system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: If light is bent by gravity and the universe is sufficiently big wouldn't light continue to be bend around each successive massive object until being viewable back at its point of origin as "the past"?
gpt
Light isn't bent by gravity.  Light goes in a straight line in space.  Space is bent by gravity.

There is probably not enough mass in the Universe to bend space into a closed surface where all light might loop around to return to it's source.  The Universe is mostly flat around here, but we can't see all of it.

If you have a large mass, and you're in the right place, you can send a message into space by blinking a light and have the light go around the massive object and return to you, effectively letting you see your past.