What’s in Your Universe?

It was reported a few years back (September 2007) in the Daily Telegraph, that an Oxford University Professor by the name of Dr. David Deutsch (author of The Fabric of Reality) had the mathematics on hand further confirming the plausibility of parallel universes. In other words, there was, once again, a theoretical physicist/mathematician positing that the multiverse is not just the stuff of science fiction, but science itself. The math says so! (I’m fairly certain that I failed Algebra not once, but twice, so I’m not at all easy crunching the numbers confirming his theorems). Suffice to say, without knowing him personally, the man does not appear to be a slouch. These days, there is just a brain-busting amount of material referencing everything from multiple universes, to parallel worlds, to alternate dimensions. And, more recently, we have this revelation http://www.sci-news.com/physics/science-many-interacting-worlds-parallel-universes-02249.html

It seems today’s scientists, and more precisely, Physicists are blazing trails forward relative to all things Quantum, or “spooky” as Einstein once qualified. It was hard enough when all one had to do was consider our galaxy. Now, it’s not just the Milky Way, it’s the Milky Way (S) times a trillion-or more. Imagine that. A paltry trillion! If you will, an Infinite number of Milky Ways! Now, how is a person supposed to live on planet Earth “here and now” with all this other stuff afoot? Underneath it all, and at the core of material existence (and so yesterday), is vibrating strings (Brian Greene, String Theory- Columbia University Physicist), comprising the substance of everything and anything at the most sub-sub atomic level. I wont bore you with all the other stuff like super positioning (passé), which is, by the way, as cool as it sounds.

So lets see. If there’s an infinite number of Milky Ways, some of which will of course sport physical features a little different than our piece of acreage in this corner of the known universe (E.g. gravity, electro-magnetism, strong and weak nuclear forces, might be a little peculiar to our norm), then, most likely that means a whole bunch of solar systems that look strikingly similar to our own. And, of course, with a whole bunch of solar systems aping ours, that means myriad Earths. And with countless Earths, there would undoubtedly be an infinite number of you(s) and me(s) with a few alterations here and there.

Peruse any of Michio Kaku’s, (Professor of Physics, City University of New York) books or videos-and prepare to be dazzled. He’s got us not just living up to maybe a ripe thousand years of age-over the course of the next generation, but also has us escaping to parallel universes through worm holes (tunnels through space) in the event our sun goes supernova. According to Dr. Kaku, this won’t happen for millennia, and certainly not before we have harnessed the full power of the sun, (long before it goes kablooey), or your garden-variety Black Hole. His colorful predictions of our futuristic human legacy are no less mind-boggling; however, there is a caveat. We have to make it to a type III or type IV level civilization. I’ll address Type V in a future post. Right now, I’m not sure where we stand, but it seems we haven’t surpassed a fractional .25 of Type I, according to Kaku’s estimate in Parallel Worlds. And, that’s with the advent of the Internet (a global communication network) giving us a generous bump in the general direction of a Type I society.

Our continued advancement (and existence), of course, seems contingent upon whether we either stay the course-or change the course, depending upon whom you speak with, or listen to at any given moment. All this discovery, (of the math and science at least), further verifying infinite realms and existences really is the stuff of which WOW is made.

And paralleling the left-brain orientation of the aforementioned, there is this other place. It’s the right hemisphere of the brain. The other, no less important element of our personal universe, albeit frequently in-congruent “other half”. That emotional, creative, and often times turbulent aspect of the individual and collective self that must be balanced with the lefty in us all, if we hope to make it past .25 of Type I status.

As individuals, and as a civilization, it appears a great many are scared out of their respective gourds. Consequently, the tendency for a society awash in perpetual fear is to cede more and more of its personal liberty, creativity, and psychic empowerment in deference to those who profess to know better or to have the solutions ensuring either enhanced security, or continued sedation, (Naomi Klein offers a compelling argument of how this is achieved from an economic standpoint in The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism). In other words, don’t worry, in fact- don’t even think or feel, “we will take care of everything” is very much a contributing factor in the great short-circuiting of the Western mind.

Is it any wonder, with the constant threats, perceived and otherwise, of crashing economies, wars and rumors of wars, limited or dwindling resources, disaster, disease, famine, so on and so forth that we might opt to ignore what’s happening for us emotionally? No big surprise that the purchased mechanisms of our distraction have met with such astonishing success. Remarkably, we plod on in our daily lives trying to either deal or not deal with the emotional side of ourselves; our heads frequently and willingly stuck in the sands of some electronic medium, the fridge, or the bottle. Less and less shocking to this therapist is the angst that ensues when one’s access to a convenient distraction/addiction has been hampered or momentarily delayed. And what happens when we are not driving ourselves to distraction? We feel. Uh-oh!!!!

Western Civ’s great addiction to emotional escapism and immediate physical gratification has to be tempered, if we are fated to move forward as a species. This will only happen upon the re-discovery of our core identities, and when the greater community regards the interplay of intellectual, technological, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of the self with the utmost reverence. If we, at last, are able to attain mastery at having our technological selves on par with our emotional being (parallel if you will) we may find ourselves at Type I lickety-split. Not only are we in great need as a culture of brushing up on our critical thinking skills, it seems abundantly clear to this blogger that we would also be wise to hone our critical emotional ability.

Neither right nor wrong, good or bad, emotions seem to have garnered a bad rap. As a therapist, I have encountered the frequent mantra that they make you weak, vulnerable, unhappy, and if your “fortunate”-happy, excited, elated-etcetera, etcetera. The great short-circuiting of the Western civ’s mindset appears correlative to the pandemic double binding communication, propagated in much of today’s mainstream media. There is something wrong if you don’t feel happy. And if you are happy-then there’s definitely something wrong with you, (E.g. “Whatta u smilin’ about…. punk? Aren’t you paying attention”?!?).

It seems if we’re to have any measure of success getting things in balance, emotionally speaking, then we had best consider that our emotions are valid whether positive or negative. They exist, and at times can be quite painful, seemingly unbearable, but are not deadly. We need NOT know why they are there, or where they come from. Too oft, we try to make logical/rational sense of our condition, seeking reason for our emotional experience when it is largely unnecessary. Your emotions are valid and authentic simply because you feel them. PERIOD-and regardless of their etiology. Intellectualize away from feeling, subvert or repress, and convince yourself that you are “bad” for having them, and you may find yourself avalanched or significantly overwhelmed down the road during one of life’s little calamities.

True strength is learning to identify, hold, and express emotion, especially the negative ones, (absent beating up on one another-or ourselves), and without trying to think through them. As we become accustomed to managing that which has been deemed negative, emotion such as anger and fear, we are more compelled to act constructively versus destructively.

This of course means defining anger away from rage, and returning it back to adjective versus verb status. Ironically, unless we are able to feel the full spectrum of negative emotions without becoming overwhelmed or driven to distraction, its unlikely anyone will develop the equivalent capacity to experience the positive ones. Can’t have one without the other. Build walls to keep out anything negative or unpleasant, and you may discover on the flip that experiencing the true and genuine nature of your positive state has most assuredly been compromised.

Oh, and as if this weren’t enough, you may find yourself with any number of unpleasant physical manifestations paralleling these “supposed” and “unimportant” emotions left un-experienced.

So this is part I, of rebuilding, or building upon, that parallel universe inside out- and outside in, using that great quantum biological system known as the human brain.

Cheers!