"What is the present but the sum of the past in a moment of consciousness?  And because the spirit can call upon this consciousness — this recall — at will, so the present is ever there in the stream of time and the flowing weave can become a broad tapestry spread out for me to contemplate; and I can point to the spot where a particular thread in the weft marks the start of a new design in the pattern.  And I can follow the thread, knot by knot, forwards and backwards; it does not break off, it carries the design and the meaning in the design; it is the essence of the tapestry and has nothing to do with its temporal existence."
—Gustav Meyrink, The Angel of the West Window