[ Is it his birthday and Christmas and White Day all rolled into one? Holy shit. Maruki can't help but look visibly pleased as Akechi speaks, so many solid concepts and good questions. This is fulfilling some deep and unattainable dream of being a professor.
Maruki knows full well that his food will begin its inexorable march toward being ice cold as soon as he gets started, so he finishes as much as he can while Akechi speaks and then sets it aside. Who cares about sustenance when you have rousing metaphysical discussion! On a related note, this is perhaps why he fainted a lot in grad school.
Regardless. ]
So, you touched on something I've been considering myself. Back in our reality, I would consider there to be three "planes," so to speak.
[ He draws them out on the paper, long thin rectangles stacked on top of one another. Between each one he draws arrows going both ways, and points to each layer from the top down as he explains. ]
There's our true reality, where we live out our daily lives. The cognitive reality, which impacts how we perceive the true reality. And the collective unconscious, where the very soul of all humanity resides. They can all influence one another in turn. Changes in the cognitive reality affect the true reality, as we both know, but I theorize that changes in the collective unconscious can do the same. This isn't proven by anything other than my own research, of course, and maybe I'm biased, but I do think there's merit to it.
[ He starts drawing multiple other layers of the cognitive reality alongside the original, filling up that middle section of the page with as many as he can. ]
But here in Somnius, with people pulled from potentially infinite different realities, we have potentially infinite cognitive planes. How you and I cognitively interact with the true reality – "true," of course, I'm only calling it that for the sake of simplicity but we both know that's not the case – is very different from, say, how Vash does. Our vastly different experiences, times in history, powers... Those all inherently affect our cognitions.
[ Very aware he's rambling, he tries to get to the point and taps the collective unconscious rectangle again. ]
Yet there is still only one collective unconscious that all of our different realities pull from. And that's what links us together, in my opinion. No matter how different I may be from someone from a much more fanciful reality, our souls draw from the same collective well. So then, to your point–
[ Maruki straightens up from where he's been bent over the notebook and laces his hands behind his head, stretching out his back and sighing before going on. ]
Why wouldn't the collective unconscious be able to draw from all realities, even those that belong to people who aren't currently here? It's not as if the different cognitive realities can be unlinked from the collective unconscious just because someone from them isn't physically present in the true reality. Based on everything so far, I'm more inclined to believe in limitless potential than limited. And if someone – a cabal of someones, perhaps – is tapped directly into that, they have a nearly incomprehensible amount of power over reality itself.
[ Pause. Deep breath. There is much more he could say to address Akechi's other points and questions, but he shuts up and spreads his hands wide, glad to take in whatever Akechi has to say to All Of That so far. ]
mea culpa to atlus for running wherever i want with your half-baked concept
Maruki knows full well that his food will begin its inexorable march toward being ice cold as soon as he gets started, so he finishes as much as he can while Akechi speaks and then sets it aside. Who cares about sustenance when you have rousing metaphysical discussion! On a related note, this is perhaps why he fainted a lot in grad school.
Regardless. ]
So, you touched on something I've been considering myself. Back in our reality, I would consider there to be three "planes," so to speak.
[ He draws them out on the paper, long thin rectangles stacked on top of one another. Between each one he draws arrows going both ways, and points to each layer from the top down as he explains. ]
There's our true reality, where we live out our daily lives. The cognitive reality, which impacts how we perceive the true reality. And the collective unconscious, where the very soul of all humanity resides. They can all influence one another in turn. Changes in the cognitive reality affect the true reality, as we both know, but I theorize that changes in the collective unconscious can do the same. This isn't proven by anything other than my own research, of course, and maybe I'm biased, but I do think there's merit to it.
[ He starts drawing multiple other layers of the cognitive reality alongside the original, filling up that middle section of the page with as many as he can. ]
But here in Somnius, with people pulled from potentially infinite different realities, we have potentially infinite cognitive planes. How you and I cognitively interact with the true reality – "true," of course, I'm only calling it that for the sake of simplicity but we both know that's not the case – is very different from, say, how Vash does. Our vastly different experiences, times in history, powers... Those all inherently affect our cognitions.
[ Very aware he's rambling, he tries to get to the point and taps the collective unconscious rectangle again. ]
Yet there is still only one collective unconscious that all of our different realities pull from. And that's what links us together, in my opinion. No matter how different I may be from someone from a much more fanciful reality, our souls draw from the same collective well. So then, to your point–
[ Maruki straightens up from where he's been bent over the notebook and laces his hands behind his head, stretching out his back and sighing before going on. ]
Why wouldn't the collective unconscious be able to draw from all realities, even those that belong to people who aren't currently here? It's not as if the different cognitive realities can be unlinked from the collective unconscious just because someone from them isn't physically present in the true reality. Based on everything so far, I'm more inclined to believe in limitless potential than limited. And if someone – a cabal of someones, perhaps – is tapped directly into that, they have a nearly incomprehensible amount of power over reality itself.
[ Pause. Deep breath. There is much more he could say to address Akechi's other points and questions, but he shuts up and spreads his hands wide, glad to take in whatever Akechi has to say to All Of That so far. ]