Under a summer sky, I effortlessly slip into dreams, basking in the freedom and ease the other three seasons do not provide. While springtime sets the scene with its chaotic dance of rain and storms and its idyllic growth of nature, I exploit it in the summer months.
Life’s responsibilities fade, making it easier for me to wander and explore. Hiking or kicking back with family and friends; the Olympic Mountains and Pacific Northwest are old friends.
But there is also an underrated summer pastime I enjoy: simply exploring the inner universe of my mind.
The universe within the mind is an indispensable retreat from reality. It offers the freedom to become lost in a world shaped uniquely for each of us, shaped in how we wish it to be. A sanctuary of our own making.
Every differing opinion and idea that runs contrary vanishes, and life becomes more peaceful.
Peering up at the night sky, I sink into thought, awed by the vast expanse of the universe. It holds mysteries and answers humans may never come to know. Yet human nature can’t sit still; we always seek the undiscovered. The vastness of the unknown is not intimidating but inspirational. It gives impetus to learn more – to glimpse into something new.
It’s the same within the universe of our mind. The unimaginable becomes possible, with connections spanning eons to spark curiosity.
In the 18th century, Immanuel Kant coined the term “island universes” when debating galaxies like the Milky Way. Aldous Huxley then philosophically applied this term to the extent that other people’s lives and minds are similarly unknowable, each an island universe.
This thought fascinates me.
Every day, people swim around in depths of thoughts, ideas, and emotions forever unobtainable to me. There are enough similarities to allow me to communicate, and we have shared empathy, but the only place that holds certainty for me is the universe in my mind.
Huxley wrote in his The Doors of Perception: “We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves… By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude… We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes.”
While part of me is uncomfortable with never fully understanding another, I also find peace with this idea. Isn’t that what life is about, figuring out this delicate dance between our island universe and the outside world?
We certainly can’t only live within our minds. Reality has a way of drawing us back into the world. As the famous Godfather quote goes: “Just when I thought I was out, they dragged me back in…”
The continual bridge-building between the universe in my mind and those I connect with, reconciling the lessons and experiences along the way, is what I can do in my short time on Earth.
If there ever was a bridge between my inner universe and reality, it may begin when I pick up my camera and pen.
Pieces of nature around me. The connections that run deep within my family and friends. Connections that make life work. Bridges allow me to share pieces of my universe with them as they do with me. Through this, we learn and progress.
I’m content with the knowledge I will never fully understand who they are, as they will never fully understand me. It is unsurprising, as I have yet to understand much about myself.
When it comes down to it, we are all amateur scientists in one form or another, operating in a place where the laws of physics seemingly do not apply. But we make it work by continually experimenting and searching to discover what connects us all.
Living among such a wild range of individuals is the electricity of life. We click with some and not with others, and through this, we explore pieces of new island universes. We seek adventures and experiences from old friends or a new soul passing by, a mode many successful mad scientists use to obtain wisdom.
Floating through life, bouncing between the island universe and those around us, creates the links that make it all work. We share common goals of peace and working together to resolve issues to find something as close to nirvana as possible.
The very nature of the inability to ever fully understand one another will result in stress and disagreements, but these aspects of life have always been integral to growth, offering the opportunity to step back from reality, exhale, and then adapt. Make compromises through learning and trust.
Admitting to the possibility of a different way of thinking and solving a problem, we embrace this responsibility. From this comes wisdom.
Creating bridges between our internal universe and those around us enhances life. Bridges of empathy and compassion allow us to discover while realizing we can never truly appreciate the experiences of others. One of my favorite Native American sayings growing up was, “Never judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins.”
Accepting this, we give up the need to control and instead recognize and accept core differences we can never comprehend. It is respect. It is where love takes root.
To love is to accept pieces of another outside universe into our own. Admit there is a reality unlike what flows inside our island universe, continually adjust, and move forward. The alternative is to dance around petty arguments and waste time.
Interestingly, much of what we think of others and what others think of us are pure figments of imagination. If we become disappointed when others do not follow the “rules and laws” of our island universe, we end up suffering more in imagination than in reality.
It is as terrifying as it is beautiful. Of all the millions of ideas and possibilities floating around in the mind, only a fraction are shared with the world.
Understanding this makes me a lot more empathetic to others. We are unpredictable and, at times, inconsistent. My universe steers me one way, and then, within a beat of my heart, I shift to another path.
Knowing those around me undergo similar swings is both comforting and unsettling. If we can barely fathom our depths, how dangerous is it for us to try to fathom the ideas and actions of others?
The more we touch and experience other island universes, the more we know about ourselves… and the more we are understood by others.
This is the beauty of bridging our island universes. Growth. Wisdom. Evolution.
It can only take place when we become humble. Open to those of differing thoughts.
Our society needs stability, and family and friends often form this foundation. However, our creative nature also recognizes the need for chaos, the freedom to strive for the unobtainable, and the need to capture this spirit of life.
As mentioned earlier, to love is to accept pieces of another outside universe into our own. Embrace, learn, and enhance the mind – it’s how to deepen the soul.
The excitement of life is witnessing universes around us expand and evolve. Seeing it happen is one of the simple joys, and the highlight of this summer was when my nephew Riley announced his engagement to Annalise.
There is nothing quite like the sight of two beautiful universes coming together, enriching all who interact with them. Small bridges, built through curiosity, empathy, and love, can develop into something magical, allowing us all to grow. Such moments once again confirm that the world is a beautiful place.
Global Sojourns: Photography & Philosophy 
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