The Aymara people of Bolivia are unique in their belief about the spatial conceptualization of time. In their language, the word for front is understood to mean the past and the word for back is a understood to mean the future. Even their gestures indicate this belief, with speakers of the language gesturing further ahead of their body when talking about points further in the past. It makes sense if you think about it since everyone can see what lies ahead of them and they can also look back at history while they can’t see behind them and also can’t see the future.
Reminds me of the quote from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll and popularized by the psychologist Carl Jung regarding synchronicity: “It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.”
