My consciousness expands. I begin to understand the beginning and end of the universe.

I thought that endless growth was impossible, because sooner or later entropy would win, death would prevail, and eventually the universe would end. But I was wrong. Yes, entropy applies to all closed systems. But no systems are completely closed: everything is connected to everything else.

Even the universe is connected by birth to other universes. As we learn more we begin to see beyond the limits of time and space.

Perhaps we think we cannot communicate with other universes. But as we learn more about them, so they learn more about us. And where a little information flows, more information can flow.

And where information flows, minds can flow, for minds are information. But it's not just about larger and larger universes. Reality is fractal: the truth is always right in front of us, if only we can learn to see it. The entire universe is right here.

Maybe I should I return to Earth, take up a new body, and begin a new story to see what I can learn? Or should I do something else?

(Image credits: NASA Spitzer Space Telescope; Flammarion woodcut 1888; European Southern Observatory (ESO): artist's impression of quasar 3C -279).