We live in a universe. The “uni” in universe refers to one, meaning there is one universe. Universe has been one of those enduring concepts of science that has remained unchanged for many years. Well, as is the case with most other seemingly infallible scientific theories, Newtonian mechanics and luminiferous ether come to mind, new evidence is challenging this age-old theory.

Recent evidence suggests that there may be multiple universes. Scientists are suggesting that we may live in a “multiverse” instead of a “universe”. A multiverse can be conceptualized as a compilation of soap bubbles, each containing a separate realm or universe. Particularly intriguing is the idea that some of these multiverses are parallel universes.

Parallel universe was developed by Hugh Everett in the early 1950s. Hugh Everett theorized parallel universes to explain uncanny outcomes in quantum experiments (I won’t go into the details of those results here). Parallel universes are branch-offs from other universes. Many are like our universe with a few important exceptions. For example, in a parallel universe there may be someone exactly like you, but a “you” who won 32 million in the Powerball Lottery. Another might be a universe where the Axis won WWII, where Lee Harvey Oswald’s shot missed President Kennedy, where Elvis Presley stayed thin and lived to a ripe old age, and where a lightning strike missed the inorganic soup in the primordial earth and thus mankind did not evolve (hm?). Anyway, If such places exist, they would be just as real and tangible as the universe in which we live.

I can accept the idea of multiverses, but have a difficult time with the notion of parallel universes. When viewed from the perspective of the grand master plan called the Plan of Salvation, I just don’t see how there can be a seemingly infinite number of people just like me who are living alternative realities based on different outcomes to events in my lifetime. However there is a sense of parallel universe or alternate realities in the Doctrine and Covenants. It is the Manifesto on polygamy by Wilford Woodruff in Official Declaration I.

The Lord showed President Woodruff what would happen if the Church did not stop polygamy. He wrote:

The Lord showed me by vision and revelation exactly what would take place if we did not stop this practice. If we had not stopped it, you would have had no use for . . . any of the men in this temple at Logan; for all ordinances would be stopped throughout the land of Zion. Confusion would reign throughout Israel, and many men would be made prisoners. This trouble would have come upon the whole Church, and we should have been compelled to stop the practice.

This revelation is astounding! The Lord did not suggest what might come to pass. The Lord did not show Woodruff what might happen. The Lord showed him exactly what would happen if polygamy did not stop. It is almost as if the Lord was giving President Woodruff a glimpse into a parallel universe where polygamy did not end. Could such a place really exist?
 
 

There are certain things which are difficult for us mortals to conceptualize. One that I find particularly challenging is the notion of “There [being] no such thing as an ultimate beginning, a time prior to which there was nothing” (Mormon Doctrine). It just seems like there should be a beginning somewhere in the past.

What is unusual about the doctrine of “no beginning” is that it is equally difficult to conceptualize the opposite, that there ever was a beginning. If I say there was a beginning to the god-created universe, then who created God? Identifying a cause for a god-created universe just begs the question, “Who is responsible for God’s existence?” If our cause was a divine creator, then who created our creator, and who was his creator, and so on? Indeed, cosmological speculation about a “first cause” creator that cannot possibly exist leads to a hopeless infinite regression.

By reflecting on the apparent impossibility of both positions (beginning vs. no beginning), we run the risk of experiencing a minor ontological crisis over whether any of this life is real. This issue goes beyond the false reality created by the Matrix as portrayed in the popular sci-fi movie. We are, in a sense, asking, “Who created the Matrix? And “Who created the Matrix’s creator?”

Thankfully Descartes provided a temporary solution to these sorts of existential crises. Regardless of whether there was or was not a beginning, we exist as evidenced by the fact that we can think about these very issues. Cogito ergo sum – I think therefore I am!  Descartes’ cogito ergo sum does not solve the problem of an infinite regress of identifying the first cause, it only assures us that we are real, or does it?

The importance of thinking does not stop at cogito ergo sum. Other influential philosophers and theologians have convincingly argued that for the physical world to exist, it must be perceived. Bishop Berkley (namesake of Berkley University) put it this way: “Esse est percipi” – to be is to be perceived! The essence of esse est percipi is that for something to be real, it must be perceived. Take the old familiar question: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?” However, in the current discussion, the question becomes: “Does the tree even exist at all if no one ever perceives it?” If you think this is a bunch of malarkey, you are in good company – Einstein was very skeptical of esse est percipi. The whole notion of something having to be perceived in order for it to exist led him to quip, “When no one is observing the moon, is it still there?” as if to suggest, of course it is there!

Not so fast! Esse est percipi is supported by experiments in quantum mechanics.

In one renowned quantum mechanics study, electrons are fired one at a time from an electron gun through a double slit barrier. When the positions of the electrons are registered on a screen behind the barrier, the single fired electrons create an interference pattern that can only be explained by the electrons behaving like a non-physical wave of potentialities after leaving the electron gun. However, when we observe, at the barrier, which slit the electron goes through, the electrons go back to being physical particles.  The upshot of all this is that when no one observes the electrons they are non-physical waves, but when we observe the electrons they are physical particles.

Confused? Don’t worry. Dr. Quantum describes this process very well. Click the video below.

So how do we reconcile the presence of sound philosophical arguments and quantum mechanical evidence supporting esse est percipi with our common sense belief that things, including ourselves, continue to exist even when they are not being perceived by others? 

One possible answer is that God perceives all things through the Light of Christ. It is that Light which emanates from the presence of God and gives Him instant knowledge of everything throughout all His creations.  It is that Light by which He knows at an instant how many hairs are on the top of our heads.  And it is that Light by which He knows instantly that a sparrow died and fell to the ground in the high mountains even though no one else knew it ever existed. 

The Light of Christ ensures that everything is continuously perceived, thus bringing all things into existence.

 
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