How many different actions can you take in this very moment?
For example, you can:
- Continue to read this text.
- Close this tab and go make a bagel.
- Start singing your favorite song.
- Try to reach your nose with your tongue while blinking and humming your favorite song (Old MacDonald Had a Farm 👨🌾).
(and everything in between.)
Still, you end up doing a thing. One thing.
But could you have done something else? Are you bound to one option without even realizing it? Or do you actually have the autonomy to choose among infinite ones?
If you think you are always bound to just one option, what’s the reason for that single option you decide to go with?
- Inspiration?
- Mood?
- Belief?
- Randomness?
For me, the "answer" feels like it could be either:
- One: Maybe everything was decided before we existed, and we’re just following a pre-determined path. It feels like we’re in control, but in reality we’re just playing along a pre-written script, knowingly or unknowingly.
OR - Infinite: We are the exclusive rulers and creators of whatever we choose to do or say, shaped by emotions, inspirations, and everything that is.
I’m not sure what the "answer" is, and honestly, maybe they can even co-exist.
For example, if we are bound to one pre-determined option, and that one option is to select among an infinite number of options, then there you have it: you are selecting among an infinite number of options, dressed up as if they were one.
And vice versa:
if you have an infinite number of options, then one of them must be believing without a doubt that you're bound to one pre-determined option. So much so, that this becomes your only reality.
So... maybe both are true? 🤔😵💫
But honestly, I do like to think of the world as this infinite playground: A place we can just traverse and do things™. We sometimes feel extremely inspired to begin doing some useful things™. And other days we don't wanna do anything challenging so we do some useless things™. But regardless of our decision to do or not do, we still maintain that range of possibilities to alter reality, create relationships and gain new skills. Ultimately, to do, things™.
I find it kind of inspiring to believe we REALLY have an infinite number of possibilities to select from. Because if that’s true... that’s kind of insane. Theoretically, we can suddenly just begin saying and doing all the right actions, in all the right ways to generate something crazy. Like, imagine this:
You woke up one morning with an unexplained goal:
Make Donald Trump say happy birthday to your mom.
You have no direct connections to Trump. But what you do have, is an extraordinary surge of luck, and bizarre amount inspiration. Inspiration that possess your entire body, to do and say certain things that are completely unfamiliar to you, but feel SOOOOO nice 🤤.
So, where do you begin with this esoteric-Trump-mission of yours?
FLASHBACK: it hits you that you know someone, who knows someone, who maybe knows someone in parliament.
That’s a start.
You pick up your phone and get going.
It’s absurdly bizarre, but you follow this strange spark of intuition to do and say those ultra specific sentences and sounds, just in the exact right timing. Those words of yours somehow trigger everyone to commit helping you finagle your way up the chain of command towards Trump.
You sing, you dance, you FaceTime these bastards one at a time, and somehow intrigue their senses to believe in you, to help you get that mofo "happy birthday mom" going.
Yada yada 🎶 Old MacDonald Had a Farm 👩🎤, you've reached Donald Trump 🇺🇸.
Now, Trump has no freaking idea who the hell are you. His wife insisted so badly that he must take this call right here and now, that he might as well think you're god. But he is god. And there cannot be two gods. So now you got him irritated:
Trump: "Yes...?! Who the fuck is this?”
You: “Dear Donald, Remember Julia...? From third grade...?”
Donald freezes.
He never told anyone about Julia. He himself hasn’t thought of her in like 25 years or something.
How could this person possibly know my first crush? Is this a setup?! A Russian mind-reading agent?!?! China?!?!?!?! Play it cool Donald, you got this.
Trump: “What?! Who the hell are you talking about mad man?! Who’s Julia?!”
You: “Donald, the trees are red. So you can only imagine how beautiful the sunset in Dubai is... Right? Now.”
Donald begins to tear up.
You just quoted a sentence from a dream he had when he was seven. A dream where God spoke to him and said these exact words. He never understood what they meant, but he remembered every single one of them by heart.
Trump: “Wha... What do you want...?”
You: “Ahhh... please say happy birthday to my mom 🤓.”
🗣️Cool story bro.
OK, admittedly, this is a highly unrealistic narrative. But let's think about it. If there are an infinite number of possibilities we can choose from at any given moment, then that must be one of the unexplored sequences available, right?
Should we rely on that type of luck in our day-to-day life? Hell no. But I think it's interesting to note this is A possibility (if we are indeed convinced there are infinite options to select from).
Of course, there are more conventional ways to establish certain realities. If I really wanted Donald Trump to say happy birthday to my mom, I'd probably get into politics, or real estate, and begin developing myself towards that goal in a realistic manner.
But still, I feel like the infinite options thought exercise is interesting for realizing everything is possible at some scale. Just mathematically speaking; If there are infinite options, literally everything must exist within them (even if their probability to happen is purely based on luck).
So... there must also be a sequence of actions that can end all suffering, right?
If we have infinite possibilities within our arsenal, then somewhere among them must exist the perfect combo; A divine set of actions and words to trigger that mystical chain of events to hopefully do all the good things (though realistically, as we experience, also the bad things).
Like, one scenario is that a three-year-old (👶) finds his way to his parents’ iPhone, hits the right password combo with his toddler fingers, opens Instagram, starts a live stream, and begins to mumble certain sounds that hack the human psyche so deeply, and convey such deep truths, that everyone becomes lovers.
I wanna find that kid.