Ever since I encountered the concept of a multiverse years ago I’ve found it quite intriguing. My first real exposure to it was in the ‘Bright Empires’ series by Stephen Lawhead. In this five volume tale the lead character Kit Livingston stumbles into the realm of the multiverse via ley travel. I found the story to be an entertaining romp through various alternate terrestrial histories which though complex was actually easy to read. Even on my second time through (this time on Audible) I am finding it enjoyable.
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My first deep dive into a multiverse. |
I also found the recent film ‘Everything, Everywhere, All At Once’ very entertaining and even a bit thought provoking… but more in the vein of a strange acid trip or perhaps being absorbed into a Salvador Dali painting than anything else…. a bit surrealistic to say the least.
I’ve come to understand that the idea of a multiverse in one form or another is centuries and even millennia old. Over more recent decades it has fallen in and out of favor with astrophysicists from what I can tell. Some people would say it was only hypothesized to explain how our universe came to be and how life could possibly occur on our planet against impossible odds.
Whatever the reasons for the idea, whether ancient or more current, it doesn’t ruin the fun of imagining a multiverse for me. I am still very much enjoying my second time through Lawhead’s series in any case.
This morning however, I was wondering if there might actually be a more complex and infinitely more interesting multiverse to consider.
I’ve been on vacation with my beloved for over a week now and this morning we were on the train to Groningen here in the Netherlands and I was saying my prayers. It was then that I felt a strong surge of good will for my fellow passengers… perhaps I was channeling a bit of God’s love and light for them… I don’t know.
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Sort of like the train ride to Groningen, Netherlands this morning where a new and more interesting concept of the multiverse grew in my mind |
At that moment the thought struck me that every one of the persons around me is in fact a compact universe of sorts. In my mind at least, every person is a seeming boundless array of light, energy, spirit and matter with thoughts wizzing around and through it all… a tiny microcosm of our known universe in a way. Every person has a whole complex history that affects everything within them all at once whether they admit it or not. Every person is absolutely unique, unrepeatable and irreplaceable… and in my cosmology, infinitely loved by their creator.
In such universes, just like the stories of things long ago in a galaxy far, far away, actual battles are continuously raging. Some of them may seem insignificant, like what to wear or who to call on any given day. But some battles are life and death decisions which affect the flourishing or withering of multiple universes. Each universe (remember we are talking about an individual person here) has complex battle lines drawn between decisions for good or ill within them.
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What if every person that existed were actually a Compact universe that intersected other universes Like so many bubbles… a multiverse worth considering. |
As they interact with other universes, they consider thoughts outside themselves to adopt or reject as their own. Some universes intersect more or less permanently and share thoughts continuously like two bubbles intersecting. Imagine a cluster of bubbles intersecting and multiply it by the number of humans that have ever existed and you get a glimpse of the most amazing multiverse imaginable.
Now add the multiverse of the spirit world with the Holy Trinity and all the angels both faithful and fallen and you have an astonishingly dazzling site indeed. Perhaps now you have a model that actually explains the complexity and beauty and at times, yes, terror of our existence.
As for me, I tend to see things this way with an unabashedly optimistic hue. No matter how complex reality may be, I believe in a personal God who is madly in love with each person and would do anything, including becoming one of us and being killed by us in order to prove his love.
The more grim things may seem for the moment, I remind myself that the darkest hour comes before the dawn. This version of the multiverse will not be here long. It will be renewed beyond our wildest dreams for a truly good and beautiful existence. This is what is meant by the beatific vision. May we all catch it and believe in it in spite of this present darkness.
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Do all you can to catch the beatific vision. |