ABSTRACT DEL KEBOOK
Of Time and Dreams Preface The interpretation of dreams has been a topic of interest for centuries, with humans seeking to identify symbols and decode the enigmatic messages they contain. He has frequently viewed dreams as the most favored divinatory and prophetic instrument of the gods, utilized to express their will concerning humanity's future. An intriguing hypothesis regarding the potential premonitory capacity of dreams was put forth by Lieutenant John William Dunne (1875-1949), an Anglo-Irish aeronautical engineer who designed and constructed some of the earliest aircraft, participated in the Second Boer War, and, following injury, remained in Alassio (Italy) for an extended period of convalescence. At a time when mesmerism and mediumship were still prevalent in salons, Dunne, trained in the scientific method, investigated a hypothesis to explain hypnagogic hallucinations, or dreams with frightening content. In the wake of a disturbing dream that he believed to be a harbinger of the catastrophic volcanic eruption of ash from Mount Pelée in Martinique in 1902—which resulted in the deaths of numerous residents—he took a moment to reflect on the prophetic quality often attributed to dreams. In his 1927 publication, An Experiment with Time, Dunne put forth an intriguing serial conception of time, positing it as an entity of infinite dimensions. According to Dunne's fascinating and abstruse speculative theory, dreams are composed of images of past experiences and images of future experiences mixed together in almost equal proportions because the network of mental associations extends in the two opposite directions of time. The future already exists and is always with us. To summarize Dunne's philosophical concept in a simplified manner, it can be stated that our existence does not take place within a fixed and unchanging universe. Instead, it is situated within a present moment, a point that flows smoothly along the physical timeline that begins with our birth and ends at the moment of our death. The dreamer's attention, situated within the framework of space-time, repeatedly traverses this point, which does not exist in reality and serves to differentiate the past from the future in our perception. It is sufficient to advance or retreat this point in our existence, to seek a fissure among the myriad ramifications of time, and to ascertain in which "dream" our present self will reside. However, even a dreamer situated at a superior level can partake in this experience, and another placed at a superior level, and so on in an infinite series. The success of An Experiment with Time led to the concept of serial time being used by authors such as H. G. Wells, J. B. Priestley, James Hilton, C. S. Lewis, Graham Greene, and others to explore the fascinating subject of time travel. In an essay devoted to the work of John William Dunne (El tiempo y J. W. Dunne, in Otras inquisiciones, Buenos Aires, 1960), Jorge Luis Borges suggests that we should not judge Dunne, the dreamer, a pioneer in the study of time, from the heights of our present scientific beliefs and knowledge. Rather, we should accept with serenity and respect his religious or philosophical ideas for their ethical value and also for what they contain that is singular and wonderful. In his essay, Jorge Luis Borges states that John William Dunne "assumes, surprisingly, that ours is eternity and that the night of all nights confirms it." A.A.B.