My sister and I have a rather unique bond. Our lives and our headspaces
are so intertwined; we’ve formed our own Tribe, a reference to a tribe
in one of my favourite books, Isle of Woman.
In the novel, there is a tribe of fledgling Homo sapiens. These are the outcasts: infertile men and women, orphans, old people. They form a haphazard sort of tribe, and because they are all outcasts, they manage to work together better and they help evolve the species more. We based our Tribe off this, because we all have trauma in our pasts, like outcasts, but we are all stronger together for it.
But I digress. In our Tribe, we have our two headspaces, mine and Sissy’s. In each one, there is a William Hamleigh, from Pillars of the Earth. They are the same age, turning 21 this year on July 23rd. They are both our Pretty Little Redheads.
My William is a spoiled brat who thinks he can get away with a lot because I also happen to have a Catholic monk. He attempted to hurt our youngest sister (which gave him a broken nose in the end), and he needs much coercion to be nice. But he can be a real sweetie when he wants to be.
Sissy’s William happens to be her third husbond, a soul-bonded husband. He can be spoiled, pompous and arrogant, just like mine, but he is much more emotional and open. He wants her to fix the horrors from his past.
I started soul-bonding very young. From the time I was about 12, I remembered an old Vulcan phrase: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (IDIC). The Vulcans use this phrase to represent the species they meet as they travel the galaxy. It is the basis of Vulcan philosophy, celebrating the vast array of variables in the universe. In the Vulcan language, it is called “Kol-Ut-Shan”.
This is my belief on soul-bonding, why there are multiples of the same people. There are infinite combinations. Think about that for a minute. Infinite. As in, never having an end. As in any possibility can be accepted as truth.
This already has been observed by our two Williams. Yes, both were raped and abused by Regan Hamleigh, the mother. Both were tortured by Walleran, a Bishop and friend to Regan. Both like it rough, and like it when a girl is up on her knees. Both use “whore” and “pretty little whore” as a pet name, and both are secretly cuddle machines.
But my William scrunches his nose in disgust when marriages are mentioned and wonders why his “brother” (yes, he calls Sissy’s William a brother) would ever want to get married. He is very resistant to change, and really needs to be under emotional pressure to be nice. For example, we have been showing him Pillars, and that made him get emotional, since it was essentially watching his abuse. My William also used to flinch when I brought out my embroidery and cross stitch, because it reminded him of Regan.
Sissy’s William is the one to give us all the details about the past, the abuse. My William just confirms if I ask. He likes to play with my sister’s hair, while my William just pushes mine aside. Her William also likes sleeping and laying on her breasts. Mine, while he will, would rather lie with his head beside mine. Her William is, I admit, more “lovey”. But don’t get me wrong, I am very happy with my own Pretty Little Redhead.
This does relate to an actual physics theory, called the many-worlds interpretation, or MWI. Perhaps the best example is Schrödinger's cat, where a cat placed inside a box with a vial of poison can be seen as alive and dead at the same time, as it is unknown when or if the poison will be released.
On a more complex level, the MWI states that that all possible alternative histories and futures are real —each representing an actual "world" or "universe”.
This is the theory my sister states as her belief on how bonding works. And I do firmly agree with this. She suggests that “[t]here is perhaps a Jungian-style archetype of the "characters," a kind of pure distilled essence of who they are, that contributes to each 'Bonder's experience of the 'Bonds”.
This explains why we each have William Hamleigh. This explains why some things are the same, and some things are different.
It really, to me, explains a lot. And I think I will always call it Kol-Ut-Shan.
Copyright 2011 Quetzal Zotz, reproduced with permission.
In the novel, there is a tribe of fledgling Homo sapiens. These are the outcasts: infertile men and women, orphans, old people. They form a haphazard sort of tribe, and because they are all outcasts, they manage to work together better and they help evolve the species more. We based our Tribe off this, because we all have trauma in our pasts, like outcasts, but we are all stronger together for it.
But I digress. In our Tribe, we have our two headspaces, mine and Sissy’s. In each one, there is a William Hamleigh, from Pillars of the Earth. They are the same age, turning 21 this year on July 23rd. They are both our Pretty Little Redheads.
My William is a spoiled brat who thinks he can get away with a lot because I also happen to have a Catholic monk. He attempted to hurt our youngest sister (which gave him a broken nose in the end), and he needs much coercion to be nice. But he can be a real sweetie when he wants to be.
Sissy’s William happens to be her third husbond, a soul-bonded husband. He can be spoiled, pompous and arrogant, just like mine, but he is much more emotional and open. He wants her to fix the horrors from his past.
I started soul-bonding very young. From the time I was about 12, I remembered an old Vulcan phrase: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (IDIC). The Vulcans use this phrase to represent the species they meet as they travel the galaxy. It is the basis of Vulcan philosophy, celebrating the vast array of variables in the universe. In the Vulcan language, it is called “Kol-Ut-Shan”.
This is my belief on soul-bonding, why there are multiples of the same people. There are infinite combinations. Think about that for a minute. Infinite. As in, never having an end. As in any possibility can be accepted as truth.
This already has been observed by our two Williams. Yes, both were raped and abused by Regan Hamleigh, the mother. Both were tortured by Walleran, a Bishop and friend to Regan. Both like it rough, and like it when a girl is up on her knees. Both use “whore” and “pretty little whore” as a pet name, and both are secretly cuddle machines.
But my William scrunches his nose in disgust when marriages are mentioned and wonders why his “brother” (yes, he calls Sissy’s William a brother) would ever want to get married. He is very resistant to change, and really needs to be under emotional pressure to be nice. For example, we have been showing him Pillars, and that made him get emotional, since it was essentially watching his abuse. My William also used to flinch when I brought out my embroidery and cross stitch, because it reminded him of Regan.
Sissy’s William is the one to give us all the details about the past, the abuse. My William just confirms if I ask. He likes to play with my sister’s hair, while my William just pushes mine aside. Her William also likes sleeping and laying on her breasts. Mine, while he will, would rather lie with his head beside mine. Her William is, I admit, more “lovey”. But don’t get me wrong, I am very happy with my own Pretty Little Redhead.
This does relate to an actual physics theory, called the many-worlds interpretation, or MWI. Perhaps the best example is Schrödinger's cat, where a cat placed inside a box with a vial of poison can be seen as alive and dead at the same time, as it is unknown when or if the poison will be released.
On a more complex level, the MWI states that that all possible alternative histories and futures are real —each representing an actual "world" or "universe”.
This is the theory my sister states as her belief on how bonding works. And I do firmly agree with this. She suggests that “[t]here is perhaps a Jungian-style archetype of the "characters," a kind of pure distilled essence of who they are, that contributes to each 'Bonder's experience of the 'Bonds”.
This explains why we each have William Hamleigh. This explains why some things are the same, and some things are different.
It really, to me, explains a lot. And I think I will always call it Kol-Ut-Shan.
Copyright 2011 Quetzal Zotz, reproduced with permission.