Feeling Parallel
I often sit and wonder whether there is a replica version of me floating around in the cosmos. Maybe she is an actress, a teacher—perhaps she is not doing much at all.
The universe is unimaginably immense with many theories and dimensions, that I don’t think this is an unnatural thing to think about at all. Ultimately, we are spinning through the solar system on a floating rock and we let that fact go above our heads, accepting it as a piece of truth without further consideration. Would it be so strange to consider there is another version of yourself living out there too?
Parallel universes are not limited to only science fiction literature and film. Real scientific communities work to prove theories that reinforce the parallel universe argument, with many scientists coming out and supporting the idea. After all, we can't really comprehend with our limited human minds just how grand our universe really is, and what lurks beyond what we can see.
One of the theories that leaves my mind to wonder is the multiverse theory. This is the idea that there is more than just our universe, that there are many separate universes out there that we don’t realize exists. It is the idea that there are groups of universes, that are comprised of all space and time.
One physicist compared the multiverse theory to a deck of cards, explaining that there are so many different orders that can occur when you shuffle the deck. At some point, after shuffling the cards so many times—you are bound to repeat the same sequences again and again. He said this is what happens to matter (it repeats and replicates) and the same idea could be applicable to our universe, too. There could be being thousands, if not millions, of universes existing at the same time as us and even duplicate versions of each one. Maybe I'm not so crazy to believe there is a parallel version of me existing in the cosmos somewhere.
Our small earthly planet is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Is there another version of us? This theory really leaves me in astonishment, I often contemplate (and have existential crises whilst doing so) on what else there is out there that we haven't had the chance to uncover yet...
We do get to experience some of that beauty and wonder though, just with our naked eye. We look up and we see glimpses of planets, galaxies, trillions of different stars. I can only begin to imagine what other galaxies look like. Are they similar to ours? Is there human life out there? Other life forms maybe?
Every so often, I peer at the vastness of everything that is before me, and I feel a sense of an existence greater than anything we know on planet earth, something much bigger than you and I. It can be comforting yet scary to realize we are clueless as to who neighbors could be. We are constantly expanding and growing, with supposedly new universes popping up the more we stretch across the galactic universe.
We will never know for sure (at least not with our current technology) whether there are a million other versions of ourselves floating around. But it won't stop me from thinking. I guess that just leaves my mind to get lost in the theory of aliens and other life forms for now...
Cover Photo by Ian Norman. Edited by Madison Case.
