The more we learn about the nature of reality, the more mysterious it seems. Fantasies like The Matrix films propose that life as we know it on this planet is nothing more than a highly complex computer simulation generated and imposed on our minds by sophisticated machines. Yet we might not have movies like The Matrix if it weren't for the discovery of the perplexing but apparently real nature of the world on a subatomic level.


On this quantum level, if I understand it correctly, matter seems to exist as both particles and waves - or the potential to be either - and how it ultimately behaves is determined by observation.

This is a highly complex subject and well beyond the scope and depth of this article, but it may be that reality at a subatomic (or quantum) level may be determined by our own consciousness. Not all scientists quite agree with that conclusion, but it is a possibility. (As far as I know, there are no firm conclusions about quantum reality, only theories.) The bottom line is, the universe may be a set of probabilities and the world we experience day-to-day is just the most probable.

This notion leads to the concept of multiple universes (or dimensions) created by other probabilities, time travel and other mind-bending ideas. So as fantastic as The Matrix may be, reality may be far stranger.

Glowing Clouds, the Oz Factor and Strange Phenomena

One aspect of that strangeness is covered with great intelligence and forthrightness in Jenny Randles' book Time Storms: Amazing Evidence for Time Warps, Space Rifts, and Time Travel.

In it, she makes a convincing case that time travel is not only possible, but that it may be taking place regularly around the world.

Randles lays the groundwork for such a possibility by explaining the current scientific thinking about quantum physics and the nature of time in layman's terms. Her explanations are clear and pretty easy to understand, which is quite a feat for such a complicated subject. And the reason for laying this groundwork is to offer a possible explanation for the many highly strange (can we call them paranormal?) experiences people have had that seem to indicate tears, warps or leaps in the fabric of time.

These fascinating anecdotes, which Randles has collected from all over the world, are the meat of the book. And they all have one common element: a peculiar energy cloud that can transport people and very often their vehicles into some unknown dimension. The result for these people can be missing time (from just minutes to days), disorientation (what Randles calls the "Oz Factor"), teleporation over impossible distances, electronic failure, gravity anomalies and other phenomena. These peculiar, glowing clouds -- time storms -- just may be an explanation for a variety of paranormal phenomena, including ghosts, spirits, synchonicity, deja vu, UFOs and what is thought of as alien abductions.

Randles suggests that none of this is paranormal at all, but that these time storms are just a scientific reality that we do not understand yet.

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