Oct. 24
Time Machine
Motivation & Result: discontent about the present life -> flee into the "future" with a time machine -> only to find its simpler life style
Mysterious names! Time Traveller (like the Doctor :)
Narration Notes:
the appearance of the time machine & disbelief of the others
the tiredness and dusty outlook of the traveller (introducing enquiries of the others around)
dictation of the experience & the feeling of limited understanding (listeners are in a "shadow", mysterious aura)
strange way of travelling, accelerated speed of night-day shifting? unlike the time travel mechanism of TARDIS... (maybe based on a different understanding of Time itself)
as the flowing speed of time accelerated, perceptions of things changed as well -> allegorical: when our understanding & concepts of some basic elements change, the world would appear to be quite different. -> excitement & curiosity towards the unknown, the fear of possible accidents
The jumping sun became a line of fire, the moon a fainter line that changed in width.
Minute by minute white snow spread across the world and disappeared, and was followed by the green of spring.
The way of Participation was restored to its more primitive form, people in the future actually believe in myth!
He had asked me, in fact, if I had come from the sun in a thunderstorm!
The suspension of judgement & delayed, asynchronous comprehension of perceived reality.
As I watched, I began to try to understand the things I had seen. (Afterwards I realised I had only learned half the truth.)
Our pursuit of science & safety makes everything more organized, controlled, but sometimes contains an atmosphere of lifelessness in it. (The opposition of Chaos & Order, of Dionysus & Apollo. To quote William Blake, "Without opposition, there is no progression.")
The work of improving the conditions of life, of making life safer and safer, had continued until nothing more could be done. The result was what I saw!
No doubt the beauty of the buildings was the result of the last waves of the now purposeless energy of people. After that, they began to lead quieter lives. Even artistic activity would finally disappear - had almost disappeared in the time I saw.
The importance of the development of ideas & nuanced thoughts. Thorough observations should be applied in order to gain a better understanding of the reality we are in.
My explanation was very simple, and believable enough - as most wrong ideas are!
The loss of the Time Machine - descent is also ascent - gives the traveller time to reflect - the calling of patience & reevaluation.
Face this world. Learn its ways, watch it, be careful of guessing its meaning too quickly. In the end you will find an answer to it all.
People he saw were not making anything - the Last Man heralded by Zarathustra?
I was sad to think how short the dream of human intelligence had been. It had tried to make a comfortable, fair and safe society. It had succeeded - and had then lead to this. We forgot the law of nature - that change, danger and trouble make us think harder.
The traveller met a woman who acted like a child - a strange friendship began, maybe his idenfication with this Age began to grow as well. But he had an uncanny dream underwater -> encounter with the ghosts? turns out to be underworld humans. -> social class issues... (Eloi & Morlocks) Ok, future reflects now...
The Dark Wood! What about Canto I of the Inferno?
I looked into the thickness of the wood and thought of what it might hide. In there, we might be out of sight of the stars.
The expansion of the (self) conciousness makes perception of things change. A little ego-death may also leads to a rebirth.
As I looked at all these stars, I suddenly felt that my problems were smaller. I thought of their distance, and their slow movements out of the unknown past into the unknown future.
The dying sun... The destruction of the world... reminds me of Byron's Darkness.
But, is Apocalypse the end, or a new beginning?
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