This is an old post resurrected in honor of Stephen Hawking who I am sure is still out there soaring somewhere.
In 2016 when PBS aired Stephen Hawking’s Genius series, I caught an episode that featured parallel universes and the scientific community’s increasing belief in them. Falling into a black hole, one might find a way out through a portal to another universe. What that means practically speaking, I am not sure, but my mind keeps turning over the wondrous possibility. In a world where violence continues to reach depressing new peaks of disbelief, where our leaders cannot seem to do the right thing, the idea of other worlds where we our are better selves holds appeal.
It may seem impossible to consider living other lives simultaneously in multiple universes, particularly when you think of how complex your life already is. On any given day, you bring several versions of your life to the table. While sitting in a meeting, you might also be thinking about your bills or retirement. How will you pay for your kids’ college education? You may be worried about your health or the health and welfare of someone close to you. Maybe you feel you are falling short of your life goals. Will this meeting never end?
At lunch with a friend, you might be half-listening while planning a celebration in your head or pondering your next week off. Will you go out of town or stay local? What’s for dinner tonight? Do you need to stop at the store on the way home? What did she just say? Is your spouse happy? Really? With an effort, you pull yourself back to the present until your mind wanders off again to one of your other worlds.
It’s nearly incomprehensible to think we might be holding just as much in parallel universes! And yet, you have to admit, if it’s true, there’s something magnificent, beautiful and divine in that design—a kaleidoscope of lives within a kaleidoscope of lives—different depths, shapes and colors. Do our actions here have a ripple effect that is even greater than we realize?
As scientists and physicists discover and explain more, the circles between what we know and what we imagine continue to overlap and grow, expanding the subset of the two. You can almost hear the echo of your heartbeat in the middle of it.
Divine Ready 