The Tapestry of Your Life

[Twyrch]

Remember the Voyager 2 parter— Future's End, I think— about the guy with the Time Ship trying to restore the present so his wife was alive again? I am now reading Time's Eye by Clarke and Stephen Baxter which also explores this in part.

Kernos,

Is that book any good? I love reading stuff like this.

Actually, the episode you mention is one of my favorites and is called The Year of Hell, where the guy who played the father figure in That 70's Show is the guy trying to restore the present to bring his wife back to life.

I have all the episode of Star Trek involving Time Travel stored on my hard drive. hehehe!

[Kernos]

I'm enjoying it. I Have the 2nd volume (Sunstorm) and the 3rd comes out in December. I like Clarke best pre-Space Odyssey, but am really a Stephen Baxter fan. It is better than I expected given the blurbs about the story.

There are a lot of time stories in ST! We watch it almost continuously 2 eps a nite and just saw the STNG ep. where Picard is meets his 6 hour in the future self...

[katsu]

I voted NO as well. For many of the same reasons other have given before.
We know our past 'mistakes' and we can use that knowledge to prevent them from happening in the future. But if we were to change that, who knows what mistakes we'd make and what mess we'd end up with.......

(btw, we just had the movie "Timecop" shown on tv. Funny thing, changing the past )

[Twig]

Oh, temptation. I'd love to see how things would have gone if I'd made different decisions, but the results of my decisions is who I am.

So, I'd invoke the Prime Directive and vote no.

[Twig]

Oh, temptation. I'd love to see how things would have gone if I'd made different decisions, but the results of my decisions is who I am.

So, I'd invoke the Prime Directive and vote no.

[Aylyn]

I have voted "No", for the simple reason:

I cannot decide whether the change will have a huge impact (According to the Chaos theory), or none at all, as another theory states that the past is fixed. So either way, the consequences are incalculable, and therefore I would not want to do this.

I have recently re-read "The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers, where a guy gets drawn across time in England, against his will, and whatever he does has already been done in the past, so that he is going full circle all the time. Turns out he himself is the guy in the 19th century he was researching in the 20th  Very interesting book to read....

[shirley mclaren]

I voted yes because looking back to my younger days - i.e. my twenties and thirties, there were times when I should have been strong and stuck to my plans and my life would have been different I am sure as a result.

BB

Shirley

[Lady Nimue]

Twyrch...this is a great thread, based upon a thought provoking theory, IMO.
I believe, as you said, that all things have a syncronicity and purpose in making the tapestry.

Would I change anything? My higher self says no.....the more mundane side, would love to have some dear deaparted returned to me, etc.

[Twyrch]

Wow! Lots of great replys here...

It really does make you sit and think, as you look over everyone's responses... those who would change the past, if they could, take a chance that they won't be the same person or may not even be alive... for instance, if I hadn't dropped out of college to work in IT, I may have become a journalist... what if I'd gone to Iraq? What if I'd been one of those who got their heads cut off? What if dropping out of college saved my life?

We'll never know the answers to questions like that, but I think it is important to finally reach a point in your life that you like who you are, regardless of the pain you've suffered because the pain and experiences have been like a refiner's fire, molding you into the person you are now... if you change the heat of the fire or the time of refinement, you could end up being a completely different creation from what you are now.

[shirley mclaren]

My big mistake (IMHO) was not returning to Spain for good.  My heart aches for the place, despite I am happily married to a good, kind man and want for nothing.

BB

Oaktree

[pangurban]

I voted no as I beleive that it's lifes rich tapestry that has led me to where I am now. If I was able to change the things that I have done, be they good or bad then in some inrtinsical way I would not be me.

[Ebelaar]

My Greetings,

I voted... yes...

I know that by doing this I will destroy myself, of who I am now.
But, there is this person that I truly wished to save with all my heart.
This person whom has shown me what it means to be ALIVE.
Its NOT about "JUST LIVING", its about what it MEANS to be "ALIVE", the PROOF of your LIFE, the proof of who you are......of what you are...... this great person whom I always wanted to be beside... whom I always wanted to be when I grew up...
If I could, I WILL NOT let this person go again... I will trade my life for her...

The first thing that I did when I pratice shamanism, was to call upon her, every time I've tried... I've failed.
I am unable to call her back, I am unable to talk to her, not even one last time......

Thus if I could, my answer is yes... I will change my history, if I could not change it, at least...let me speak with her once more... only once... thats all I ask...

                                                                 Ebela'ar the Student

[paganbaby]

I voted no, for the same reasons as most people, because i wouldnt be who i am, my past mistakes have taught me values and i have grown spiritually from them.
On the other hand i do see the whole ''what if'' scenario, my best friend died when i was 14 and i often sit and wonder where life would have taken me, would i have stayed on the same path or would i have been a totally different person. I know my life changed that day, and i made some terrible mistakes, but i do know that if i hadnt walked that path i would never have moved to Glasgow and met my dear partner.
I know that going back in time wouldnt change my best friend dying, it was his destiny, and his time was up. Im a true believer of ''whats for you, wont go past you'' but i am also a believer that it makes you a stronger person when all is said and done.
So no i wouldnt go back and try and re-write history. The thought is actually quite scary!

[Ben Wood]

I don't think I would want to change things, yeah times have been really hard sometimes, yes I have had some real challenges, but expunging them would mean altering the circumstances which have lead to my current security and inner-strength. Today I wrote a prayer to the Goddess, which I thought it would be relevent to this thread:

May I bring the whole of my life under the rhythm of your own life Mother; the grain falling upon the earth, the felling of the crop and it’s springing up again; May I come to accept the tapestry you weave Mother, in joy as well as despair and in acceptance know my life changed, May I know you in letting go, as well as welcoming in, May I know inspiration in both what is scattered and what is gathered, May I be mindful of you in all which is my power, and which is not, accepting both with equal measure and equal fortitude. May I celebrate you in the tides of my own body, in the relentless force of change finding affirmation for my life in what is painful and what is blissful, knowing life as a cost and a gift; May I recognize the necessity of your hand, in life and death, in leaves newly born and leaves long-time dead. Mother, give me the time to recognize you in the face of the baby and the carrion crow both, teaching me the art of reverence, wherever I may tread.

[SilverStorm]

I too join the "no" crowd. Not because I don't wonder, but because life was meant to be lived in the forward facing direction. It is only by living our lives, the good and the bad, and learning from our experiences that we can fulfill our purpose here. Besides since we are referring to a tapestry what if I am a blue string and then I go back and change something and it turns my string red. Now I have just messed up the entire tapestry. And that is not something I want to be responsible for.