Time Travel, Buddhism, And The Block Universe: Being Both The Question And The Answer

In this long-form preface, Science Fiction Author D. Colin Palmer explores time travel from two intertwined angles: the Buddhist understanding of awakening and the scientific picture of a four-dimensional block universe. Before we even touch equations, worldlines, or wormholes, this monologue begins where true inquiry always begins: with the one who is asking the question. Through the lens of Buddhism, we look at what it means to be both the question and the answer, how awareness itself is the field in which time, space, and all stories appear, and why the Bodhi tree is less a single place and more a point of no return in your own life where you cannot keep living on autopilot.

From there, the piece shifts gradually into the scientific landscape: relativity, the block universe, differential aging, and the idea that all moments exist together in a single, coherent geometry. We consider how time travel to the future through speed and gravity is already a built-in feature of the universe, and how the more exotic ideas—closed timelike curves, wormholes, and quantum consistency—start to sound like a technical translation of dependent origination and the web of causes that Buddhism has described for centuries. Instead of treating physics and spirituality as rivals, this monologue invites you to see them as two ways of mapping the same territory: one with equations, one with introspection.

Along the way, Palmer frames his upcoming 24-hour channel as a kind of unconventional temple: a blend of science fiction theatre, role-playing campaigns, gambling and poker advice, real-world education, and reflections on Buddhism and consciousness. The message is simple but demanding: there are many paths to the Bodhi tree. Some will find it on a meditation cushion. Others may catch a glimpse of it at three in the morning, listening to a man in a red sequined jacket talk about time dilation, poker, and the illusion of a solid self. This monologue is an invitation to treat time travel not just as a sci-fi fantasy, but as a deep thought experiment about who you really are, what “now” really means, and how awakening might include the whole tapestry of time rather than just one fragile thread.

If you are interested in Buddhism, theoretical physics, time travel, poker, role-playing worlds, or simply the idea that you might be more than the small story you tell yourself, this is the starting point. The journey into time travel begins here, with the recognition that you are already both the traveler and the landscape, both the question and the answer.