If physics is correct, and time, in the 4th dimension, exists as a simultaneous series of static moments for all of what we call eternity (timelessness), then perhaps every moment of your life does persist for eternity, as an infinite number of snapshots, each containing a frozen copy of your awareness.
Perhaps, in the 4th dimension, your consciousness, no longer bound by a 3-dimensional, chronological lens, is aware of every moment, every thought, and every feeling simultaneously. Maybe our 3-dimensional, chronological experience of our lives is just our sequential movement through these moments, like a cartoon flip-book, giving the illusion of fluid animation. Maybe this experience of life is a form of active remembering, like reading the pages of a book, one at a time, in order.
Maybe that’s why your entire life flashes before your eyes before death – maybe it’s merely your 3-dimensional perception, raising anchor, glimpsing the whole of your life – your collection of moments – outside of time and existence as we now understand it – the pages of the book all torn out and laid out across the floor.
Then again, I’m not a physicist… or an expert in anything but bullshitting (certified), and I only BARELY understand anything I’m talking about. I’m just some guy, flying by the seat of my pants, trying to do the best I can to be the protagonist my subjective story needs, and using commas like they’re free.
Maybe we’re all just trying to figure this thing out, and we should try to have patience with each other, as best we can. That said, let’s not kill anybody else until we’re SURE we know what’s going on. Deal?
“One Two Three: Thoughts on Trans-Dimensional Communication”, by Eric Dean. Sharpie on canvas.