Co-Location of Universes: Part 1
“At work, I’m Chief Magistrate, with a staff and a modicum of respect. At home, I’m the guy who takes out the garbage.”
– Edward Good
Author, Community Organizer
News from the frontiers of science: Two or more universes might actually occupy the same physical space while remaining in fact, separate and distinct. It’s become apparent that we – each of us – live in separate worlds – sometimes two or more at a time. Oh, we can talk to one another. But those conversations take place over the vast distances which separate us. The secret behind this apparent contradiction is that the “vast distances” are not physical – they are instead spiritual, intellectual, perceptual. The same physical plane encloses and connects the “separate” universes. What separates them are the ways their residents choose to perceive, interact, exchange and communicate with one another. While these universes exist sidereally in the same space/time, they are actually driven by and operate according to completely unique and different sets of internal “Laws of Existence”…Uh, Stories.
Researchers have not yet established an actual catalog of “Verses,” though preliminary data suggest that the number may be infinite. Many people appear to exist in a “place” called “Scarcity/Failure.” Others in “Sports/Competition.” Some are “Harried Careerist” or “Financial Professional.” Many in nearby “Predator.” Some in “Politics/Washington.” Still others in “Perfect/Rightness.” Some live in “Abundance,” and a rare few in “Serenity.” Recent discoveries also include, “Celebrity/Victim and Harvard.” Of course, many readers will be familiar with “Manhattan – (Upper East Side)” and “Hollywood.” Let us not forget the formidable “Wall Street.” “Teen Age” is a universe understood everywhere, as is “Tortured Parent.” Each universe has a prevailing story or “script.”
Other, more familiar words describing this reality are context and position. When you communicate, you’re speaking “out of a universe and from a context or position.” And you will be perceived as speaking out of a particular universe, from a context or position. The problem occurs if where you are from – and the universe you are perceived to be from do not correlate…
A recent example occurred when the co-location of the following four universes was demonstrated in the press: “Boston/Cambridge,” “Harvard,” “Politics/Washington,” and “Media.”
1. Respected Professor Henry Louis Gates of “Harvard,” returned home recently from a lecture assignment and without actually noticing the instantaneous translocation, found himself in “Boston/Cambridge” where he was neither famous nor respected. While in “Boston/Cambridge,” Mr. Gates was just another anonymous black man contending with a recalcitrant door knob.
2. Enter Sergeant Crowley, a white police officer and local figure of respect, who – responding to a burglary call and encountering an upset, uncooperative, initially anonymous, black suspect – made a “disorderly conduct” arrest. He didn’t realize he’d stepped through a passage and become the subject of a Harvard lecture. Neither man received the respect he felt he deserved.
3. Both men then stepped through a wormhole together and entered the “Media/Circus” where a different set of laws apply – and their mutual anger and frustration were superseded by the media vans and crowds of reporters camped on their front walks.
4. The intense glare and attention which characterize the “MediaVerse” soon dragged the incident into “Politics/Washington” wherein The President, responding to press questions, thought he was speaking as “friend of Skip Gates” but instantly translocated, and as “Commander in Chief,” opined that “the police had acted stupidly.”
5. By now, the incident had taken on galactic proportions and threatened to reach critical mass. Noticing the threat; Crowley, Gates, President Obama and the Vice President decided to calm things with a “Beer in the Garden” in order to destimulate one another and the media. The jovial meeting once again “separated the ‘verses'” and allowed each individual to draw the distinction between his true feelings, and the “scripted stories” that almost played out to a negative conclusion. The Professor, the Sergeant and the President transported back to “Harvard”, “Boston/Cambridge” and “Politics/Washington” respectively. At last report, all the players were continuing their separate and distinct lives, happy to reside once again in their home universes.
Preliminary Conclusions:
1. We are all “Big People” in our own universe, where each of us is absolutely, individually “Right!”
2. Transport between universes happens instantly, often un-intentionally, and usually unconsciously.
3. Every universe has a “Predominant Story.” These powerful “scripts” can overcome the best of personal intentions.
4. The only way for everyone to be right at the same time is for each to reside in a separate universe.
5. Communication, Respect and Responsibility are the active ingredients which create or collapse separate universes.
6. Defeat the “Private Universe” with respectful probing… “Who are you. What’s it like in there? How can I help?”
This was all pretty technical and politically correct. Another word for separate universe: “Stereotype.” (But in our politically correct universe — nobody does that anymore — so we can no longer talk about it.)
At home, I “take out the garbage.” At the office, I’m the “Distinguished Chairman.” In Washington, I’m one of “those lazy diabetics, or one of those who don’t pay enough taxes.” But beneath the stereotypes, I’m just Jennifer. Come on by and have a conversation.
Post Script:
Sgt. Crowley, speaking recently at a high school about fighting racial/religious stereotypes, referred to the “Gates/Crowley/Obama Meeting in the Garden” and was nonplussed to discover that the teenagers in the audience hadn’t heard of the event…
Next Week: “Bridging the light years between the Verses.”
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