Imagine finding the keys to a parallel world

Would you like to explore an alternative universe? What would that be worth to you? What would you be willing to give? We fantasize about other worlds and places of infinite beauty as if they don’t exist but just for one second, lets explore the world as if we were from another one.

Open your eyes, you are next to a lake surrounded by trees. Its autumn, and the leaves have burst into hues of red and orange and golden yellow. The grass you sit on is soft and wet from recent rain. You feel wind brush past your face for the first time and the light dances off the leaves and grasses around you as it moves through them. This unseen makes you shiver as it touches your skin, but it doesn’t feel dangerous. You can smell the cool, fresh earthy smells of the forest.

It is the first time you have seen water. It looks solid, like the ground, but is moving in a curious pattern. The water is clear and reflects everything around it. You touch the surface and it bends ever so slightly and gives way, letting your hand pass through! At first this gives you a big fright, you pull your hand back and shake the water off quickly, drops flying everywhere. You check closely but you feel no pain and your hand looks unscathed, so you try again. Ripples of water move away as your hand breaks the silvery surface. It’s not solid.

Its then that you notice something pass by quickly in the reflection of the water and you look up — you see a rich blue sky with huge, fluffy white and grey clouds moving across. Birds are crossing the vast surface above. You realise you are not the only life-form on this planet, and those seem to be flying! Can you join them? Perhaps. You move your arms up and down and try to jump. Nothing. They seem to be moving quite fast, so you try to run… gaining momentum along the lakeside and up the small hillside nearby, and you jump with all the force you can muster, waving your arms, only to land disappointed on the grass below. You can’t fly.

The grass is damp from recent rains but there are small flowers in the grass on this side of the hill. You lie for a while catching your breath, just in time to watch rays of sunshine burst through the thick clouds. You gasp as you realize that far in the distance, a rainbow has formed. The invisible force blows past you again, touching your face and moving the grass and leaves of the nearby plants. You sit in awe that such a beautiful place exists.

What would you change if you could experience the world in a different way? Parallel universes are not science fiction; they can be found in travel, in languages, in identity, and having a conversation with a new person. The colour of the oceans and seas changes in each country, and the forests each carry their own identity.

Each country, season, forest and park has incomparable beauty and you only need to go outside to see it. If you are brave enough to make the sacrifices required to explore further, you can discover other animals, the different colours of the ocean, forests of trees you believed to be rare, waterfalls, crystal caves and the black and white marble patterns of a salt mine.

Each language and culture has a unique way of experiencing the world. We don’t just change a word-set, we change our experience and perception of time, responsibility, even literal interpretation as we switch from English to French to Arabic to German. Learning a new language can give you a kaleidoscope of words to describe a concept or thing that you have become accustomed to experiencing with just one.

Each person we meet of a different age group, cultural or social status, or profession allows us to live just for a second outside of our filtered frame of reference. In that brief second, we realize that infinite worlds exist right among us and stepping into a different one is a choice away, but the cost is everything you have.

As a child I often wished I could escape to the fantasy worlds I explored in novels. As an adult, I find myself exploring all of them. The price of exploration is often study, sacrifice or a deep sense of discomfort, but the opportunities are all there. Would you like to explore an alternative universe? What would that be worth to you? What would you be willing to give?