Who am I? Why entangled?
“It’s possible to link together two quantum particles … in a special way that makes them effectively two parts of the same entity. You can then separate them as far as you like, and a change in one is instantly reflected in the other.”
—Paul Comstock, author of The Strange World of Quantum Entanglement.
Here is my limited understanding of entanglement: once two entities have interacted then they retain forever an imprint, or memory, of each other.
I am a novelist, not a scientist, but when I learned about entanglement theory a couple of years ago (from reading The Intention Experiment, by Lynne McTaggart), I realized that it was/is the perfect analogy for the focus of my work as a writer.
The high school friend who dissed you behind your back, but you heard about it and can’t forget it.
The co-worker who you enjoyed so much but hardly knew and who has now moved to Australia and you wonder if you should friend her on Facebook.
The lover you jilted and feel guilty about.
The ex-husband who haunts your dreams.
The grocery store clerk who felt sorry for you one day and gave you free chocolate, and you still feel beholden although it was two years ago.
All these invisible but continuing relationships! All these ineradicable connections! All this lasting (if unacknowledged) impact on your mind, and ultimately, your cells! This is the stuff of fiction—or at least my fiction.
And then there is the day-to-day. Who of us is not entangled, enmeshed, engaged, entwined in too many relationships and commitments?! Such is modern life. Entangled.
“Although there is a real connection between two entangled particles, we don’t know what the information is that it’s going to seek.” Paul Comstock
That’s where fiction comes in—the uncertainty, the speculation.
So, welcome to this ride. It is my intention to post no less than once a week (hopefully at least twice). It is my intention to discuss the ways my lived life and writing life are entwined/entangled.
See you soon,
Cai
5 Comments
I love your writing and this blog. I've read a lot about physics, the latest thing (which I don't really understand yet) being the very old concept of "action of force from a distance, "which is related to the Buddhist concept of everything being related, and was thought a sort of alchemist idea until recently. It is so related to writing both fiction and memoir or fictional memoir of remembrances of things past! Looking forward to "following" you – next book tour I can set up a reading for you in The Triangle, NC!
This theme keeps reappearing for me as *the* central metaphor of my life. Will it remain as such? I think so, but….
Thanks for visiting and responding!
Cai,
I am writing a memoir of my twenty years in a large, entangled intentional community (see my current Facebook page for a recently published chapter.I have sworn to write only about me and what happened to me, avoiding the reporter's dilemma. But Facebook brings the entanglement of many old communitarians and their conflicting, puzzling, inchoate experiences until my head reels and I feel I should somehow be representing them and their experiences, too.
I can see how fiction would be a way of unthreading this needle. Thanks for your telling, evocative metaphor!
Cai,
While reading your blog yesterday I was transported back to Oxford Mississippi where you and I sat on the curb sipping wine and talking late into the evening. entangled
Incredible start to your blog. Hurrah! Thank you, Cai. I look forward to reading your thoughts…and entangling.
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