Multiple universes, cosmic loneliness, the pointlessness of prejudice

I don’t know if it’s got any validity or not, but there’s supposed to be some theory relating to quantum mechanics that suggests every decision we make creates a fork in the road and results in a new universe splitting off. Say you choose to eat an egg for breakfast instead of some buttered toast. Immediately another universe, including another you, is born and in that universe you choose the toast over the egg.

I’m not sure I buy into it—for starters I’m no expert in the field and can’t even call myself a layman, such is the level of my ignorance—because, for starters, what about the choices animals make? I guess science might say animals don’t choose, they just act without thought, but everybody who has any contact with animals, pets or livestock, would argue they do, all of the time. Mind, or consciousness, is supposed to be an exclusively human thing and I know that’s bollocks.

But wait a second. If we do create different universes in which our alternative choices are made, then it has implications. If, for example, sexuality is, to some degree, a choice—and I don’t think it is, but I do believe we choose to assign ourselves labels that may or may not encapsulate the specificity of our intimate natures—and environment is a factor, then every heterosexual could theoretically be gay in a different reality, and vice versa. Maybe bisexuals can be bi, gay or straight somewhere among the infinite number of universes we create by our actions, thoughts, decisions and influences brought to bear upon us. The point is, gay could be straight could be gay. And here we are, fighting and abusing and killing based on who other people fall in love with. It’s not only tragic, it’s pathetic.

There’s more. If you’re of a religious or spiritual bent, you may have decided you’re Pagan, or Christian, or Muslim. Being born into a family holding to a particular creed inclines you towards the same, sure, but it can equally push you in an opposing direction when you’re old enough to make your own decisions. If those other universes exist, we made different choices in those. Someone who became a born-again Christian and later rejected that faith may not have done so in another life. Or maybe you are Pagan but elsewhere in the multi-verse you’re a Christian, and it all boiled down to just one meeting that you did or did not choose to attend. Again, the point is, Christian could be Pagan or Muslim, and the reverse could be true. Atheists, of course, could have decided there is a God in another life. Yet here we are, on the one planet we know supports life, killing and chastising each other on the basis of what we believe. What we believe is personal yet we don’t seem capable of fully accepting that, wishing to make it both social and enforceable.

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The German film Run Lola Run explores the consequences of every decision we make, whether deliberate or instinctual, and compares scenarios that end up vastly different because of bumping into someone or avoiding them, stopping before crossing the road or running into traffic, and so on. It’s possibly my favourite film of all time because it makes you realise just how important everything is. Nothing is without purpose or direction. If we believe it is, and I’ll admit I’m prone to doing so, then that is an illusion brought about by our limited minds.

Of course the killing and fighting and name-calling don’t need a theory of multiple universes to be denounced as wholly insane given that we are all of the same species, and standing on the brink of seeing everything we’ve ever achieved wiped out in a heat-haze. We head towards our own destruction pissing around with the little things that don’t matter, while all the time arguing over the things that do. But if the multi-verse theory is true, and I don’t think we will ever know, one can only assume that somewhere, somewhen, all the pieces fall in a very specific order throughout eternity to make it so that we actually do the right things. All of the time.Wouldn’t that be something?

If only that could be our universe and not another one out of reach, beyond our senses. Still, in some other universes we blew ourselves up in a nuclear war in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s or 1990s—possibly in all those decades, maybe even back when the atom was first split. In those universes there’s nothing left of our species. In some universes the decisions have been made that will hold back global warming, in others we’re already cooking.

I don’t know where I’m going with this, but that’s a pretty standard response you’d get from all of us if we actually sit and think about our place in things, our fate, our destiny as a species. Most of the time we put one foot in front of another, or open our mouths, not knowing what will happen, making decisions in nano-seconds that can have wonderful or devastating consequences. I guess, for me, the theory of multiple universes is a great science-fiction idea that may or may not actually be real, whatever reality is—and that’s a whole other topic. But one thing it does make me realise, not for the first time, is that science, and therefore humanity, will never know everything. It’s in our nature to try, and that’s good to an extent, but it’s our collective unwillingness to accept that somewhere along the line we have limitations that has led us as a species to the sorry mess we’re in today.

We lack humility and respect. We fail to cultivate awe, and grace. We believe power is a tangible thing, when the only real power is to be found in the geological and evolutionary processes of the Earth, in the movement of stars and planets. My gods are not your gods. Does that matter? I think the deep-seated notion in the human psyche that it does rather misses the point, and purpose, of spiritual and social beliefs. They shape us individually and as societies, but there is not one true way. The universe or universes don’t work with singular focus; everything is inherently diverse and pluralistic. Existence abhors One in many respects.

I’m not doubting reality has meaning, but I think we fool ourselves into thinking reality is singular. Even without an infinite number of universes, reality is not singular. It is plural. Yours is already very different to mine. If we could accept that, maybe we could all learn the humility and respect needed to accept the religious views of others, their different cultures, sexualities and skin colours.

The one thing we all have in common is that thing we call cosmic loneliness, the thing we spend most of our days avoiding confrontation with. But it’s there, goading us, telling us that no matter what we do, we are small. If we face up to it, we can either despair and become depressed—or we can celebrate the fundamental truth that life is for living and not for wasting time on prejudice, hatred and violence. I think cosmic loneliness, the fact that since the 19th Century it has grown into a global pandemic along with cynicism, overconsumption, and materialism, results from our failure to recognise that we should work together, not in opposition. So long as we continue the cult of the individual, which capitalism requires so that we can all be shaped into greedy consumers, cosmic loneliness will continue to haunt us. It’s a symptom, not a fact. Cosmic loneliness tells us things are very, very wrong. It is the voice outside the bubble, outside the Matrix, telling us we are sleepwalking to the cliff-edge because we have blinded ourselves, bedazzled ourselves, with shiny things that won’t last, because they can never last, because they aren’t meant to last. We deny change. We fear growing old, we are terrified of death, we refuse the notion of apocalypse, of major changes to our planet that may or may not be of benefit to us.

I’m not saying these ideas and thoughts of mine as expressed here are in any way fixed. I’m not even saying this article is ‘finished’, or even coherent. You be the judge, if you must. These words are just a snapshot, if you will, a writing down of thoughts and gut feelings. I’d be interested in reading in the comments section below what your ideas and thoughts are by way of response, what is brought to mind for you, and what your perspective might be.

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