Infinite Possibilities: The Garden of Forking Paths

Photo by: Ben Mathis Seibel

As the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, millions of people around the world make a quiet pact with themselves. For some, it’s a vow to reinvent their lives, to shed old habits and embrace the promise of transformation. For others, it’s a resolution to finally tackle the goals left unfinished, deferred by the busyness of the past year. The turning of the calendar offers a symbolic reset – and many take the chance to choose anew, to step onto paths not yet taken.

For those seeking inspiration for change and bold decisions in the New Year, Jorge Luis Borges' tale, The Garden of Forking Paths, offers powerful motivation.

With this article, we are trying to remind ourselves of the main lesson from his work - each choice we make, each resolution we declare, becomes a doorway to a different reality.

The Garden of Forking Paths is a short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges that explores time as an infinite web of possibilities, each one born from a decision. The protagonist, Dr. Yu Tsun, uncovers the true nature of a mysterious, unfinished novel by his ancestor, Ts’ui Pên. What first appears to be an incoherent mess is revealed to be a metaphysical labyrinth: a book that does not follow a single, linear narrative but instead presents every possible outcome simultaneously. This concept mirrors a labyrinth of time, where every decision branches into multiple futures, all existing at once.

Yu Tsun’s revelations challenge the notion that time is linear and reality singular. Borges uses his protagonist to demonstrate how each decision generates multiple realities, resembling a vast web or labyrinth of possibilities.

While reading the story, one might feel the tension between two ideas presented by the author. On the one hand, there is the concept of absolute free will, where infinite paths emerge from our choices. With this freedom comes the responsibility - and power - to shape the future. On the other hand, there are subtle indications in the narrative that, despite the existence of multiple realities, some events feel predestined and inevitable. Yu Tsun hints that he could not entirely escape his fate, suggesting that certain outcomes were beyond his control.

Perhaps Borges intended to illustrate how many people unconsciously find it easier to believe in destiny. Believing in predetermined outcomes absolves us of the weight of responsibility for wrong decisions that might lead us down an undesirable path. This is a subject of interpretation by the readers, of course.

Regardless of interpretation, The Garden of Forking Paths teaches us that situations can be navigated through countless decisions, each creating infinite potential realities.

It is also notable that Borges often used his stories to present philosophical or scientific ideas. This story’s title has even been adopted in statistics, where a garden of forking paths describes how making numerous decisions in data analysis without a pre-specified plan can increase the likelihood of false-positive results. The term, introduced by statistician Andrew Gelman, parallels the story's concept of branching realities. Additionally, Bryce DeWitt, in his preface to The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, drew comparisons between Borges’ multiverse and quantum theory's many-worlds interpretation.

Borges himself encapsulated this belief in the multiverse, writing:

“In all works of fiction, each time the writer is confronted with choices, he opts for one and discards the rest. In the inextricable Ts’ui Pên, he opts—at one and the same time—for all the alternatives. By so doing, he creates several futures, several times over, and in turn, these proliferate and branch off.”

As we step into the new year, The Garden of Forking Paths reminds us that our lives, like Ts’ui Pên’s labyrinth, are composed of interconnected choices. Each decision shapes the reality we inhabit, creating new paths and possibilities. By contemplating our goals and intentions, we can navigate this intricate net with purpose, forging a reality that aligns with our aspirations.

So, Dear Reader, choose wisely, and may the New Year bring you the tools and opportunities to create your best reality.