What if we reached a point in our discoveries about the universe where we had learned all there was to learn, and there was nothing left to discover, to reasearch, except the present, which quickly becomes the past. What would this do to our sense of expectation, as humans? Our predilection for hope? Pema Chodron, the Buddhist nun, advocates banishing hope from our consciousness, in order to embrace, and be content with, the present, and to live more fully with what we have instead of extending our desires into the future, and basing a future happiness, if you will, on events that may never come to pass. What if this were the case?
I proposed this to co-workers today as a premise for a novel, and the young neuro-scientist painting beside me quickly vetoed the idea, even when I posed it as a sci-fi novel setting.
"That will never happen!" He insisted.
Ah. The young and the hopeful.
We sparred a few rounds, then let the notion go.
But what if, indeed?
I wish I had it in me to write a novel. I like to think that in an alternate universe, in one of the infinite universes that exists in the Multiverse Theory, that I'm already well at work on that piece of writing. (Be sure to check my blog in the other universe — I'll post updates on the progress.)
that's the speed that I read everything. What if the alternate universe only exists in the future? sp
ReplyDeleteSusanna, the future is always an alternate universe ;-)
DeleteI'm not sure I can even try to explain how much I love this post. I think of all the parallel lives I might be living, and I'm sure I am, was or will be something completely different. Good luck with your reading. I'm finding my ability to concentrate on deep topics is fleeting, but this is a great topic to ponder. Let us know what you learn, in all possible universes.
ReplyDeleteMel, I know we share a love of this subject, and it is indeed a challenge to make sense of it. Let us both continue our attempts to understand this vast universe, and report back to each other!
DeletexT.