"the space-annihilating power of thought"

16 May 2020: “It is curious—the space-annihilating power of thought. For just one second, all that goes to make the me in me was in a Missourian village, on the other side of the globe, vividly seeing again these forgotten pictures of fifty years ago, and wholly unconscious of all things but just those; and in the next second I was back in Bombay, and that kneeling native’s smitten cheek was not done tingling yet! Back to boyhood—fifty years; back to age again, another fifty; and a flight equal to the circumference of the globe-all in two seconds by the watch!” --Mark Twain, Following the Equator

I'm working on a review of a new book about Twain and came across this passage in which he writes about being in Bombay and seeing an Indian boy struck by a white man. He is instantly transported in his mind back to his boyhood in Missouri and the memory of a slave suffering similar violence. It reminded me of yesterday's post and all of the thoughts I've been having since then.