Problem with time travel in PoA

[ftah3]

No: HPFGUIDX 31581

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "epochelp" <rafe at b...> wrote:
> This whole thing is a relatively simple piece if temporal mechanics 
> (which areminds based on thge concpet on linear time have a very 
hard 
> time understanding, just like Quantum mechanics).
> 
> Basically it cause coming after effect (and this is perfectly 
> possible, try to think of time as another dimension in space).
> 
> Harry is saved because he saves himself, because he is saved he can 
> them save himself. There is no - how did he manage it the first 
time, 
> because there was no first time. i.e. When he Harry 2 saves Harry1 
> this is the only courtse of events that can happen.
> 
> 'm know its confusing, but the easy way to think of it is to detach 
> time from the equation. All things are happning at the same time 
and 
> so he never has to 'find a wayround it' because he has and always 
> will save himself.

Right!  While our minds are only capable of conceiving of and dealing 
with time in a linear fashion, time is actually a three dimensional 
construct.  

Another way of looking at it is that all things in time (past, 
present & future) have happened/are happening, so that cause and 
effect are not at work.  Harry was saved by himself because he saved 
himself.  It's not a matter of looping time; it's only a matter of 
events proceeding as they are.  

I.e., when you hold a sphere in your hand, you cannot necessarily 
say "the sphere begins here.  Because it begins here, it then curves 
around to there."  Rather, you have to say "this point on the sphere 
can be traced to that other point on the sphere, but it is not 
necessary for one point to preceed the other; in fact, it is also the 
other way around."  

You stop thinking of 'past' and 'future,' per se, and only consider 
that Harry saves himself from the Dementor, and therefore goes 'back 
in time' and ends up saving himself from the Dementor; OR, Harry 
goes 'back in time' and ends up saving himself from the Dementor, and 
therefore saved himself from the Dementor; OR any other linear 
explanation of said three-dimensional events.  

Basically, this explanation depends upon the philosophy that the 
Harry Potter universe exists in 3D 'spherical' time, rather than 2D 
linear time.

Which I find interesting, satisfying, while still incredibly brain-
spasm-causing.  :-P

Mahoney