Sie sind auf Seite 1von 6

Del Rosario 1

Maria Arielle Johnna Veronica G. Del Rosario


Professor Raymond Falgui
English 10
May 19, 2014
Of Myths and the Multiverse
Myths and fantasies have long been a part of the history of mankind and they have always been
regarded as apart from reality, however new studies suggest that the existence of a Multiverse may be
able to prove otherwise. According to The New Websters Dictionary myths are defined as traditional
stories that tell of supernatural and fantastical creatures and or beings that embody the dominant culture at
the time. In every country in the world it is almost guaranteed that there are beliefs of creatures apart from
men and gods that live in places where men do not usually go (i.e. caves, woods, rivers, oceans etc.) and
sometimes in places that are not in this world. They possess powers that men dont usually have that
allow them to live longer than men. They are also quite superior in terms of knowledge (Keightly 3). The
origins of these creatures of legends, myths, and fantasies always seem to have been connected with the
history or religion of the place where their stories have started and they also change along with the
variations of faith in the region (Keightly 2). Among these creatures the most well-known and often times
overused in storybooks are the Fairies of the western romantic world. The word Fairy came from the
French word Faerie which may mean any of the following: illusion or enchantment, the land of illusions
or Fairy Land, the inhabitants of Fairy land, creatures of Fairy-land including both full-sized romantic
fairies and the pygmy elves (Keightly 8-10). Nature Spirits, Ghosts, Giants, Hags, Monsters, hobgoblins
and imps, fairy beasts and plants are some of the creatures that are considered Fairy peoples (Briggs 25-
82).
Del Rosario 2

It is a curious fact that in every culture a version of such magical creatures exists. For instance the
Fairy of the English people may have come from the Peri of the Persians and the character Morgain or
Morgana of the West may be the same as the Merjan Peri of the East. (Keightly 4-5). Also the Italian
Fata, Spanish Fada or Hada, the French Feerie, and the English Fairy are terms which describe the same
imaginary being (Keithly 5). In the Philippines, an example of a well known fairy or encantada that could
possibly refer to the same being is Maria Makiling. The creatures of Philippine mythology can also be
classified under the same categories as that of the western categories. The creatures of Philippine
Mythology include Demons (kapre, pugot, tikbalang), Dragons (baconaua, buwaya), Dwarfs (matanda sa
punso, laman lupa, nuno), Elves (Encanto, encantada), Ghouls (Aswang), Giants (bannog, ikugan)
Merfolk (Sirena, catao, ugkoy), Ancestral spirits,Ghosts, Angels and Deities (Ramos 1-18). A number of
explanations may be offered, most of which are psychological in nature, to explain these similarities. An
example would be according to Julius Heuscher, for (Carl) Jung the reason for the existence of such
similarities of fairy tale themes is the collective unconscious of a cultural group and the similarities of the
symbols they contain that are recognizable to the whole world (34). However, there is also the possibility
that these similarities are caused by fact that they do exist in another world sometimes and only
momentarily visible to us.
Almost all attempts at explaining and deconstructing myths and fairy tales are based under the
assumption that these stories are not real. They are just a means of the human mind of coping with reality.
Statements like the use of psychoanalytic concepts can reveal the reflection or expression of
fundamental instinctual need, fears(,) and conflicts in parts of many of these stories (Heuscher 50) and
Entertaining, moralizing, offering instinctual abreaction and escape from the dreary everyday
surroundings are facets of the fairy tale which are derived from their basic purpose which is to portray,
the meaning of human existence (Heuscher 53) do in fact prove that studies on myths and fairy tales are
largely metaphysical and are regarded as creations of the mind and figments of imagination. No one ever
really considered the possibility that these creatures can and do in fact exist in another world or in this
Del Rosario 3

paper another universe. A reason for this may be because in the early days we didnt really know how to
explain such things. An irrational fear of the unknown was developed and for the most part of history this
fear was utilized to control people. One example would be religious groups labeling these mythical
creatures as tools of the devil. Another reason may be because encounters with Fairies are almost
necessarily brief, for under ordinary circumstances men are supposed to see them only between one blink
of an eye and the next (Briggs 130).
The biggest reason for ignoring the possibility of the existence of these creatures is that currently
the earth is the only planet capable of sustaining life. This is fairly understandable but with the advent of
new discoveries about space and the universe, the previous statement almost becomes obsolete. The earth
is only a part of a vast, expanding, and, as far as scientists can tell, infinite universe. Moreover, with the
emergence of theories of the origin of the universe, there may be not just one universe but an infinite
number of universes a Multiverse. Suddenly there is more than enough room for both humans and
mythical creatures alike. For all we know in another universe Fairies refer to us as their mythical
creatures.
Many questions may arise as a consequence of this proposition and I will attempt to answer all of
them if the space and time permits. Some of the questions may be Is life even possible in another
universe? or How do these creatures find their way to our universe? To answer these questions, let me
first introduce the 4 levels of parallel universes according to Max Tegmark a cosmologist and professor at
MIT. The level I parallel universe, suggests that space is infinite and the uniform distribution of matter in
space suggests that another universe, one with the same physical laws and a copy of you exists, can exist
through different spatial combinations of matter (3). In the level II parallel universe, other universes are
depicted as individual bubbles that continually expand in space. These universes have entirely different
sizes and physical constants. For instance their acceleration due to gravity my ot be 9.81 meters per
second. You cannot travel between these universes because they are more than infinitely far away (5).
Del Rosario 4

The level III parallel universe is essentially a realization of all the quantum events that happen in
every moment of your life (9). Lets say that today I chose to not take the train to school and I was late for
class which caused me to fail my class and I eventually never got a job so I became a homeless person.
The level III universe suggests that world where I chose to take the train and eventually become the CEO
of a billion dollar company does in fact exist and is simultaneously occurring as the original timeline. The
level IV parallel universe is a universe where all the mathematical equations that we could possibly
conjure or think of are realized. In another universe two plus two is not four. In this paper I will focus
more on Levels I and II.
In order for life to be possible in another universe three conditions must be satisfied: a) The
distance between the earth and the sun must remain the same b) The distance between the earth and the
moon must also stay the same c)The atmosphere must also be retained (Hare 110-111). In a level I
parallel universe this is possible provided that a year is in this parallel universe is longer or shorter in such
a way that it makes up for retaining the distances of the sun and moon. The third condition follows from
the first two. This may explain the variations of time in experiences of travelling to different worlds in
fairy stories. The level I universe is also limited to explaining mythical creatures that are almost identical
to us or are human-like. Examples of these creatures are ghosts and fairies. The appearances and sightings
of ghosts may actually be just momentary sightings of the copy of the person in another universe. Their
appearance in this world may be because of the transfer of consciousness between you and your copy.
This transfer of consciousness occurs during an out of body experience (Hare 122) which in a Filipino
context is often referred to as a bangungot or nightmare in which you see yourself on your bed fast asleep.
Most out of body experiences have one thing in common and that is the people who experience it often
float or appear weightless. This may be explained by the fact that in order for the physical laws to remain
constant the mass of objects in another universe is lower than ours but the volume remains unchanged
(Hare 16). People who claim to see ghosts do not actually see the spirits of the dead but the
manifestation of a counterpart in this universe. Also these manifestations or projections of the physical
Del Rosario 5

body during the transfer of consciousness between counterparts may be used to explain the sightings of
the fairy peoples or the diwata that appear to be glowing and weightless.
Now with regard to the creatures that do not look like us, like the monsters, dwarves, pygmy
elves etc., I will be using the level II universe as a framework and the Filipino concept of malik-mata. As
stated in the previous paragraphs level II universes exist apart from each other and do not therefore
depend on each other after the chain reaction which created them in the first place. They develop
individually and therefore account for the differences in appearances of such creatures and also the
development of apparent supernatural powers. In a universe where there are different physical constants
the physical laws here may not apply to them. The ability to control fire may be due to the fact that the
conditions here give them the ability to cause spontaneous combustion here but not in their world. Since it
was also established that these universes do not interact because the continually expand how then do these
creatures find their way here? The key here is that the reason for their non-interaction is also the reason of
their possible interaction. As these universes expand it is inevitable that they find themselves touching
each other momentarily or colliding. That momentary interaction may be the reason for the concept of
malik-mata, where out of the corner of your eye or maybe even right in front of you, you find yourself
looking into another universe and seeing the creatures that reside in it and then when you look back they
are gone.
The arguments presented here may be to skeptics, an incredible waste of time and to big of a leap
to even consider but let me end with a quote from Once Upon A Time a TV series that combines all the
fairy tales ever told and recognizes their world is as a world as real as ours. In this scene the skeptic
heroine of the series insist that the Mad hatter is insane for believing that the world of fairy tales is real he
answers: [A] real world. How arrogant are you to think yours is the only one? There are infinite more.
You have to open your mind. They touch one another, pressing up in a long line of lands, each just as real
as the last. All have their own rules. Some have magic, some don't. And some need magic. Like this one.
Del Rosario 6

Works Cited
Briggs, K.M. The Fairies in Tradition and Literature. London: The Chaucer Press, 1967. Print
Hare, Michael. The Multiple Universe: On the Nature of Spiritual Reality. New York: The Julian Press,
Inc. 1968. Print
Heuscher, Julius. A Psychiatric Study of Fairy Tales: Their Origin, Meaning, and Usefulness.
Illinois: Charles C Thomas Publisher, 1963. Print.
Keightly, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology. London: Gale Research Company, 1870. Print
Ramos, Maximo. Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology. Philippines: university of the Philippines
Press, 1971. Print.
Tegmark, Max. Parallel Universes. Cambridge University Press, 2003. Print.

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen