In Japanese culture, the central command station, or what we consider the brain, is located inside the stomach. When Americans say “I know”, we point to our brain. When the Japanese say “I know”, they point to their stomach.
Over the holidays I saw the movie Arrival. This movie was my right up my alley. It was weird and made me question everything in life, exactly what I seek in my art. Everyone has their own opinions. Maybe you saw it and it didn’t do it for you. Like my brother. No big deal. You have your eyes. I have mine. This isn’t about the movie. This is about my personal take-away from this unique piece of fiction. In the movie, aliens arrive on Earth to inform us of a message quintessential to our survival. “Time is not linear.” Not in those particular English words, but in their own creepy and intriguing alien-like way.
These out of our world species were trying to tell us existence always exists – That every moment, every interaction, every feeling, every memory is still alive. There is no past or future. It was not then. It is not will be. It just is and it forever will be. Because it existed, it is.
Have you ever described an experience to someone from years ago with concrete accuracy? For whatever reason, we are perfectly capable of recalling precise moments in our lives. We can almost relive a memory if we try. We feel nostalgic about certain times in our lives. I’ve even felt nostalgia for times in my life that were the darkest. I, in a way, miss them. Do I only miss them because I cannot have them back?
See to me, “time is not linear” is telling me everything that is over is just as real now as it was then. It is relieving me of my longing for what was. Memories are treasures that I can revisit in my day dreams and sometimes in my sleep. Although it is not now, does not mean it is not still (with me). Those memories allow me to go back and feel again. This right now is our life. Memories are our life too. We have them, just as we have this here. This will soon be a memory.
If time is really not linear, then worrying and longing would not exist. We lived those moments and that life will always be. The life in us. We only yearn because we see time as beginning, middle, and end. Just because it is not now, we act as if it never was. That isn’t fair. Our life is our life. Every single part of it.
If time is not linear, then maybe we have all the answers to our own path inside. Maybe when we feel like we know a “stranger“, it’s because we do. Maybe when we feel we have experienced something before, we have. Maybe it’s not irrational to say we “just know“. I like to call my brother at random times in the day and tell him, “Time is not linear.” He’s my younger brother. He hangs up every time. I will continue to call.
Works Cited: http://psychologyofeating.com/the-brain-in-the-belly
Photo Credit: https://www.hackread.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/google-wants-to-put-our-memories-in-a-database-3.jpg