What Is the Egg Theory—and Is It True?

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Dive into the philosophy of sci-fi writer Andy Weir's famous short story

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Last Updated: January 21, 2026 References

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• What is the egg theory?
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• Origins
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• "The Egg" Summary
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• What does it teach us?
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• Is it true?
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• Related Theories
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• Video

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The egg theory, which originated with the Andy Weir short story "The Egg," is the belief that all humans share the same reincarnated soul—but there's more to this complex and beautiful idea than that. There are deep spiritual and philosophical implications to the theory, which we'll explore in more depth in this article. Keep scrolling for an explanation of the theory, why it matters, and whether it's true or not, as well as a look at related philosophies.

Egg Theory Overview

The egg theory is the belief that the universe is basically a giant egg inside which the human soul is growing. According to the theory from Andy Weir's 2009 short story "The Egg", every human across time shares the same reincarnated soul. Once the soul has lived every life, it will "mature" enough to become a god.

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Section 1 of 6:

What is the egg theory?

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1. The egg theory is the belief that every person shares the same reincarnated soul. According to this belief, there are not billions and billions of souls—there is only one single soul that keeps being reincarnated as different people. The universe is, essentially, a giant egg, and the human soul is growing inside it; once the soul has lived every life, it will be wise and mature enough to be "hatched" as a god.

   • According to the theory, there is no "me" and "you"—there is just one soul inhabiting different bodies at different times.
   • While most traditional theories of reincarnation suggest that souls are reincarnated in linear time, the egg theory posits that reincarnation can happen forward or backward in time. So, when you die, you could be reincarnated as a frail Victorian child, or as a space explorer far in the future.
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Section 2 of 6:

Egg Theory Origins

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1. The egg theory comes from the 2009 short story "The Egg" by Andy Weir. In "The Egg" (first published in Galacanet), a man has just died and met God. God—who is also the story's narrator—tells the man that everyone in the universe shares the same reincarnated soul. God tells the man that there are other gods, and that once the man has lived every life in existence, he will become a god himself.

   • The implication is that the universe is basically a giant egg inside which every human soul—which is really just one soul—is growing and maturing. Once the human soul has lived every life on Earth, the egg will "hatch," and the human soul will become a god.
   • While the egg theory stems from Weir's short story, the general philosophy that all humans share the same soul has been around for thousands of years. We'll talk about related philosophies more later in this article!

Section 3 of 6:

"The Egg" Summary

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1. 1
   A 48-year-old man dies and meets God, who explains the man will be reincarnated. The man takes this to mean that "the Hindus were right," but God (who is also the narrator) explains that all religions are right in their own way. He explains that the man will be reborn as a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD, and though he will carry with him the experiences of all his past lives, he will not remember any of them:

   • "Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had."
   • God tells the man that if he stayed in between lives long enough, he would eventually remember all of his past existences.
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   God explains there is only him ("me") and the man ("you") in the universe. The man asks God the meaning of life, and God explains that the point is for him to mature by experiencing the lives of every other human person in existence, past and future:

   • "The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature…. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life, you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect."
     "Just me? What about everyone else?"
     "There is no one else," I said. "In this universe, there’s just you and me."
     You stared blankly at me. "But all the people on earth…"
     "All you. Different incarnations of you."
   • God explains that the man is both Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth, Adolf Hitler and the millions of people Hitler killed, Jesus and everyone who followed him: "'Every time you victimized someone,' I said, 'you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.'"
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   God tells the man that one day, he will become a god himself. "Someday, you will become like me," he says. "Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child…. You’re a fetus. You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born."

   • The man realizes that the entire universe is basically "an egg."
   • Then God sends the man onto his next life, and the story ends.
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Section 4 of 6:

What is the point of the egg theory?

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1. 1
   The egg theory encourages empathy and connection. Whether or not the egg theory is literally "true," the idea behind it is a hopeful one. Weir's story fosters the idea that everyone is connected and invites us to extend empathy toward one another, which may help us understand other people and even ourselves a little better, leading to a more harmonious, united world. There is wisdom to be gleaned from experiencing and understanding every possible human experience—the hardships, the joys, the pleasures, and the pains.
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   The theory promotes the idea that "what goes around comes around." As Weir himself explains in a 2015 interview with the Craftsman Founder Podcast, "I just wanted to come up with a system where it turned out life was fair after all…. I think you'll find that most religions or…belief system ideologies all come back down to that [idea that] if you're a d*ck in life, you'll get punished in the afterlife, or…what goes around comes around, or you'll be reincarnated as a slug."

   • He continues: "There's a certain comfort in hoping that the universe makes everything come out fair."
   • Incredibly, this viral short story didn't take up too much of Weir's time: "I didn't put a huge amount of thought into it," he admits. "I banged it out in 40 minutes and then I posted it and that was it."
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Section 5 of 6:

Is the egg theory true?

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1. We have no way of knowing if the egg theory is true, but it could be. Technically speaking, the egg theory is more of a belief. A "theory" is something that can be tested through facts and observation, while a "belief" is something you have faith in despite its lack of provability. Even though there's no way to test whether the egg theory is true or not, it doesn't detract from its powerful message: that everyone is connected, that nobody is really alone, and that we should all try to be a little more empathetic toward one another.

Section 6 of 6:

Related Theories

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1. 1
   Open individualism A term coined by philosopher Daniel Kolak to describe a philosophy—present in many cultural ideologies and religious systems, including Buddhism—according to which every person who exists is the same person.

   • This view has been expressed by countless other notable figures, including philosophers Arnold Zuboff (who calls it universalism), Averroes, and Arthur Schopenhauer; physicists Erwin Schrödinger, Freeman Dyson, and Fred Hoyle; and mystic Meher Baba.
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   Cosmic egg The cosmic egg—aka the mundane egg or world egg—is a motif present across different cultures' mythologies, throughout history. In this motif, an egg hatches and the entire universe is born (or else the egg hatches and gives rise to a god, who then creates the universe). The upper half of the shell traditionally becomes the heavens, and the lower half becomes the earth.
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   Transmigration of the spirit According to this belief, which is present in many cultures' mythologies, the traits and abilities of one person (their "spirit") are projected onto another. This is similar to the idea of reincarnation, except that in transmigration of the spirit, the person doesn't need to die for their spirit to be passed onto someone else.
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