Spoiler Alert: Dear reader, I recommend you to read The Story of the Universe first, before you proceed and learn about similar ideas of other authors. The following pages contain spoilers, which might reduce your later enjoyment of the story.
I developed the idea of the story in my twenties. At that time, I did not see a need to write it down. I was satisfied with carrying it in my head as my world view hypothesis. Years later, I e-mailed a brief version of it to a friend of mine during one of our philosophical discussions. Only in 2019 I decided to write it down in more detail for one of my relatives. Once the story was written and liked, it seemed to me as the next logical step to self-publish it and to share it with more people.
At the time of my publication, I was convinced that I have formulated some fascinating and innovative philosophical thoughts. It turned out that while the “fascinating” part might be true, the “innovative” part is definitely wrong. In the meantime, I have found multiple similar philosophical end ethical concepts by other authors - some of those published long time ago.
Having found out that I only had “reinvented the wheel”, was humbling. But on the other hand it also made me feel good. First, because with my theory I seemed to be in a good company. And second, because when individuals from different times, cultures and social groups independently arrive at similar philosophical concepts, then these seem to be somewhat “more valid”.
I even felt addressed by Alan Watts, when he talked about individuals, who realize that they are God, in his specific, kind style. ;-)
What do you think? Is it just a pure coincidence (i.e. if sufficiently many individuals develop their own philosophical views, then naturally some of those must be similar), or is it an indication that there might be some “universal truths”? Is this whole Universe Experiment after all not completely agnostic?
Anyway, here is a collection of quotes and stories, which raise similar philosophical and ethical ideas as my Story of the Universe. Get inspired!