A long and deranged but still somehow sensible response to the simple question:

Do you think people dwell on the past too much?



I'd like to think of age as a physical, chronological and inconvenient reality. Mentally speaking, I often alternate between being two to fifty-six years old and that's fine. And if you think I am avoiding the question you are mistaken, Sir/Madam!

Basically, though the past has led up to the present, it cannot be done again to its fullest, as we are in a constant state of forward motion with no real end to the track. The same patterns may be followed, but it may very well be because we keep reminding ourselves of what we have done in the past and don't present or allow ourselves anything that is legitimately new. That, or we are simply doomed because we think we're robots and that our programming allows us no other way; in fact not a bus, but a tram. The possible combinations that could be made of practically anything are truly limitless; the combinations which we are able to stomach are not. A lot of it may be caused by the Mere Exposure Effect; you tend to like what you already know.

If we could work around that, that would be progress.

Now, to return to the reasons history cannot truly be repeated: as of yet, stopping time is out of our grasp. We can surely conceive it, but we have yet to make it physically possible. Furthermore, a time machine cannot go any further back in time than the exact moment it was first activated. This is unfortunate, it seems. But it is important to look at this metaphorical glass more carefully. I do not mean to say that one should see it as half-empty or half-full or even, "yes." (Which actually is a serious answer I have heard when asking this question) I mean to say that one should look at the glass and say, "well, this glass has water in it." For now, it is more important for us to stop making attempts to freeze or reverse time or argue about whether time is half-over or half-started and use its constant progression to our advantage. There is a future to which you can look forward. In fact, the future is now. The present is in a state of constant obsolescence; as soon as you process it, it becomes the past. The focus should be on functioning in the future, because there is no time like the present!

The same goes for accessing other dimensions. We can conceive other dimensions, and perhaps even access them in the future. But right now, our best course of action would be to push the boundaries of our current dimension as far as they will go. Either we will break the barrier and spill into another dimension or have all hell break loose, or we reach our full potential. Any of those three are just fine, if you ask me.

In fact, I do not intend to say that any mindset is definitely right or wrong except for nihilism and solipsism. The glass was metaphorical and was not an object existing in its concrete form. But it was abstract. It exists within the mind. The only thing you can do that will hurt you is let yourself think that nothing is real. Or that only you exist and everything is a figment of your imagination. Even if solipsism did turn out to be true, and all of this was my imagination, it would defeat itself with simple logic: if I imagined it, it exists, because I imagined it. Therefore, if solipsism really is true, but I say that it is not, it is not. Because I said it isn't. And solipsism and nihilism tend to lead to very irresponsible actions.

Confused? Don't worry. It means you're free of mental illness. You'd have to be crazy to understand this.

I am crazy. Or so the DSM-IV says. And there is paperwork on the subject. Filed under a name I rarely use anymore.

I thought for a while, that I wanted to take over the world. I cannot handle that responsibility. Regardless of what exists. Regardless of whether I am the only thing that exists. My reality engineering skills are pitiful. This world belongs to all of us, the people of Earth. We should be creating a reality from which we all can benefit. One kid wants to play spacemen, one kid wants to play cowboys; play cowboys in space. Double the fun, and everyone benefits.