Thursday, March 25, 2010

A Sleeper's Entanglement

Everybody's familiar with the idea of quantum entanglement, right? It's one of the basic principles of quantum physics that states that no matter how far apart two linked objects become, a change in one will automatically produce a change in the other. Einstein called this 'spooky action at a distance.'
   So why am I boring you with this? Because I had my own instance of quantum entanglement last night. And it was spooky and it was at a distance, not only in space but in time.
   I was dropping off to sleep, and I heard a car the next building over that sounded like one of the cars our next door neighbors had back when I was a kid. The exhaust sounded the same, the manual transmission whined the same, the crunch of the tires on the pavement was the same. In an instant I was back in my bedroom in my parents' house, listening to the neighbors come home as I fell asleep.
   Now I don't mean I imagined I was there, or recalled it, I was there. In my old bed, arranged underneath the window, with my old headboard above me and the shelves on the wall at the foot of the bed and the hum of the electric clock on the wall. Even with my eyes closed I felt the furniture, my desk, my dresser, the hutch where I kept books and trophies. I can recall it now as I write this, but the placement is a memory, like looking at an old photo and remembering it like you remember a movie you saw long ago. Last night it was a certainty, if I reached out I would have touched a wall where there isn't one in my own apartment. I knew if I opened my eyes I would see everything where it should be like it was when I was fourteen. It was a sense of place that I have very rarely had.
   When I realized what was happening I knew I had to write it down, so I opened my eyes. My bedroom seemed hazy and indistinct, as if I were fighting to bring myself back to the here and now. I felt a little dizzy and disoriented as I went to my desk and took notes.
   I went back to bed and tried to find that place again, but even though I could see my old bedroom, I wasn't there - really there - not like I had been minutes before.
   I don't know what happened, if it was just a dream I took myself out of or if it was a deep memory that involved all my senses or something else entirely, but it was a ride. Like two electrons separated by billions of miles, myself now and my old self years ago connected. I sure hope it happens again, I want to explore this.

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