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While reading Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom by Ted Chiang, I immediately envisioned this image.
The current version of myself, existing within a square box, is like a seed.
Every choice made is akin to opening a window from the box, allowing a sapling to grow. Regardless of how many branches the sapling has, they all originate from this seed.
On the other side of the box is a mirror. The fox sitting on a cloud is another version of himself from a parallel world, connecting with him through the mirror. In the mirror, he sees someone very similar yet slightly different. But this mirror isn't truly a mirror; this individual exists within the box. They can see each other but cannot truly touch.
The hourglass on the box represents the concept of time in the novel. Here, time isn't a linear, singular flow. Through different choices, it splinters into diverse timelines, making time multidimensional and diverse.
"When we make a choice, a new branch is created in this universe – a parallel world where another version of you exists, having made a different choice. In the story set amidst countless parallel worlds, humans have a machine that allows them to connect with their alternate selves in different parallel universes. They can see how the alternate version of themselves, having made different choices, is living and what kind of life they lead.
However, if such a machine truly existed, would you want to use it? Knowing the consequences of every choice but being unable to make any changes or rechoose brings immense anxiety and pain. In the real world, we have all likely wished to see the various outcomes of different life choices. Yet, reading this novel and witnessing the characters having such choices, it doesn't seem as wonderful as imagined.
There's a passage in the book that I really like: "None of us are saints, but we can all try to be better. Each time you do something generous, you’re shaping yourself into someone who is more likely to be generous next time. And that matters. And it’s not just your behavior in this branch that you’re changing. You’re inoculating all the versions of you that split off in the future. By becoming a better person, you are ensuring that more and more of the branches that split off from this point forward are populated by better versions of you."
The present you is like a seed, and it's our capability and responsibility to shape this seed in this spacetime, making ourselves better. This ensures that the future and all the branches that develop into different parallel universes continue to progress in a positive direction. In our current spacetime, making kind and righteous choices maintains consistency across all our branches, if parallel worlds do indeed exist.
Mandie is a published illustrator based in Taipei, Taiwan.
Her work focuses on creating a harmonious imagery by combining illustration and lettering. Positive vibes can be found in lots of Mandie's works, which is also the motive of her creative journey.
This is a gallery-quality giclée art print on 100% cotton rag archival paper, printed with archival inks. Each art print is listed by sheet size. Our 4 inch prints feature a minimum half-inch margin while larger sizes feature a minimum one-inch margin.
