Suppose that, as string theory implies, the universe began as a hyperdimensional bubble of space, all but four of the dimensions of which compacted to form what we today call subatomic particles. Those particles look to us like zillions of individual things, but that is merely their appearance in the four dimensions of spacetime. In hyperspace they could very well still be one thing - could, therefore, be not only connected but identical.

In that case, we live in a universe that presents two complementary aspects. One is large, old and expanding and in some sense mechanical. The other is built on forms of space and time unfamiliar to us, and is everywhere interconnected. We peer through the keyhole of quantum weirdness and see a little of this ancient, original side of the cosmos.

To assert that the universe is deeply interconnected is to echo what mystics have been saying for thousands of years. This can be a liability in the scientific community, which has heard more than enough of complacent, shallow-draft assertions to the effect that science amounts to little more than proving what Lao Tzu and Chief Seattle were saying all along. Yet some of the most important scientific and philosophical thinking in history has been impelled by mystical motives.

If everyone in the entire universe, every woman, man, centipede, Martian, shark, dog, suicide bomber, saint, butterfly, hooker, bigot, reflexologist and cab-driver, were simultaneously to drop an advanced level, hardcore-heavyweight meditation, and all went deep enough inside, we'd all meet up, along with everyone who's ever lived, ever, in one absurdly mad, huge inner chamber, and to our utter astonishment (feigned of course), we'd, you'd, I'd discover that there'd only been one of us here all the time.