Circle of Time

Are you from a different planet? I asked; though he appeared very familiar, yet very different. He laughed, “no I am not, I am from earth; though not the earth you claim to know.”

Are you telling me that you are from some hidden civilization or are you suggesting that you are time traveler from past or future? I teased.

Past is future! he said more as a matter of fact statement than a philosophical one.

Like forward is backward? I teased again.

Forward and backward, Front and back, ahead and behind are only for linear single dimension entities. Backward is forward and ahead is behind in a circle. That is what time is, a circle, is it not? And so Past is Future. He stated, as if trying to tell something as basic as alphabets to a toddler.

I looked at his face with disbelief, some fear, some surprise and a million other emotions. I knew that face.

Time is a circle, he repeated, you know that. He looked me in the eye. You know that time is a circle, the cycle of time as you have heard and read. All philosophers from your part of that circle have always referred to time as a wheel, or a circle or a stone flour mill. You have been contemplating it for so many months, years and still you don’t believe me?

I knew I believed him. I knew what he was saying was a thought that had always tormented and teased me. I knew I never had courage to say is out loud for the fear of retribution or the fear of being mocked. But when I hear the stories from the past, many of those sound too futuristic to me. When I read about the pyramids, the great wall, the angel visitations in Bible, the theory of Yugas in Vedas, the Brahamastras in Hindu scriptures (and the forbidden use of those) and a lot more, I always feel that what happened in the past is in fact waiting to happen in the future. The time is a circle. The time is cyclic and not linear as we have believed for so many years.

I looked at his face again trying to know why he looked so familiar. And then a faint smile on his lips gave it away. He was me. He was me from a different point on the circle. You don’t always have to go follow the circle, he said, you can cut through and take the shorter path to go across. Time; as you know is a dimension like some others you travel through. You know that! don’t give me the look that you don’t know it. He said with the authority of a concerned teacher.

Don’t tell me that you didn’t believe in the stories of the time travelers and those who moved across the ages and the cosmos like someone roaming in their back yard.

As a matter of fact, you don’t have to tell me anything, I know how tormented you are with knowing what you think you can not prove. So, I am here, trying to tell you that you are right. You know and you don’t have to know any different. Don’t force the linear time world view on yourself. Prove it to others or not but believe in it yourself. One day if not you, someone will prove it. Prove it for some time, for people to take it for granted, like they take solar system for granted now, instead of the pre-Galilean flat earth scenario. And then they will forget as they have done many times over. But they will forget, only to be reminded again. The snippets of texts and monuments and stories, philosophical nuggets left as crumbs on the path, just for you and those who are like you to pick and think and decide and speak. Someone will see those nuggets to be worth exploring and then the cycle will be repeated.

Knowing and ignorance, just like time are universally cyclic too.

We both smiled. I knew we were one, I knew I could have asked him for the shorter path to move from one side of the circle to other. And I was sure he would have not only told but also held my hand to take me along to that other side of the circle, only to return back to where I was. So being where I was appeared equally fine. 


I would like to see you on the other side but then I have to find my own path to be there. Knowing that if there can be a short part, there will be a million. I am sure I will find them one day. If not now may be sometime in the past or future. The good part of the circle is that it has no start and no end. So, time being the circle is nothing but hope (as a circle has no end)

Past and future, knowing and ignorance, start and end all are the same. And You and I are same as well. See you on the way one day. He winked and turned back. I am sure I will see him some day again. 

I remember seeing him in the past too or was that in the future that awaits?