a stubbornly persistent illusion

Albert Einstein once wrote in a letter to the widow of his close friend, “Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me, that means nothing. People like us who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” When we lose someone integral in our lives, I think it’s human nature to cling onto aspects of the universe greater than ourselves. For me, I have found comfort in the unknown. The idea that everything we experience in life could be happening on a non-linear plane is the one that I have clung onto. If you’re at the movie theatre, immersed in a film, every frame feels like it’s happening in the present moment. However, if you step back, it’s clear that each frame exists all at once within a reel. Maybe the way we’ve been watching the film is the illusion.