Imagination, the Multiverse, and the God-Self

Hi. I talked to you before. I just wanted to let you guess due to my own reasons to avoid being annoying. You probably already know who I am.

But I been thinking, it's about that relationship thing we talked about a long time ago. A long time ago, you claim that having a relationship with 'imaginary' beings was "unhealthy". Then you might of understood something and changed, but wasn't sure today when thinking back.

To be honest.. In a way, I have these “relationships” all the time and it's often based off theories that involves the “spiritual world,” “God,” “mind creates reality,” etc., etc. For example, sometimes I like to imagine a “fictional” personification creature with me whenever (spiritually?) I am laying down and sometimes not. In fact, I do this a lot >because it makes me feel better or happier.<

I do not let it control me that involves it being over my own important responsibilities though. I hope not. lol I just do this in my free time I think.

But the catch is that, I do believe it “could” be real and I do feel like a relationship anyway, but in a harmless way..

Yes, in a way, I "believe" I feel connected (which can be considered relationship). In fact, with my beliefs in fictional writing, images, games, whatever, me having some kind of “real” belief (connection) in faith like what I listed earlier is the only way for me to enjoy whatever is “fictional.”

Imagine this: If you imagine yourself at a beach and believe you are there temporarily, your brain will act exactly the same (No different) as if you were “really there” because the brain “can't tell” the difference.

I might have asked you a similar question before, but I think that was more of a different one, or just part of something (Was it something about a multiverse?).

Anyway, do you think the way I like believing is "crazy" or "unhealthy"?

Sorry for asking. But I feel very uncomfortable of when you said that having a “relationship” >it's self< was unhealthy just because it's “imaginary.”

I still sadly fear you will say it's bad since I remember you said something like "As long if you don't believe it's real" to someone once and that was AFTER I talked to you about one thing one time.

Remember, aren't there furries who has spiritual beliefs with fursonas?

Anonymous

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Dear Furiend,

Yes, there are many furries with spiritual beliefs. I’m guessing you are “G” from this letter. And that you might also be referring to my conversation with a furry about his being enamored with Tech E. Coyote. I believe that such relationships can be problematic if they interfere with your life in this world, including work, school, and relationships with other people. On the other hand, a vivid imagination can, as you say, give us much happiness and can be harmless as long as we are in control (if—worse case scenario—our “imaginary” friend starts telling us to kill people, we’ve got a serious mental problem).

That said, your letter touches on two very complex issues about which one could write entire books. But I don’t have the energy to do that here, so I will just summarize them. The first one is the idea of a multiverse/parallel universes. Many physicists and other scientists believe that this is very true. In fact, there has been recent research showing that the current distribution of matter and energy in our universe could be best explained if we hypothesize the existence of other universes that are having a physical influence on this one. There is a theory of there being many bubble universes, too, all bumping against each other in a huge omniverse, and then the idea—spawned by quantum physics and string theory (M theory)—that because of things like the Uncertainty Principle an infinite number of possible realities exist simultaneously in the same space. Therefore, as I am typing this in my office, there is a Grubbs (Kevin) who is now a zookeeper at the Detroit Zoo, another one who realized his dream of becoming a sci-fi novelist, another one who is now destitute and living on the street, another one who is a millionaire, and—getting more radical—another one who looks like a lizard because the dinosaurs never went extinct, and another one who actually looks like a bear because an evolutionary path started in which bears became highly sentient. There are, literally, infinite possibilities.

Combine this idea, now, with the notion that not all of us are disconnected/unaware of these other universes, and that, in fact, through a more evolved spirit, we are able to get in touch with these other realities, one of which might contain the “imaginary” people you interact with.

Even more powerful than this idea, however, is the belief (which I hold dear to my heart) that we are all a part of God. Everything is God and that includes us. Therefore! Since God has the power of creation, so do we, although we can be more limited in that power because of the boundaries we ourselves put on our connection to God (boundaries that include believing that what we see is the only reality or that we need religious leaders to serve as intermediaries between our souls and God, which is bull pucky). 

From this, it may be concluded that there really is no difference between what is in the mind and what surrounds our “reality.” (sidenote: if you have never read it, I think you would enjoy The Neverending Story by Michael Ende; read the book before seeing the movie because they are different in some important ways).

Imagination Is Power.

It is imagination that gives us wonderful inventions and that changes the world, spiritually and politically. It is imagination that despots and religious tyrants fear most (hence, the restrictions imposed on the masses cloaked as religious “laws”) because imagination opens our eyes to the possibilities of the universe, and those possibilities usually have no need of the politically and financially powerful.

The imaginative power of the mind is essential to our psyche. A January 1, 2014, article in Scientific American noted:

The recent discovery of a network in the brain dedicated to autobiographical mental imagery is helping researchers understand the multiple purposes that daydreaming serves in our lives. They have dubbed this web of neurons “the default network” because when we are not absorbed in more focused tasks, the network fires up. The default network appears to be essential to generating our sense of self, suggesting that daydreaming plays a crucial role in who we are and how we integrate the outside world into our inner lives. Cognitive psychologists are now also examining how brain disease may impair our ability to meander mentally and what the consequences are when we just spend too much time, well, out to lunch.

I think you would find the full article fascinating: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/living-in-an-imaginary-world/.

As with any power, however, there are potential dangers. Just as Bastian in The Neverending Story found that great creative power can threaten our own goodness and ability to control our lives, this creative force within us must be dealt with cautiously and with a measure of wisdom to keep it from running away with our minds.

The above article also makes reference to a website I believe you will find very useful and inspiring: Wild Minds at http://wildminds.ning.com/. Isn’t the Internet wonderful? So many resources! And this one is just for you—all about people who daydream and imagine.

My furry friend, Papabear apologizes if my previous columns upset you. I didn’t mean to say that imagination was a bad thing; I merely was trying to urge caution because it can be a very risky thing if we do not understand it.

My recommendation to you is to do some reading on spirituality, shamanism, pantheism, physics (science and spirituality are connected), lucid dreaming, and the power of the mind. Absorb the experience and knowledge of others, learn from them, and then build on their discoveries to follow your own spiritual path.

Blessed Be,

Papabear