[A letter for Mae Stern.]

[Astra]

Mae, is there a single world that you and I both live in?

They say that the world is made up of every thing that is. These things are defined by their traits - their fixed form - the things that we can see, and touch, and feel. These things are further defined by their relations as we understand them. All roses are roses. Not all roses are her rose.

So, the world is defined by how we perceive things, and how we understand the connection between things.

If my world is only a picture of my perception, then that's all the world can ever be to me. I can never see a world outside of what I see. There's nothing that separates me from the world that I make.

But, Mae, that doesn't just hold true for me. You make your own world, too. You see, and touch, and feel, and interpret the things you know. I can't say for sure, but I think there isn't a difference between you or the world you make, either. So you must be the world, too.

Even then, our worlds are separate. The objects are the same, but the relations between them cannot be more different. The facts of our worlds are mutually exclusive. Because of that, I can't see the world you see. I've never seen the world that you see. So there can't be a single world that we both live in.

But is that really true?

Even if the facts of our world are separate, our worlds see the same sky. Don't they? The stars you see are the stars I see.

The stars we see are still the same.

Hypatia