Mindscapes

What It Is:

We tend to think of time as linear—moving in one direction, from the past to the present and into the future. But some physicists and philosophers propose that time might actually be cyclical, not linear. This means that instead of time being an endless straight line, it could function like a loop, repeating itself over and over. Imagine a cosmic clock where the hands go around infinitely, resetting every time they complete a full circle.

In this theory, the universe and everything in it—including our lives—might be part of a repeating cycle. Some ancient cultures already hinted at this idea through their myths of eternal cycles—such as the Hindu concept of the Kalachakra (Wheel of Time), or the Mayan belief in repeating cosmic ages. These cycles suggest that the universe, and perhaps even individual experiences, might repeat infinitely.

How Time Loops Might Work

If time is a loop, everything that happens—every event, every life—could happen again and again, forever. Our memories and dreams might not be new experiences, but echoes from previous loops. Déjà vu, that eerie feeling that you’ve experienced a moment before, could be a brief glimpse of a previous version of the same event from an earlier loop.

Here’s where it gets even stranger:

• Dreams might contain fragments of memories from other loops, giving us flashes of other timelines.

• History repeating itself—wars, discoveries, relationships—might not be a coincidence. These events could naturally occur every time the loop resets.

• Personal patterns and experiences (ever feel stuck in the same habits?) might also be reflections of events we’ve already lived through, again and again.

Some theorists suggest that everything—people, civilizations, even the universe itself—could reboot after each loop. Every new version of the loop might contain small variations, or perhaps it all plays out exactly the same way each time.

Does This Explain Déjà Vu?

Déjà vu is that strange sensation of feeling like you’ve experienced a moment before, even though you logically know it’s new. In a cyclical time model, déjà vu might occur when the same moment from a previous loop overlaps with the current one, giving you a fleeting memory of a past version of it.

Similarly, dreams could contain memories from other timelines or loops. When you dream of places you’ve never been or people you’ve never met, it might be because your consciousness is tapping into moments from other cycles that you’ve already lived through.

What Happens When the Loop Resets?

• On a grand scale, the universe itself might expand, collapse, and restart endlessly—a theory known as the Big Bounce, where each version of the universe plays out over and over in a cosmic cycle.

• On a personal level, our lives could play out in infinite loops, with every relationship, event, or mistake repeating each time the loop resets.

Some versions of this theory suggest that each loop might vary slightly—maybe in one loop, you take a different path, say different things, or meet new people. Or perhaps everything stays exactly the same, with each loop following the same script over and over.

Why It’s Trippy:

If time is a loop, then everything we experience has happened before—and will happen again. Déjà vu and dreams might be glimpses into other versions of the same events, giving us a strange sense of familiarity. It also means that we might have already lived our entire lives countless times without realizing it.

What if the choices you make today aren’t the first time you’ve made them? And what if every moment—no matter how small—is part of an infinite loop, repeating forever? This idea makes reality feel both strange and familiar, as if we are stuck in a cosmic time loop, living out the same events endlessly.