DELUSIONS — Pragmatic Realism

by Stanislaw Kapuscinski (aka Stan I. S. Law)

  We mustn’t forget that the original meaning of swami is ‘master’ or ‘prince’. It referred to becoming a master of oneself. Unfortunately, as always, those who will have accepted this premise, as in the then distant past, will be just the few, even as their needs will forever remain few. Physical needs. Some will call it mind over matter; others will just smile as though they held a common secret yet were unable to share it. While, as mentioned, in relation to the total number of inhabitants of our world such people will comprise but a small segment of the population, in relation to the population explosion, they’ll still count in millions. Recessive though they might appear to be, all of them will have something in common. It will seem that happiness has become their intrinsic state of mind.

  Yet, in the foreseeable future, not all will be quite as bright. Masses, as always, will remain the masses.

  The vast majority of people will regard the few mentioned above as eccentric, as people deprived of education necessary to instill in them obedience to the dictates of the Big Brother. In fact, the Big Brother will not be that big. There will be nothing maga about the computer, but its countless units will be linked in a unifying, irrepressible network that will span the globe like a web of synapses through which electronic neurons will act as a single, almost divine entity.

  In spite of bionic parts replacing most of human body and nano-particles cruising in its veins, people will refuse to define themselves as mechanical robots. They will insist they are human, a species superior to any other, though the resemblance to the old-time Homo sapiens will be mostly symbolic.

  Some of them, or us, however, will look upon the man of the future as though we were mobile biological robots, rather than as men who once claimed to have been created in the image of his/her divine, if imaginary, creator. Nevertheless, the future man’s potential will remain the same. Life will use any instrument, constructed of whatever material, as long as such instrument will retain the potential of sustaining a non-physical image of itself.

  Just the potential. Hence hope is a necessary ingredient of survival.

  Finally, it needs repeating that even after so many centuries, only the select few will begin to understand the sentiments expressed by ancient mystics.

  The one good thing that will emerge out of ‘evolution’ will be that the majority of people will no longer be guided by invisible rings attached to their noses by the sacerdotal classes. Life will have become too comfortable for anyone to believe in gods, or devils, or heaven, or hell. They will be the true atheists, who will believe in god neither within nor without their being. They will be participating in the last stages of human devolution, holding on to last vestiges of humanity, living lives purely reactive to their environment. They will retain the ability to press buttons to satisfy all their needs. That will be all.

  But they will not suffer. They will be unable to comprehend, to recall, that they had all once been, long, long ago, different forms of life. That is the true meaning of limbo.

  Today, during the first few decades of the 21st century, there are pragmatic examples of the process of devolution in all walks of life. Throughout the world, tens of thousands of people are being treated like insubordinate cattle; they are herded at will at the end of a policeman’s baton, subdued by a spray-can of pepper-spray, or rendered helpless by energy-directing weapons known as phasers. Until recently, the USA was proudly synonymous with the concept of individual freedoms. Even as I am writing this, the accelerated devolutionary process initiated by the past-president George W. Bush, has reached a new low. The present administration of the US has been forced to apologize, after the former 80-year-old Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam was frisked at a New York airport. BBC Internet News reports that, although the protocol exempts former presidents and other dignitaries from such searches, this was the second time that Mr. Kalam has been subjected to such treatment.

  The Press Trust of India (PTI) further comments on the dismal mental level of the security staff:

  Mr. Kalam had already taken his seat on board the Air India aircraft. The security staff forced the crew to open the plane door, and then took away Mr. Kalam’s jacket and boots because they had not done the necessary checks before boarding.

  To be quite honest, I am against anyone being treated the way the USA treat their visitors. Or, for that matter, citizens of their own country. Their fear for their life has reached epidemic proportions. Since the reign of George W. Bush the concept of freedom, let alone respect, or even a smidgen of politeness, has taken a giant step backwards. I’d suggest that the nation as a whole is being punished not for electing the past-president, but for re-electing him.

  This is but one example of devolution. There are countless others. There is also complete distortion of the concept of democracy.

  Some years ago it has been said, that 1% of the populations, in the USA, owned 42% of the national wealth. Even more surprising is the fact that the bottom 80% of the populations held just 7%, leaving a whooping 93% to the remaining 20%.

  Democracy?

  Paradoxically, none of this appears to be accurate. It seems that China owns a good chunk of the US. They are said to hold reserves of some $3.5 trillion, of what used to be American money, on their side of the Pacific. China is, quite simply, the largest US bank. And they are not even asking to be bailed out!

  Until recently Canada and Europe appeared to have escaped this folly, although while writing this book, Europe fell under its own sword of Damocles. One is reminded of the biblical story of the seven fat cows. No one in today’s western world seemed able to understand it.

  As for the previous paragraph, it may or may not have been completely true. I’m not that good at math. But, as of today, and/or some years into the future, one thing is certain. Much, much less then 1% of the population will continue to evolve, spiritually, mentally, emotionally or even physically. We, North Americans, probably Europeans as well, continue to grow fatter, then obese, (excessive morbidity has been controlled by pills) more stupid, more selfish, more greedy, more lazy, more complacent, more… you fill in the rest, leaving yourself out, of course.

  Doesn’t it remind you of devolution?

  Today, the remaining 99%+ of the population bear little resemblance to their distant forefathers, the Homo sapiens. They look and act more like Homo Posterus: a new species, slowly coming into its own, which appears to have absolutely no idea of where they are going. Not just in behaviour, but in appearance. Whatever the latest mode du jour, it is instantly swallowed, like yesterday’s soup, and just as instantly becomes surgically transplanted to assure conformity. Such behaviour appears to give the masses a sense of belonging—to feel like a member of the new species.

  A few years from now, wealthy plastic surgeons will make one look like anyone at all; most will choose the looks of the latest idol gallivanting across the large, 3D TV screens, adorning every room, every hall, every street-corner, and often every public restroom for those who dare to leave their secure castles in automated self-propelled, self-guided, self-steered conveyances. I am told that the surgical practice already flourishes in some areas of the Far East. People, mostly youngish women, seem to derive their pleasure and satisfaction from having been mistakenly recognized as the latest celebrity.

  To each his, or on this case, her own?

  Such appears to be our future.

  Then, in one of our tomorrows, as always, there will be the few who will carry on the heritage of the original species, once said to have been created with infinite potential. They will continue to look human. Not that others no longer will, but those few who will continue to exhibit rational behaviour, will remain immune to the dictates of the mass style.

  Not many will be left, although even in North America 1% of, say, 320,000,000 people, (population projected for the USA by the time this book goes to print) is still 3,200,000 people. All we need do is make sure that we are among those few.

  Yet, when all will have been said and done, when speculation wi
ll die down and the dust settles, and hoards of scientists will provide us with countless, often contradictory answers for just about any question under the sun, we, the remnants of the Homo sapiens, those few who have not devolved, shall never stop asking this question: Who am I?

  There will be no rush. After all, we, in our consciousness, shall remain immortal, and time is but a figment of a scientist’s imagination. We shall continue to evolve in an infinite succession of nows.

  According to Socrates, the attempt to discover our real identity, our essence, should be of our first concern. It might also be the last. Although there is no beginning, and thus there can be no end. Everything else ensues from the answer we espouse. Not in the ultimate future, such also doesn’t exist, but in the vital present. Basically, we are whatever we think we are. Individuals? Or will be—sooner or later.

  Perhaps, it might be easier to attempt to define what we are not. Let us try.

  As already established in Chapter 9, there are more bacteria than cells in a human body. Are the bacteria the real us? The real you and me? Science Daily, on the Internet, reports ten times as many bacteria in a human body as we have cells. If we ignore this fact, then we might care to count the atoms, although there’s little point in this exercise as it has been proven and confirmed—yes, by scientists—that atoms are essentially empty space. Is this what we really are? Empty space? Or would we rather be bacteria. Is that what we really are? Hosts upon hosts of bacteria?

  On the other hand, since the building components of our physical bodies are essentially empty space, perhaps we might be better off thinking of ourselves as bundles of energy. At least we could pretend that we generate some of the forces that seem to hold our universe together. But, if so, than what is it in us that controls those forces?

  Compare us to our Milky Way. It contains 200-400 billion stars, perhaps upwards of 50 billion planets. A mere pittance in relation to the number of cells we hold in our private universes… in our bodies—not to mention the number of bacteria we support in our private… well you know, in our private world. Of course, it could just be that the bacteria are supporting us, that we are farms, which the bacteria cultivate to feed themselves. Not a very flattering proposition, but they are in the majority, so to speak.

  Somehow I do not find either alternative particularly inspiring. Perhaps we are beginning to discover, slowly, what we are not? On the other hand, as we learned above, it’s all—just about all—empty space.

  So, once again, who are we?

  Chapter 18

  The God Diffusion

  There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

  Niccolo Machiavelli (1469—15270) a Florentine political philosopher, historian, musician, and poet.

  Perhaps is it time to change the word Diffusion to Confusion. While in the past the concept of God has been placed squarely in the realm of supernatural, high up in the sky, most certainly outside the reach of human beings, or even the bionically and nano-technologically enhanced humans of the future, we come daily face to face with divinity. Face to face with the powers that, the scientists say, created the world. Soon we shall come very close to God—to the instant of the Big Bang. That, to the scientists, will be as divine as one can get. Of course, the understanding what the word ‘God’ stands for has changed diametrically.

  This might be the right place to review, once and for all, what the Bible has to say about God. There are many references, but four of them stand out above all others.

  1. I am that I am

  2. Ye are gods.

  3. Unto us a child is born...

  4. I and my father are one.

  The first statement is attributed to Moses. When returning from Mount Sinai bringing with him the tablets with the Ten Commandments (please remember, most of this is shrouded in symbolism).

  “And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13)

  The answer is (in basic translation) loud and clear. “I am that I am.”

  This statement may be dissected by theologians till kingdom come—unnecessarily. Seldom the Bible foregoes idiomatic language, and this is a glaring example of it. You may note that the deep symbolism is always omitted in places of extreme importance.

  “I am not this I am, only that I am.”

  The vital point is that there is NO mention of god, or any other divinity. There is no Yahweh, no Jehova, no Elohim or Elah, or Eloah, or even just Jah. None of the above. Note the very conspicuous absence of any word that could be confused, even by the most ardent scientific atheists, with ‘God’. “The name of your god is I am.”

  “I am has sent you. Not the I am you see with your physical eyes, but that other I am. That other I am that resides within you.”

  The second example: “Ye are gods,” is taken from Psalm 82:6 and is repeated in John 10:34. The meaning is self-evident, and to make sure no one can twist it in order to bamboozle the ‘masses’, there in an explanation: “…and all of you are children of the most High.” Who is most High has been established by Moses. Now we must work to discover this state of consciousness within “ I am”.

  The third example is given in Isaiah 9:6,

  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

  The ‘child’ represents the onset of new consciousness, or new awareness. It is literally the new birth, but it refers to consciousness, not physical body, which the Bible never recognizes as the ‘real’ you. Progressive recognition of the power welling within us is expressed in beautiful, poetic language. For those interested, I recommend my Dictionary of Biblical Symbolism, where this particular and the following passages are translated into present-day language.

  Finally, nothing can be clearer than the fourth example, “I and my father are one.” In this statement Yeshûa refuses to recognize any power outside his own being, or, more precisely, outside his own consciousness. Since he previously stated that we are all gods, one cannot but assume that we should all follow in his footsteps. This statement reminds me, once again of Jung’s words, that individual is the only reality.

  By Richard Dawkins’s standards, Yeshûa defines himself as a committed atheist.

  So much for atheists’ gods of the Bible.

  Now we can return to ‘physical reality’ knowing that we are in no danger of confusing it with the fundamentalists’ misinterpretation of the Bible.

  As mentioned in Chapter 15, computers will have passed the Turing Test in the near future.

  In spite of that, Big Brother will never lay claims to divinity, which cannot be said of some people who will follow its dictates. They, the Big Brother’s loyal subjects, will prefer to obey a ‘higher’ entity than one equal to them. The need of idols will remain in human psyche. Particularly in regressive or devolving psyche. It is much easier to take instructions from an infallible and thus ‘divine’ source than some sort of machine. Figure it out yourself.

  With all their needs taken care of by Big Brother, the vast majority of people will have an awful lot of free time to fill with free thought. Many will have forgotten how to think altogether, but some, even the ‘enhanced ones’, will experience moments of clarity, in which they will be vaguely aware of missing something that seems very close, yet outside their grasp. For those few, there still will be a chance. A chance to evolve.

  There is an old saying, still raising smiles from people with long memories, that magic is the science of the future. Well, exactly the same thing will happen to the word supernatural. What was once considered ‘super’ will be, in the future, accepted as ordinary. Thought-waves will become a measurable energy, more
so than they already are today. Even computers, coordinated by Big Brother, will be proficient at various aspects of PK and ESP (psychokinesis and extrasensory perception), not to mention tunneling. (Quantum tunneling refers to the quantum mechanical phenomenon wherein subatomic particles tunnel through solid barriers, e.g. through a wall).

  Regarding magic, I picked up an interesting tidbit on the BBC Internet news:

  Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak may still be fantasy, but researchers are moving closer to making things disappear.

  At the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition in London, scientists make visitors gaze in amazement as small balls vanish before their eyes.

  This “invisibility stand” is one of the 22 projects being presented to the public this year.

  Among them are special glasses that help blind people ‘see’, tanks to capture sunlight and the so-called “smart traffic control”. The news report continued:

  Royal Society president Sir Paul Nurse told BBC News that the exhibition was a showcase not only for British science, but for the society in general.

  …The project involving ‘invisible’ materials—called metamaterials—has attracted a lot of attention, with school children taking turns to hear the scientists explain the nature of the research.