Quantum Journey Into The Matters of the Heart

Mark Oliver Everett, an extraordinary man in his own right; also known as E is a successful songwriter, the lead singer and guitarist for the indie rock band Eels, and the Author of ‘Things the Grandchildren Should Know’. The question is why at the age of 40 would this seemingly ordinary man, who admittedly has an average or below intelligence embark on an incredible journey involving quantum physics?

The answer would only partially involve the fact that his Father is Hugh Everett III, an American physicist (mathematician and quantum theorist) who first introduced the possibility of Parallel Worlds. Also known as the “¹many-worlds interpretation (MWI) of quantum physics. In layman's terms, this means that there is a very large, perhaps infinite, number of universes and that everything that could possibly happen in our universe (but doesn't) does happen in some other universe(s).”

To comprehend more about why E would even begin to venture into the world of quantum physics, one only needs to read his book description. “How does one young man survive the deaths of his entire family and manage to make something worthwhile of his life? In ‘Things The Grandchildren Should Know’ Mark Oliver Everett tells the story of what it's like to grow up the insecure son of a genius in a wacky Virginia Ice Storm-like family. Left to run wild with his sister, his father off in some parallel universe of his own invention, Everett's upbringing was 'ridiculous, sometimes tragic and always unsteady'. But somehow he manages to not only survive his crazy upbringing and ensuing tragedies; he makes something of his life…”

E has stated that ‘the only one really intimate experience’ he had with his Father was when his Dad died of a fatal heart attack on July 19, 1982 at the age of 51. E’s ‘² sister, Elizabeth, long troubled by schizophrenia, committed suicide in 1996, and two years later in 1998 his mother, Nancy Everett née Gore, died of lung cancer.’

And so in an ³Original PBS Broadcast, “Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives”; E is followed ‘across the country as he attempts to understand the fantastic possibility of parallel universes and unravel the story of his troubled family and the father he never really knew… In this intelligent and imaginative film, the wry and charismatic Mark takes an emotional journey into his father's life… It is only by entering the esoteric world of quantum physics that Mark can hope to gain an understanding of, and more importantly, a connection to the father who was a stranger to him.’

The cross country journey consist of going to the Pentagon and Princeton. Additionally; ‘Hugh's old college friends, colleagues, and admirers, MIT physicist Max Tegmark…’ assist. Also E is shown several experiments to help explain the theory proposed by his Father. Experimentations such as the Double-Slit Experiment and Schrödinger's cat. Though Schrödinger's cat is merely a thought experiment, Hugh Everett’s Parallel Worlds theorem states that both outcomes can actually happen.

E was astonished to realize he was easily comprehending his Father’s theory and more importantly his Father. Basically; “Hugh Everett proposed a multitude of universes, each a home to an alternate reality, including alternate versions of you and me.” To which E ultimately stated, “To the me that split off who didn't come on this trip—you lazy sack o'shit—because I mean, I really feel propelled by the sadness of the tragedy of my father not getting the recognition he deserved, because he was just too far ahead of his time, maybe too smart too soon.”

Perhaps in addition to the Parallel Worlds theory we might consider the ‘Split Apart’ analogy from the movie "The Butchers Wife". ⁴”The reference was to a theory that the gods looked upon man and he was happy, and in envy decided to split man and woman apart." Every since we have been looking for our other half, our Soul Mate so to speak. ⁴”However; there is no work by Plato called The Corruption as mentioned in the movie. Instead the story is to be found in the speech of Aristophanes in the dialogue called The Symposium” ( Aristophanes's Speech from Plato's Symposium):

⁵Now the sexes were three, and such as I have described them; because the sun, moon, and earth are three; and the man was originally the child of the sun, the woman of the earth, and the man-woman of the moon, which is made up of sun and earth, and they were all round and moved round and round because they resembled their parents. Terrible was their might and strength, and the thoughts of their hearts were great, and they made an attack upon the gods; of them is told the tale of Otys and Ephialtes who, as Homer says, attempted to scale heaven, and would have laid hands upon the gods… Zeus spoke and cut men in two, like a sorb-apple which is halved for pickling, or as you might divide an egg with a hair; and as he cut them one after another, he bade Apollo give the face and the half of the neck a turn in order that man might contemplate the section of himself: he would thus learn a lesson of humility. Apollo was also bidden to heal their wounds and compose their forms. So he gave a turn to the face and pulled the skin from the sides all over that which in our language is called the belly, like the purses which draw tight, and he made one mouth at the centre, which he fastened in a knot (the same which is called the navel); he also molded the breast and took out most of the wrinkles, much as a shoemaker might smooth leather upon a last; he left a few, however, in the region of the belly and navel, as a memorial of the primeval state...

And so rather we are searching for a Soul Mate or perhaps the ‘Split Apart’ theory might help explain why many of us humans need to understand whence we came from rather hereditarily or as an entity, or maybe in fact the Parallel Worlds is merely where our ‘Split Apart’ is; I hope one day E will also learn, along with many other People that ⁶there are links between quantum mechanics, neurobiology, human consciousness, day-to-day reality, talk about the consciousness, psi research, physics, biology, emotions, addictions, and that those same revolutionary quantum experiments E saw are evidence that there is a definite mind-body connection proving that we and our world are not separate, but connected.

Things the Grandchildren Should Know
Written by MARK OLIVER EVERETT

I go to bed real early
Everybody thinks it's strange
I get up early in the morning
No matter how disappointed I was
With the day before
It feels new

I don't leave the house much
I don't like being around people
Makes me nervous and weird
I don't like going to shows either
It's better for me to stay at home
Some might think it means I hate people
But that's not quite right
I do some stupid things but my heart's in the right place
And this I know

I got a dog
I take him for a walk
And all the people like to say hello
I'm used to staring down at the sidewalk cracks
I'm learning how to say hello
Without too much trouble

I'm turning out just like my father
Though I swore I never would
Now I can say that I have love for him
I never really understood
What it must have been like for him
Living inside his head

I feel like he's here with me now
Even though he's dead

It's not all good and it's not all bad
Don't believe everything you read
I'm the only one who knows what it's like
So I thought I'd better tell you
Before I leave

So in the end I'd like to say
That I'm a very thankful man
I tried to make the most of my situation
And enjoy what I had
I knew true love and I knew passion
And the difference between the two
And I had some regrets
But if I had to do it all again
Well, it's something I'd like to do


YouTube Eels - Things The Grandchildren Should Know

1. Wikipedia Many-worlds interpretation
2. Wikipedia Mark Oliver Everett
3. TV Program Description "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives"
4. Plato-Dialogues
5. Aristophanes's Speech from Plato's Symposium
6. Holey Bleep We Are All Connected!

* Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives Transcript

APRIL 22, 2014: "The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett, the 11th Eels record since 1996’s Beautiful Freak, is one of the most searingly personal documents the man called E has cooked up yet. It’s the first time his real name and unobscured face have appeared on the cover, and it’s a spiritual successor to his 2008 autobiography, Things the Grandchildren Should Know." (Eels Q&A and Playlist: ‘The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett’)