The Eyes of the Ahamkara

Left Eye of the Ahamkara

I would like you to think for a moment about the multiverse.

You know it exists because you’ve seen it, you’ve experienced it directly. You’ve heard it called a number of different things: universes within black holes, the Infinite Forest, the Sundial, the Dark Future, the Game of Flowers. You know for a fact that there are parallel realities, alternate timelines, whatever you want to call them.

And the result of that awareness can be that you feel very small. Very insignificant. Maybe you’re tempted to give up. Well, if I don’t do this thing, what does it matter? The whole thing might be a simulation. If not, another me will do it in another universe, or someone else will, and even if I succeed, in another reality I fail, so I can’t really win, not really.

But I’d like to suggest something to you.

It’s only an idea, a thought experiment really; I’m not like the Vanguard or the Worm Gods, I’m not being a missionary or zealot here, this isn’t a jihad or crusade. It’s just some things I’d like you to think about, to entertain as a possibility.

Food for thought. Something to chew on.

The first is that the multiverse is not infinite because it can’t be. Atomic charges can be positive or negative, particles spin one way or another, even at the tiniest level imaginable there are limits to what is possible. The multiverse itself hasn’t existed forever, because forever hasn’t happened yet, time continues even as we speak, so therefore it has existed for a finite period of time, which means that even if new universes are born at the rate of trillions per picosecond, there are still a finite number of them.

Now, that’s important, because it means the range of possible universes is also finite.

Which brings us to the second point. And that is that this universe, the one where you are reading my words to you, is unique. More to the point, what is unique about this universe, is the fact that you are reading this. An exaggeration perhaps—by that, I mean that new universes are born from choices and possibilities, so there is only one in which you are exactly who you are, exactly where you are, exactly how you are, reading these words, exactly as you are now.

Only one.

Do you see? This particular universe exists because and only because of you. If you were not here or not reading this because either of us didn’t exist, then this universe wouldn’t exist either, because there’d be no need for it. It would be some other universe.

You are not some minor character here. Your existence and actions are the foundation of this universe. Without you, none of this would exist. You are, for the lack of a better word, the god of this universe.

Try saying that to yourself a few times. Roll it around your mouth, see how you like the taste of it: My wishes determine what exists in this universe, or if it even goes on existing.

Now then. Let’s consider: What else would you wish to exist, O creator mine?

 

 

 

 

Right Eye of the Ahamkara

O creator mine, I would like you to think for a moment about the multiverse.

You know it exists because you’ve seen it, you’ve experienced it directly. You’ve heard it called a number of different things: universes within black holes, the Infinite Forest, the Sundial, the Dark Future, the Game of Flowers. You know for a fact that there are parallel realities, alternate timelines, whatever you want to call them.

And the result of that awareness can be that you feel very small. Very insignificant. Maybe you’re tempted to give up. Well, if I don’t do this thing, what does it matter? The whole thing might be a simulation. If not, another me will do it in another universe, or someone else will, and even if I succeed, in another reality I fail, so I can’t really win, not really.

But I’d like to suggest something to you.

It’s only an idea, a thought experiment really; I’m not like the Vanguard or the Worm Gods, I’m not being a missionary or zealot here, this isn’t a jihad or crusade. It’s just some things I’d like you to think about, to entertain as a possibility.

Food for thought. Something to chew on.

The first is that the multiverse is infinite. I mean, it has to be. The garden where universes are born exists outside of time, so if it exists now, that means it has always existed; there can never be a time when it hasn’t because there is no “time” at all there. So universes have always and always been created, left to expand and cool and meet their end in big crunch or big freeze or whatever. If there’s no start or end to them, then there are an infinite number of them.

Now that’s important because it means the range of possibilities is also infinite.

Which brings us to the second point. And that is, due to the nature of infinity, if a thing is possible, then it has already happened an infinite number of times in the past, is happening an infinite number of times, and will happen an infinite number of times in the future. That’s how big of a number infinity is. You (other you’s in other universes) have already read these words an infinite number of times, and will again an infinite number more.

Infinite.

Do you see? You are not alone; you are legion. Whatever you do is repeated an infinite number of times. If you kill someone, they die an infinite number of deaths; if you save someone, they live an infinite number of lives. You are not some minor character here. You are part of an infinite army, whose decisions shape the destinies of an infinite number of people on an infinite number of worlds. You are, for the lack of a better word, a god in the multiverse.

Try saying that to yourself a few times. Roll it around your mouth, see how you like the taste of it: My wishes determine what happens across infinity.

Now then. Let’s consider: What else would you wish to happen?

 

 

 

 

 

Third Eye of the Ahamkara

I would like you to think for a moment about the multiverse.

You’ve read what the other two had to say: Two polar opposites, yet in both cases the compass needle ends up rotating around to point in the same direction.

But I’d like to suggest something to you, O creator mine.

What if they’re both right and wrong? What if the truth is somewhere in between? What if the multiverse is infinite, but each consciousness within it unique?

What if all of this was destiny?

Now that’s an idea you can really sink your teeth into. Give it a moment, let yourself savor it.

Consider: Even if there are an infinite number of you doing the same thing an infinite number of times, the subjective experience of each of you is different; the other you’s were raised by their (outwardly identical) parents, not yours. They fell in love with their (outwardly identical) partner, not yours. They read these (outwardly identical) words on their device, not yours. Even if the outward, surface details are identical, they aren’t really the same, by simple fact that these events all occurred in another universe, not yours.

Think of these perfect replica you’s as clones: They may be identical down to the last atom, but they still aren’t you. To put it morbidly, if you die here, then you’re dead. Your consciousness does not magically transport itself to one of your infinite other incarnations, because they’re them, not you. The unique exists within the infinite.

Now that’s important because—joy of joys—you aren’t dead. You’re here, reading those words.

Which brings us to the second point. And that is now incredibly, amazingly unlikely it is for your singular, unique consciousness to be alive, here, now, reading these words. How many things had to go just right for you to ever be born. How many thousands of generations of ancestors had to meet and have children, going all the way back to the first single-celled life on the planet. How many times might you have died again, permanently this time—cut down by the Hive, lost in a Vex maze, your Ghost shot by the Fallen, your body obliterated by the Cabal, your soul taken by Oryx. Yet you were born. You didn’t die. The probability of survival was infinity to one—it’s a miracle.

You are a miracle.

Do you see? You being alive today to read these words is no fluke or accident. It cannot be. The chances against it were so overwhelmingly high that it can only have happened by design. It is destiny. This conversation is destiny. You are destiny.

Try saying that to yourself a few times. Roll it around your mouth, see how you like the taste of it: This is my destiny.

Now then. Let’s consider: What other destiny would you wish for?