October Morning

October Morning 150 150 Ben Coker

October Morning

“Oh, October morning,

Whisky bottle by my bed,

Bye for ever, It’s all over,

See you never the lady said . . .”

So wrote my friend, the late Pete Fulwell, in a song for the band ‘Childhood’s End’ which I’ve referred to before.

I’m having an ‘October morning’ right now, but it was wine (never a good idea to mix the colours!), not whisky and it was about the, shall we say, ‘downgrading’ of a friendship with someone who has been very dear to me since we met in LA four years ago.

She remains a friend, but I haven’t chosen whether I’ll make any attempt to see or talk with her again – at least not in the same way we used to talk; ‘for now’.

I almost said “I doubt whether I’ll see her again” but then I remembered what I wrote last week . . .

You see, she and I have chosen to operate in different universes. Up until now there was significant overlap in the vibration, frequency and wavelength of our universes, but now they’ve diverged.

You may have heard of the concept of ‘alternate universes’ – here’s how it works, or at least how I have chosen to understand and believe how it works.

There is ‘The Universe’ which is entirely composed of energy and space (as I’ve explained before) and is infinite.

Now ‘scientists’ and philosophers agree it’s infinite, but some postulate there may be more than one – ‘alternate universes’ – but if The Universe is infinite then there cannot be more than one because it’s not possible to have more than one ‘infinite’, just as it isn’t possible to have more than one ‘unique’.

The way I see it is as an infinite number of ‘alternate’ universes within ‘The Universe’ – every individual Soul (which as Neale Donald Walsch explains is itself an ‘individuation’ of The Universe anyway) has its own concept and understanding of what The Universe or, as they see it, their universe, really is.

You and I ‘choose’ our own universes, and they are different, because we see them from different perspectives. You from where you’re standing and me from where I’m standing – as the saying goes.

And within those universes we choose what they look like – what they are.

You and I choose, moment by moment, what is true for us as individuals. It’s our own personal belief framework, and while we may share elements of it with others, it’s unique to us.

From time to time our beliefs change, we discover things either by our own research or through communication with others, and we decide what’s true, and what’s not true – for us.

You see, there are, contrary to popular belief, no ‘hard facts’. Even the ‘truth’ of The Universe, as I explained it, existing purely of energy and space and being infinite, is not a ‘fact’ – it’s just my belief, my ‘truth’, my ‘fact of life’.

But in reality (not that there is such a thing) millions of people in many contexts ‘hold these truths to be self-evident’ (not just those in the USA who have this phrase written into their Constitution). They’ve usually not thought about ‘these truths’ and certainly not individually ‘chosen’ them.

You and I hold many truths and beliefs in common, but not all, because it’s impossible even for identical twins brought up in the same way to hold to the same truths – they are after all two different Souls.

But aren’t there situations where you ‘have’ to believe what someone else is telling you?

You and I choose our own universes – whatever is true for each of us. The problem arises when others choose to attempt to impose their universe, their truth, on everyone else.

There have been countless occasions when ‘leaders’ have tried this out, and it’s often ‘worked’ but never in the long term, it soon comes crashing down.

It works precisely because everything is a choice – including the choice not to choose or to allow others to choose for you.

If you choose to take on others’ beliefs, you will choose to take actions in accordance with them – it’s your choice. To comply or not?

There is no way out of choice, you and I always have a choice, although we may not recognise what we do is the result of a choice.

I have made a choice about my friend, in the light of what I hold to be true (about her) at this time. Things may change because choices are essentially transient. We may hold on to them for years or only minutes and as I’ve said before ‘changing our minds’ is usually a sign of strength rather than weakness.

Now, I say all this as a philosopher, not an evangelist. Whether or not you choose to accept or align with my philosophy is your choice.

Your choices are no-one else’s business, certainly not mine, and the choices others make are neither yours nor my business, or our responsibility.

We are responsible for the choices we make, but not those others make.