I'm no physicist (despite occasional appearances to the contrary), and so I can't speak to its plausibility, but I've always found the Many Worlds theory compelling stuff. In addition to seeking an explanation for the wonkiness of quantum mechanics, it suggests that with the existence of these alternate worlds that branch off from ours as time expands at different rates in different places, 'all possibilities are realized'.
Think about that for a second: do you realize what it means? It means (my social scientist brain is extrapolating here; allow me the poetic licence) that anything you've imagined as possible has actually occurred.
It means that someplace I'm still tramping through the island jungles of Oceania. Someplace I'm a CEO of something or other, wearing tailored suits and doing whatever it is CEOs do all day. Someplace I'm living out my fascination with carpentry, slowly turning wooden spindles to soft, delicate curves. Someplace I never set out to see the world at all. Someplace I'm a 40 year old woman who owns Hello Kitty soap she considers too adorable to actually use (Oh wait, that actually happened here...)
It also means someplace my 4.5 year old son is playing amiably with my one year old daughter. Someplace S is alive and growing and laughing in something other than the breeze that sways the trees.
Someplace, when people ask 'Is this your first?', I don't stutter, or meekly voice a 'yes' while silently thinking 'the fourth I've carried in my womb, the second I've birthed, but only the first I've held pink and screaming and alive'.
And then today, on a beautiful summer's day walking through the park, delighting in my daughter's discovery of bugs and bare feet in grass and the exploratory eating of said grass, I also realize that if this Many Worlds theory is true, there is someplace I never had life lessons that taught me not only how precious and fleeting these delights are, but that they, or the sight of a swollen belly, might pierce the heart of a passing stranger, someone less lucky than I. Someone who I was not so long ago. It's hard to know that in my very joy lies someone else's pain; for I too have felt that heartache.
And wearily, I wonder why it seems to be the inevitable way of the world that only with the painful, been-there-done-that knowledge of direct experience can we truly achieve such compassion and sensitivity for others. But then, maybe there's another world where that's different too.
Written as part of Mel's Microblog Mondays. Check it out here to participate.
Think about that for a second: do you realize what it means? It means (my social scientist brain is extrapolating here; allow me the poetic licence) that anything you've imagined as possible has actually occurred.
It means that someplace I'm still tramping through the island jungles of Oceania. Someplace I'm a CEO of something or other, wearing tailored suits and doing whatever it is CEOs do all day. Someplace I'm living out my fascination with carpentry, slowly turning wooden spindles to soft, delicate curves. Someplace I never set out to see the world at all. Someplace I'm a 40 year old woman who owns Hello Kitty soap she considers too adorable to actually use (Oh wait, that actually happened here...)
It also means someplace my 4.5 year old son is playing amiably with my one year old daughter. Someplace S is alive and growing and laughing in something other than the breeze that sways the trees.
Someplace, when people ask 'Is this your first?', I don't stutter, or meekly voice a 'yes' while silently thinking 'the fourth I've carried in my womb, the second I've birthed, but only the first I've held pink and screaming and alive'.
And then today, on a beautiful summer's day walking through the park, delighting in my daughter's discovery of bugs and bare feet in grass and the exploratory eating of said grass, I also realize that if this Many Worlds theory is true, there is someplace I never had life lessons that taught me not only how precious and fleeting these delights are, but that they, or the sight of a swollen belly, might pierce the heart of a passing stranger, someone less lucky than I. Someone who I was not so long ago. It's hard to know that in my very joy lies someone else's pain; for I too have felt that heartache.
And wearily, I wonder why it seems to be the inevitable way of the world that only with the painful, been-there-done-that knowledge of direct experience can we truly achieve such compassion and sensitivity for others. But then, maybe there's another world where that's different too.
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| Full of possibility |
Written as part of Mel's Microblog Mondays. Check it out here to participate.
But then, maybe there's another world where that's different too.
ReplyDeleteYes, one can hope that is the case.
A fascinating theory. And one my super-literal brain cannot even fathom...
ReplyDeleteThis blows my mind because this makes total sense to me. It reminds me of the Buddhist principles of 3 thousand realms in a single moment of life...way too complicated for me to explain succinctly, but it enables us to see the world from many perspectives. There are more possibilities than we were ever told.
ReplyDeleteThere's a movie with Nicole Kidman this post reminds me of. Called "Rabbit Hole." It's a hard movie (plot is of a mother trying to pick up the pieces after her son is killed), but it touches on all you talk about here.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have similar thoughts. I don't believe that without this experience I would have learned how to be compassionate towards others this way. But it's been a hell of a life lesson that I wish on no one.
Beautiful words and beautiful little feet!
ReplyDelete"And wearily, I wonder why it seems to be the inevitable way of the world that only with the painful, been-there-done-that knowledge of direct experience can we truly achieve such compassion and sensitivity for others. But then, maybe there's another world where that's different too."
ReplyDeleteI don't believe there's another world where it's easier to attain compassion and sensitivity, because I believe we need to CHOOSE to learn those things from our experiences. Obviously most of us are born with the ability to do so, but only with practice is that ability developed.
Beautiful post :-)
I love this so much. The kids and I talk about this incessantly; that possiblity that the other world could be right next to us right now, rubbing our shoulders against it without even knowing.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a beautiful post. I love the idea of having all these different worlds where those alternative things are happening and wondering what that might look like. Your losses but also your possibilities really come through gorgeously in this post. Love those little toes.
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