The human mind does not actually move forward through time; it is far more accurate to say that it sinks through it. The passage of time is a constant, ambient force like gravity, rather than a willful motion. When one closes their eyes and attempts to resist it, there is no traction or grip to be found that might stall the inevitable descent.
There is, however, a single circumstance during which this law need not be obeyed. During states of sleep, the mind experiences a sort of temporal weightlessness, where it can move about freely on its path towards the dawn. For most, the perceived length of time between states of wakefulness is ambiguous in nature; upon awakening, sometimes it feels as though only an instant has passed, while other nights, it seems like an entire day has slipped by. This is because the amount of sleep experienced and the amount of time elapsed never actually align.
During dreams, it is possible to rewind upon encountering misfortune or making a significant mistake; the mind can resist time’s flow and rewrite what has already come to pass. Most people who can remember their dreams have experienced this phenomenon at least once. This is usually the result of little more than a sudden impulse or urge, remembered in the morning as a mild curiosity, but adepts recognize this as a legitimate form of time travel.
Lucid dreamers with enough willpower can exploit this methodology; through concentration, they can become buoyant in time, and swim upwards through its waters at will. With enough effort, it is even possible for some to erupt upwards through the surface of their own unconsciousness, back to the previous dusk. Under these circumstances, they awaken at the exact moment they fell asleep, fitting an entire night’s worth of visions into the blink of an eye.
Of course, there is little of practical importance to be gained from such a skill, as the brain still needs sleep to recover at the end of the day. The dreamer emerges just as exhausted as they were at the brink of slumber, no matter how many times they rise and descend. Further, they can never actually rewind through their conscious life- only their unconscious. It is rumored, however, that there are masters of this technique who can remain perfectly still in time, experiencing an eternity before awakening once more.
Does the direction of time matter? What does it mean when then comes before if?
In dreams, humans have the same power over possibility as Cupid.
For some species, it is perhaps best not to experience the same dream twice.
“We’re all sinking, no matter where we’re going, and that’s okay.”