The Druid Grove

by **Twyrch** » 15 Oct 2006, 02:23

There is a philosophical idea that a person's life is a tapestry of life events. Everything that happens to us along our path, is woven into our inner being and makes us who we are.

Following that train of thought, what if you had the ability to travel back in time to fix anything in history? Would you do it? Why or why not?

I used to answer this question with a resounding YES! However, as I have grown and matured, I realize that everything that has happened in my life has made me who I am today. I like who I am and although bad things have happened in my life, if I were to change them, I would not be the person I am today.

For me, I would now answer this question as No, for the reasons I stated above, but more specifically, I used to want to travel back in time to delay my mother leaving the doctor's office by 30 seconds. It would have been enough time to delay her head-on collision in 1986, which ended up being a catalyst for her Lupus to take over 10 years later.

My mother's condition caused her to go on disability, forcing my dad to step out of management and into sales... when the recession hit, my father's income was cut by 75%, so I had to drop out of college to help my family pay the bills.

I saw this one event as a flashpoint for all that went wrong in my family's life, but that wasn't the case... if I hadn't dropped out of college, I wouldn't have been in right place to meet my wife. If I hadn't met her, I may not be married right now and I wouldn't have my son Cameron.

I wouldn't do anything to cause my tapestry to be woven any other way than it already has. How about you?

by **Sorcha A. R.** » 15 Oct 2006, 05:54

I agree. Everything that happens to us helps to shape who we are (and it makes for interesting tapestries).

At the bottom of all of my posts is the phrase "Seek to live a life with no regrets. Do that, and there will be no need for wishes." And that is my answer to your question. I believe it is not only pointless to regret things we have no control over or things we didn't know at the time, but it is also damaging to oneself to dwell on the past.

We should not be thinking about what we should have done. Instead, we should be thinking about what we can do to make life better, now and in the future. If we give life all we've got then that's it, we've done our best. So I don't need to wish for do-overs or a more fullfilling life because I'm already giving my all. I'll take what life throws at me, whether good times or bad (like high school). And I'll learn from them.

by **Ailim** » 15 Oct 2006, 09:25

Each of us changes the world in which we live, merely by breathing. I am a firm believer of cause and effect. To go back in time to change something we don't like or agree with, may affect not just our future but that of countless other humans and all life forms on this planet.

We evolve by trial and error. Who is to say that rubbing out the past would make us better or worse. And if we had that ability, who would win: the good guys or the bad?

by **Warlock** » 17 Oct 2006, 13:49

we are clever and can learn as we go. but we have a limited time on the planet, so by going back and correcting mistakes we could see what else might be. we can learn more and more.

by **Twyrch** » 17 Oct 2006, 14:23

Warlock wrote:we are clever and can learn as we go. but we have a limited time on the planet, so by going back and correcting mistakes we could see what else might be. we can learn more and more.

That's true... However, would you have any moral implications in doing so?

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Hitler had never been allowed to live. Another person would have filled his void, I'm sure, but I wonder if he could have been any worse?

Would the saving of so many lives, not only of the Alliance fighting against Germany, but of the Jews murdered in the concentration camps and during the Haulocaust. Sure, our history would unfold differently than it already has, but would it be worth the price?

Should we interefere in nature's natural selection procress? If we could go back and save animals from exinction, should we? What effect would that have on society?

When you start pulling on the threads of a tapestry, before long, the entire tapestry will unravel.

by **Wraithian** » 17 Oct 2006, 21:48

Everything I've been through, everything I've done, has made me the man I am today. I kinda like me. :grin: So no, no I wouldn't go back and undo my "mistakes."

by **Sequoiarealm** » 18 Oct 2006, 04:51

Im gonna say no even though I still have the opinion that some of it kinda stunk. I think we are on a grand mission on an ever upward spiral and if I changed things in the past I might become loster than I sometimes be now. Besides I think we have to cover the same ground anyway but maybe it would just be in different ways. I wonder given the choice if we even could change it.

by **Moonpanther** » 22 Oct 2006, 08:12

I am glad that this thread is here... it is something that I personally have strong beliefs about.

My answer is (and for as long as I can remember would have been) No.

I believe that life (and indeed the greater life of your soul which may include many physical lives) is a series of lessons that shape who you are and therefore how you react to future lessons. Not all my lessons this time around have been fun, nor are they something that I would necessarily want to repeat, but having said that... if I went back and changed something so that I did not learn what I have learnt now I would not know it and if that situation came up again I would likely have to go through the stuff that caused me to go back and change it in the first place. Therefore, my moral of the story is learn from your life experiences, both good and bad, move on, taking that knowledge with you and so evolve.

And thats without even bringing the domino effect of how your actions affect others into it....

by **Wren MacDonald** » 23 Oct 2006, 06:53

There are some things I would decidedly rather not have happened... but I voted "no" because I realize that those things have shaped who I am today. Though I may not be able to see the good from certain things, even in relation to my personality/psyche/learning process/what have you, stuff happens for a reason and maybe I learned something I was supposed to even if I can't name what it was. :D

Wren ^.~*

by **Jingle** » 23 Oct 2006, 17:45

This was a tough question for me in certain ways. I voted No, but more for me personally, as if the question had been "If you could change your past would you?" I could say how I feel, but Wrathian has already said it verbatim.

On the other hand, there are some things in history which I regret happened (Hitler comes to mind, the American slaughter of the native Americans and the buffalo, e.g.). I may have changed them if I could, but only if I could have foreknowledge of how those changes would affect the future. The old notion of time travellers from Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" prevents me from really wanting to make any of those changes. But we can change our futures by carefully considering the consequences of our own actions. And that will make us more responsible individuals in the long run.

by **Soulsearching** » 23 Oct 2006, 18:36

I voted no for the simple reason "hind sight is 20/20" to go back and change it so that it was the way we wanted it what would we have left? I know far to many people that would love to see the failures in others broadened to the point of distruction, For myself yes my life might be much easier but would my father have to suffer with cancer for many years instead of 6 months? Would my son whom has Down's Syndrome be far worse off than he is? Would I have learned the sames lessions and became a stronger person and more sure of who I am as opposed to who others want me to be? Since I cannot completely answer these questions in a positive way I would not change them. I do not wish to be a mere reflection of the person I am supposed to be, I want to live, learn, laugh and love...if it comes with the price of making mistakes then I will pay that price in the end I wil be where I am supposed to be with who I am supposed to be with and not where I want to be alone.

by **Twyrch** » 23 Oct 2006, 19:13

Personally, while I was considering this question, I ended up wrestling with who I am. I came to the conclusion that I liked who I am and how I turned out.

Sure I had rough spots along the way, but that's life... life is a series of emotions... a sequence of ups and downs... a hill after a valley...

If I hadn't ever had to suffer any emotional valley's in my life, I wouldn't be the person I am today and that brought a sobering thought that we are all a single stitch in the tapestry of space and time... changing that stitch changes the tapestry... removing a stitch unravels that tapestry for everyone.

by **Heartseed** » 26 Oct 2006, 15:51

If there was one thing above all others in my life that I wanted to preserve, what I could I change and still have that happen? It is very hard to say. Could I change things so that we still came together but under better or easier conditons? Very hard to know how even a small tweak would change the downstream course. Then again, if my life had been different in other ways, would this particular relationship have seemed so crucial? I believe that there is a question similar to this in one of the early Gwers. My initial impluse ws that I would change everything. My later provisional answer was "I don't know". So I couldn't answer the poll. At some level, I really don't know. It is that little bit of doubt that fuels the search.
Blessings, Heartseed

by **Stormcloud** » 27 Oct 2006, 11:31

I also answered no, as I believe everything has a knock-on effect on everything else, even if we don't notice it. Putting something 'right' may in fact make something else a lot worse, there is no way of knowing, so I wouldn't want to interfere. Things could always be so much worse then they are!!

My husband often says he wishes he hadn't broken his back, yet he wouldn't want to go back and undo it as then he probably would never have met me!

by **Moira Rhydd** » 07 Nov 2006, 14:47

I understand why so many people voted "no"--all of those reasons make perfect moral sense. I voted "yes" nonetheless because it would have been neat to figure out who I might have become had my father not been unhappy and abusive, had we not changed countries so many times, had I finished my Master's degree at 22 and gone on straight to a PhD instead of waiting (wasting?) another 14 years to do so, etc... I voted "yes," then, *knowing* that I can't go back and change any of it, and knowing that I've been extremely fortunate and am quite resilient despite those misshaps and instances of hardship along the way. For me, it's not about regret at all. I guess I voted "yes" in a Faustian kind of way... What if...? One has to wonder... I'd love a peek at what might have been, no? The what-ifs are fascinating in a literary kind of way: what other life might I have had... Whom else might I have been...?

But I agree that every little hardship along the way made me who I am today, and that this is a pretty good thing to be!! :dance:

Besides... One can still evolve, change, transform. It ain't over yet!

by **Twyrch** » 26 Jun 2007, 18:45

Bump.

I'd love to hear some fresh ideas on this subject.

by **Ainevar** » 26 Jun 2007, 18:53

I have a real big delema in the question but hay I am now happier than ever so despite the hard it is worth it in the long haul. I realy think my tapestry is now going to be a blaze of beuty and not of hate or sorrow.

by **Ghostrider** » 26 Jun 2007, 19:11

I said NO.

For all the reasons mentioned above and this one:

You might like the change (for the better?) you would make in the past... But could you live in the present when you come back ( meaning.. would you like the world as it would then turn out to be? )

After all.. when you change ONE thing in the past.. how could you know what other events would unfold following that change?

( writing this now feels as though I'm echoing other posts... LOL )

by **WillowCat** » 26 Jun 2007, 20:52

I have to say YES.

Not that I'm unhappy with my life as it's turned out, but i still wonder where I'd be today if I'd made different choices.

I can't say that any of the ones I made were bad......all in all things have turned out well for me and I rather like the person that I have become.

But I still wonder how my life would be different if I'd joined the Airforce out of college....or pursued that degree in Engineering.......or found a husband and started a family............

Granted, my life today might be different.....but I'd still be ME.

by **Kernos** » 26 Jun 2007, 20:57

Well one can do it in one's mind. An entire fiction genre, alternative histories, has grown up over this idea.

I have often wondered what wold have happened if Constantine I had chosen the Pagens over the Christians to support in his bid for political power. Likewise, how would things been different if Julian II had not been assassinated and had re-instituted Paganism as the Eastern Roman Empire's state religion which was his goal.

Would I do i if I could. Well, given all the time paradoxes I have encountered in my SF reading and the many warnings about the dangers of changing the past, I do not think so without a lot of experience and a lot more knowledge about the possible effects of changing time. It has become a cultural taboo, I think.

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.

Interesting question, though I am not sure it is a matter of right and wrong.

:zen:

The Druid Grove

The Tapestry of Your Life

If you could change the past, would you?

The Tapestry of Your Life

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