Right, quantum theory and the holographic universe. One of my favorite books as well. I think that we do have the ability to also, experience multiple 'selves,' and its very closely tied to the Hindu version of Indras net. The dreamer is dreaming, yet there's multiple, parallel worlds we can wake up into, and experience,
the trick is to be able to shift into them at a given time. Thats the magic, a sorcerer's trick I could probably go on about parallel realities on this topic as well. Something has always fascinated me about that paradigm, that we could be existing - even past lives - simultaneously. And I wonder if possible that we can even move 'backward' in our lives if we chose to. Since all lives could be potentially going on at once, say I exit this life, but I want to 'relive' another life. If all lives are simultaneously happening, at once, why couldnt I? This also gives a lot of room for the double to emerge, as well, from another life to guide us in some mysterious way.
Well, my own experience based on years of research & Dreaming, has more or less proven (to me) that "past lives" would be more accurately described as "parallel lives" - i.e., movements of the double within the Now. Recently, somebody asked said, "Yeah, but WTF does that mean, Della? - movements of the double within the now?"
The way I have experienced it (both through Dreaming and through working with Orlando to better understand the experiences themselves) is that the double is not confined by the idea of linear time - and, in fact, the quantum universe itself isn't either. Linear time is largely a humanform concept that enables us to have "filters" which provide us with a (seemingly) 1,2,3 experience (day one, day two, day three). But in the quantum universe, there is no separation of 1,2,3 - they all exist simultaneously within the realm of all possibility - where one of the first laws of quantum physics arises: "All things exist within the realm of possibility, but only some things will be forced to go through the motions of actually occurring."
So, as I've experienced it & Orlando has explained it, what this boils down to in practicality is that your double is entirely free - right now - to to *be* in any manifestation which might have value to your current life situation. To give a personal example, I have had extremely powerful Dreamings regarding a parallel life in which myself and a companion were some manner of Templars, who later ended up being betrayed from within the order, lured under false pretenses into a large church somewhere in England, and executed. For several years, this Dreaming made no sense to me as Della, because I've never had any connection to, nor any particular interest in that entire aspect of history. Just not on my wavelength. But over time, I've come to see that this parallel life was a huge lesson in *seeing* - because throughout the Dreaming, the character I was playing (a male, high ranking in the Templar organization) KNEW he was being set up, but refused to believe it, up until that last moment when the doors of the church slammed & locked, and he found himself face to face with his would-be executioners.
Now... I do not think for a moment that this event occurred in linear time. It occurred OUTSIDE of time - and that's the beauty of the double. It can select scenarios that teach tremendous life lessons without ever having to place our mortal/human life in jeopardy. And, not to mention, since the double is not confined by the limits of time, it can also choose dozens, hundreds, even thousands of these experiences - which we linear-bound humans have traditionally thought of as "past lives", but which are more likely the quantum machinations of our own double operating as our guide/teacher in the eternal Now.
So... point is simply that as we develop greater communication with our doubles, they are able to provide us with an infinitude of experience, but it's up to us to decipher it through gnosis, dreaming, meditation, etc. It's what is literally meant by "The double is dreaming you." While we are sitting at our desks and trudging through our ordinary lives, our doubles are off on grand adventures or sifting through vast libraries of experience in order to provide us with the Knowledge we need to evolve.
Of course, the sorcerer's trick is learning how to access that Knowledge and bring it into sufficient awareness to at least implement it in our daily lives. What I've found is that gnosis (silent knowing) is the best tool for that purpose, but also learning to "let go and allow the impossible." As long as we are clinging to what we THINK we know, we leave no room for any expansion of awareness.
Over at TSW, you mentioned spirit and what it is. I replied that I think it is at least partially what George Lucas referred to as "The Force" in the STAR WARS movies. Not surprisingly, that also ties in to this conversation - since spirit is "the force" through which gnosis occurs. And, more precisely, spirit is the vehicle through which we channel "the force" in our daily lives - it's what tells us to turn or stop or jump sideways or simply keep walking in a straight line... and in hindsight, we turn and realize that without that connection to "the force" we never would have made it through childhood.
Live in spirit. Allow the impossible. Use the force. Transcend the matrix. Open yourself to the assemblage point of the double.
All of these things are saying the same thing, and these are really the only things that matter. The rest - all this fluff and angst and suffering - is nothing more than an illusion within the dream of the mortal self.
Rising above it (quite literally) is the goal of a wo/man of Knowledge. Be the dreamer, not the dream.
Loveyou,
D