those ripples of existence touch all simultaneously, in parallel. now happens and much of the how when were why, who else involved, and what happens is an arrangement of circumstances accumulated by karma and dharma being played out from past lives. since now is happening because of actions of the past, those actions of the past are also happening now, manifested in the present as your own acquired subjective placement.
eventually your wave of existence begins to lessen, after growing to its greatest potential, then reaching the shore retreats back into the ocean again. once apart from, always a part of, until it is realized it was itself relied on the whole time.
in this sense you are the world, or the eyes of the world, watching your own actions take place.