Does time run backwards?

What does it mean if time runs backwards? And, if it does, would this shed new light on ancient Tantric wisdom regarding time and non-duality?

I’m no physicist, so I probably won't do a particularly great job at explaining the theory of retrocausality. But I thought it might be a theory worth contemplating, because it could redefine how we perceive our place in the universe, and the Tantric concept of non-duality.

Retrocausality has been proposed as a potential solution to the bizarre observation of quantum entanglement.

Quantum entanglement occurs when two subatomic particles are rubbed together and then separated. The act of rubbing them together causes them to become linked - or entangled - so that any changes in one particle produces a corresponding change in the entangled particle. This happens no matter how far apart these particles are and despite the fact that there is no physical connection between them.

The problem with quantum entanglement is time, or, more specifically the lack of time involved in the transfer of information. As far as we are aware nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. So, in theory, no information can be communicated between particles faster than light speed. Consequently, there ought to be a direct correlation between time and distance. The further two objects are apart, the longer it takes for information (or light, if we are to take the fastest possible packet of information) to pass between them. But when we observe the effects of quantum entanglement, information seems to be shared simultaneously.

This obviously defies our understanding of time, which, at its most basic level, is simply the measure of cause and effect. Imagine that scientific observation is the cause of Particle A’s reaction and Particle A’s reaction is presumed to be the cause of the effect on Particle B. But maybe it isn't, because there is no delay between cause (Particle A's reaction) and effect (Particle B's reaction). It appears then as though the observation of Particle A is the cause of both effects - the reactions of both Particle A and Particle B simultaneously.

One of the potential explanations for this phenomenon - that a single observation is the cause of two simultaneous quantum effects - is retrocausality. Retrocausality states that the process of cause and effect - the flow of time itself - is actually occurring in reverse.

This suggests that the synchronised behaviour of the particles are actually causing the effect of observation. But this seems like an unsatisfactory description of the phenomenon, because both cause and effect (or presumed cause and effect) still occur simultaneously. There is still no delay.

At a quantum level though, observation is the root cause of all quantum effects. Quantum particles adopt certain properties once they have been observed. Up until that point they simply occupy a wave of potentialities. So, if time is presumed to be flowing in reverse (at a quantum level at least) then the particles dissolve into a wave of potentialities at the moment that observation is removed.

This implies that there is a point in time (in what we perceive as the future) when there is universal, all pervasive observation, at which point all quantum properties are defined. But as time flows backwards observation degrades, reality dissolves and quantum particles return to a state of potentiality.

In other words, our reality is only possible because it is a necessary component of a universal consciousness that has not yet arisen (from our forward flowing perspective). Our reality causes the observer to manifest and it is the act of retrospective observation that ultimately creates reality.

Within many of the Tantras time is conceived as being cyclical. This cyclical nature of time is often represented by the goddess Kali. Kali is responsible for both the emanation and dissolution of reality in an unending cycle of time.

Retrocausality does not argue that time is cyclical though. Rather, retrocausality suggest that time is flowing backwards. However, the fact that we perceive time as flowing in the opposite direction - as expanding outwards, rather than collapsing inwards - perhaps indicates its underlying cyclical nature. Each moment is a convergence of retrocausality and perceptual causality; of backwards flowing time and forward facing time. Each moment then is like it's own spinning cog of time within a larger wheel of mutual cause and mutual effect, constantly folding and wrapping around itself.

It is this convergence of bi-directional time in the present moment that perhaps opens the gateway to the experience of non-dualism. Many Tantric techniques are designed to ground the practitioner in the present in order to experience a sense of non-duality; a sense of unity with universal consciousness itself. And if time is indeed flowing backwards, from the point of universal consciousness and all-pervasive observation to a point of undefined potentiality, this makes perfect sense. Because each individual moment as we experience it - within our forward flowing perception of time - heralds a more complete moment of universal consciousness. Whilst our future may contain greater levels of consciousness this exists beyond our perception, and our past only contains moments of even greater incompleteness, where universal consciousness has continued (as it flows in reverse) to degrade.

Of course, the implications of retrocausality and the retrospective flow of time are difficult to comprehend, because it appears to negate the notion of free will. But this too seems consistent with Tantric and Daoist teachings, to accept the flow of the universe as a natural force that cannot be altered and, rather than resisting it, attempt to observe it without ego or attachment. It is not an easy lesson to learn, let alone apply, but ultimately, it may be our false perception of causality that creates an internal sense of suffering, as we constantly struggle to affect our future. Such teachings - known as wu wei in Daosim - may in fact recognise a deeper understanding of this universal truth, one that is perhaps revealed through quantum physics and one that, should we accept it, is capable of liberating us from our own internal suffering.