Time, History, Retention

Time is conceived as 1-Dimensional, i. e. as linear, including both rectilinear and curvilinear, in not only Physics, but usually in History, as well.  In other words, History is usually conceived as constituted by a sequence of events, but without the third Dimension of Time, Retention.  The one exception has been the Dialectical concept of it, according to which the Past is Sublated in the Present.  However, Sublation is not equivalent to Retention--in the former, the Past is negated by the Present, whereas in the latter, the former is exceeded by the latter.  Thus, the Past of a tree is retained within, not negated by, the Present ring.  Likewise, in human History, Medieval principles survive to this day in secular Democracies, and Socialist societies participate in free markets.  The power of the Past to survive into the Present, even after being presumably surpassed, has been proven, and underestimated, time and again. It may lose what Whitehead calls relevance, but it does not disappear.