My Existential Shower

A bullet went through my head this morning.

Okay, not a *real* bullet, but more one of those metaphorical ones that still cause the physical jerk reaction - I jumped as if startled when the idea quite literally struck me.

I’m sure you’re familiar with “alternate” or “parallel” realities. What, you aren’t? Well, according to Wikipedia, “Parallel universe or alternative reality is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with our own.” For more about what Wikipedia has to say, just click here.

In any case, the way I like to think about it is… for every single variable in our lives (from what we have for breakfast, to how fast we drive to work, to what time we leave for work), every single variable there is a “fork in the road”, so to speak. There are infinite alternate realities - each one for each choice.

Follow me so far? No? Well that’s okay, I’m finding it very difficult to explain in words. Just bear with me for a little while longer - the big epiphany is coming up.

So imagine that in at least some of these infinite realities, you as a person or being exist in some form, going through your life. Now imagine taking a step back and looking at all of these different lives that you or some form of you inhabit and exist within, and - get ready for this - imagine that they are all you, and you are all them. That you all share the same soul, that in a way, you are all the same being, experiencing every facet of life simultaneously, all for the good of the whole that makes up you.

I’m sure I botched up the explanation above, so I came up with an analogy to help illustrate my point. Think of a big bucket full of water, and surrounding it are tons of drinking glasses. Now imagine each of the glasses being filled up by the water in your bucket. Each glass represents your body in a different reality, and the water represents the sections of your soul. What if, when you die, the experiences you had in that reality are passed on to the greater you, as the piece of your soul inhabits that body merges with it.

I know, I know, it’s heavy. I still don’t quite understand why such a thought slammed into me in the shower of all places, but I have maintained that the shower has always been my thinking spot.

Interesting idea, no?