Curvature of spacetime around spherical star, such as our sun

The concept of spacetime is one that was utilized by physicist Albert Einstein to describe the four-dimensional space whose points are events. An image such as the one pictured here is thus representative of the gravitational effects that curve spacetime around a spherical star, in such a way that it will tend to attract matter toward it. Within the concept of spacetime, there are three dimensions we commonly experience in spatial terms (length, height and width) and one spacetime dimension we commonly refer to as "time." The resulting four dimensional construct is something that mathematicians and physicists frequently depict in two dimensions in a form that rather resembles a two dimensional grid stretching out to infinity that has depressions curving it downward wherever an object of significant mass exists.

The curvature of spacetime has a great deal of significance for contemplating how intimately connected space and time are to one another. Physicist Stephen Hawking comments in his book, The Universe in a Nutshell, "If one takes the positivist position, as I do, one cannot say what time actually is. All one can do is describe what has been found to be a very good mathematical model for time and say what predictions it makes." For those of us who view observations with an eye to how they compare with predictions based on spacetime models, it is clear that time is much more than the original concept Isaac Newton proposed in his The Principia which he published in 1687, for it is much more dynamically intertwined with space than a mere infinite linear progression from past to future.

Measurable curvature of spacetime as light is observed to bend around the sun, which is shown during an eclipse

When we consider the idea of spacetime, we note that shifts in reality are necessarily shifts in time, and vice versa, since space and time are inextricably interconnected. It is possible to test the theory of the interconnectedness of space and time, and these tests have shown that lift from a star that passes near our sun is indeed deflected by the curvature of spacetime around the sun exactly as would is predicted by the spacetime theory... and this can be clearly observed during an eclipse.

Within the realm of the theory of general relativity, time and space do not exist independently of one another... and when we introduce the concept of quantum interconnectedness (as physicists studing the Theory of Everything bring together theories of the very large and the very small), we find that we have introduced concepts of "probable pasts" and "probable futures." Quoting physicist Stephen Hawking from his book, The Universe in a Nutshell, "... we now realize that quantum theory implies that spacetime is filled with quantum fluctuations." These quantum fluctuations require that we view the history of ourselves and our entire universe in terms of imaginary time, which can be topographically viewed as a small, slightly flat sphere which encodes all that occurs in terms of real time.

What all of this means in practical laymans terms is that we are, in essence, experiencing what physicist Fred Alan Wolf describes in his book, Parallel Universes: The Search for Other Worlds, "The future plays a role in determining for us a basis upon which we may make decisions. But to do so, parallel paths to that future must also be real. If they are, the world is far more complex than we ever have imagined." Indeed! We can imagine ourselves selecting between an infinite range of possible spacetime paths, while typically focusing our attention on only one or two different realities at any given time.

Most Everyone Knows... Or is Beginning to Suspect...
Time Does Not Always Behave in Linear Fashion!

Look Inside Reality Shifts: When Consciousness Changes the Physical World

One of the ways we can tell that reality is shifting is to notice that our experience of time is not linear and sequential as usual, but instead is speeding up, slowing down, or stopping. In some cases, cross-time communication is also possible. All through my life I've felt that time does not move mechanically, but seems instead to behave organically, as something alive and responsive to how I am feeling. There is great truth to the observation that eternity can be found when we are feeling our greatest sense of love. After many time shift experiences, I no longer assume that time behaves in linear fashion. I do not believe that time always moves at the same rate -- and I'm not the only one who feels this way. In a survey I conducted of 395 individuals in April 2000, 86% of the respondants reported that:

"I've experienced time seem to slow down, stop, or speed up."

This closely matches any informal survey you might conduct with your friends and family -- most of us do not experience time as moving mechanically forward. Some recent studies have shown that people are able to effectively alter the past from the present, which raises the humorous concern Paul Valery stated as: "The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be." This could be a very good thing, since an improved understanding on our part of how best to communicate with both the future and the past can bring us tremendous benefits in many real, practical, ways. As physicist Fred Alan Wolf states in his book, The Yoga of Time Travel, "This respite from the space-time continuum allows us to move backward in time and revisit past 'errors.' It enables us to forgive ourselves and others because we see that the other is nothing more than the self."

We are fortunate at this point in history to be aware of the infinite possibilities... and aware of the nature of the interaction between our consciousness and physical reality. There are a number of ways we can experience time shifts, and a number of ways to reap the rewards of such extraordinary experiences. Many techniques are described in the Reality Shifts: When Consciousness Changes the Physical World ebook, along with theories as to what is occurring when each type of reality shift is observed.