Have you ever played an RPG with multiple endings? The ending depends on choices you make during the game. I usually like to save the game before those choices and play out all the different endings. I believe that I am attracted to RPG’s because of how it imitates real life. During our lifetime we are forced to make an almost infinite amount of choices ranging from mundane to life changing. Each choice we make has some sort of effect. Sometimes these effects are so small that we do not even notice them.
I can not help but wonder what lies at the other end (or ends) of the choices we make. According to some theories in string-theory there are an infinite amount of parallel worlds. Some of you might have seen the movie called ‘Sliding Doors’. What if each of these parallel worlds, represent a different choice with a different outcome. Would they all converge on the same ending like in the movie? Can an infinite amount of choices lead to a finite amount of endings or does it lead to an infinite number of endings? How much effect can my choices have on the rest of the world? Does the ‘butterfly effect’ really apply?
These are questions that, as yet, have no answers but it is clear that our choices have a great effect on our own lives. In an ideal world, we would have all the information necessary to make an informed choice, to choose the outcome that we would prefer. On one hand, it irks me that I cannot always predict what the outcome of my choices will be, or which choice is the best.
We use the resources we have at the time, gather information, compare and weigh, list pros and cons, just to decide whether we should get the vanilla or the choc-mint ice cream. It is always easy to say you should have chosen differently after a choice was made, but even then, you can not be a 100% sure the outcome would have been preferable.
Every choice we make has a price but we rarely know what that price is. What do you sacrifice by choosing one thing over another? What things do you miss out on by going one way rather than another? Can one choice determine that you will never be happy or will there always be a chance to return to happiness? People suffering from decidophobia are so afraid of making (wrong) choices that they depend on others to make their choices for them.
You can spend a lifetime second-guessing your own choices. That is why I decided not to regret any choice I make. In this world, this one continuous moment of consciousness, I will make my choices and stick with them, even if the outcomes are less than desirable. Perhaps there is a me in one of those parallel worlds that made all the right choices and is living the best life imaginable. That thought is enough…for now.
This is always a tricky subject, trickier than I think you originally thought it, bouncing off the concept of an RPG. There are many different ways that our lives could be playing out at this possible moment... like an RPG. I will mention three that come to mind, and reflect off the game play you mentioned above.
ReplyDelete1) Pre-ordained by an omnipotent overseer. (Strongly seen as fate, destiny or in the faith that (insert deity of choice) always knows what will be in the end.)
2) A result only of our actions as they happen. Nothing is preordained, it is a linear growth. And the big picture does not allow for our own endings to be of greater significance than to lengthen the story as a whole. If there is an ending or a whole to even consider.
Or in a sci-fi type realm where all these possibilities are played out in an overlapping time space continuum... (This wold be the point where time is "saved" as in an RPG, and multiple endings are thought through.
I highly doubt the latter option, but as there is no substantial proof for any of the above options, all should be considered.
The first would make life boring, and would remove the free will that is apparently our gift from the omnipotent overseer to begin with. A contradiction within itself. If all is known and the outcome is foreseeable... then why the f*** bother?? What sick, twisted game is this... (IMO) But that is a question only us ,as humans, will ask. It could perhaps be a reality, who am I to question the omnipotence of said deity?
The second option is my favorite, as it gives us the free will, makes us responsible of our own problems, futures and redemption. I would like to believe that I am in control to a certain degree of my own future (including the butterfly effect that is real and tangible IMO) Possibly as I am never one to shy from the consequences of my own mistakes. (People who do that tend to stick to option one, blaming the external factors for the outcome of their choices.) This option, however removes religion to a great degree and makes that endless quest for purpose a joke. TBC>>
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ReplyDelete. There is no purpose to you or me, to life itself... We just are... because we can be. ( I am not apposed to this. I need no greater purpose than that which I provide for myself and others within the effects of my life. If I die to nothing but darkness, then so be it, I am not afraid. I chose to take what I have been given and make it the best that I can, through my OWN choices. From whence this life comes, I do not know. To enjoy something, you do not always need to question why it was given in the first place. And this line of thought could make for another blog. Why the hell are we here????)
But as I said, no proof.. so on we go...
And the third option... Well if there is someone watching us, and calculating the different paths of our existence through each choice... phew... Can you imagine the "paperwork" on that one???? It would be mind boggling to even consider the amount of different paths leading off paths that we do not even know exist from a choice we made when we were a year of age... or a path that exists outside of us, a reality where we were not in it, as your mother said yes to birth control. It is a stretch as far as I can think it. But the universe is an unimaginable place of possibility and energy. If anywhere could be that intensely orchestrated, I would imagine it to be a possibility within our universe, but only barely within my puny existence of thought.
There is one more thought that integrates option one and two. It removes the omnipotent part of option one, but still retains its linear growth and close ended cycle. That would be the "big bang" that states the universe "bangs" out into creation then collapses on itself repeatedly... This allows for the thought that our existence is but a thread that will end and restart in a new direction, with the chances of a similar "game" or "ending" nigh impossible.
These are my thoughts and I would love for you to bounce off it, in any direction it takes you. Your insight is usually from a different angle that is greatly appreciated. :D
Thanks for the comments Kerry. I had some thoughts on the three concepts you describe. Once again, worldview as discussed in my opening post comes to mind. How each individual can view the world in such a vastly different way. Some of our worldviews may share similarities but still differ significantly. Here’s what I came up with…
ReplyDeleteThe problem that I have here is that an “all knowing being” does not take away our free will. Knowing all possible outcomes does not also mean knowing which ending you will end up at. Your worldview and your personality might make it easier to guess which ending you would reach. As an “all-knowing being” would know your thoughts and motivations at any given time, it would certainly be able to narrow down which decisions you are likely to make in a given situation. Knowing is not the same as controlling…
If you take that into account, it is not contrary to the second belief system. It can be integrated. All your decisions have consequences and nothing is pre-ordained. Your life is completely in your own hands and what you do determines what your ending will be like. There has been so many times that wanted to shout at someone: “Take responsibility for your own life, for fuck sakes!”
It seems to me that there is a, sometimes precarious, balance to be reached between the two. On one hand, certain decisions are forced by circumstances beyond your control, but on the other hand, it is still you making the choice. I believe you should take responsibility for it regardless of the circumstances.
I realize that a lot of people cannot reconcile this idea with their religions. Somehow I have managed to integrate religion into it. I will not go into religion at the moment. That is a topic for another time.
Your third option is less sci-fi than you think. String theory (a specialized area of quantum mechanics) is actually exploring that line of inquiry. Coincidentally, the theory that the universe expands and contracts in an endless cycle is also part of string theory ;)