There is one way,
To slip past time’s relentless hold.
Through light’s dimension,
We may attain an existence outside time.
Untangled from all events’ chains,
That bind us to before-and-after pains,
Touching light speed is
The liberating grace we dwell on.
An opening through which our souls could pass,
To break free of temporality’s grasp,
And bask in the eternity.
The Gateway to Timelessness
Isn’t it fascinating how we often yearn to transcend the boundaries of time? This piece beautifully explores the concept of escaping temporal constraints through the realm of light and speed.
The idea of slipping past “time’s relentless hold” reminds me of what Albert Einstein said about the nature of time: “The distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” Our perception of time as linear and inescapable might just be a limitation of our current understanding.
The concept of attaining “an existence outside time” through light’s dimension echoes Einstein’s theory of special relativity. As he famously stated, “For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” The notion that time is relative to the observer’s frame of reference opens up fascinating possibilities.
When the poem speaks of being “untangled from all events’ chains,” it brings to mind what the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche called the “eternal recurrence.” He challenged us to consider: “What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: ‘This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more’?” The idea of breaking free from this cycle is both terrifying and liberating.
The notion of “touching light speed” as a liberating grace reflects what the physicist Brian Greene has said about the nature of time at light speed: “If you could travel at the speed of light, you would experience time completely differently. In fact, time, for you, would stand still.” This scientific insight opens up poetic possibilities about transcending our temporal existence.
In “Time and Free Will,” Bergson writes, “Pure duration is the form which the succession of our conscious states assumes when our ego lets itself live, when it refrains from separating its present state from its former states.” This concept of time as a continuous flow of consciousness is reflected in the poem’s lines “Through light’s dimension, / We may attain an existence outside time,” suggesting a state of being that transcends conventional temporal boundaries.
The poem’s portrayal of liberation from time (“Untangled from all events’ chains, / That bind us to before-and-after pains”) echoes Bergson’s distinction between “time as we actually experience it” and “time as it is mathematically and scientifically conceived.” Bergson argues that true duration is qualitative and heterogeneous, not quantitative and homogeneous as clock time suggests.
The emphasis on light speed as a means to transcend temporality aligns with Bergson’s idea that intuition, rather than intellect, is the key to understanding true reality. As Bergson states in “Creative Evolution,” “To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”
So what does all this mean? Perhaps it’s about recognizing that our understanding of time is limited, and that there might be ways to experience existence beyond our current temporal constraints. It’s about the human desire to touch the eternal, to find a way out of the relentless march of time.
Remember, every moment we contemplate these ideas, we’re engaging with some of the most profound questions of existence. As Stephen Hawking said, “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.”
When you feel constrained by time, consider: How might you touch eternity in your own way? Because in the end, isn’t that what makes life so wondrous? This constant interplay between the finite and the infinite, the temporal and the eternal, all within our grasp if we just know how to look.