ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSES

As everyone knows, NYC was hit with a devastating hurricane, Sandy, that has left thousands without homes or without power, with flooding and with damage.  And yet, despite the fact that I live in New York, in the very town where a boat washed up onto the train tracks, my life has not been in any way discomfited by the storm.  We’ve had no damage, no loss of electricity, no flooding.  We are warm, well fed, and, because everything else is closed, taking it easy.  I feel like I am – through dumb luck and no other reason – in an alternate universe to that which is around me.

And that idea, that there is an alternate universe going on simultaneously in the same time and place to the one in which any of us presently inhabits, is an idea that often intrigues me. Even in normal times, with no major storm disrupting the lives of those around me, I’m aware that other ‘realities’ happen at the same time as mine.  On a summer’s day, when I’m taking it easy drinking a pina colada at my favorite outdoor restaurant on the river, I remind myself that there is also a war going on at that very moment and that other Americans, and Afghans, are in frightening situations at that very moment.  In my own small town, the Ecuadorian community, which is about a third of the residence in the town, or the African-American community, share the same space as me -- the same stores, the same street, same schools.   And yet, we live very different lives with different circles of friends, different gossip, different challenges and celebrations.

On a more cosmic level, I am reminded of what one author of a world religions textbook, Robert Ellwood, wrote about religion in his introduction.  He said:

”For the religious person there is ordinary reality and “something else.”  Certain visible places, people and events are more in touch with that “something else” than others … Words and people pass through invisible doors and the world is full of places and occasions that are like windows to the other side.  This porous borderline, where the action is, is the realm of the religious.” 

The implication is that there are other worlds, worlds that perhaps we can’t see, but are there nonetheless.  My students have been trying very hard to understand the role of spirits and shamans in indigenous culture.  It is very difficult for them to appreciate that, for an indigenous culture, the spirit world is as real to them as the invisible sound or broadcast waves that we know to be in the air.  If we had never seen a television or a radio, we would find it very difficult to believe that with the flick of a switch, sound or images from another part of the world appear inside the grey glass and plastic box in front of me.  And yet, we know we can see, hear – even respond to – these simultaneous alternate universes from the comfort of our homes.  Shamans, in most cultures, are those who communicate with and learn from the spirits.

But back here in our everyday reality, right now this week, there are people down the road a bit who have lost everything dear to them.  So, my focus and connection --  now – should be to help them as best I can. I need to step out of this comfortable cocoon and lend a hand so that my universe and theirs intertwine.