Photo Credit: Bernd Thaller

The Time Machine

Gregarious Narain
Letters to Solomon
5 min readJan 9, 2016

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“Space. The final frontier.” That’s how every Star Trek film and episode ever started. I’ve been a fan of science fiction as long as I can remember. I can’t remember seeing my first Star Wars movie, but I remember seeing Return of the Jedi with my older brother Pat when I was just a kid. It was amazing. A whole world we couldn’t see, beyond our own imaginations.

Even more elusive than space travel, though, has to be time travel. It’s the white whale of every science fiction mythology. There’s something special about time. It’s the one thing likely everyone feels they have experience with. We all live in it, see it as it happens, and reflect on it as we move forward. We seamlessly move backwards and forwards in time, with minimal effort — never second guessing its presence or our mastery of it.

Time’s properties are just so unique. They’re so easy to see, but almost impossible to understand. Can we really ever answer even the most basic questions about time? How much time is enough time? Will your time come? Given unlimited time, what would you do with it? What’s greater than forever? How long till later? Time really is amazing when you think about it.

Perhaps most intriguing, though, is the experience of time itself. No one experiences it the same way. No two accounts of time are every the same. Time’s most magnificent quality is its infinite uniqueness. Have you ever had a moment where time can’t pass fast enough. Or what about one of those moments when time switches to slow motion, even stands still. There’s something remarkable in how we can all react and interpret time. Maybe time is more like an emotion than anything.

But thinking about time, all the time, you come to learn some things. And those things change the way you perceive time itself. I’ve always hoped I could build a time machine. A vehicle to move me backwards and forwards. From moment to moment from breath to breath — from life to life. I’ve wanted nothing more in life than I wanted a time machine. Just one more chance, one more time — to get it right — the way I wanted it to be, the way it was supposed to be.

Guess what. I found it! I discovered a time machine. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe I don’t deserve it. Maybe someone smarter, more worthy should have found it, but it’s mine now. It’s, quite simply, a miracle.

As you might imagine — as any would-be time traveler might, I had to see what it was capable of. Oh where to start, so much to see, so much to learn. So much of the unknown to know. I just jumped right in.

The second I discovered my time machine, immediately went back in time. Back to the beginning. Back to the start of it all. I took the chance to see all the things in my life. How they happened in high-definition, 4K, Ultra HD. I saw all the things I hoped for, and all the things that they did and didn’t become. It wasn’t all good, but it wasn’t all bad. Trust me, this is both fun and painful all at the same time. I quickly couldn’t look anymore.

Changing directions, I decided to look forward. So much more interesting, so exciting. The things to come, you can’t imagine them. Honestly, they can’t be described in words — they can only be experienced. We don’t have the language to convey these things just yet. It’s amazing to see what’s possible, to feel the power of hope, to know there’s more than now. I don’t know how far I went, I just know it was far, far ahead — well beyond my own time, but yet I felt like part of it.

My time machine really was amazing. I could speed up, slow down, elongate, collapse any moment. But it was more than the visual experience of it, there was this palpable, visceral experience that swells as you travel through time. Damn, I’m a time traveler. How cool is that.

I’d share my time machine with you, but it holds just one person, and only one specific person — me. I’d let you see my experiences, but they’re beyond words. The best I can offer are shadow puppets on the walls of time — loose caricatures of something so much more real.

I discovered a time machine, but you’ll need your own to really know what I am talking about.

My time machine came to me on May 27th, 2015 at 7:39pm. I didn’t know it was gonna happen then, but time stood still. In that split second, I took my first journey back to the beginning of my life and forward as far as I could see. I could experience the past and the future both at the same time. Time itself disappeared. There was no absolute time — just before and after that moment.

It’s quite difficult to put into words what it’s like to stare yourself down — as if staring into some mystical mirror. Imaging being able to re-live every moment you’ve ever had till that moment, extracting all the value and joy they offered you. Simultaneously, you are aware of the future, all the potential it has, and an infinite well of hope to draw from. All with the singular, split-second, punctuated sound of your child’s first breath in this world.

Most magically, this is not a local phenomena. Your parents, family, friends — every close and of import to you are beneficiaries of your magical time machine. Your parent’s will melt before your eyes, overwhelmed at seeing the next incarnation of their own selves come to life. Your friends and loved ones will witness the same semblance and quirks they’ve come to know and love.

It’s undeniable, every person connected to you is connected to your child. You see, every day, millions of parents discover their own time machines, bringing their personal nexus into the fold, all traveling back and forth in time and space, living, re-living, and re-examining countless moments and memories.

I know you have your own time machine. I know you’ve taken the same journey as I, maybe dozens of them. While I doubt in my heart it can be nearly as spectacular as my own, I know it’s amazing nonetheless.

I discovered a time machine. We named him Solomon. He is my child, my son, my before and my after.

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Gregarious Narain
Letters to Solomon

Perpetual entrepreneur. Advisor to founding teams. Husband to Maria. Father to Solomon. Fan of fashion. Trying to stay fit.