Quantum Playground

Parallel Universes

While out of body in one of my classes' years ago, I had the chance to meet and talk with a parallel self. It was actually quite fascinating. This was an alternative me who continued on with her MBA (instead of getting married two months after graduation) and pursued the big corporate career. I met her on a street corner in NYC. She was a top executive with the pay and perks to match. She had fought through the ranks to make it in the good old boy network of cut throat business and carried a sense of pride in her step.
However, upon further conversation, I also learned it was lonely at the top. She worked over 60 hours per week and had no social life - it was exchanged for a paycheck and the prestige of her job title. There were no close friends, no fun evenings out, no dates, and no vacations. Her happy memories were of the announcements of a new title, a new business coup, a new salary, or the upgrade to the latest exclusive corporate perk. She was content with her life and aware of the trade offs she had chosen to get there. I thanked her for taking that road and sharing her experience with me. I was grateful it was not my current path. It put an end to any questions I may have had about what might have been.  

I believe every decision we make spins out an alternative universe to reflect the choice not taken. Every time we go right, another parallel spins out to the left.   

New Scientist - Sept. 2007 announced "Parallel universes make quantum sense". The article states YOU are just one version of many.

For further explorations of alternative selves, read ONE by Richard Bach.