Selections

What is there to learn of an explorer who envisioned a theoretical, yet unproven path to a greater world?  A navigator guided by the best-available, albeit sketchy knowledge of his time, relying on unshakable conviction to embark on a high-risk journey.  In the process, he discovered something even more remarkable than his original vision, yet not realizing the magnitude of his ambiguous finding.  Although able to overcome his culture’s outdated geographic beliefs, these same beliefs nevertheless limited his ability to assimilate the findings. 

Columbus?  Certainly, and another?

This story offers an arguable comparison of Columbus and a different renown explorer: Jesus of Nazareth (and followers) pursuing the kingdom of God.

Pursuit by Restless Souls  

According to prominent beliefs of the 16th century, the earth’s surface was flat, a platform composed of land and sea, bounded by precipitous edges.  Upon reaching the outer limits, a voyager would fall into space.

Meanwhile sea navigators of the day were challenging and reshaping the knowledge base.  Christopher Columbus subscribed to this group.  Aligned with a world view diverging from social norms, he chose to test the bounds of this developing reality.

Today and throughout history, explorers pursue different realms in a Columbus-like manner.   Relying on imperfect yet promising ideas, they launch from the known, seeking to narrow the unknown.   In the territory of faith, explorers dissatisfied with their religion’s confines seek new space to practice their beliefs, new maps to better capture and describe these emerging landscapes. 

Restless searchers reside in all societies, seemingly a fundamental part of cultural DNA.  Their role within the social order is to create fresh meaning and revived direction, benefitting human co-existence.  Initially their findings may be dismissed, classified as fringe output.   Over time, their ideas may take root, get codified, and broadly reshape beliefs.  

Like Columbus, such souls shape their ideas within their culture’s conventional thought cloud, consistent with the times.  Eventually they grow weary, outgrow their confines, and pursue more fulfilling answers. 

Like the Columbus finding, interpretation of their discoveries reflect some degree of accuracy but may be distorted by historical perspectives and the degree to which diverging ideas are tolerated and accepted. 

Columbus had his sights on a new passage to the eastern world.  An unplanned and unknown continent interfered.   Having touched the new land, he could not accurately grasp its implications.  His knowledge of a circular planet shaped by maps of the time prevented full assimilation of the discovery. 

Therefore, he held a half right discovery.  Yes, the planet’s roundness was confirmed.  No, the route did not reach the intended eastern destination.  This round world was bigger than conceived, containing even more territory than previously understood by the western world. 

The Evolution of Christopher Columbus

The Italian Columbus married Portuguese nobility and sailed for the Spanish.  He was a mature forty-two when, guided by beliefs shared with visionary colleagues, he discovered a previously unknown massive continent, dramatically reshaping global knowledge.   

HIs sailor career began with a series of adolescent apprenticeships and progressive positions.  Two decades of sea experience fueled his working plan to reach the east by going west.  

Emerging imperialism financed his ventures as competing countries of Western Europe sought territorial expansion, new markets, colonies, and wealth. 

Preferred trade routes through the Middle East had collapsed with the fall of Constantinople.   Europeans sought a secure sea route to Asia, allowing them to bypass hostile land routes and directly buy eastern goods.    

Columbus’ speculative proposal to reach the East Indies by sailing westward eventually received the Spanish crown’s support.   During his first attempt in 1492, Columbus landed in the Caribbean islands (the Bahamas) instead of reaching Japan as intended.   

The idea of sailing west to reach the east was not original and relied on accumulated naval knowledge.   Beliefs regarding the size of the earth and the distance between Europe and Asia were derived from sketchy descriptions contained in several geographic works.[1] The calculations were only partially accurate.

His western sea route relied on two mistaken propositions: 1) The proximity of the Asian continent to Europe, 2) The circumference of the earth which was underestimated by 9000 miles.  Columbus, and most everyone else, was unaware that two vast continents blocked a direct westward passage to Asia. 

Paths of Discovery

Searchers may pursue goals based on the best knowledge available of the time reflecting social norms.  After the fact, knowledge crystallizes as errors get clarified.  At the time, given the novelty of a discovery, sorting objective facts from subjective truths is challenging.  Confirmation bias, the selective filtering of data to match our preconceptions, interferes.

Discoveries that advance our collective knowledgebase are dependent upon this dynamic.  We want to resolve uncertainty.  We construct a best-guess hypothesis.  We puzzle through ambiguous findings.  We offer a best-effort interpretation.  We issue declarative but perhaps imperfect conclusions.  Without this bumpy process which contributes to half correct maps, ultimate “truth” remains elusive.    

Jesus and Columbus Shared Similar Discovery Trajectories. 

Jesus and his followers were explorers of a different ilk, guided by social-religious maps, a large surplus of faith, and a desire to access an expanded promised realm.

They sought a new world order to right untenable living conditions and establish a God informed kingdom on earth.  Their faith map held that God would send a savior.  Indeed, a miracle worker had surfaced who appeared to be the fulfillment of this promise.   This belief aligned with select scriptures -- a prophesied, long overdue Messiah would rectify injustices suffered by the Jewish people under Roman rule.

Ancient Israel was positioned in a geographic crossroads.  Trading goods and schools of thought converged from east and west.   Eastern spiritual ideas such as a person’s ability to realize divinity within (Buddhism) arrived with the foreign merchants.  Such thinking might be attractive for those pursuing spiritual breathing space.  It is quite possible that archetypal Jesus and followers were exposed to and influenced by such thinking.  Discovered texts incorporating such precepts in Christ’s teachings, include the message of a discoverable kingdom of God within.   Many of these scriptures (see Nag Hammadi[2]) were subsequently dismissed as heresy and excluded from official Church doctrine at the 325 AD Nicaean Council.     

Consequently, the sanctioned Christian doctrine of Christ’s life holds that this miracle of God becoming man was a one-time exception, limited to a particular common-borne yet divine person.  Interpreting this event and disseminating its meaning resided in the domain of the spiritual elite.  Institutional advantages accrued from this narrow interpretation – only a singular God-man was born and for a specific redemption purpose.  The religious hierarchy benefitted from the exclusivity of this line of thinking. 

This interpretation of the Jesus story represents a Columbus-like miss.  A greater truth is obscured from the faithful, its potency diluted and selectively discounted.    Perhaps this process was due to a benign cultural myopia.   More likely, it was deliberate exclusion, serving the design of a new church, which over time became the officially endorsed religion of the ruling political empire.  

The resulting Christian belief map regarding divine incarnation subsequently replicates a Columbus-like half-right/half-wrong conclusion.  

The excluded finding?  The missed message?  Any human, like Jesus, can realize resident G within.  

Consider

For those raised in the Christian belief system, the map, the prevailing account of Jesus’ life and his true mission, ends up being as accurate as the Columbus experience.  Good for the launch, not as helpful for understanding the discovery.  The imperfect map may simultaneously help stimulate our spiritual journey and subsequently influence a diverging conclusion of the discovered findings.     

For mainstream believers, the advent of a long-awaited kingdom has been partly fulfilled via Jesus’ first coming.  Subsequently, the completion of establishing God’s kingdom will take place with the imminent second coming, complete with an apocalypse and final judgement.

Like Columbus, legendary Jesus and followers, then and today, did not and do not recognize the ground supporting their feet.  The kingdom of G is not a time or place yet to be, but a place that already is.  The second coming arrives not by cataclysmic events but by individual choice, a realization of a grander nature that we already breathe but may not yet formally recognize.

[1] For example, see writings of: Ptolemy, Pierre d’Ailly, and Marco Polo

[2] http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl.html

Background

An ambitious executive, having reached all personal and business goals, decides to pursue longevity. 

Widely admired within a high-flying social circle, the exec thoroughly enjoys a bountiful life.   Loves family, friends, community, livelihood, country, and nature.  Wishes fervently that life could transcend looming mortality and continue this existence forever.  

On a business trip to an eastern country, the exec learns of an enigmatic teacher reportedly holding the secret of immortality.   The exec impulsively cancels upcoming meetings and travels for days in a rented Jeep, transfers to horseback at a forest village, then hikes for several more days through steep mountains, finally reaching a remote monastery perched on a peak’s precipice.  Upon arrival, the exec discovers that the teacher is out, but is expected to return the next day.

With great anticipation, the exec receives an audience with the holy one and explains their objective – “I seek a path to everlasting life, a means of escaping death.” 

The teacher considers the request.  “To test your resolve driving this monumental request, I will induce a set of transient yet lucent dreams.  You will briefly experience the fulfillment of this desire from different vantages.  Expect these sequential visions within the coming night.   By morning, you will need to choose which of the visions becomes your future.  Beware, after deciding, there will be no recourse for changing your mind.”

That night, the exec settles under an ink black sky, thousands of stars pulsing above.  Sleep arrives.  So, too, do the promised dreams.  

Forever Golden

The exec wakes in a magnificent castle as a monarch, renowned for decades, loved by their subjects.  Tremendous wealth, successful, but listless in spirit.   Few challenges present within repetitive days.  Drudgery reigns. 

The exec-now-monarch learns from a traveling merchant of another kingdom with a ruler reported to have even greater wealth and admiration.   This ruler’s legacy of redistributing the kingdom’s wealth through public work projects has generated unmatched devotion.  This ruler’s power and reputation are unmatched.  

Such news causes great envy in the exec-monarch, spurring a longing for even greater wealth to support a superior reputation.  The empire’s treasurer and royal advisors can supply no suggestions on how to realize this ambition.   Disturbed, the exec-monarch retreats to the palace gardens, trying to reconcile a second-rate status. 

A complacent crow perched nearby caws repeatedly, disrupting the exec-monarch’s thought process.  Annoyed, the monarch threatens to silence the bird with a rock.  

Interrupting the arm in motion, the crow cries: “O great monarch, I know the source of your unease.  Hold your stone for I can satisfy your wish… at a price.  Do you wish to hear this bargain?”  

The arm stops, still poised to throw.  “Speak quickly and well.” 

Squawking, hopping closer, the crow offers, “I can provide a wonderful power, the golden touch.  With this ability, all that you contact becomes gold.   Within minutes no one will match your newfound wealth.  You can decide how you might invest this wealth on behalf of your people.  Of course, anything of value has a cost.  If you accept this bargain with a price to be determined, the power is yours.”

The stone falls to ground as the monarch wonders, “What price?  Well, no matter.  At any price, with such power, I can afford any cost.”   Terms accepted, the crow departs with final words, “Before day’s end, your power appears.” 

Back at the castle, reaching the palace garden, the last rays of daylight strike the treetops.   Anxious to test this promised power, the exec-monarch touches a tree leaf.  At first nothing happens.  Green vegetation remains.  But then the leaf blazes bright gold, falling heavily to the ground.  

Marveling, the exec-monarch begins to ponder the extent of this wondrous power and grabs everything in reach – trees, rocks, and flowers.  All become glistening gold, even the ground beneath their feet turns gold.  Waves of gold radiate across the landscape with each step.  The kingdom’s wealth growing exponentially and effortlessly.

Climbing the castle steps to tell the family about this unexpected good fortune, the exec-monarch notices the radiating golden advancing from each foot fall.  All shimmers with a luminous glow.  

Entering the banquet hall ecstatic, the exec-monarch expects to dine with family, but instead meets unfamiliar golden statuary.  The artistry seems familiar… remarkably life-like images.  

The exec-monarch stops as dawning knowledge causes a stumble and realization sets in.  All is now gold or becoming gold.   Running to the balcony, the monarch overlooks the kingdom.   Waves of gold, like a rising flood, spread to the horizons.   Green trees of the forest, blue lakes, and purple mountains - all becoming gold.   Even the air rising unto the heavens seems to become heavier and thicker. The exec-monarch’s last thought is that of a faraway crow’s cries fading to silence…  

A choking sensation wakes the executive.  Coughing, gasping for air, recalling their whereabouts and mission.  “Thank god I was only dreaming but what a strange dream at that!  I don’t see how this relates to my request.   Perhaps this teacher is not all he was touted to be!”  Although clearly shaken, the exec sips water, calms self, and returns to gazing at distant stars.  Mind dimming, back to the dark night of dreams. 

Forever Forever

Now, the executive’s dream is immersed in heaven, or a version of an imagined heaven.   A bright day vibrates with pastel colors and an impressionist’s merging boundaries.   Family and friends are present, abiding in familiar haunts – homes, neighborhood, favorite parks, and places of amusement.   A familiar office is nearby, and the exec is aware that time spent working is optional.  Their favorite adult leisure toys are at hand: golf clubs, boat, bike, sports car.  Nothing missing. 

Finally, this place matches prior expectations.  Exactly what immortality should yield.   Throughout the day, the exec enjoys favorite pleasures with gusto.   At last, an endless day ends, and the exec retires to rest.  

Rising the next day, the previous day’s activities are carbon copied with a few added experiences.  Sameness reigns with minimal variety.   This pattern repeats for several days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, and millennia. 

Eventually, a thought emerges.  “I have been enjoying heaven just as imagined for what seems like forever.   Yet, parts of this life seem odd.   My children have not changed.   They remain the same age since sharing my immortality, not maturing.   At this rate, they will never marry, have children of their own, or know the pleasures of adulthood. 

“My father has been living in a nursing home since I arrived.  He is not recovering from the stroke he had at age eighty.   He seems stuck, with no closure or relief from paralysis and mental anguish.  My heaven is his hell. 

“There is no real news.   The daily paper repeats the same information over and over.   Days of the week and years blur without names or numbers… in fact time is meaningless. There are no seasons besides this summer day.  I long for winter and fall.   The leaves and flowers, once beautiful, now oppress in their ever present, never-changing form.   There is no need for new life, no reason for newborns.

“My appetite is gone… no desire to eat even though it was once pleasurable.   No death either.  All creatures here are frozen in time -– immortal yes, fully alive, no.   Without death, this is not life as I knew it.   When nothing ends, nothing begins, nothing changes.   The life that I wanted to immortalize no longer seems so worth living.   Vitality is absent.   No drama.  What’s left are images less real than the life I once knew.  More like the same movie seen a thousand times without change.   A shadow existence. 

“Perhaps my view of immortality was off.  Did I choose this state of being, or might I yet escape this unending dream?” 

The exec wakes briefly on the mountain and then sleeps again, a troubled sleep. 

Forever Nothing

The exec is surrounded by absolute darkness.   In the far distance, dim stars obscured by a black fog.   At times, there are brief flickers of light, but these quickly dissolved in the blackness.  There is nothing to identify in the void, nothing to form a point of reference.   The exec feels connected to an unfamiliar force, outside of any prior realm of experience, although they are not sure if this sense of self is even real.   Thoughts were emanating from another source, an inclusive source, an independent source.  

The exec’s eyes are drawn to the far distant lights that faded on and faded off, wondering what these points of light meant and why the attraction to them.  

Content to be part of this greater nothing, the exec knows no desires.  Only that vague curiosity about those lights.  Not frightened.   Complete.   Any I in truth was non-existent.   There was no I.

And yet, the exec is still torn between the peaceful lull of the void and a growing lure to something else.  Drifting again into a blurred state of semi-consciousness, at one with the deep night yet reserving a choice to explore that curious prick of light. 

Then there are no further thoughts.  The exec rests peacefully for a billion millennium that turned out to be but a second.

Forever Ephemeral

Suddenly the exec is rocketing through dark nothingness towards a cloudy sphere that becomes increasingly brighter on approach.  Upon awakening, the exec has returned to start of the journey, the land of the teacher.   Desires and sensations present at the outset remain.

Preserving life, extending it into eternity, still drew vague interest but felt less compelling.   The exec was now more accepting of life as presented, including the ill-fitting parts, the messy aspects.  These no longer represented terrible interruptions, annoyances.   The exec wondered whether a preferred truth about immortality had been stumbled onto.  

“With no end to an individual life, there is no true life.   Life everlasting is exactly what is happening right now, life and death existing side by side – one not possible without the other.  If true, then how best to live my life from this point forward?”

Choosing to dream on this familiar but refreshed wakeful dream, the exec recognizes new questions were arising, seeking answers.   New challenges, new curiosities, new reasons for being.

Consider

Life’s currency has value only because it is backed by a priceless gold standard, mortality.  Not convinced?  Create a sketch of a preferred vision for immortal existence and share it.  But reserve caution regarding the unintended consequences of what we wish for.  

The site was a broad meadow full of native grasses, bordered by a thick forest of deciduous trees on all sides.

They came to hear this itinerant speaker because of a reputation that promised challenging lessons and disruptive thinking.  

They came from a variety of backgrounds, curious whether the presentation would live up to the word-of-mouth buzz.  Some predicted the event would result in a charlatan exposed.

This summary re-creates the day’s events based on firsthand observations, recordings, and subsequent interviews with attendees.

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After the large crowd settled, the speaker’s resonant voice filled the meadow, “I have been asked to address a question that is presented often but is most difficult to answer in a way that satisfies.  ‘What is the meaning of life?’

“In addition, many have asked whether there is a specific purpose for our individual lives.  If so, could this purpose be more clearly revealed so that our paths might become more certain?  

“I am happy to share some ideas for your consideration.  Let’s begin with a thought exercise focusing on two key human functions: perception, and co-creation.

“At the far end of this broad field, notice the tall oak tree standing above the rest.   Study this tree for a few moments.   As you become aware of its features, think about the purpose this tree represents for you.   What if any value exists within the tree?  What meaning might this tree suggest from your unique point of view?   While nothing may come to mind at first, relax and see what emerges.  When a response forms, make a mental note.   Shortly I will ask several of you to share your reactions.”

After a few minutes, the speaker resumed, “To explain the meaning of life and related questions regarding ultimate purpose, let’s use your responses regarding the nature of this oak, its purpose, to establish the basis for my response.  Who would like to share their thoughts about the tree?”

The crowd stirred, some arms raising, and the speaker began to call upon volunteers.

The landscape artist – “What a fine inspiration for a painting.  The oak’s twisting and entwined limbs remind me of an exotic dancer, like the goddess Shiva, whose swirling arms move in several directions at once in a dance of creation and destruction.  Notice how her green leafed sari shimmers.  I will draft a sketch before leaving.”    

The woodworker – “Obviously there is potential furniture ready to be tapped.  Its thousand board feet of prime oak will become an office desk, a meeting table, and chairs.    After careful curing and tooling, this tree will produce a suite of fine furniture.”

The farmer – “Unfortunately, I see an obstacle that must be removed so that this part of the meadow might yield better crops.   The tree’s large shadow will prevent good growth in that area.”       

The winemaker – “Imagine the fine wine with a hint of oak coming from barrels made from this tree.  Its staves will form casks to age the white wine.  After months, the oak essence will merge with the wine and form a buttery Chardonnay.”

The city dweller – “This tree will anchor a rural park and trail, a place for a quiet walk – away from the city traffic noise.  A beautiful spot for a country visit to sit and rest.  Its canopy will provide cool breezes on scorching summer days.” 

The philosopher – “Witness Aristotle’s purest ideal made real.  An ultimate principle, the perfect tree form has manifested in this albeit slightly imperfect version before us.  Though slightly flawed, it nevertheless reflects design laws of the ideal form.” 

The fashion designer – “What an excellent design pattern for a new clothing line.  My autumn collage series will include several styles resembling its quaking leaves caught in a brisk wind.“

The father – “What a great spot for my kid’s treehouse.  That crook in the upper branches will support a high loft.  With friends they’ll become pirates, warriors, and adventurers, even spending hot summer nights in the tree.“ 

The environmentalist – “It’s an oxygen-producing mini-factory, sequestering CO and exhaling clean air.   This first-generation forest specimen has been growing for at least two hundred years.  The state forest service should designate this as a historical species champion to protect.“ 

The native American – “Life giving sustenance.  The bark’s tannins will be used to cure hides.  Leaves become poultice to heal wounds.  Acorns crushed to make flour for bread.  Many resources provided.“

The developer – “Similar to that farmer, I see a financial liability.  A cost to avoid.  I would like to develop the surrounding property into a housing subdivision.  While it would be ideal to preserve this tree, unfortunately, the cost of preservation is not justified.  Therefore, it must go.” 

The naturalist – “What a splendid home for birds as well as other forest creatures.   Several species are playing even now in the branches as we sit here.   Likely several other creatures enjoy the protection of this glorious aviary.”  

The psychologist – “Its structure symbolizes a family’s lineage, a visual representation of the individuals comprising this family, each with stories adding to recurring themes.  Its ancestral roots flow up to a given couple, whose offspring’s genes spread out in the upper branches.” 

The skeptic - “This is ridiculous.   Why not say the obvious?  There is only an ordinary tree.  These descriptions are flights of fantasy.  That tree holds no special meaning.  This exercise has nothing to do with life’s meaning.”  Having spoken his piece, the disgruntled participant left. 

The guest speaker continued, aware of but not disrupted by the dissenting voice.  “Discussions like this leave some with more doubt than certainty. Expectations of today’s events, my response to your questions, are colored by your predispositions and bias.  Our world views and our experiences act as ongoing content filters.   Discussions that don’t conform with our expectations will be dismissed as the last speaker just demonstrated.  Let’s hear a few more ideas before we conclude.”

The physicist – “The tree’s form obeys the laws of the physical universe.  Precise mathematical ratios dictate the final dimensions of the trunk and the branches.“     

The mortician – “Encasements for the dearly departed await.   Several dozen coffins will be carved from the trunk and larger branches.” 

The hunter – “Overlooking nearby meadow and stream, this tree will provide a perfect perch to spot grazing deer.  When the hunting season arrives, its leafy branches will camouflage my location quite well.” 

The sailor – “Adventure for a price!  Timber for a seaworthy sailboat - able to travel the high seas.  Its lumber will yield a stout hull, planks to be steamed and bent for the ship sides, decking, and a mast for the main sail.”   

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Final comments:

After the crowd shared perspectives, the speaker asked, “How is it that we have such varied views on the meaning of this tree?  On its purposes, its potential functions?

“From your experiences, each created a view that reflects your background, values, and life map.  We might think that some of the descriptions just witnessed were farfetched, even fantasies as one called out.  Yet, who could be justified in claiming that these views were all false, untethered to reality?  At a minimum, might we agree that there is no single universal meaning associated with this magnificent oak?   No person has a monopoly on its meaning.

“So too the meaning of life.  We each create, or more accurately, co-create a unique meaning regarding life.   This does not occur in a vacuum.  To confirm meaning, we may share our views.  Sometimes our view does not register with others, and we may question what we have put forth.

“The act of co-creation requires intimate involvement.  We decide whether to personally connect to a phenomenon, whether it matters, and whether we will issue meaning as a result.   Or we may just ignore.

“Meaning is not a passive object waiting to be discovered, like a book on a shelf.  That said, even a book, though loaded with another person’s previously created ideas, requires our participation to decide if something meaningful surfaces.   Our mind activates the contents or dismisses as forgettable.  Any subsequent meaning that emerges will be colored by our personal experience.” 

As the crowd dispersed, some were left puzzled by the day’s events.  The concept of personally creating rather than locating or being informed of meaning did not sit well.  Mild befuddlement lingered for some.  Others were content with the speaker’s words.  The explanation resonated with what they inherently knew.   And others wrote the presentation off as, “nothing more than evasive semantics.” Their takeaway?  A day wasted!

Later, some of the skeptics experienced surprising epiphanies, unanticipated insights.  Over time and with intentional practice, some became more adept at consciously co-creating meaning for various life events.  They began to practice the art of actively crafting their own destiny rather than blindly accepting pre-determined socially influenced pathways. 

Among the thousands of people that completed their final exit in the last year, three were picked at random to tell a story about fairness. 

Fay

Fay was thirty-six when a car ran through a stoplight and crushed her bike as she rode to work in Nairobi.   She left behind two young boys and a ten-year marriage to a man who loved her.  An accountant and an active outdoors enthusiast, she ran marathons a few times a year. She was actively engaged as a volunteer community worker in a low-income area, the Kibera settlement, where she taught impoverished young women business skills. 

At the memorial service, her family, friends, and co-workers remarked “it just was not fair – she had perhaps fifty more years of life her due.” 

Eric

Eric worked as a Chicago real estate developer.  He enjoyed the good life.   He owned a yacht and sailed on Lake Michigan.  Twice divorced, he had spent millions of his hard-earned investment dollars over the years on personal pleasures.  He made the most of his time – working hard and playing hard.  Trips around the world included a recent three-week photo safari in Africa.  Fabulous five-star restaurant meals each week, a luxurious condominium in a Lincoln Park high rise, entertainment events, the latest model sport cars, season box tickets for the Bears and Cubs, second homes in Colorado and Florida, a meticulous wardrobe, and an eclectic art collection.  When he was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer at 76, he felt cheated.  He thought he had at least another fifteen years his due with enough resources saved to live another fifty years.

“Life is not fair,” became his mantra the last days of his life.

Jorge

Jorge grew maize and potatoes and tended sheep and goats near Quito.  His seven children helped with the farming.  Most of his waking time was devoted toward securing basic subsistence needs – food, fuel, clothes, rent, a few years of education for his children.   He enjoyed watching football games and listening to folk music at the local bar when he got a chance.   At 47 years he became ill with a respiratory condition that he thought would pass but did not.   He could not afford to see a doctor in the city. 

When he died from pneumonia a month later, he had spent less money in his entire lifetime than Eric spent in an average month.   A fact he would never have known.  In his final days, he mused that “life was not fair… who would now take care of his family?”

Distributive Justice

Life days are not distributed fairly.   Nor the resources.  Life in fact is rarely fair.   When it comes to our share of resources and years - we want more and are unsatisfied with less. 

Is there an accounting for such diversity of shares?  A reconciliation?   A squaring of balances in the afterlife ledger?  A reshuffling of cards and a new deal? 

Is it possible to be at peace wanting nothing more than the next breath?  Rich with apparent nothing, a sense of being directly connected with everything.  No need to own or possess that which emanates from the same source.

Possibly.  Yet it is hard to sustain being alive and not want something else.  The next meal.  The next meal different from the last.

Navigating Inequity

Navigating apparent inequitable distribution is a formidable life challenge. 

Consider that if all matter were distributed equally, with no material differences, there would be no life as we know it.  There would be only stark sameness.  No carbon versus oxygen versus hydrogen atoms.  No atoms.  Equal sameness.   Unequal distribution is the foundation from which life springs.  Inequity is fundamental for life to be.  One form of life consumes another to stay alive.   It is only by being alive and sentient that there is even the yearning for equality and fairness.  Where might this desire come from? 

Brief moments existed before time began, before life generated, when equilibrium ruled.  Periods within the universe’s evolution of life when there was/is more apparent equality.  Yet the differences and the sense of unequivocal fairness are never fully resolved, by design. 

Time and fairness are subjective, mind generated constructs. 

The Cattle Tick

At this moment, there sits a female cattle tick on the end of a branch in a remote forest of Malaysia.  Waiting.  If she thinks at all, this tick may not ponder the fairness question when it comes to life years.   It rests in suspended animation on the end of a twig waiting for a warm-blooded animal to pass nearby, in relative equilibrium.   When the scent of acid found in the sweat of any animal is detected, it springs into life -- hopping onto the creature, engaging, feeding, and finishing its reproduction cycle by laying eggs and dying.  The tick can wait eighteen years, hibernating at the branch end, for the right moment to arrive – then moving quickly from semi-life to full blooded life.

For the tick, the interim years are perceived as a moment, not an inordinate amount of time.  From a human observer, thinking anthropomorphically, it may seem like wasted years – lost potential. 

Reframing Out Mental Clock

The number of lived years is relative.  It is not a simple count but rather the quality of experiences contained within the measurement of time.  Consider a person who lived to ninety and whose life was more like the cattle tick – appearing to barely live, a habitual life with little variance.  They had few experiences outside the norm.  A different type of suspended animation. 

Then consider a person who lived to forty-five, actively venturing into unfamiliar territory, physically and mentally, wishing each day were longer so more could be done.   Each adventure savored one day at a time, enjoying a multi-sensory experience.  

In the end, who had the ‘longer’ life?  Using a tick years yardstick as the measurement, the ninety-year old’s sum of experience totaled much less when compared to the forty-five-year old’s rich resume, according to a neutral observer.

Then again, perhaps the ninety-year-old was an Indian sadhu who had transcended time, not chasing new experiences, living fully in the moment as a mindful observer of the passing of time, beyond measuring.  Unbounded by the common constraint. 

And the 45-year old’s pace may have been so frenetic that no experience truly registered, trying to pack so much in, rarely present in the here and now.

Who had more?  More of what?  What attracts us so passionately to the concept of more?

Reset - Time Recycled

In the end of a universal cycle, all the energy of a spent solar system or universe gets sucked back together within its collapsing vortex.  Consolidated into a single point from which new stars and universes will be born.   When the regeneration occurs, the particles spew forth forming atoms, the atoms combine forming elements, the elements connect forming stars, the stars into worlds, the worlds into Fays, Erics, Jorges and cow ticks….   The unequal distribution of substance, time and timelessness, wealth and non-wealth plays out again.  Although this time the molecules are reshuffled.  Each resurrected and recycled atom, a new element within a new organization of matter. 

The perceived unfairness balances out in the long view.   Hardly ever in the short haul.   Meanwhile, we may still choose to work for equality and social justice, driven by an ancient recollection of total equality, a point before time when it was so.  A desire to return to this origination memory beckons.   Yet be not surprised when unfairness creeps back into the picture as life in the universe unfolds.  Transitory inequity serves as a fundamental design element and need not be taken quite so seriously.  Easier said than done.

Consider

As a consolation for the moment, or a latent opportunity for discovery, ponder:  some experiences, like the ability to savor a spectacular day, a setting sun, a walk with a companion, are not dependent on wealth or longevity.  Our ability to taste eternity, to be fully in the moment, may indeed be compromised by insatiable desire, yearning for more wealth or longevity, or consumption fatigue.   What could be fairer?  

How do we know when real is real, rather than virtual?  Cellular rather than digital?  Tangible rather than tangential?     

Building on a Greek philosopher’s well-known allegory and adding the craftsmanship of contemporary film directors, this story explores the notion of reality co-creation.

Culturally Influenced / Inducted Reality

When asked how one knows what is real, most typically reference our sense experience as well as common sense.  Few proclaim that realities are also shaped through cultural induction, deeply influenced by a set of shared beliefs that shape our fundamental understanding of the world.  We live and experience the world within socially created and mutually inhabited thought bubbles.   These constructs help us survive and impact what we see and what we fail to register.

Consider for example the language of the northern Canadian Inuit.  This culture reportedly maintains 50 distinct words for “snow” to describe the varieties of ice crystals on which their lives depend.  Nuances matter.  Different meanings are encoded within the Inuit people’s thought structure, allowing them to effectively navigate a potentially inhospitable world, building shelters, finding food, and crafting lives. 

Within broadcast zones, inhabitants reside in and attune to preferred thought clouds.  Shared frequencies house common codes for perceiving.  To question the code, the prescribed way to survive, carries risk with derogatory labels and expulsion the price for those deviating from the norm. 

Plato’s Cave

Throughout history, nonconformists have challenged the social programming that shapes our view of reality.  Plato, one such maverick, deconstructed binding cultural dictates.   Building on the works of fellow philosophers, he advanced the idea that mankind could achieve a better understanding of reality.  

To illustrate an alternate world perspective based on purer, less contaminated ideals, Plato provided the allegory of the cave.  The allegory depicts a world where illusions pass for a faux reality consumed by the masses.  While his message targeted the nature of thought and perceptions guiding citizens of the Greek republic, the allegory applies today. 

Through the voice of Socrates, Plato described an underground cave with individuals chained to a wall since birth.   Facing the blank wall in front of them, they watch images dance across their field of vision.  These moving forms were flickering shadows projected from items passed in front of a fire located behind their field of vision, carried by the cave custodians.  Imprisoned viewers would develop names for these shadows, constituting their known reality.

Socrates describes the impact of gaining freedom from imprisonment.  A captive released from the chains walks towards the previously unseen illuminating fire.  He learns that the wall shadows hold no substance, now experiencing a fuller idea of reality.  However, the shadow reality retains a hold, a more familiar world view, one that has shaped perceptions and conceptual ability. 

Eventually, the former captive steps outside the cave entrance, discovering radiant sunlight.  Initially unable to recognize objects in this sunlit world, his eyes and translating mind falter.  Strange brilliance overwhelms but gradually he adjusts to the daylight and slowly assimilates new perspectives including fully formed, multi-dimensional objects.   After lengthy study, he eventually integrates the new visions and associated meaning.  He considers returning to the cave to share his newfound knowledge.   Recognizing significant challenges translating the new world view to his former fellow captives, he predicts that rejection and disbelief will be the most likely outcome.  

Spielberg’s Screen

Fast forward two millenniums.  Spielberg, Howard, Scorsese, and other movie makers have embraced this reality shaping practice.   Unlike Plato who sought to free citizens from the shadow entrapment, they seek to capitalize on the wall shadows.  Rather than transporting people into the light of day, aiming for enlightenment via a more accurate view of reality, they invite people into the dark cave’s images to circumvent reality, if only for a brief time. 

Cinematic works provide hours of escape within Plato like caves where the light and shadow worlds are displayed.  Willing participants pay for the privilege of immersion in alternate realities.  Faux realities generate a cascade of emotions and vicarious bodily sensations.  Quite real in the moment, dissipating rapidly post exit.  When successfully captivated, we briefly believe that the projected images dancing on the movie-cave wall are as real as any other life experience.  Our desire to be surprised and taken away from routine life occupies a restorative role for the psyche.  Reprieves from reality experienced in the cave paradoxically may ease dealing with the harder, awaiting reality upon return to daylight. 

What happens then when an enlightened citizen leaves Plato’s cave and enters Spielberg’s?

The Disruptor

The movie theater was packed.  Popcorn aroma drifted down aisles as the audience adjusted their torsos and arms, sinking into plush seats – ready to disembody. 

House lights dimmed and blackness engulfed the viewers.  The curtains opened as life-like moving pictures with surround sound emanated from the screen.  Within minutes the crowd was spellbound, entranced – with minor disruptions and jostling to accommodate late arrivals, barely noticed. 

An unfolding star-crossed love story heads towards a tragic ending.  A young soldier finds the love of his life.  Families on opposite ends of the religious and political spectrum square off.   An intense brief love affair ensues despite family objections.   Arguments create small cracks in the love bond and the soldier leaves for the battle front.  Betrayals and misunderstandings widen the geographic and cultural gaps fueled by unwritten letters and miscommunications.  A life-threatening injury is incurred on a special mission gone bad.  

A cliff hanger moment looms, the outcome of the movie hangs in the balance. 

A member of the audience suddenly rises and walks down the central aisle towards the screen, stopping in front, obstructing the audience’s view. 

A strong voice raises one notch above the volume from the speakers, “Fellow movie goers, wake up.  Can’t you see this is only a movie?  Listen to yourselves crying and gasping in horror.   This is not reality.  Do not be duped.  Don’t let manufactured emotions trick you.  Free yourself from this counterfeit anxiety.”

After initial shock, the audience becomes annoyed by the disturbance. 

“Of course, we know this is a movie, you jerk!  What do you think we paid for?  Get out of the way.”

“But wouldn’t you rather experience real life instead of these sophisticated wall shadows mimicking life?” asked the speaker.

“Hell no.  Why do you think we came here?  Sit down and shut up!” 

“Please – I invite you to leave your seats and follow me from the theater….  Just for a moment.  I promise a truer version of life than this distorted reality.  If you don’t like it, then return to the movie.”

Two burly men from the crowd jumped from their seats.  Each grabbed an arm of the interrupting speaker.  They dragged the interloper to the side exit, pushed him through the door, and quickly closed and secured it to prevent reentry.  They returned to their seats, irritated and ready to catch up with the story on the screen, which had not paused. 

Cosmic Drama

In an existential spin of the Plato-Spielberg allegory, imagine being G.  Enlightened G playing in the fields of eternity, producing the ultimate version of shadow entertainment - co-creating life experiences.   

On the terrestrial stage, creation is the show.  An infinite number of unfolding experiences offer escape for timeless G, novel amusement interrupting monotony as part of eternal existence.  

In the cosmic theater, humanity takes part in a metaphysical drama -- sometimes as semi-conscious actor, occasionally as mindful director, and quite often as passive audience.  The grand show offers sojourn.   We vacillate between recalling and forgetting our eternal self.   We co-create time, space, worlds, and dramas to manage the clock with no hands. 

Seeking an effective way to fully understand forever?  Incarnate as a transient life.  Temporary existence yields an appreciation of eternity.

Many religious narratives hold that we are far removed from what God is.  These narratives maintain that we have been banished from paradise by a sovereign God.   The reason?  Aspiring to share God knowledge and failing to live up to God’s standards.   The consequence?  A sorrow-based existence, full of suffering albeit fleeting doses of pleasure.  The solution?  Get saved, fully accept God’s forgiveness for our inherited shortcomings.    

So plays a version of a classic drama laced with intentional amnesia as part of a grand script. 

Cosmic Drama Disruption

Suppose in a further spin of this cosmic play, a Plato-like disruptor appears on the stage of everyday life, fully aware of the story’s trajectory.  This disruptor calls out to listeners regarding a perceived disconnect within the master script regarding life and purpose.  The disruptor questions whether this episode of the cosmic drama will end with personal avoidance or resumption of G identity.

Imagine the consequences for the disruptor calling out like a street corner preacher, “Hey everyone – wake up!  Don’t be ensnared by these petty soap operas, such weak shadows of reality.  These inane dramas are poor versions of truth, mere illusions far removed from our G potential.    Therefore, I say again awaken!  Now is the time to reclaim your inner G.”

Perhaps this scene is a necessary story line within a grander script.  Or a mid-show intermission within the life trance.  Or a preview of a coming inevitable distraction.   

Nevertheless, within routine life dramas, such disruption would be most unwelcome, a premature departure from the cosmic play.  Upsetting the story flow for participants.    

“Please stop.  No more enlightened babble.  We don’t want to ‘wake up.’  Let us enjoy this break.  We want to savor the moment, forgetting forever before resuming the eternal journey.  Allow us to live this fleeting life in peace.    

“So quiet please.  Sit.  Relax.   Enjoy the show.  Pass the popcorn.”  

For Christians, Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection signifies the most essential anchor securing one’s faith, a foundation cornerstone in church teachings.  This critical miracle in turn supports a reason to believe in a greater God, the trinity version (father, son, and holy spirit).  

Without this reported real-life event as recorded in scriptures, one might wonder, would a larger belief in God still stand? 

It may be blasphemy to suggest that the resurrection miracle with its later associated icons (cross, open tomb, and ascension to heaven) represents the next iteration of the golden cow challenge once dealt with by the prophet Moses.  Recall his fury directed at the wandering Israelites.  Their allegiance had drifted from a difficult to grasp, abstract God, as they relapsed to a more tangible form of idol worship, the golden cow.  

Both the golden cow and the subsequent crucifix images serve as comforting visual artifacts for faith followers.  Repeated exposure to these symbols over time eventually triggers a Pavlovian response of connection and devotion.  Paying homage to the symbol reinforces dependency on an associated higher power capable of making or breaking one’s fortune.  Ultimately, these symbols take on a separate existence and meaning, potentially hindering a full realization of G’s extent. 

According to the Christian doctrine, God decided to materialize in earthly form, a human version of godly self.  Deeply disappointed in the spiritual direction of his creation at large, he chose this incarnation to intervene.  To rectify the obstinance of the Jewish tribe, his chosen people, atonement was indicated.   He essentially required his own self-sacrifice so that his creation might become whole again.  Today this action might be designated an assisted suicide by mob.  

God incarnated in the form of a half-crazed prophet with apparent amnesia regarding his origin.  He appeared on earth as a bold healer- preacher of humble origin and disrupted the status quo.  Like other prophets, he acted as a God’s spokesperson -- challenging traditional learnings and mores of the day, daring listeners to think outside of scriptural confines, inspiring his audience to see man’s earthly predicaments with fresh eyes, and encouraging love of one another servicing the community with compassion.  

Slowly the prophet remembers and/or exposes his divine origin, ultimately revealing that he was more than a simple messenger.  Indeed, he was the message – God incarnate, the promised redeemer, long awaited by the chosen people.   The time of worldly suffering and persecution would soon end for his favorite children.  However, the learned scholars of the day, whose lives were devoted to studying the Holy Scriptures (including the predicted savior’s arrival), were among the most unreceptive and skeptical.   The Pharisees and Sadducees saw this prophet as a false pariah and held his rendition of reality in contempt.

A battle of beliefs took place over several encounters.  Much of the chosen tribe refused to accept this message -- that God had arrived on earth to forge a new connection and a new understanding of what being God meant.   Failing to move the people, to get them to see the light, demoralized the prophet.  According to scriptures, the human part of the God/man duality despaired.   It is easy to imagine his identity vacillation – “I am of divine origin / I am a child of God / I am God realized” and “I am a failure / I am a flawed human at best / I am doomed.”  

Placing his own existence in peril, he travelled to the holiest of cities at the holiest of times.  He deliberately provoked the entrenched power structure’s belief system, orchestrating a grand show down.  He incurred the wrath of the religious and civil leaders by directly challenging blatant hypocritical practices – priests and public using the holy temple as a place for commerce.  The ruling religious elite became angry, “Enough! Time to end this rebel’s antics.”   The trial for claiming to be the Messiah resulted in conviction and crucifixion. 

According to the accounts written a half century later, what appeared to be a humiliating defeat was not.  Devout followers claimed to have seen the dead man walking and talking.  Their perceptions, real or imagined, kindled a powerful emerging belief -- for the first time in recorded history, a human had been resurrected from the dead.  The startling story gained viral momentum and a credo ignited.   The crucifixion and resurrection became the central article of the new faith, holding all other Christ elements in place.     

A believers’ cult formed.  To belong, one had to accept the crucifixion and resurrection theology including the explanation that these events occurred solely to pave the way for personal salvation, “Jesus died to clean up our mess.  Thus, we might escape the painful consequences due for our prior sins.”  Faith based acceptance served as the admission price to access God’s kingdom.   Anyone rejecting the Christ as savior offering would be denied heaven and condemned to eternal hell during the final judgement.  

Time passed.  The former cult transformed to become the official faith for the waning Roman empire.  The faith continued to grow over centuries, now representing one of the most powerful religions in a world of many.

The cross icon has subsequently replaced the golden cow.  This tangible death and resurrection symbol once representing the intangible greater spirit has assumed a life of its own.   Imagine a Moses-like voice challenging this crucifix object as an updated version of the golden cow.  The likely outcome might resemble the legendary Jesus story attacking the money lenders in the temple.  Holy hell to be paid, followed by authoritative retribution. The sacred symbol of the cross holds such power, that any infidel challenging alleged “misguided devotion” would receive the full wrath of believers, akin to disrespecting one’s national flag.  

Despite the resurrection/crucifix’s questionable factual basis supporting the Christian belief system (but not unlike similar shaky foundations of other religions), a large group of believers continue to derive benefit.  They live respectful lives, appear to receive helpful guidance from the doctrine, and continually serve the greater good as a means of securing a place in heaven.   One wonders what greater good would come from challenging their tenets.  

Consider

In response, perhaps a fresh challenge to the tenets of the Christian faith, while risky, inherently offers new life to an ancient message on the decline.   2000 years ago, a revolutionary prophet provided a novel way for humankind to understand their relationship with God.  He challenged followers to put this knowledge into action.  

A sliver of Christ’s intended message was incorporated in the mix of oral tales that became sanctioned scriptures.  He held that each person could realize the God within, each human being capable of connecting to the source of creation and G knowledge, each person capable of adding to the collective greater good.

Fervent Christian believers abide by the injunction, “It is forbidden to desire access to G’s realm, G’s knowledge.”   Such access is exclusively reserved for a single savior, virgin born.  Yet Christ repeatedly tried to convey that G knowledge was inherent in all.   This message has been generally dismissed by the dominant Christian structures. 

Such institutions benefit when insight into G’s domain is consolidated within an elite hierarchy, rather than distributed equally among the multitude.   Accordingly, a differing message suggesting an accessible G identity available to all, constitutes blasphemy, a misguided replay of the original sin.   “Therefore, trust us instead.  Deed us your power.  Stay obedient and unquestioning to gain access to the kingdom.  Do not rock the boat.  And bow to the cross.”  

Religious catechism - lessons from the Catholic faith

Catholic children learned early about hell’s fury.  A fiery place where flesh burning continues for eternity with no relief.  This was punishment for defying God’s will, committing a mortal sin, living a life of debauchery.   According to authoritative nuns supplying lessons of the day, even skipping Sunday mass merited such a fate.  Hell seemed an alarmingly easy place to find oneself. 

Catholicism had no monopoly usurping this terrifying real estate.   Many religious and mythological traditions promote hell as a real place of eternal torment and punishment.  Religions anchored by this one-way only ticket to a dismal afterlife, like Christianity, depict hell as an eternal destination with no relief.  Reject God’s merciful offer of salvation?  Suffer for all time. 

Religions with more of a cyclic mindset, like Hinduism, include hellish consequences as an intermediary period between incarnations.  Get off track in one life?  Perish and suffer during the interlude and receive purification and another chance for redemption in the next life.

Typically, all traditions locate their hells under the Earth's surface or in another similar dimension.

Alternate afterlife destinations for those escaping the criteria for hell include: Heaven, for the unblemished, offering a setting of everlasting bliss; Purgatory, a partial hell to cleanse aspects of the tainted soul awaiting release; and Limbo, another place of suspension while waiting for a permanent placement decision.  

Tertullian, an influential early Christian theologian, helped shape the religion’s early view of hell, writing that, other than martyrs, the souls of the dead descend to the underworld, and may eventually rise to the sky (heaven) only at the end of the world:

"You must suppose Hades to be a subterranean region, and keep at arm's length those who are too proud to believe that the souls of the faithful deserve a place in the lower regions … How, indeed, shall the soul mount up to heaven, where Christ is already sitting at the Father's right hand, when as yet the archangel's trumpet has not been heard by the command of God…" [1]  

Hippolytus of Rome, another early theologian, contributed to the view of this tiered afterlife, writing:

"But now we must speak of Hades, in which the souls both of the righteous and the unrighteous are detained.  Hades is a locality beneath the earth, in which the light of the world does not shine; and as the sun does not shine in this locality, perpetual darkness.  This locality has been destined to be as if it were a guardhouse for souls, at which the angels are stationed as guards, distributing according to each one's deeds the temporary punishments for characters. 

And in this locality, there is a certain place set apart by itself, a lake of unquenchable fire, into which we suppose no one has ever yet been cast; for it is prepared against the day determined by God, in which one sentence of righteous judgment shall be justly applied to all.  And the unrighteous, and those who believed not God, who have honored as God the vain works of the hands of men, idols fashioned, shall be sentenced to this endless punishment.  But the righteous shall obtain the incorruptible and un-fading kingdom, who indeed are at present detained in Hades, but not in the same place with the unrighteous."[2]

Searching for Hell

Some may wonder, if there actually was a hell, where the hell might it be?  If hell was more than a metaphor, more than scary imagery to keep the populace in place… where would God have placed it? 

Acknowledging possible placement in some other yet to be discovered dimension, two places in the known physical world serve as candidates (for the sake of this untethered metaphorical argument).  One candidate remains the center of the earth.  Another imaginative choice would be the sun.

The argument for the Center of Earth

The earth’s core -- almost as hot as the sun’s surface at 10,000o.   Ancient mythology and religious teaching described Hades as an underground world where the sinful dead are sequestered and serve the lord of the underworld.  Heroic trips to the underworld by intrepid characters abound throughout many cultures including the Romans, Greeks, and Hebrews.  Heroes wrestle with the lord of death to resurrect a beloved. 

Ironically, according to geophysics, ongoing life on the earth’s surface depends on this hell like incinerator at the core.  The molten furnace supplies a variety of protective functions for the planet.   Were this hellish core to cool, life on the surface would cease. 

The argument for the sun

The other hell like option, in known realms, resides in our solar system’s hub.  Middle aged at five billion years, our sun is halfway through its life cycle.  Three hundred times bigger than the earth, this monarch of matter comprises 99% of all substances in our solar system.

This beacon’s light is a by-product of an entangled self-consuming obsession.  The sun’s energy returns mostly back onto itself.  A fraction of this churning engine’s energy is released outward.  The sun’s surface temperature matches the earth’s core (10,000o).  This surface temperature pales in comparison to its 27,000,000o  white-hot core.  The nuclear fusion reactor runs on a mix of hydrogen (74%) and helium (25%), producing energy, light, and atomic matter.  Keeping all life lit, fed, formed, and warmed.  Without the sun, there are no stories.  No us. 

The puzzle

Consider then this conundrum.  The two most hell-like natural phenomenon known to humanity, the nuclear center of the sun and the molten core of the earth, serve as primary cauldrons.  Both generate and sustain our existence.  Attempting metaphorical reconciliation within religious myths, perhaps the spent dregs of life get recycled through a hellish purification distillery.  This redeemed waste, the output from this processing system, is also (ironically) responsible for all that is considered light and good under the sun.   

Exercise in Imagination

To conclude this admittedly far-flung allegory, imagine a courtroom of good and evil, where a final judgement is rendered on the quality of one’s life. 

The spiritual judge addresses one defendant.  “You were an evil son of a gun.  You wreaked havoc on your fellow humans and made life miserable for many.  Your sentence is eternal hell or at least ten billion years of flames in the sun’s central furnace.  Know also that your being will be slowly consumed, serving as fuel, subsequently powering the next generations of life which you so callously disregarded during your dismal existence.”  And the defendant left for this next post with a heavy heart, full of fear.

The same judge now addresses the next defendant, justifying their life, “You were a saint.  You contributed to the wellbeing of your community and were beloved.  Your selfless charity serves as a model of righteous living.   We thus place you in eternal heaven, located within this greater cosmos at the sun’s center with at least ten billion years in the fiery heart of the universe.  Your legacy of selflessness will be continued as you are consumed and generate power within God’s engine, giving light and life to the worlds beyond.”  And the defendant left for this post with a light heart, full of joy.

[1] https://www.liquisearch.com/hades_in_christianity/views_of_some_early_third-century_writers

[2] http://earlychurch.com/about-hades-by-hippolytus/

There was a man bitten by a bug.  Infected with the G complex.  Not the condition defined as ‘an unshakable belief, characterized by consistently inflated feelings of personal ability, privilege, or infallibility.’ 

He actually thought he was G.   A complex G at that.  Delusional might be another apt descriptor of the condition as referenced from the diagnostic manual for mental health conditions.

Most of his life he had fished the major religious pools for insight on the nature of God.  He had climbed the ancient philosophical mountains to see what view they afforded on the meaning of life.   He had wandered in the desert purging his senses and traveled the earth’s four corners searching for inspiration and insight.   He slowly concluded that there was no other place to search.  This was it.  What he had been looking for was in front of his face, in fact his face was part of it.  

He gradually became aware that he was an intimate part of this complex G.

Much like one human cell becoming aware of being a tiny but intimate part of the body great. 

While being an equal part of a social body great, one of a billion selves, he was also an intact body, comprised of another billion cells.  As such, a representative example of G embodied.  A whole entity within a whole entity.  

At the cellular level, his soul contained an entire DNA code set that could reproduce the macro entity – from human body to complex G.  Playing an individual role in relationship with a myriad of other cells or selves – each connected, each holding the same mapping.   He understood the latent greatness that the code represented.  Understood the relativity of smallness and immensity.  

He embraced defining himself as micro-G or macro-G based on needs of the moment.   Within the G complex, he could see the world from different vantage points.  He could assume various perspectives, becoming the eyes, the stomach, the blood, the heart, depending on the contextual need.

When he retreated from the flurry of day-to-day activity, which typically meant returning to G mindedness, he accepted being the source of co-creation.  If there was meaning to be had in an event, he knew he created this meaning, collaborating within the greater complex.  With this perspective, he determined value for a given outcome, retaining what made sense and discarding what fell short.

He understood that first we are created by no conscious act of self.   Then we create.   From the greater social body, he was gifted with the hardware and software that forms the beginnings of self.   He then co-created a personal narrative, self-coding and continually modifying his story as he determined the best way to portray an expanding sense of self. 

The complex G awareness was not constant.   Sometimes amnesia settled in like seasonal fog and he was completely immersed, playing out self-created dramas.  He ran unresolved narratives over and over, for example being a perpetually misunderstood dancer to a different drum; or being the victim of malintent intrigues, and so on.  These represented growth opportunities to forge new outcomes.  During such times he often felt weary and less connected to the G complex.  

Other wandering states of mind presented as well. In a particularly oblique one – he imagined being the singular transmitter and consumer of all co-creation.  Co-creation emanated from his interaction with the world (which was all him) – him playing with him.  As part of this narcissistic self-delusion, none of the population props shared the same view.  He was an eternal being playing a penultimate game, pretending to be divided into billions of small selves to escape the inevitable realization that no one else was out there.   He humbly acknowledged the possibility that the whole complex G mindset was bona fide delusional, a deviation of the social norms, or a programming design gone bad.

At times, he reconciled his dual self-identity - alternately playing roles as an independently operating entity composed of billions of unified parts or a highly interdependent team member working with others to re-establish a lost oneness.  At his best, he saw himself as the co-source of creation, a contributor to all that was but needing to carry the load of all creation by himself.  Sustaining this view for a prolonged period was challenging.       

With all the philosophical rumination, he frequently asked himself a grounding question, “And so what?  What good does this insight add to living a purposeful life?  I still feel the difficulties of existence, I am not exempt from struggles.  Yes, there are wonderful peak views, watching time streaming in the distance.  However, I am often still in the stream, struggling to swim upstream much of the time.” 

An ever-present mindfulness knew that struggles gave rise to peaks.  Were the struggles eliminated, so too the peaks.  And he was not ready for the flat line.