the energy source re-establish order in my little part of the universe.
Image was taken in Glen Farris West Virginia. Never disturb railroad hardware that you may find near the tracks. It’s actually theft.
Bridge To Today.
It’s a new day in a new year in the Three Rivers area of Gauley Bridge West Virginia. This is my first published image of 2018. We are creatures of the moment. It’s so easy to get lost in tomorrow’s plans that we miss the moment. It wasn’t until I got serious about photography that I began to appreciate the here and now. The moment you are in is more precious than gold and its so easily lost to sands of time. Once it’s gone it’s gone and looking back means you’re going to miss the next one coming. We are constantly on the edge of a moment. We can choose to stay in one place and let the moment pass or we can step on to the bridge and become a part of the moment. It’s all about observation, action and choice.
Back in the 80s I read a book that implied that seeing through the eyes of God meant that one could stop time and observe patterns in past, present and future. While actually freezing the space-time continuum and casually making notes about the nature of the universe isn’t actually within our grasp there is a way to enhance our perception.
I call it Rippling. When you drop a pebble into a calm pool of water it produces concentric rings. The waves travel outward in a even pattern. We’re very familiar with this because of the thousands and thousands of pictures on the internet. But there’s more to the event. Those ripples don’t just go out. They also interact with the edge of the pool and other ripples. Eventually they form patterns that an active observer can read like a map. It’s said that back in the day a Polynesian sailor could lay down in the floor of his boat and find land that was out of sight just from the pattern of waves.
We know that the ripples have a source and with practice we can learn what direction they come from and the size of the event that caused the ripples the moment is identified. Once we have mapped the event it becomes part of a larger map and so on. It becomes easier to predict the next event by the previous ripples and whether or not we want to step on the bridge and become a part of the moment.
Goodbye 2017
The old year is fading away like the last few minutes of the setting sun. I’ve spent the past few days listening to talk about New Year’s superstitious. If you’re to ensure a prosperous New Year there’s a laundry list of do’s and don’ts. Does it work? Well, that depends. Ceremonies formalize intention. It helps us focus on actions and actions bring results.
I can’t tell you what your 2018 goals should be. I can’t tell you what you should leave behind in 2017. What I can tell you is that resolutions without actions are just another wish list.
I plan to spend the last day of 2017 creating a playbook for 2018. Each entry will include a goal, actions that will be needed and a blank page for adjusting the actions.
My 2018 wish for you is that your plans are actionable. 🙂
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