Towards the Unknown - Women In Motion Magazine 2004
Alternate Realities, by Aynne McAvoy

So far in my discussions in this column, I've stayed in relatively easy to understand topics, such as psychics, ghosts and ESP.

I think the New Year of 2004 merits some 'pushing of the envelope' just a bit. During the coming months, you may find columns on aliens, astral projection, thought transfer, or strange sightings.

This month I'd like to broach the subject of alternate realities with you.

For most of us, we pretty much agree that we basically see and hear and identify the same things in this reality. We share common ground no matter what country we are in. For example, a chair can be recognized as a chair, a coat looks like a coat, or a smile on someone's face looks like a smile. Right?

However, it has been theorized by some of the scientific community that there may be incalculable alternate realities in existence. The levels of these alternate realities would be anywhere from very subtle to wildly different.

I'll give you some examples. Let's say on one reality, 9/11 never happened, on another reality, 9/11 occurred but the planes were hijacked to an eastern country. On yet another reality, Iraq may have always been a great example to all the world of a great working democracy!

On a person level, in one reality you may never have made it past the eighth grade. On another level, you may have graduated magna cum laude at a prestigious college. On one level you may have 14 children and yet another level you have none. On some, you may be rich, and others, you may be poor.

There are some people who have theorized that accelerated Karma is possible, by living all these realities at once, rather than one lifetime at a time.

Mind bending, isn't it?

Now, to complicate matters even more, there are people who argue that there are places on this earth, this reality, that the separation between these worlds is very thin; that if someone were knowledgeable enough about these things, they could cross over from reality to reality without a pause. This might relate to taking a very cheap vacation, but one with lots of chills and thrills! There was a popular TV show for several years on this very concept, called Sliders.

Several months ago I wrote a column about walkabouts. If you recall, a walkabout is something that was put in one particular place, yet when you went to look for it, it had vanished. It may reappear hours, days or months later.

Let's suppose for one minute that what really happens is that the veil between the worlds at times is very thin, and two worlds blend together. Perhaps objects from one world could accidentally end up in another? In this world, you lay your keys down on the kitchen counter. The wall between the realities wavers, and the keys are now in another world, on an identical countertop. You won't find them in your kitchen! Infect, you won't find those keys again until the wall between the worlds wavers again, and the keys find their way back to your countertop in your kitchen!

We could push this even further to say this blending of worlds could actually explain some forms of mental illness! If you take the hypothesis that keys could jump from one world to another, what is to stop humans? The phrase "He's not the man I married" could take on a whole new meaning.

Albert Einstein believed there were indeed alternate realities in existence. Uncountable numbers of them. The science fiction of yesterday is today's established fact.