Reality #1

In order to have a look at expanded, alternate, or even parallel realities, it is a good idea to first look at reality as we know and understand it. According to the dictionary, reality is ‘existence that is absolute, self-sufficient, or objective, and not subject to human decisions or conventions.’ It is the physical world around us.

But what if there is more to it?

Some of us may be aware of reality in a manner that allows them to know more about things that are happening or people they meet, than they could know from a logical, physical perspective. For instance, knowing when someone is telling the truth, when someone is not telling the truth or is holding something back. Or knowing the emotions that the other person is feeling...

This awareness of reality can be described as awareness of an expanded reality, in the sense that one is aware of things that are not physical (yet) or logical.

Alternate realities seem to be tied to a ‘what if’ scenario. What if I had decided to do things differently, for instance, different education, different job, different place to live or even a different relationship? What would my life, my reality, look like then? 

And looking at each decision that we could have made differently, another alternate reality is presented to us. However, in our lives, in reality as we know it, these alternate realities are exclusive in the sense that they do not all exist at the same time. Once the decision is made, the reality is set.

And herein lies the difference with parallel realities, as they exist next to one another at the same time. The most obvious perspective on a parallel reality is that this ‘other’ reality exists on a different frequency of energy; a less dense, less physical reality perhaps.

Maybe even a reality in which magic rules, where mystical creatures are alive and real...

If that is the case, the fairy tales we grew up with are more than stories that teach us moral values; they are stories that tell us about where we can touch that other, magical, parallel reality. How we can interact with it.

To a lot of young children this is not weird, special or far out; they have their physical friends they play with, go to daycare with etc. And they have their invisible friends. Sometimes in the shape of people, often in the shape of animals. And these, to the rest of the world invisible friends, are very real to them! Making it not a parallel reality, but more of an expanded reality...

All in all, reality has to do with what is real; which to some people is something different than to other people.

Personally, I like to revisit the concept every once in a while, if only to evaluate what is real to me...

First published in May 2009