A perpetually changing, ever shifting magical puzzle that’s the fabric of our universe and allows us to exist even for a little while? I mean that’s just plain amazing.
Dearest Doodle Soupsters,
Do you believe in fate? What if fate is not something final like the way it often sounds, not something decided in advance, but rather a kind of constant that co-exists with endless possibilities for change?
What if fate is like a harmony in a song and the individual details are notes that can be sung with that harmony?
A time traveler moves between the disco decade and the ice age, anywhere (and any-when) between and around. As the time traveler moves through life, aging year after year, crossing paths with people, there are ripple effects across time. When did the changes occur? The time traveler’s impact co-exists with everything that happened before the time-traveler even existed. Change and constancy intertwined.
Let’s say I happen to have a magical pair of dice. Now, I roll these two cubes and technically, yes, the number I roll on each is random. But these dice are magical. So each time I roll my pair of dice, the numbers are coordinated. If I roll a 1 on one die, I’ll roll a 6 on my other die. If I roll a 2, I’ll get a 5 on the other, If I roll a 3, I’ll get a 4 on the other. So no matter what, my dice will add up to 7.
Now, what if I told you that something like this phenomenon exists in nature?
In physics, there’s something called quantum entanglement. Once two particles are entangled, even if separated by billions of light-years of space, they continue to impact each other. In other words, two entities can become linked and despite massive amounts of distance, they remain connected to each other.
[A quick side note: This is quantum physics we’re talking about (the study of matter and energy at the most basic level). So keep in mind that there’s lots of scientific debate and future research to be done in order to understand what the above truly means. At the same time, I am not a scientist - I’m an artist inspired by science, philosophy, history, mythology, and basically any field of academic study … so allow me to put aside precision for a moment in order to (hopefully) get at the deeper truths that are right in front of us …]
Okay, so why am I talking about quantum entanglement?
Well, I’ve been feeling kind of disillusioned lately. Or, maybe it’s just something that pops up for me from time to time.
I believe in meaning. I believe that in the randomness, there is this magic that happens, that magic is a part of nature, that nature is the purest, realest form of magic. And, then, it’s like I feel lost all over again and nothing makes sense and I have no idea what to believe or what to believe in.
Change is exciting and change can be terrifying. Because change reminds me that nothing is for certain. I mean, do any of us really know much of anything about this universe in the context of the extent of the universe? There’s a lot to feel lost and confused about.
And when I go through these phases of disillusionment and confusion, my thoughts about the great big EVERYTHING match up with my thoughts about my own life, where I’m at in healing, where I’m at in processing my life experiences. Same for when I go through phases of feeling this expansion in my heart, hope, this wonderful sense of awe and possibility about simply being alive.
All these pieces are connected. I like to think about the great big EVERYTHING as well as my own processing like an infinite, fluctuating puzzle. All the pieces fit together somehow, even as everything is constantly changing and I can’t always see the connections.
As things change, there’s something constant too. Sometimes, this feels dispiriting because what is the constant? I mean, there are things that I’d love to be different. For one, I’d love for humanity to live in harmony with our natural environment. I’d love to be a part of a humanity that takes better care of children, each other, animals, wild lands, yeah. For cruelty and injustice to just not be a thing, yes. I mean, there are so many different ways that humans hurt other humans and this planet! How could I not be scared that the something constant includes all that I want to be different?
And of course, how could I not be scared that the something constant leaves out what I’d love to hold onto, to keep?
The universe is a boundless tapestry perpetually in flux and threaded together with co-existing opposites. Those are the words I drew onto the artwork at the top of this CDS edition.
Here’s the thing: I think what this actually means is that there are no limits. I have no idea what humans will become. Or what our world will be like in the future. What today’s innovation will mean for tomorrow. What will bring good, what will bring bad, what will bring both, and in what proportion.
I think the fabric of the universe is inherently mystical. I mean one of the definitions of mystical is literally “inspiring a sense of spiritual mystery, awe, and fascination.”
Wondering why we’re here, how, this strange existence: I mean I’d say that’s the ultimate inspiration for a sense of spiritual mystery, awe, and fascination.
Here’s what I’m learning: I can spin my mind in a bajillion directions and believe me, I will. But at the end of the day, what I realize is I just love wondering about all these questions.
And I’d rather see uncertainty as a precious puzzle.
Actual jigsaw puzzles? Kinda boring!
A perpetually changing, ever shifting magical puzzle that’s the fabric of our universe and allows us to exist even for a little while? I mean that’s just plain amazing.
The disillusionment, confusion, the dread? I think those are like the black holes of my mind. But lucky for me, I don’t get swallowed up in there forever. When I go through the black hole to the other side, life somehow always looks beautiful all over again. Maybe that’s the constant. Or, maybe constant is just the wrong word. A better word may be connection. That there are connections, pieces that co-exist, intertwined, entangled. And within those connections exists a bottomless well of magic.
Enjoying the puzzle,
Nicole Sylvia Javorsky
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