The Multiverse
The multiverse, the megaverse, and the infinite possibilities that come along with them make for very engaging conversations. Movies and comics have done a good job of making us perceive the multiverse not simply as a sci-fi trope, but as a plausible idea, unlike the snow-laden world behind hidden closets and the wonderland down rabbit holes. Unfortunately, we cannot prove the existence of the multiverse. Not yet, at least. Sapiens are running the scientific race with god knows whom and have progressed by leaps and bounds, they might actually put Tony Stark to shame. So, yeah, we might find evidence of the multiverse when another universe accidentally intrudes into ours. But from the looks of it, we might be the intruders and it’s not going to be accidental.
The recent release of a couple of movies around the multiverse got me thinking. How cool would it be if the multiverse actually exists? How different will our everyday lives be? Would we give more importance to every choice that we make? Every action. Every word. Would we value our loved ones more knowing that they might not be a part of our lives in alternate universes? Would we finally be accommodating of our enemies knowing that in an alternate universe they might actually be our friends? Would we give more credit to our achievements knowing that there are alternate universes where we failed to achieve them? And give less importance to our failures and distress knowing that somewhere out there we are not going through these trials and tribulations or we have successfully tackled them.
Or will we be totally laid back knowing that we have no say over where we are? That it is all random…a chance, and we better live a no-fcks-given life rather than one where we try to control every event. There’d be so much peace! But do note that consequences still follow. We live in a world where humans govern with a bigger impact than physics does.
I’d like to be optimistic, though, and focus on the encouraging part that somewhere out there a me already did what I want to do right now.
There are infinite possibilities in the multiverse. I can be anything! The here-me, jotting this down, happened to fall into one universe. There is probably a well-accomplished prolific writer-me in another universe. That can make the here-me feel one of two things - either more driven knowing that a me achieved something here-me wants, or sad and jealous questioning why here-me was born here and not there. I don’t know which way I’d go. I can’t come to terms with the idea of another me. Wow…never thought I’d ever say this, but now I understand how disoriented Blake Crouch’s Jason would have felt. (I guess…?)
Continuous failures combined with the knowledge that the multiverse exists can be stressful. We can question - “Why wasn’t I born in the alternate universe instead?” We might fail to see that in ‘reality’ there are struggles in every universe. The grass is always greener on the other side, right? That rule lingers across universes. But the ‘fact’ remains that all those struggles were tackled by the very us in some other universe…or several alternate universes. So the real fact is that we are capable of what we want. Of course, circumstances play a huge role in anything and everything we do. But still, we did it once. Maybe more. There is hope.
Am I being too optimistic here?
