Random Thoughts Prompted by Genius

Dimension

Random Thoughts Prompted by Genius

Writing is often prompted and unplanned.

These musings were prompted by the genius of Stephen Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA (1942-2018) and of a different genius in the world of music, Hans Zimmer.

I’m prompted by Hans Zimmer’s theme Time to the film Inception.

These ‘conversations’ are entirely my imagination, allegorical at most.

I write with a writer’s freedom. Nothing more. Thus, without authority.

(Written whilst listening to "TIME" by Hans Zimmer and without forethought or preplanning)

 Random Thoughts Prompted by Genius

Chapter One

Part One

To the glory of humankind,

The beauty of creation,

The beauty of the mind.

The creation of the most incredible sounds

that we call music.

The beauty of humanity's absolute triumph

over every tyranny,

Every attempt to self destruct.

To Live and Let Live.

"Where there is life there is hope" 1

when speaking of the multi-billions

that go to make up 

what we call

'our' Universe.

1   Professor Stephen William Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA. Here is the Genius.

Part Two

Go on…
CHALLENGE YOURSELF!
Step outside time.
Step beyond man-made boundaries
and work things out.

You do not lose your faith by so doing.

Indeed, it is heightened to levels that thrill!
Extolled to ever greater quests,
Where there is life there is hope.

And that last declaration
where there is life there is hope
is by no greater man but
Stephen William Hawking.

 Chapter Two

 

Afterword

~ 2016 ~

Writing this on 28 April 2015 I had been greatly moved by Hans Zimmer’s Soundtrack for the Film Inception, this piece being the track Time, available through your favoured music platform.

It represents a small stone cast along my life’s timeline.

I was rediscovering faith.

The strongest yet, for lies against the backdrop of a lifetime.

I go full circle. 

Returning to one’s roots is daunting, often, initially unwelcome.

Nothing compares as hidden perspectives come into focus, of going to different places, living and working in different regions, counties or countries.

These pale when I returning to ancestral roots, my own shire, my family, to see out the remaining years at a leisurely pace, determined more than ever to walk righteously, however that phenomenon is observed.

*

My upbringing is that of a Christian. In the 1950s, Christendom was still a term of daily use. There are many bibles on a bookshelf, all belonging to family and ancestors. The large Family Bible is now kept in a sturdy dispatch box, as it was a gift to my great grandmother Eliza Ann from her parents in 1875, and her maiden name was Wimbush. Thus, it has always been known as the Wimbush Bible. Eliza then commenced a partial record of the family tree commencing with jer parents in 1824. Covering 201 years it faithfully records all the births deaths and marriages of the family moving through its various branch names. Now delicate and completely up to date as at 2025, it is best to keep it safe. It is not locked. Of course not. God forbid! But its tendency to fall open needs gentle handling. In about six weeks time a new birth will be recorded.

Each entry I make is eventually countersigned/initialled by my sisters, by Carol as Head of the Webb Family, by the babe’s parents and grandparents, and why? Because I tend to see way into the future. I know full well that the entries made now will be read two hundred years from now. That is my iron determination. And it will be so. It shall not be otherwise.

And something wonderful happens. Descendants come face to face with ancestors. They see and feel the different handwritings, the pen strokes, the very essence of their ancestors.

*

I enjoyed a practical faith. I enjoyed Sunday School, I recall, too, my paternal grandmother reminding me (more than likely because I would have preferred organsing my cavalry and the fort Grandad had built me) that as a child and teenager in the 1880s-1890s, Ken, dear, the whole family was required to attend church every Sunday not just once or twice, but thrice! Morning Service, Afternoon Service and Evensong. All weathers.

*

In the Galleries section, in a video the late Christopher Hitchins calls to mind the disappearance of the universal term ‘Christendom’. Hitchins was by no means a conventional Christian. Arguably, an atheist; yet with a refreshing depth of perception.

Faith is secure but worldly wise.

I dislike recalling literal interpretation.

I say that again…

I dislike literal interpretation

Faith is, these days, simply free of all religious dogma.

I look on with incredulity when I listen to those - in all religions - who have ONLY a literal belief.

Yes, I can believe that the Crucifixion took place. That is why I have written WHAT? HE IS RISEN?!?

“It is wise to separate historical account from camp-fire storyline.”

— Kenneth Thomas Webb

Chapter Three

Further Afterword

~ 2018 ~

I wrote Chapter Two on 1 November 2016, I was only just tentatively venturing into the challenge of ancestry and archiving family history.

Today, it brings me full circle; long lost names become real again, letters are as fresh as the day they were written, and the sentiments in them are as real as ever.

The roots go deep, ever deeper into the ground. The branches of the tree extend above as they reflect the even greater root system below ground, so that the tree now becomes a great and high tree, with the potential to become greater and higher still.

In all of this one's own character and personality develops perspectives hitherto unseen or imagined.

Memories I thought had gone are in fact found to be lying just below the surface. I begin to see who I am, what I am, where I came from, where I’m going, and how the future will unfold for the generations that follow me. And as regards my destination, well, I have no worry at all. I explain it more accurately in the best piece I’ve ever written in twenty-five years…

From Death and Back to Life… That Quantum Leap

7 March 2018
KTW

Chapter Four

Teil Eins

I sit on the promontory
overlooking Cheltenham
the wind in my hair
my mind in a whirl
...of resignation
defeat and subjugation.

I am still numbed
that my knowledge
of the Bible
equates to that of the devil.
For in that one short comment
on the stairwell of that
greasy-spoon cafe,
to which I had been summonsed,
a lifetime of faith
seemingly lies in tatters.

Such a charge means
that I can never again
speak with authority
by quoting Scripture.

Some things are said
and can be taken back.

Some things can be said
and can never be taken back.
The damage is too severe
even though, in time,
some sort of reconciliation
returns.

What do I do?
How do I proceed to publish
the fourth anthology?

So much of it is based on faith!

How do I proceed,
when some lay charge
that I do not speak
except with the authority 
of Beelzebub?

It is cold …
The Future has closed down.

Two days from now
I am under general anaesthetic.
Am I to be consigned to Oblivion?

“Some things are said
and can be taken back.”

— KTW

The chill wind warms
There is a Shimmering.
Here but not here …

Teil Zwei

A Lone Figure
Ordinary and Extraordinary
On Fire
And yet the appearance too
of water gushing from 
the standing rock
of Psalm 114 fame. [i]

My vision is hazy,
I am casting away my spirit.
I am giving up my soul.
There is no desire to remain
here anymore.

Suddenly I am aware
of that ugly phrase,
Its harsh reality!

the spirit is broken
the soul is ready to depart

Teil Drei

Greetings,
In the King's Most Excellent Majesty
Our Yeshua HaMashiach Melek Yiz-rael

What?
Who are You that you quote to me
my own writing?
What’s more a silly piece from the Twentieth Century?

Your words, yes
but inspired by 
The Ruach HaKodesh.
Perhaps?

No! Absolutely not.
That is me writing.
Nothing more.

Keep open your mind to
all possibilities,
all and any number
of dimensions
of perspectives.

Consider Three-In-One.

Do you mean The Trinity?

… silence

Consider every dimension.
Every dimension has its own perspective.
Every perspective has its own dimension.
Never presume each is one and the same.

Should I take my shoe off?

No.
I’m here in the guise
most comfortable for you to cope with.
You should by now have realised
I rarely, if ever, show my Deity.

Now! I want to speak with you,
and so let us walk awhile.

COME!
Let us stand on Favourite Rock.
It is where you scattered your father's ashes
and that greatly pleased Me.
It is also where I heard the groanings of your spirit
and I saw the distress and the elation in you
and I spoke with you.

Remember the refrain?
Remember the lark ascending 
Hovering, high, high above you?

I show myself in a million ways
and more besides.

NOW COME!
Let us sit down together
You and I
on Favourite Rock.

Countless times you have met with Me here,
You can no longer recall all of them.
But for Me, they are ever-present.

I know you are perplexed.
The rejection by one so young
in place of another creed,
The charge that your knowledge 
of My Word
is no different to that of the 
devil's knowledge.

I know different of course
And do not pay any attention
to lurid stories and fantasies
about the devil, satan,
Beelzebub and all the other names
by which the serpent goes.

The serpent is allegorical, my friend.

Sometimes things are said in My Name
that are, shall we say, wide,
very wide, of the mark!

Human nature and a pen together,
The two run riot!
We'll leave it at that.

Why the surprise?
Of course, I enjoy humour.
See me in the here and now.
Stop seeing Me clothed
in ancient garments.

I’m here in this moment,
in your time.

Now!
Suffice it to say, you are not in contention,
and have never been.
My Work? I guess you do that
in your own particular way
if you feel the need to.

And yes. Follow the norm?
Why?
You are an individual.
Express your individuality.
You have no need to try and be
that which you plainly are not.

Got it?

Good!

You operate in contentious areas
and bring knowledge of Me to souls
that other well-meaning souls
would only see you as being evil.

But your ways I have no problem with.
You would very quickly find out
if it were otherwise.

Now do not worry or burden yourself
anymore upon this being of the devil.
For it is preventing you from
doing anything.

I look upon the heart
Not upon the outward appearance [ii]

I am well aware of the many things you do wrong
but I am also aware of the 
misapplication of Judgment in My Name

Forget it!

Instead, live by your faith
The faith that you have developed in Me
through your studies
through your life's experiences that
yes, I admit I have brought to you
and sometimes harshly
and, as you say,
a rollercoaster.

I have given you many gifts
Use them

That you try to perceive Me
as being a million times greater
than the way I AM depicted 
in Scripture and religions
of all faiths
is neither here nor there.

Far greater minds are well ahead
Quite a few still greater minds are
way behind.

Do not detract from your faith
I have given you the ability
to see in this way.

I go now
But I leave with you
the words of Psalm 114,
the Psalm that has underpinned you
for more than twenty years.

Accept that people come and go

Everything is for a time and a season {iii]

With that young man you have done
the work I required of you
Now it is time for him to be assisted by others.

He is no more on the wrong path
than you are.

Step into the background.

Perceiving Me is in a Myriad ways,
Dimensions and Perspectives again.

Yes, it is true that
I AM the Way the Truth and the Life
and no one comes to the Father but by Me.

But consider too
how I define Myself.
I AM The Word?
Sure.

In one text?
In one book?
In one creed?

All of these are merely
restrictions.

Consider Me in all your ways
and remember that I AM with you
to the end of time.

Really?

To the end of time?

That is men and women writing!

There is no end of time.
Yes, I AM indeed outside of time.
Good. You’re catching on.
Perceive eternity.
No writing can even remotely
describe this.

No!
That’s precisely my point, my friend.
I am not the Person you perceive me to be.
I AM Higher.

Concluding Chapter

Chapter Five

I looked across the plains of England
and thought of Housman [iv]
as I watched the evening clouds
racing with majesty across the skies

the lamps in England, lighted,
and evening wrecked on Wales.

In that brief moment
I saw dimensions the like of which
I have never before comprehended.

I am at peace.
There is work to do
in openness.
Openness of spirit,
Openness of mind,
Openness of body,
Openness of soul,
and I am free of religion.

People will not agree, I’m sure.
So what?
For me to desire such
is to wander onto that dangerous path
that humankind too often takes
in its quest to make everyone
into a manifestation of itself:
one creed
one creed only,
or oblivion.

Tosh!

Yet these dimensions and perspectives
tell me a very different story
and give me a very different understanding
of that which once upon a time
I accepted as ‘gospel’, as the saying goes.

The Gospels?
Sure, they have their place and purpose
As do all sacred writings
But when some writing is thrust in my face
’Read this. Be saved. Without it you are lost!’… …

…

… Then I see another dimension
Another perspective
A horrid book … My Struggle.
Another one … The Little Red Book.
Yet another What Is To Be Done?

Each demanded adherence,
Total obedience.
History shows the litany of death by billions
spewing from their ugly pages.

Yes. Keep things in perspective.

finis

[i] Psalm 114 vv 7-8 (KJV)

Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob;
Which turned the rock into standing water,
the flint into a fountain of waters.

[ii] 1 Samuel 16 : 7

[iii] Ecclesiastes 3 : 1-8

[iv] Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936)

16 November 2021

LIVERPOOL




© 2018 Ian Bradley Marshall © 2025 Kenneth Thomas Webb

Author Note

Written in Stages

Writing is often prompted, unplanned.
These thoughts were prompted by the genius of Stephen Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA
and a different genius in the world of music,
the genius of Hans Zimmer.
The composition prompting me to write, is Hans Zimmer’s theme Time to the film Inception.

Written over several years 7 March 2018 ~ 31 July 2025

Banner Image digital artwork by KTW

Formal concluding image Licensed from Adobe Stock