I was flipping the dial on my TV last night, and came across a documentary in black and white about two cousins who are identical. I was astounded by it. Of course, I know that sisters or brothers can be identical, especially if they are born at the same time, but I didn’t know that cousins could be identical. There have been many studies done of identical twin siblings, but as far as I know, this is the first study of identical cousins. It was fascinating. For instance, one of them adores the minuet, while the other likes to rock and roll and sometimes even lose control. Not only are their different temperaments interesting, in light of the fact that they are identical, but it is especially intriguing that one of them loves the minuet, since practically no one has danced it in over two hundred years. Could she actually be a past-life self of her cousin?

The whole thing got me to thinking: I have a big family, and I don’t know all my relatives. Maybe I have an identical cousin somewhere. If that’s the case, I’d really like to meet him. It would be so much fun. We could dress alike, and no one would know who was who. Maybe he even channels Michael!

Then my skeptical side kicked in. After all, I wasn’t born yesterday. How is it genetically possible for cousins to be identical? With brothers or sisters, the egg splits. Could it be that an egg can split a generation or more back, and be passed genetically through siblings, so that when they have children, they both get the same egg? After mulling this over, I decided to ask Michael about it.

They said that no, the identical cousin phenomenon does not result from splitting eggs. It occurs when two parallel universes try to merge, but are not quite similar enough. In the example cited in the documentary, had the two universes involved fully merged, it would have resulted in a schizophrenic personality — you can imagine the chaos if someone tried to minuet and rock and roll at the same time. The universe, being orderly, provides for such contingencies through the rare phenomenon of identical cousins.

I also saw a fascinating program about a man whose uncle is apparently from Mars. However, Michael said that although he has a martial body type, he is actually from Mercury. Anyway, I am thankful for the resources that television provides to expand our awareness.