Yes. Mass-energy as against dark matter or dark energy.
(ii) Might we be able to pass between such realms?
Hardly. We are mass-energy and are already surrounded by the "dark" stuff but can barely detect it.
(iii) If we were able to pass between very dissimilar realms, might each seem unreal or dream-like when we were in the other?
"Nothing that happens in that nexus between the universes ever quite happens. When guests say goodbye and walk back out the door, it shall be like waking from a dream.
"Yet some dreams leave a measure of understanding."
-Poul Anderson, "Loser's Night" IN Anderson, All One Universe (New York, 1997), pp. 105-123 AT p. 107.
Thus, we think that the between-the-wars Winston Churchill leaves the Old Phoenix at the end of "Losers' Night" better equipped for what is to come.
Meanwhile, in terms of my rereading, not in terms of any other frame of reference, Dornford Yates' characters have escaped from his magical kingdom of Etchechuria:
"For a little they sat in silence. Then Pomfret started to his feet.
"'It's all been a dream,' he cried."
-Dornford Yates, The Stolen March (London, 1926), CHAPTER X, p. 293.
However, they have brought with them physical artifacts (which cannot be brought from the Old Phoenix), including a source of wealth that impacts on the mundane world:
"'Where is she now?'
"'Got out and married,' said Fluff. 'Lives in a hell of a place down Biarritz way.'"
-Dornford Yates, Adele And Co. (Stratus Books, Cornwall, 2001), 2, p. 31.
Readers of the thriller, Adele and Co., need not know how Eulalie became rich enough to buy "...a hell of a place..." Different realms...
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I was already convinced other universes besides ours exist. A conviction reinforced by Frank Tipler's discussion of quantum mechanics and Special Relativity in his book THE PHYSICS OF CHRISTIANITY. The tricky part, as you said, being the DIFFICULTY in somehow traveling to, or communicating with those parallel universes.
And guests at the Old Phoenix Inn do leave with some physical matter from that "nexus": the food and drink they consumed there.
And I remember how we first see Winston Churchill at the Old Phoenix, discouraged and bleak. And of how we see him leaving MORE encouraged.
Dang. You are making me sorry I never read any of Dornford Yates books before! (Smiles)
Sean
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