My circular / tangential theory of time

Time is circular. That doesn’t mean that everything is always repeating itself, although that’s often the case. Rather, it's a combination of tangents and curves that represents our past, present and future.

If time was represented as a circle, at any given point in time what you saw as the future would be a point directly in front of you: a tangent. You are heading towards this point although you will never attain it, because as you follow the circle, you are constantly changing direction, little by little. That doesn’t make that future any less yours: you are still heading towards it and your path would be far different if you were heading towards a different one. But forces affect you and nudge you so you continue on the curve a little ways, adjusting the tangent you are heading towards. You may head towards this one a little longer, moving in a straight line for a while, and then something taps you in another direction; you adjust your sights, refocus your target, and continue. In this way time and life is simply a series of tangents and circles.

Connected to this is my belief that some of the harshest, most gut-wrenching moments come when that tangent, that vision of the future, is torn away from us, and we spin like a broken compass, with no sense of north. That’s what happens when someone dies: all the things you had actively or passively imagined for the future – birthdays, parties, arguments, conversations, tea, cookies, gifts – get torn away with them, no longer a possible future. That’s what happens when you get fired, or you don’t get into the course at uni you want, or you suffer a career-altering injury: all your plans for the future, all your security, has to be re-assessed, and re-instated with another goal in mind.

Life is never as you imagined it. Where you are now is rarely where you imagined yourself to be 10 years ago, or at least at our age that’s the case. But would you have got here if you hadn’t been looking at that point off to the side, on a tangent 10 years ago? Remember a minute change in angle greatly affects the tangent, the further you follow it from the present point.