Fan of Worlds

[jisbell00]

Fan of Worlds


I take a step in life: I let the grain
fall from my hand, and this is infinite
in possibility, for from the hand
that opens into time, as if a fan
had opened, go the stream of worlds the hand
and grain have summoned into being, broad
as any universe, and infinite
beyond the grasp of what is infinite
to comprehend. The grain collapses down
from every path that might have been, from all
the shades of definition, into flight.

It falls. And still the hand is moving, and
the still grain moves upon the Earth, and all
the branches of infinity extend
from what’s dynamic and from what is not
into the future; and there is a world
in which the grain still moves, for it is true
that rest is an illusion. And the hand
moves into actuality within
the sea of all that will not come to be
for us, for us, as narrow as a fine
thread stretched into what is and what is not,

what never was, what almost was, and all
those worlds whose doors are shut to us for good.
The grain is on the ground now, and the hand
is just a hand. And from its infinite
potential to be other, one can guess
at how the universe is large, at how
the path we walk is narrow. To the East
and to the West, there lie alternatives
that none of us will ever gaze upon,
in which each particle of pregnant air
goes elsewhere, lives life other than it does.

22.iii.2024

[CalebPerry]

It has been bothering me that no one has critiqued this poem. The problem for me is that this feels like one of your therapeutic poems, probably written to help you work something out in your mind. Your writing is clear, as always, and your word choices good (insofar as I am able to judge them), but I don't always understand what you are getting at -- or, if I do, I don't necessarily have similar feelings, so I can't relate to everything in the poem. The poem does seem to meander a bit.

Clearly, this is one piece of a larger manuscript.

[jisbell00]

Hi Caleb,

Thank you for posting on this one! The poem is a reflection on the idea in contemporary physics that there are an infinite number of universes. My argument is that each instant of time does not simply bifurcate, it splits infinitely into an infinite number of possibilities at each interstice of space, throughout the entire actual universe: the possible worlds for each possible movement that occurs. And the whole universe of matter is of course in movement, even when it appears static: electrons spinning around nuclei. The thought of the number of infinities involved stuns the mind.

So, Fan of Worlds. But then, we have critiquers here who take pride in ignorance, odd as that may appear, so I'm not particularly expecting much critique. I just posted it because I just wrote it and thought the idea interesting.

Cheers,
John

[CalebPerry]

I'll admit that I only read it a few times, and that I was also a little tired (I'm always tired because of my afibs). If I had read it more times, I might have gotten the meaning a little better. Sorry.

To a certain extent you may be writing over my head. I'll read it again with what you said in mind.

By the way, the Seth Material addresses some of these issues. He said that an ever-expanding multiverse exists within God (where we all reside), and that "probabilities" (as opposed to possibilities) rule reality.

[jisbell00]

Hi Caleb,

I was largely thinking out loud. Interesting distinction between probability and possibility in the Seth Material. It gives cause to reflect. The possible is incomprehensibly larger than the probable, FWIW.

Cheers,
John