Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [102]
‘Something funny?’ he asked, putting down his pen and closing the text. His dark eyes lifted to meet hers.
She whisked the query away with her hand, shielding her mind. ‘What did you discover?’
‘As a horary chart,’ he said, his voice smooth and deep, ‘it’s radical and fit to read. There is an answer here but…’
‘Go on?’
‘I don’t think we’re asking the right question.’
She lifted her chin. ‘Are you suggesting the chart knows what the “right” question is?’
He nodded, a faint smile forming on his lips.
‘How can that be? Any astrological chart is a representation of a moment in time, the interpretation made through a symbol system that derives meaning from planetary motions. How can it “know” anything?’
I take it that’s not a rhetorical question?
His thought entered her mind in spite of her shield. It didn’t surprise her. You take it correctly.
‘Not just planetary motions,’ he answered aloud. ‘Precise and prescribed planetary motions that coincide with equally precise and detailed events. As above, so below…’
‘What do you mean by events?’
‘Inner and outer experiences. Every instance of time carries with it all the possibilities of that moment, past, present and future. The thought, the question, asked at a precise moment, contains its history, its current state, and its potential outcomes. In that sense, it contains the “answer”, which is simply an understanding of its essence. The two are inseparable.’
‘Excellent,’ she said. ‘Good work, Teg. Anything else?’
‘Such as?’
‘The reference to “knowing”?’
He shifted his weight. ‘It’s not so much about sentience as we understand it, but about synchronicity.’
She slipped into the chair opposite him and leaned forward. ‘Synchronicity? And what do we know about that?’
‘The man who formulated the notion.’ He frowned for a moment, staring at her. ‘What was his name? A twentieth-century thinker.’
Jung.
‘Jung! Carl Jung. He used the term to describe the paradoxical occurrence of events that are tied together without obvious cause, yet linked through intrinsic meaning.’
‘Meaning? To whom?’
‘To the person experiencing it, of course. A kind of coincidence in time of two or more otherwise unrelated events that share a similar significance.’
‘And the operant word here?’
‘Time…and acausal.’
‘That’s two words.’
‘I need two. In horary astrology, time is what matters, but the frame of reference is meaningless without a deeper understanding of causality.’
‘How so?’
‘In Earth’s past, it was believed that reality was based on causal mechanics. They called it…’ He tapped the side of his head, thinking. ‘Newtonian! The principle of cause and effect that informed their notion of reality. Things that happened caused what happened next.’
‘Example?’
‘The sun rises; light appears. The moon orbits the Earth; the tides ebb and flow.’ He closed his eyes. I kiss you and you smile.
Kreshkali jolted. He hadn’t sent that last thought, but she caught it anyway. Or did she imagine it? She stared at his face until he looked up.
‘What?’
A trick of my mind, then. She ran her hand across the tablecloth, smoothing it. ‘Continue, Teg.’
‘A seed is watered; the plant grows.’
‘And in the astrological model?’ she asked, keeping her voice steady. ‘In magic and quantum theory? What informs causality in these disciplines?’
‘Causality takes a different shape, more like Jung’s synchronicity, though it was never widely accepted on Earth.’
‘Why not?’
‘Stuck on Newton, I guess. Paradigm shifts don’t come easy.’
‘Not when you say it like that.’
He nodded. ‘And that’s how they said it, perpetuating another limiting belief.’
‘Why was it so hard to accept?’
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘In the synchronicity model, one event does not cause another but coincides or participates in a way that is meaningful. That was so far outside the mainstream, post-enlightenment persuasion, it couldn’t be grasped.’
‘Better.’
He smiled fully, showing even white teeth. ‘The problem with this chart, though,’ he said, turning to it again, ‘is that the moment in time and its