Here is the painting of a landscape.
But the artist who painted that picture says,
- Something is missing. What is it?
It is I myself who was a part of the landscape I painted.
So he mentally takes a step backward
- or 'regresses' -- and paints...
...a picture of the artist painting
a picture of the landscape.
And still something is missing. And that
something is still his real self
painting the second picture. So he
'regresses' further and paints a third...
...a picture of the artist painting a
picture of the artist painting a
picture of the landscape. And because
something is still missing, he paints a
fourth and fifth picture...
...until there is a picture of
the artist painting a picture of the
artist painting a picture of the
artist painting a picture of the
artist painting the landscape.
So infinite regression is--
--It is the moment when our artist,
having regressed to the point of
infinity, himself becomes a part
of the picture he has painted and
is both the Observer and the observed.
Well, in that peculiar condition,
what would he be observing if he were observing
Time?
He would perceive, Mr. Bonds, that Time is like
a freeway with an infinite number of
'lanes'
-- all leading from the past
into the future. But not into the
same future. A driver in Lane 'A'
may crash, while a driver in Lane 'B'
survives. It follows that a driver,
by changing lanes, can change his
future.
Mr. Bonds, i think that time can
fully be understood by an observer
with the Godlike gift of infinite
regression
Do you believe that?
Absolutely! I think it is the only explanation.