Chapter I

Chapter I. The Alternatives Model

Every version of every event exists in an information field, and thought energy selects which becomes physical. You cannot edit your script, only move to another; judge the model by use, not proof.

In one paragraph

Zeland opens with a dream in which a guardian tells him everyone is free to choose any destiny, and that he does not know what choosing means. The rest of the chapter builds the model behind that claim. Reality takes endless forms. All possible versions of every event already exist in an information field, the alternatives space. Your life runs along one "lifeline" through that field, and the energy of your thoughts decides which alternative becomes physical. So you cannot rewrite the script you are in, but you can move to a different one. He argues that fighting the world or fixing yourself both fail, and that the model should be judged by whether it works, not by whether it is provable. The chapter ends on a teaser: wishing is not choosing, and the next chapters explain the difference. [0:11:32]–[1:21:06]

Key ideas

  1. The opening dream sets the question. A guardian says the one real freedom is the freedom to choose, and that the dreamer does not understand choosing. His riddle: how do you gain that freedom, so that "apples fall to the sky"? [0:11:32]
  2. Battling the world exhausted the narrator, and battling himself was harder. The dream's message is that what is meant for him already exists, so he need not fight for a place. [0:08:13], [0:14:51]
  3. Common views of fate all disappoint: a fixed lot, karma and later compensation, forced happiness, universal love, and fighting for success. Each leaves people dissatisfied or blaming themselves. [0:18:02]–[0:26:21]
  4. Every worldview rests on unproven starting points and works within its own field. His examples: materialism versus idealism, the blind men and the elephant, particle versus wave models of the atom. Whichever you adopt, the world seems to confirm it. [0:26:21]–[0:33:07]
  5. The one fact all models share is that reality is variable. He proposes using that as his starting point. [0:34:24]–[0:36:30]
  6. The alternatives space is an information field holding every possible scenario of every event: all that was, is and will be. Each alternative has a script (the path matter follows) and scenery (the outward form). Sectors that lie far apart differ more. [0:38:20]–[0:39:50]
  7. A person's sectors line up as a lifeline. Nearby lifelines differ only in scenery, middling distances in script, and far ones in everything, like the same play with new sets, a rewritten script, or a different theatre. [0:40:49]–[0:41:42]
  8. Manifestation moves through the space while the alternatives stay put. Images: a cooling ring freezing a moving section of a water pipe, a wave crossing the sea, a torch in a dark forest. Time is like film frames that already exist together. [0:43:46]–[0:51:11]
  9. Thought energy is what "lights up" an alternative. Your thoughts act like a radio frequency that tunes to the matching sector. A hostile attitude draws a hostile world. While your thoughts stay uniform you stay on one lifeline, and when they change you shift. [0:51:11]–[1:02:08]
  10. You cannot edit a script you dislike. Fighting it keeps your attention on what you dislike, so you get more of it. You can only choose a different script, like walking into the next gallery room. [1:03:05]–[1:04:26]
  11. Choice is not wish. Not every thought is realized, and the difference is quality, not content. The conditions are deferred to later chapters. [1:05:36]
  12. Fate is "preordained" only within one alternative. Religion errs by assuming there is only one. [1:07:50]
  13. Judge the model by use, not truth. He offers a test: has fighting the world got you happiness? [1:08:50], [1:17:29]

Terms

  • Transurfing — the author's method for choosing your destiny from the alternatives space instead of fighting for it. First appears [0:14:51]
  • Alternatives space — an infinite information field recording every possible version of every event, past, present and future. It acts as a template for how matter can move. First appears [0:38:20]
  • Sector — one region of the alternatives space holding one alternative. Distance between sectors measures how much they differ. First appears [0:39:50]
  • Script and scenery — the two parts of an alternative. Script is the path matter takes, and scenery is the external form. First appears [0:39:50]
  • Lifeline — a chain of cause-and-effect sectors with similar script and scenery that makes up one person's destiny. First appears [0:40:49]
  • Material realization — the process by which one alternative becomes physical reality. First appears [0:43:46]
  • Thought energy — the energy that passes through a person, takes on the character of their thoughts, and radiates out to select the matching sector. First appears [0:53:03]
  • Variability — the claim that the world's most basic quality is that it takes endless forms. He treats it as the chapter's starting postulate, like zero on a coordinate grid. First appears [0:35:30]
  • The Guardian's riddle — the puzzle of how to gain the freedom to choose. The book is framed as its answer. First appears [0:14:14]
  • Choice versus wish — a wish is not a choice, and only a choice is realized. His own formula is that a dream or wish is not a choice and dreams do not come true. First appears [1:05:36]

Practices

This chapter is explanatory; it prescribes no practice.

(The self-test at [1:17:29], asking whether battling the world has delivered happiness, is used in Desk work.)

Watch out for

  • The model is asserted, not demonstrated. He says outright that it is a working model and that he accepted it only after it worked flawlessly for him. That is one person's report, with no test offered. [1:08:50]
  • He argues no model can be proven, so none should be preferred for truth. That shields his model from criticism, but it also weakens any claim that it is more than a metaphor.
  • "Whatever you choose is manifested" and "people always get what they choose" are circular. If you do not get it, it was not a true choice. He sets this up when he separates choice from wish. [0:30:46], [1:05:36]
  • The science references (Bohr model, relativity, quantum experiments) work as analogies, not support, and he says the mechanism hardly matters to his purpose. The radio-frequency picture of thought energy has no measurement behind it. He also grants that bad expectations might just be premonitions. [0:51:56], [0:53:03]
  • He says you cannot change the script of your lifeline, yet also says attitude changes your life. The reconciliation is that attitude moves you to a different lifeline. [1:02:08]
  • The audio transcript loops at [1:00:55]–[1:01:39], so the wording there is unreliable. The point (a hostile attitude draws a hostile world) is repeated clearly at [1:02:08].

Review questions

Try each one cold, then open the answer.

  1. In the opening scene, what two strategies had the narrator tried, and how did each end? [0:08:13]
    Show answer
    He fought the world and ran out of strength, then fought himself and found it harder. Each failed. [0:08:13]
  2. What do the Guardian's riddle and "apples fall to the sky" ask? [0:14:14]
    Show answer
    They ask how to gain the freedom to choose any destiny. "Apples falling to the sky" signals something that looks impossible until you grasp the method.
  3. Name three views of fate that Zeland says fall short, and one reason for each. [0:18:02]
    Show answer
    Fixed fate (it offers no hope or fairness), "just be happy" or forgive-and-love (it asks you to fake feelings), and fight-for-it (most strivers fail, and it blames the unlucky).
  4. What is the alternatives space, and what is in every alternative? [0:38:20]
    Show answer
    It is an infinite information field recording every scenario of every event. Each alternative has a script and scenery.
  5. In the cooling-ring and wave images, what moves and what stays still? [0:44:43]
    Show answer
    The manifestation (ice, or wave) moves. The medium (water, sea) stays where it is, like the alternatives.
  6. How does thought energy relate to the alternatives space? [0:59:59]
    Show answer
    Thoughts radiate energy at a certain "frequency", and it finds the matching sector, which then becomes physical.
  7. Why does fighting an unwanted script backfire, according to him? [1:04:26]
    Show answer
    Struggling keeps your thoughts on what you dislike, so that is what is realized, and you drift to lines with more obstacles.
  8. What is the difference between a wish and a choice? [1:05:36]
    Show answer
    A wish or dream does not get realized. A choice, which has certain qualities explained later, always does.
  9. In what sense is fate preordained, and what do religions get wrong? [1:07:50]
    Show answer
    Within one alternative the script is fixed, so you cannot escape it. Religion wrongly assumes only one alternative exists.
  10. On what basis does he ask you to accept or reject the model? [1:17:29]
    Show answer
    By whether it works for you, not by whether it is true.

Desk work

  1. Think of a long-running frustration (your own dog-and-slippers morning). Write a few lines on how you have been fighting it, then on what you were thinking about most while you fought.
  2. Using the theatre analogy, describe a past turn in your life as a change of scenery, of script, or of "theatre". What changed your thinking just before it?
  3. Take the self-test at [1:17:29]. Write what battling the world has achieved for you, and what result would convince you the model is useful.

Connections

Mastery checklist

Tick an objective when the evidence is on the page. Ticks stay in this browser. The same list, with the terms to own, is on itsown page.

Objectives

0 of 14 ticked

  • recall Evidence: write both in two sentences, then say what "apples fall to the sky" stands for. [0:11:32] [0:14:14]

  • explain Evidence: write the sentence, then list the two strategies the narrator tried before the dream. [0:08:13] [0:14:51] [0:17:18]

  • explain Evidence: answer review question 3 in the guide. [0:18:02]–[0:26:21]

  • explain Evidence: write three sentences, using the blind men or the atom models as the example. [0:27:34] [0:34:24] [0:35:30]

  • explain Evidence: write a two-sentence definition without the words "field" or "template". [0:37:27] [0:38:20] [0:39:50]

  • recall Evidence: draw a few sectors on paper and label the script and scenery of two of them. [0:39:50]

  • explain Evidence: draw three lifelines at increasing distance and caption each with its theatre equivalent. [0:40:49] [0:41:42]

  • explain Evidence: answer review question 5 in the guide, then add the film-frame image of time. [0:43:46]–[0:51:11]

  • explain Evidence: write the definition, then one sentence on why he says the mechanism hardly matters. [0:53:03] [0:54:14] [0:59:59]

  • apply Evidence: pick a recurring situation from your week (a colleague, a commute) and write the four steps for a hostile attitude and for a changed one. [1:00:55]–[1:02:08]

  • apply Evidence: do Desk work 1 in the guide. [1:03:05]–[1:04:26]

  • analyse Evidence: write one paragraph using the gallery-room image; answer review question 9. [1:02:08] [1:04:26] [1:07:50]

  • analyse Evidence: write the two senses of "choose" he uses; he gives the conditions only later, so mark this as open. [0:30:46] [1:05:36] [1:17:38]

  • analyse Evidence: write the test, then two limits (for example, science used as analogy, one person's report); do Desk work 3. [0:28:20] [1:08:50] [1:17:38]

Readiness check

Answer these without looking anything up.

  1. What does the Guardian say the narrator has the right to do, and what does he say the narrator fails to understand?
  2. Why does Zeland say no model of the world can be proven, and what one fact does he say every model shares?
  3. What is in a sector, and what happens to the difference between two sectors as they move farther apart?
  4. In the cooling-ring or wave image, what moves and what stays put? Which part of his model does each stand for?
  5. Describe how thought energy leads to a different lifeline. What causes the shift?
  6. Why does battling an unwanted situation make more of it? What is the alternative he offers?
  7. Is a wish a choice? What is the single quality he says separates them, and when does he promise to explain it?
  8. In what sense is fate preordained, and where does religion go wrong, according to him?

The next chapter assumes you hold one idea: your thoughts select which sector of the alternatives space becomes your reality, so what you attend to and fight against steers your lifeline.