24. Possibility Spaces

Yesterday I took the train to Menlo Park to check out the painter's work. Shortly after my ride, someone was hit and killed by a train. This morning as I took my ride, I thought about the circumstances that would induce that result, and the subsequent events within this victim's circle of friends and family.

The book I read on the train made mention of "possibility spaces" the idea that there are many possibilities and each of them has an outcome. I'm sure I don't understand the metaphysics behind how this is be possible, but I think many of us intuitively work with this idea when we look backward: "what if I'd only", or "I should have". We're so good at that. But we don't always look at current adversity or even future possibility with that kind of flexibility--the kind of flexibility that says any option is open.

Some choices cause unpleasant results (walking across train track shortly to be occupied by train), but what if we think about the possibilities we have to deal with the adversity, to lay out all the options of what's next, to simulate in our minds all the next decisions and go with the best one? Laying out the possibilities means taking ownership of the choice and outcome, which is often easier to swallow.

Today my choices included not quitting work and not having a McFlurry. Also, crossing the roads and rails when I was supposed to, passing on Coffee after lunch, and taking a salad for once instead of a burrito. Man, I am IN CHARGE!