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0Episode 57: Parallel Universes Between People
Sometimes, I think about the people I met only once.
A stranger sitting next to me on a plane.
A woman I spoke to in a quiet café.
A passerby who helped me when I was lost.
We shared a moment —
a few words,
a brief connection —
and then we disappeared from each other’s lives forever.
We went on,
as if nothing had happened.
But something had.
Carl Jung once wrote that every person we encounter carries a piece of our own psyche.
And I wonder if every person we meet, even briefly, opens a small window into another universe.
A universe where things unfolded differently.
In another life, perhaps that stranger became a close friend.
Perhaps that conversation continued.
Perhaps our stories intertwined instead of separating.
But in this universe,
they did not.
We only passed through.
There’s something both beautiful and heartbreaking about that.
Because it reminds me how many lives exist beyond the one I’m living.
Every person I pass on the street is the center of their own world.
They have memories I will never know,
fears I will never see,
dreams I will never witness.
And I am only a background character in their story.
Just as they are in mine.
Sometimes, I wonder about the lives I didn’t choose.
The city I didn’t stay in.
The person I didn’t love.
The path I didn’t follow.
Those lives don’t disappear.
They continue somewhere —
not in reality, perhaps,
but in imagination.
Like parallel universes,
existing quietly beside this one.
Physics tells us parallel universes may or may not exist.
But emotionally, I think we experience them all the time.
Every goodbye creates one.
A version of life where we stayed.
A version where we turned around.
A version where we said something we never said.
But life only allows us to live one path.
And maybe that’s what gives it meaning.
Not because it is the only life possible,
but because it is the only life we will ever fully know.
The people we meet only once still live somewhere tonight.
They are laughing, worrying, sleeping, dreaming.
And without realizing it,
they are carrying a version of us with them too.
A version that exists only in their memory.
We will never see most of these universes again.
But perhaps we don’t need to.
Perhaps it is enough to know
that for a brief moment,
our lives crossed.
And in that crossing,
something was real.
Thanks for listening. See you next time.
第57集：人与人之间的平行宇宙
有时候，我会想起那些只见过一次的人。
飞机上坐在我旁边的陌生人，
咖啡馆里与我短暂交谈的女人，
在我迷路时伸手帮助过我的路人。
我们共享过一个瞬间——
几句话，
一段短暂的连接——
然后，便永远消失在彼此的生命里。
我们继续向前，
仿佛什么都没有发生。
但其实，有些东西已经发生了。
荣格曾说，每一个我们遇见的人，都携带着我们内心的一部分。
而我有时会觉得，每一个短暂相遇的人，
都为我们打开了一扇通往另一个宇宙的小窗。
一件事可能会展开不同的宇宙。
在另一个人生里，
也许那个陌生人会成为朋友。
也许那段对话会继续。
也许我们的故事会交织，而不是分离。
但在这个宇宙里，
它没有发生。
我们只是彼此经过。
这其中有一种既美丽又令人心痛的感觉。
因为它提醒我，
在我正在经历的这一种人生之外，
还存在着无数种可能。
街上每一个擦肩而过的人，
都是他们自己世界的中心。
他们有我永远不会知道的记忆，
有我永远不会理解的恐惧，
有我永远不会见证的梦想。
而我，
只是他们故事里的一个背景人物。
就像他们，
也是我生命里的背景人物。
有时，我也会想起那些没有选择的人生。
没有留下来的城市，
没有去爱的那个人，
没有走上的那条路。
那些人生并没有真正消失。
它们只是存在于某个地方——
也许不在现实里，
却存在于想象之中。
就像平行宇宙，
安静地存在于这个宇宙的旁边。
物理学告诉我们，
平行宇宙也许存在，也许不存在。
但在情感上，
我觉得我们一直在经历它们。
每一次告别，
都会创造：
一个我们留下的版本，
一个我们回头的版本，
一个我们说出那句话的版本。
但人生只允许我们活其中的一条路。
也许，正因为如此，
它才显得珍贵。
不是因为它是唯一可能的人生，
而是因为它是唯一我们能真正走完的人生。
那些只见过一次的人，
此刻仍然生活在世界的某个地方。
他们在笑，在烦恼，在睡去，在做梦。
而他们不知道的是，
他们的记忆里，
也携带着一个属于我们的版本。
一个只存在于他们世界里的我们。
我们不会再见到大多数这样的宇宙了。
但也许，这并不重要。
也许，只要知道——
在某个短暂的瞬间，
我们的生命曾经交汇。
而那一刻，
是真实的。
感谢你的收听。我们下期再见。
