"The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" - Einstein would have
loved it!
In the popular movie "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe",
author C.S. Lewis created the imaginary land of Narnia, where 4
children encounter time travel and discover the forces of both
good and evil, and take a much greater part in that battle than
they had ever dreamed possible.
Set during World War 2, four siblings Lucy, Peter, Susan and
Edmund are moved to the county because of the bombing in London,
and begin to explore the big house that is their temporary new
home. In a back room of the house is a large wardrobe filled
with many coats. The youngest sister, Lucy, runs into the
wardrobe to hide from the other kids, and in so doing discovers
that the back of the wardrobe is the door to another world named
Narnia. In that world she encounters a faun named Tumnus who
lulls her to sleep with an enchanting tune on his flute. When
she returns hours later through the wardrobe to her brothers and
sister, she finds that no time at all has elapsed. Apparently
time in Narnia is non-correlated with time in England. (A
notion, by the way, consistent with Einstein's General Theory of
Relativity.) Her siblings quite naturally chide her when she
tells them of her adventure, but she remains convinced her
experience was real. One by one the others also enter, but find
that this new world of Narnia is no longer a happy place but is
locked in the grip of perpetual winter by the magic of an evil
queen.
In due time the children, known in Narnia as "sons of Adam and
daughters of Eve" learn that Aslan, the lion king of this world
of Narnia, is coming back and can help them against the witch.
But when they learn that one of their own, Edmund, was deceived
by the witch and now is actually in her service, they need even
more help. Aslan is as good as he is powerful, and with him all
things are possible. He eventually gives his life in exchange
for their release from the magic of the White Witch, then comes
back to life due to "deeper magic from before the dawn of time."
(Wormholes into another dimension?) After much battling the
forces of evil with Aslan's help and finally defeating the White
Witch, the 4 children eventually rule the kingdom of Narnia as
Kings and Queens for what seemed like a thousand years before
being whisked back to England only to find themselves children
again playing in the old house.
Hmmmm. Sounds kind of familiar...like something that has been
going on in our world for the past few thousand years.
Well, be that as it may, and setting aside for a moment the
obvious parallels to Christianity, it occurred to me that
Einstein would have been first in line to see the movie.
How so?
For one thing, Einstein, known for his massive knowledge, said
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is
limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination
embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know
and understand."
In the land of Narnia time was completely non-correlated to time
in England, which is consistent with Einstein' theory of time
dilation. And wormholes that tunnel into distant regions of
space and time and black holes and string theory and spacetime
curvature... "The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" has it all and
more.
Move over, Albert, I'm coming with you!