I was recently discussing the idea of the multiverse with someone who thought the idea unnecessary if not just completely wrong.
Many materialists, educated scientists, and positivists have the “just show me the facts” kind of snooty. Speaking of which, “snooty” ? huh? what does snooty mean? I think it derives from both the turning up of the nose, and of the brief inward sniff - both of which derive from the act of coming close to something that smells bad, something that is rotten, disgusting: a very short inhale and a turning away of the nose. The physical fact is often the best metaphor. When someone behaves in a way I find disgusting, I do notice a brief inward sniff. For myself, I do not notice the turning up of my nose - though I have seen many people turn their heads up and away when they encounter an idea or manifestation they find disgusting. Are my pre-mammalian olfactory wires REALLY that closely connected to my intellectual upbringing? Being “snooty” is a turn of phrase that goes back so many centuries, why through all those centuries should the sense of smell be tied so closely to the world of intellect and ideas?
Back to possibilities, by chance I also listened to an interview with Bret Weinstein, who is one of my heroes, where he said that he does not accept the idea of the multiverse because it does not make sense, he cannot comprehend it. I realized then that I am very different because my inner life is filled with things I cannot make sense of or comprehend. For example, there is an ancient idea that possibilities are real, they exist, and they were created. When the Creator created the Universe, all possibilities were created. Where are all these possibilities? I do not know. How is it that only one path is actualized? I do not know.
In physics we talk all day about potential energy, and electromagnetic potential, and gravitational potential. Many physicists believe that the potential is the most real thing, and any individual actual events are only derivative. Here the word “derivative” has both the calculus definition, and the more ordinary meaning of coming from or being dependent upon. How can a physicist then believe that the potential is the primary reality, but then splutter and become snooty demanding to only be shown facts and hard data taken with instruments of glass and semiconductors? Great question. I cannot explain that one. Please, any scientist out there who believes in potential energy, come argue why it is that you only listen to people who can show you data gotten from instruments made of silicon.
If there were no possibilities, then how would we all be aware of them? We walk around all day being very much aware of possibilities. How is that? Perhaps our minds just store all the events that have happened to us, and we project those onto the future. I am sure that is part of the story. But that does not explain why so many of us want things we have never experienced. I dare say that all of us have at some point been shocked, realizing that we are right up against a choice that will determine our future. This is a heightened perception of reality that is unlike any other. Our bodies tingle, our hearts flutter, our thoughts race. How could we be on such high alert were we not perceiving different possible futures?
In a recent post I wrote about getting out of Toronto in an unplanned and hurried fashion. On the flight and for many hours after landing in Boston, I had inner experiences of being both in Toronto and being in Boston. The experiences were very different from imaginations of being in both places. The experiences were rather of having jumped onto one branch of a fork, but doing so in a jerky, sudden way, such that for a while, both timelines had my substance and were perceptible.
The multiverse is primary. It is the “In Principio” that is named at the beginning of the book of Genesis and the gospel of John. It is the so badly translated “world without end” found in many christian prayers. Nothing can come to be whose possibility does not exist. Our physical senses and instruments show us what has come to be. Our hearts and minds and intuitions perceive what could be.
Being snooty isn't just for people. My cat often turns up his nose at the food I offer him, followed by a dirty look as he turns and walks away.
"When the Creator created the Universe, all possibilities were created. Where are all these possibilities? I do not know. How is it that only one path is actualized? I do not know."
In Guénon's 'Multiple States of the Being' (which was the first book I read of his (NOT recommended as the first book of his to read... by anyone EVER)), he wrote specifically about possibilities and potentialities in the first few chapters.
The way one realises their possibilities depends on many things, and 'multiple possible states' must be realised in physical and non-physical form (this means dream-states are another way to realise possibilities). In fact physical form is the only way to realise possibilities, which is arguably why we're born. It's a heavy but fascinating read.
As for snooty scientists, I learned from a mathematician/physicist a few years back, who was convinced some physicists of the 5mil+ youtube variety were right and the electric universe was some sort of scam. The inanity of this position was compounded by his being a self-described metaphysician; the whole point of the EU is that it uses plasma physics to describe metaphysics.