"Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today?" How does that make you feel? slightly agitated? annoyed? Probably. That is a common phrase that triggers emotions in todays society . The word "emotions" to some people may indicate happiness, sadness, anger, or fear, but how are human emotions constructed? What about human consciousness? Consciousness and emotions are two terms that aren't thought about daily because they come to us naturally. However, has it ever occurred to you how the brain is able to construct consciousness? The state of awareness?. If I had to guess, I would say no. Most people are too busy in their daily lives to stop and think about emotions and consciousness. However for one play writer, John Mighton, he aims to shed light on two emerging themes throughout the play demonstrated through Possible Worlds.
First off, let me introduce you to the characters. We have George and Joyce, both in their 30's and married (in one universe), Berkley (our detective), Williams (Berkley's assistant) and Penfield (the neuroscientist). So now that we've established some characters, lets talk plot. The goal of Possible Worlds is to get you to think about life in different perspectives, different dimensions...all with a touch of romance, because whats a story without romance?. The scientific concept behind the creation of this playwright is the scientific advancement of human consciousness and human emotion. This is portrayed through the different characters, throughout the scenes going from different dimensions in the end to find out it was all an act of imagination.
Now lets chat a bit about the science of emotion. When I think of emotion I only thing of the main emotions I feel, happiness, sadness, anger etc. However there are a lot more processes that happen when we experience emotions. For starters, emotions are neural impulses that prompt a response (Emotion, N.D). Now because we have all this technology, we are able to fully study where these impulses come from. With research done, its been found that these neural impulses come from the limbic system and send signals to the brain. Now what about human consciousness? whats up with that?. Science thus far has struggled to explain the phenomenon of consciousness. So I probably will too, but heres a shot. Just from being a psychology major, I know that consciousness is a state of awareness. As for the play Possible Worlds, its not even known if the characters are aware of their state of consciousness.
Lets take a look at another film that focus on human consciousness. First one that comes to mind is The Matrix. This movie portrays a man living two lives. Hmm.. Sounds familiar. By day he is an average computer programmer, but by night he is a hacker (The Matrix, 1999). This movie is similar to Possible Worlds regarding the different realities Neo is in.
Personally, I think John did a great job of portraying all the different dimensions happening in his play. The scenes jump back and forth between all the characters, being at different points in their lives. One scene in particular, George meets Joyce and tries to convince her that they were married. Now of course its typical to freak out, which is exactly what Joyce did. I think that was a typical response for anyone being in that situation. John collected all these timelines and mashed them together to create a story of emotion, human consciousness, multiple realities and romance.
I would highly recommend giving John Mighton's "Possible Worlds" a read. It really gets you thinking about different possibilities and different ways of approaching situations. Not to mention gets you thinking about how we as humans construct emotions and consciousness. These are topics that aren't thought about on the daily, not until something like this comes up and forces you to have to think about it to understand whats going on.
Also consider checking out the different scenes acted out by the Speech Communication students on June 13th starting at 8pm in the Jackman Dramatic Arts Building at the University of Windsor. Don't miss out!!
References
Emotion. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/emotion.htm
The Matrix (1999). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/?ref_=ttls_li_tt
Oakley, D. A., & Halligan, P. (2017, November 22). What if consciousness is not what drives the human mind? Retrieved from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-11-consciousness-human-mind.html