Want to Change Your History? Remember It Differently

"The universe we're aware of at any given moment is but one of an infinite number in which every possible evolution allowed by quantum physics is separately realized. In this framework, it's tempting to suggest that the freedom we feel to make this or that choice reflects the possibility we have to enter this or that parallel universe in a subsequent moment. Of course, since infinitely many copies of you and me are sprinkled across the parallel universes, the concepts of personal identity and free will need to be interpreted in this broadened context." Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos; Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2004.

Jesus, whom the first chapter of the Gospel of John identifies as the one through whom the universe was made, said: "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20, The New Testament (NIV)

We've all made mistakes; even you and I. Sometimes, our memories of our self-destructive actions and accidents imprison us more than the behaviors and events themselves. Modern physics may have a remedy for this tragic truth that's simple, yet profoundly revolutionary. Stated in the most basic terms, it's this: Changing our memories (in the present) may change our past. Some of the most brilliant physicists of the 21st Century are speculating that laboratory evidence, derived from experiments in the mysterious world of quantum physics, suggest that what happens in the present, not only forges the future, but also, may change the past. Technically, choosing to remember that your past mistakes did not happen is an action you take in the present and should fall in the category of present actions that may change the past. If you're familiar with the physics term, entanglement, first conceived by Albert Einstein and a few others, you may guess the basis of their scientific suspicions.

Columbia University Professor of Physics and Mathematics, Brian Greene, in discussing the theory of reality of equally famous physicist, David Deutsch of Oxford University, wrote the profound words quoted above, in his book The Fabric of the Cosmos. Greene, Deutsch, and others of the modern world's most brilliant and successful physicists, are very careful to remind us that we don't know what reality is and how to interpret it (thus Greene's words "tempting to suggest"). Nevertheless, it is significant that they are even discussing such issues as whether there are infinite parallel versions of our personal reality, and that we may progress through them with each decision we make. They're discussing these incredible possibilities of the nature of reality, because the mathematics and results of such scientific projects, as provided by the double slit experiments and findings of atom smashing events at places like CERN, are intellectually provocative to say the least.

In Greene's most exciting (in my opinion) book out of his trilogy of brilliantly written physics for the layperson's edification, he discusses such issues as teleportation and time travel, and a dizzying variety of other speculations, based on the ethereal and bizarre world of the subatomic universe.

Scholars and skeptics will argue about whether Jesus really made statements such as the quote that precedes this article, or that it was added by some conspiracy of scribes, but on the face of it, it seems to affirm what modern physics is discussing related to the nature of reality. Quantum physicists debate interpretations of the observer-created reality scenario illustrated by the double-slit experiments which demonstrate that, at least at the sub-atomic level, the observer does indeed determine reality. Isn't Jesus suggesting the same kind of observer determined reality in the larger world in which we live and act, using "God talk" rather than physics (which language would have been useless to his hearers). Nonbelievers will say, "How could Jesus possibly have known modern physics," and believers will say, "Because he was God in the flesh." This is not the place for such a debate. I'm merely bringing up that this is an area where we may see some agreement in the interpretations of physics geniuses and spiritual geniuses as we decipher and discuss the nature of reality.

The late Stephen Hawking, a self-professed atheist, seems to agree with Jesus, in terms of determining reality by our acts of will and sentient perceptions, when he says, "our observations of (the universe's) current state affect its past and determine the different histories of the universe . . . " (in The Grand Design, Bantam Books, p 83, 2010.) Actually, many of our most brilliant, modern scientists are making statements that are just as provocative as the ones I've quoted here. So many, in fact, that we are not able, here, to do justice to what they are saying and how those thoughts are affecting our understanding of reality, or at least, of the physical universe (multiverse?).

Oh well, just one more: Fred Alan Wolf wrote, "But what about going back in time? According to quantum physics principles, what we think of as the 'real' past is also alterable and not fixed. This is certainly one of the strangest ideas to come out of quantum physics, yet we know from the uncertainty principle that the past cannot be absolutely pinned down and that consequently, one can change it by remembering it differently." (Fred Alan Wolf, The Yoga of Time Travel, p. 194. Quest Books, 2004) Dr. Wolf's book is a profound and well educated blend of quantum physics, philosophy, and ancient literature, in which he makes a believable argument based on hard core quantum physics that time travel is possible through the mind without the use of physical machinery.

If you're interested in a broader discussion on the nature of reality read my novel, The Hiroshima Agenda, at: www.amazon.com/dp/B00XXCVODO or buy the paperback at https://a.co/i7jpTds While it is in the fiction genre, the ideas I've presented are real and intended to provoke serious discussions on the nature of reality from scientific and philosophical points of view. You may sample or buy the book by clicking the website in this paragraph.

Thank you for your interest.