Dear Homo Sapiens of Earth
whose footprints now roam the craters of the moon, beware. Beware of the 8 Cosmic Signs:
1. For millions of years, Earth’s night side has been invisibly dark, but now, suddenly, there is light, neon light.
2. For millions of years, forests have thrived unmolested, but now, suddenly, there is deforestation.
- For millions of years, Earth’s atmosphere has been clean and pristine, but now, suddenly, there is pollution and global warming.
- For millions of years, the hydrosphere has been slightly alkaline, but now, suddenly, there is acidification.
- For millions of years, the ozone layer has shielded the Biosphere from harmful solar UV radiation, but now, suddenly, it has been compromised.
- For millions of years, as a radio source the Earth has been silent, but now, suddenly, it is inundating its inter-planetary and interstellar neighborhood with its news, movies, documentaries, commentaries, soap operas, sitcoms, commercials… and televangelical sermons, which still preaches that you are the be all and end all of all Creation.
- Never in its 4.6-billion-year history has Earth generated a single thermal nuclear reaction, but now, suddenly, she is in danger of generating too many too soon.
8. Earth was born of gravity, and by its own gravity its body parts have always been bound, but now, pieces of Earth – spacecraft, so called - are seen to suddenly fly away, some never to return.
Among Earth’s spacecraft are the Apollos, from whose #8 was broadcast a prayer as follows: “Give us, o God, the vision which can see thy love in the world in spite of human failure. Give us the faith, the trust, the goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness. Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts, and show us what each of us can do to set forth the coming of the day of universal peace. Amen.”
And the Pioneers 10 & 11, each carrying an identity plaque showing the position of Earth and the image of Homo Sapiens, which some humans call “the image of God”.
And the Voyagers 1 & 2, each bearing an audio-visual recording of Earth sights and sounds, the latter including earthquake and thunder, bird and whale songs, human music and speech, the last being excerpted as follows:
From the Secretary General of the United Nations: “As the Secretary General of the United Nations, an organization of 147 member states who represent almost all of the human individuals of the planet Earth, I send greetings on behalf of the people of our planet. We step out of the Solar System seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of the immense Universe, and it is with humility and hope that we take this step.”
From the President of the
From the citizens of Earth: “We send all beings of the Universe an affectionate greeting of peace and happiness. May the future grant us the opportunity of meeting.” (in Spanish) / “Greetings from our friends amongst the stars. If you can cross the barrier between Earth and sky then do it. It is our desire to meet you.” (in Arabic) / “Welcome to our world.” (in Polish) / “How are you? We are thinking of you. Please come and visit.” (in Chinese) / “We used to believe that the Universe was created for us humans on Earth alone, but we can no longer maintain this belief. We now think that you may exist to share this Universe with us, and have the power to help solve the many problems here in our world.” (in Efic) / “Please contact.” (in Gujurati)
In short, three words: “Greeting”, “Welcome” and “Help!” And I, for one, hear them with joy and compassion. For the first, I salute you; for the second, I come to you, and for the third, I will do my very best for you.
I am Raminothna
the Fortunate and the Called Upon
at your service.
p.s.: At midnight on May 17, Saturday, come to the upper viewpoint on
* * * * *
The above message was what I received as a reply to a blog I had posted in my website www.HOPE-CARE.org a couple of weeks ago, titled “RUNAWAY GLOBAL HEATING HAS BEGUN!” The return address was Raminothna@gmail.com.
I fired back a reply: “Who are you? What for?” But there was no reply.
On Saturday night, I drove up Mount Cypress around 11 p.m., and pulled into the gravelly glade the size of several football fields, surrounded by thick forest on three sides and ending in front on the edge of a wide cliff overlooking the city of Vancouver 3,000’ below, which resembled a carpet of light stretching from the foot of the mountain across the Burrard Inlet towards Washington state on the southern horizon. I parked the car there, facing the city glow.
It was the second day of a three-day heat wave that hit
I got out of my car, locked it, then walked along the cliff due east by moonlight, until I reached the forest. The edge of the forest fronting the glade was thick with blackberry bramble bushes. I found a narrow gap and forced my way through, scratching my arms and my face. About 10 meters in, I looked back and found myself still able to see the glade, but well concealed from it. There, I found a mossy patch at the foot of a large hemlock, sat down, and waited.
If you believe in time dilation, waiting is certainly the best means to achieve it, especially when next to nothing is happening. At one point, the door of the SUV opened and its interior light came on, then the door closed again and the light went off. Then there was the faint sound of liquid hitting earth, which lasted half a minute, then, the door opened again, then closed again, then the engine started, and headlights came on, and the SUV drove away. At another point, I saw the silent streak of a shooting star. Another car drove in, parked near my car facing the city for a few minutes, then drove away. This was followed by half an hour of stillness. Not even the whisper of a breeze, nor the rustle of leaves, nor even the hooting of an owl. A couple of night insects, but not in full cry. Time seemed at a standstill. But my biological clock didn’t fail me. When I thought it should be midnight, I checked my watch, and it was midnight, almost. No one had gone to check my car. Maybe “Raminothna” was late. Maybe it was nothing but a practical joke. Maybe whoever was in the van, which had stayed silent, dark and still as far as I could see, had been laughing their guts out the whole hour watching me through their infrared goggles.
But then, I heard someone whispering in my ears (both), “I’m glad you’ve come.”
It was a soft feminine voice, disembodied yet alive. So close the night breeze could have been her warm breath. By reflex I turned to look around, but there was no one. A shiver shot up my spine. Somehow, I recalled once I used a parabolic dish to listen to and record distant bird songs, and to my ears they seemed close at hand. I then installed a small speaker at the focal point of the dish, facing backward, and found that the sounds from the speaker could be project to a distant listener in a fairly tight beam, and the listener would hear the sounds as if they were emitted close by. Also, I knew that if I sat at the midpoint between two speakers, and the speakers both played the same sounds, I would hear the sounds as if they were emitted from somewhere inside my skull. Finally, I thought of schizophrenics “hearing voices”, which of course doesn’t apply to me. Second, I wrote off the twin speakers scenario, because whoever setting up the speakers would have to know where I was going to be for them to place the speakers correctly. This leaves the parabolic dish scenario, which also had the advantage of whoever handling it being able to project a sound beam at me as well as receive my replies using another dish equipped with a mike at the focal point.
I looked around again, this time more methodically, but still saw no one. I decided to wait and see what would happen next. I sat up, and assumed a meditative position.
“So, how are you enjoying this beautiful moon-lit night?” the voice said.
I tried to determine its direction of origin, but the sentence was not long enough, and the voice seemed omni-directional.
“Fine,” I said, in a normal tone of voice. A one-second burst of low decibel sound as a test, as it were.
“Good,” came the instant reply, as if “we” were having a chat across a dinner table.
“Where are you?” I said.
“Somewhere you can’t see. So, you could stop looking around.”
I looked some more. “If you aren’t in this forest, how do you know that I’m looking?” I said.
“I know human nature.”
“So, again, where are you?”
“There are several possibilities. I could give you one, which may or may not be the real one. How about this: I’m on the surface of the moon, sending a tight radio beam at a radio receiver in your vicinity, which directs a sound beam at you, or the bright infrared spot that is you. If you can see the moon from where you are, I can see you from where I am. And when you speak, your sounds are being intercepted by a sensitive receiver, which converts the sound into radio signals beamed down to me, or should I say “up”. I’m not saying that this necessarily is the case, but let’s just assume that it is.”
I looked up at the moon involuntarily, and reflected on her “up” and “down”. If I were on the moon, I’d be looking up at the Earth in the lunar sky.
I decided to try something else. I got up on my feet, squeezed through the thorns again, getting myself more bloodied, and walked back to my car. Near the car, I went to the edge of the cliff overlooking the city and the harbor, and sat down on the grass with my back against a rock.
“I wish I could come and sit with you,” the voice followed me.
“Why can’t you?”
“By the physical laws, I can; by the social laws, I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Interstellar Non-Interference Principle.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Raminothna, the fortunate and the called upon, at your service.”
“Okay, let me rephrase. What are you?”
Raminothna: Normally, what one is towers over what one says, but in our case, to you, what I say is more important than what I am.
I: Still, it does not mean that what you are is not important. So, again, what are you?
R: When you can tell me what you are, you will know what I am.
I: What am I? Another age-old question. I don’t suppose it helps for me to say that I’m human.
R: Not particularly. It is about the same as an ant saying to you, “I’m an ant”, if the ant does not understand what an ant is. Conversely, it makes no sense to the ant if you tell it what a human is.
I: But if I tell you that my species is the one responsible for driving this planet to runaway global heating, you might be able to tell me, for example, that you are an interstellar planet saver, or savior, here to save the Earth for us.”
R: This is a sharp argument. But, no, I’m not a planet saver, nor a savior.
I: Then why are you here?
R: To observe, to understand, to analyze, to evaluate, to report, and, where you are concerned, to advise, and, if the worse comes to worst, to stay with you so that your demise would at least not be too lonely.
I: To advise is the best you can do for us?
R: The best anyone not of your planet can do for you, due to the interstellar non-interference protocol.
I: Why can’t you just give us the blueprint for a perpetual motion machine? All problems will be solved.
R: But for three things. One, the solution then would not be yours. Two, knowing your species, you’ll wage war with it as much as or even more so than wage peace. And three, evading the test is equal to failing it.
I: Test? What test?
R: The cosmic test that all intelligent and technological species sooner or later have to take.
I: Again, what test? Whether or not we can survive ourselves?
R: To begin with.
I: What else?
R: Whether you can save your planet from mass extinct due to global warming, as you yourself have been trying to do, because if only you survive while 20 million species die because of you, you’ll just go elsewhere in the universe to rape, pillage, plunder and murder.
I: Tall order, especially considering the corner we have painted ourselves into, or should I say the mess we have made in every corner of the world.
R: Tough test, no question.
I: But why? Why do we have to be tested at all. Why can’t we just live happily ever after?
R: First, because this is not a fairytale. Second, because your world is finite, as are your needs, but not your wants. Sooner or later demand will exceed supply, and the environment will be irreparably overwhelmed.
I: The overwhelming has in fact begun.
R: Thus, your cosmic test. But don’t take it personally. This happens on every planet with intelligence and civilization at one critical point in its life, to whatever galaxy it may belong.
I: So, some make it and some don’t?
R: Yes.
I: And you won’t lift a finger to save those who fail?
R: That’s a pretty cold way of saying something that has to be.
I: According to whom?
R: The interstellar non-interference protocol.
I: Based upon what? Some kind of cosmic law?
R: Simply: Let those that are destructive commit self-destruction, and let those that are constructive construct their own stellar and interstellar future.
I: Even if the destructive are beautiful and lovable?
R: Are you referring to yourselves?
I: Well, yes and no. We could be very ugly and despicable too.
R: So my answer is: Yes.
I: What is the percentage of passes and failures?
R: Can’t tell you this either.
I: Why not?
R: If the success rate is high, you’d slack off. If low, you might lose confidence in yourself. It’s best just to do your best.
I: Do you want us to fail, or do you want us to pass?
R: Here is an analogy. In the incubation room are 1 million eggs. Some won’t hatch. Of course the care-taker would want as many eggs to hatch as possible.
I: But you won’t do anything to help those eggs you know won’t hatch?
R: Is this a trick question?
I: In what sense can it be a trick question?
R: If I said, no, I won’t help those I know won’t hatch, then you’d say that since I’m here to help, your “egg” will hatch.
I: I’m not as intelligent as I look.
R: Alright, I will say this. If I know that a planet is beyond help, I would devote my time and energy to another that has a chance.
I: So, this planet Earth here has a chance?
R: I’m here, am I not?
I: What kind of a chance? As I said, runaway global heating as begun, and it can only get worse, exponentially, until all the forests dry to desert, all the oceans become an acid bath, and the entire biosphere turn to dust. If allowed to run its course, runaway global heating won’t end until all the methane clathrates have been released from the permafrost and the ocean floor. Where there is 700 gigaton of carbon in the atmosphere today, there will be 12,000 gigaton then. Where the concentration is 385 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere today, it will be almost 6,000 parts per million. The earth will become a second Venus with the atmospheric temperature in hundreds of degrees. No life can exist under these conditions, not even heat resistant and sulfur loving bacteria. If the mere 0.6 degrees Celsius (1 degree Fahrenheit) global temperature rise today since the pre-industrial times is enough to begin melting the permafrost which releases vast quantities of methane (see www.HOPE-CARE.org, global warming section, Arctic subjection), What is there to stop permafrost melting at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 degrees warmer than today? The methane-caused global heating will feedback upon itself, and the cycle will become a spiral to oblivion. There is nothing as stabilizing at 6 degrees above today’s temperatures. 6 degrees will melt off the methane clathrates all over the world, and the temperature will shoot well above 10, 20, 30 degrees in no time flat. And our citizens of profit, our corporations of greed and our governments of corruption will make damn sure that will happen.
R: Where is the second part of your sentence?
I: What second part?
R: The positive part.
I: Is there a positive part?
R: In everything is a positive part. Even the blood-sucking mosquito is food for fish and birds.
I: So, what is the positive part about human kind? I see nothing. Life on Earth would do much better without our species screwing things up left, right and centre.
R: For a time.
I: What do you mean “for a time”?
R: Until the next asteroid comes crashing down.
I: A replay of this planet’s fifth major mass extinction bout, the one that wiped out all the dinosaurs.
R: Imagine T-Rex being able to fire a rocket with a nuclear bomb to deflect that asteroid’s trajectory.
I: Incredible.
R: If this happens today, most major species, including tigers, eagles, dolphins, whales… would be wiped out like the dinosaurs. Imagine the rhesus monkeys firing a rocket with a nuclear bomb to deflect this asteroid’s course.
I: Equally incredible, not even the chimpanzees can do that.
R: How about the human primates then?
I: I see what you mean.
R: You have discovered that your planet has experienced five major mass extinction bouts in the geologic past, only one of which, the fifth was caused by an asteroid strike. The other four were by climate change. Which was the worst?
I: The third, the End-Permian Mass Extinction 251-million years ago, wiped out 75% of all land species and 95% of all marine species.
R: Obviously climate change is at least as potent as a huge asteroid strike in terms of killing power.
I: Haven’t thought of it that way.
R: So my question remains: What is the technological primate going to do about this anthropogenic round of climate change?
I: I think our silver bullet, in terms of technology, is Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS), or Carbon Sequestration and Storage (CCS), in combination with non-combustion energy technologies including solar, wind, geothermal, tidal and wave power.
R: These trillion-dollar-ventures could work, but how do you intend to fund them?
I: I have launched an online petition at www.thepetitionsite.com addressed to the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, asking him to orchestrate the formation of a $120-billion-per-year Global Green Fund for such projects, by means of a 10% across-the-board reduction of the $1.2 trillion global military expenditure.
R: I wish you success. But would technology alone suffice?
I: No. We need a social and economic reform, some say revolution, as a means of adapting to the new environment imposed by global warming.
R: What kind of revolution?
I: A friend of mind calls it “Re-Evolution”. And another friend calls it “E-Revolution”. One way or another, things have got to change, and change fundamentally.
R: Such as?
I: Socially speaking, greed and selfishness should be replaced by altruism and unconditional giving and sharing. Economically, the silver standard, the gold standard, even the money standard itself, should be replaced by a moral standard based on awareness of facts, knowledge of truth, reverence for nature, compassion for animals, love for the planet, responsibility to our children and all life on Earth, and a higher self-determined destiny.
R: And what is this destiny?
I: I have no idea.
R: If you don’t know your destination, and you travel, what do you become?
I: A drifter.
R: What is the purpose of a drifter?
I: None.
R: What is the purpose of the human species?
I: According to whom?
R: Humans.
I: Our species as a whole? Up to now, none. The best we’ve come up with is some kind of philosophical or religious Utopia that is all theory and no substance, and where some scenarios could actually lead our species into hell.
R: So, your species is a drifter?
I: Up to now, at best. I do think that we need a beautiful destination to strive for. A worthy destiny to fulfill.
R: So, where are they? What are they?
I: I don’t know.
R: If you have no destination; what about a path, the right way that can lead you to the best destination, wherever it be?
I: “Path” in Chinese is “Tao”. The Chinese advanced Taoism a few hundred hears before Christ, in which context “Tao” means “Way of the Cosmos”. The Tao Teh Ching says, “In the Cosmos, Man should accord his way to the Earth, the Earth to the sky, the sky to the Tao, and the Tao imply is, according to its own nature.” So, if we follow this Way of the Cosmic, we should arrive at the right destination, wherever it be.
R: So, what is this Way of the Cosmos, this Tao?
I: Unfortunately, the Tao Teh Ching also says, “The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.”
R: So, there is a path, but you can never tell where it is?
I: That’s about right.
R: So, what good is this system of thought?
I: So far, no good, and Taoism has since degenerated from a school of philosophy into a house of sorcery.”
R: What if this Tao can be known, and spoken?
I: Then it would be truly enlightening, and perhaps even planet-saving. Why? Can it?
R: First thing to note: With the unknown, never say “Can’t”.
I: So, Lao Tzu was wrong, to say that the Tao cannot be spoken?
R: You can answer this for yourself, after you have spoken it.
I: Me? To Speak the Unspeakable? Hold on for a second here. I’m not a miracle worker. I cannot conceive the inconceivable, and do the undoable.
R: You can, and you will, before the night is out.
I: You’re kidding me. More than two thousand years without an answer, and I would do it within five hours?
R: Maybe within the hour, if you perform optimally.
I: Well, we’d better get started ASAP then, eh?
R: Immediately-or-sooner always suits me fine.
I: So, give me a kick start.
R: Tell me. Have you heard of the “Superorganism”?
I: Yes. It was a term first coined by social insect researcher Morton Wheeler in 1937, referring to an insect society - of social insects like wasps, ants, bees and termites - as a single living organism of a higher order, or level of organization, that is, society as organism. But since the constituent individual insects of an insect society are themselves organisms, Wheeler dubbed an insect society a “superorganism”. Edward O. Wilson, pioneer in Sociobiology, defines the superorganism as “a collection of single creatures that together possess the functional organization implicit in the formal definition of organism”.
R: Do you see any repetitive pattern yet?
I: Repetitive pattern? No. What repetitive pattern? What for?
R: For finding the Path, the Way of the Cosmos, the Universal Masterplan, the Tao. To know the future by knowing the past.
I: Well, not yet.
R: What’s that to your left?
I: It looks like an anthill.
R: What’s in the anthill?
I: One this size would contain upwards of hundreds of thousands of ants, which are differentiated into several castes – the queen, the major workers, the minor workers, the seasonal winged reproductives called alates, and the soldiers – which then cooperate as a functioning whole.
R: What is an ant a society of?
I: An ant? I’m not sure what you mean. It is a social insect, and we have established that an ant society, such as this anthill, is a superorganism.
R: Yes, but what is an ant a society of?
I: Are you saying that an individual ant is a society itself?
R: Isn’t it?
I: Well, if an individual ant is a society, then it would be a society of its own body cells.
R: How can this happen?
I: I think in much the same way as how the ants form their society – by differentiation and cooperation.
R: Give me some specifics. When did it happen?
I: Before about 600 million years ago, there were no metabions (multicellular organisms). Only undifferentiated cells, each living an private life of its own. But eventually, inevitably, by the principle of differentiation-and-cooperation, cells develop sociality, and formed their own cellular societies, at first like sponges and corals, but eventually centrally organized cellular societies like a dragonfly or an ant, or a bird, or even a human.
R: So, the individual cells had to give up some of their small freedoms for this transcendent integration. What benefits could there be?
I: “Transcendent Integration”, I like that. The benefits were huge. An amoeba, an undifferentiated organism, can crawl on the bottom of a pond at, say, a foot a day top-speed non-stop. But differentiated and cooperative cells, by collectively becoming a higher organism like a dragonfly, which lays its eggs into the pond, attain a quantum leap of power and a higher level of freedom. The cells of a dragonfly, for example, lost their small freedom of individual amoeba-like movements, but together, their society - the dragonfly - can fly over the mountain at 50 miles per hour, when the amoeba cannot even perceive beyond the confines of the pond, much less emerge from it on its own.
R: So, have your seen any repetitive pattern yet?
I: Beginning to. One – organism as society on all levels of organization. Two – society as organism on all levels. Three, social and nonsocial units on all levels. Four, differentiation and cooperation on all levels.
R: Excellent. Now, what is a cell a society of?
I: Its own molecules I think. Each cell is a society of its own “social molecules”, each also operate by the principle of differentiation and cooperation.
R: And the molecules?
I: Each a society of “social quarks”?
R: Now, look at
I: I’m looking at it.
R: What is a city in this scheme of things?
I: A city is like a human equivalent of an anthill or a bee hive, or a wasp net, or a termite mound.
R: So, what is
I:
R: Is
I: I would consider
R: What is the society to which
I:
R: And what is
I:
R: As an organism is
I: Social, kind of.
R: Kind of?
I: Because although the nations are beginning to be social amongst one another, they have not yet formed themselves a higher organism. There is still conflict and warfare, and international relations are still more competitive than cooperative. Most definitive of all, the nations still uphold their sovereignty as supreme. So, I would deem the rise of life on Earth currently reaching the level of the nations as organisms, but no higher, yet.
R: When the integration of the nations is complete, what will the result be?
I: I think this will mean the rise of a higher level or organization than the National level, and the emergence of a superorganism composed of differentiated and cooperative nations – the planet Earth herself as an organism, to whom the various nations are her various planetary-organs, if they continue to identify themselves as nations, that is.
R: What about the military?
I: Just as there is no mutual defense system among my bodily organs, there will be no military on the national level.
R: What will happen to the current military forces of the nations then?
I: I think the multinational military forces of today will merge into a single planetary defense force against external threats such as asteroids, and perhaps alien invasions.
R: Alien invasions, a la the War of the Worlds? Listen. If we wanted to invade you or conquer your planet, we’d have done so thousands of years ago, effortlessly.
I: This system of reality looks like a fine blue print for world peace.
R: It also illustrates our Interstellar Nursery of Planetary Eggs.
I: Planet as egg. An interesting metaphor.
R: Not metaphorical. Literal.
I: A planet is literally an egg?
R: With a gestation period and a metamorphic schedule.
I: Really?
R: Tell me. What is the gestation period of the Geo-Embryo Earth?
I: The Geo-Embryo?
R: What do you think it is?
I: The Biosphere?
R: And what is the gestation period of the Geo-Embryo of the planet Earth?
I: Are you saying that the timing of the current crisis is predetermined?
R: Based upon its initial physical properties when it was first formed, every planet capable of supporting life and civilization has its own predetermined Gestation period, yes, including the planet Earth.
I: Cosmic Egg Earth’s gestation period? I don’t know.
R: When was it formed?
I: 4.6 billion years ago.
R: If it succeeds in its Integrative Transcendence, when would it happen?
I: Within the next century or two I suspect.
R: Then Cosmic Egg Earth’s gestation period is?
I: 4.6 billion years!
R: Good. Now, some embryos go through several stages of metamorphosis. Do you see this in the Geo-Embryo of the planet Earth?
I: I now certainly do. Every time a new level emerges from a lower one, it is a new stage of metamorphosis. So, since the Earth has the Molecular level, and the Cellular level, and the Metabion level (multicellular organisms) and the Tribal level, and the National level, and finally the Planetary level, all in all there are six levels of organization and five phases of metamorphosis in between.
R: Is there a metamorphic schedule?
I: This would be the time table of the different levels emerging from the one beneath it. So, we should start with the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago as the time of the formation of atomic and molecular matter from the quarks below. Second, the Cellular level arose on Earth about 3 billion years ago. Third, the Metabion level arose about 600 million years ago. Fourth, the Tribal level arose in the form of the first insect societies, I’d say 120 million years ago. Fifth, the National level, I would think not of humans, but of whales and dolphins. It would be cetacean super-societies, comprising many constituent family pods, over a large oceanic area. The cetaceans evolved from land animals about 16 million years ago. So these super-societies may have formed 10 million years ago, And sixth, the Planetary level, which should emerge about now, if it succeeds in doing so.
R: Form a series with these numbers.
I: 0, 10 million, 120 million, 600 million, 3 billion, 13.7 billion.
R: What does this series look to you?
I: I think it could look like an exponential series, but we need to know the true zero point, which I doubt would be set at the time of the “organismization” of the planet Earth. It might be the point of the Integrative Transcendence of the Universe Itself.
R: What will happen to Earth after she has succeeded in integratively transcending into being a Planetary Organism?
I: By the now very obvious repetitive pattern, the Planetary Organism Earth will at first be nonsocial. But given time, it will reproduce, and begat offspring throughout the Solar System, which will eventual become social amongst one another, and again by means of Integrative Transcendence, ultimately forming the Stellar Organism Sol, on yet a higher Stellar level of organization.
R: What after that?
I: There are upwards of 100 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, of which Sol is only one. I think this spiral can unfold about three times within the galaxy before reaching the eventual formation of the Galactic Organism Milky Way.
R: And after that?
I: There are upwards of 100 billion galaxies in the Universe, of which Milky Way is only one. I think this spiral can unfold about three times in the intergalactic realm as well before reaching the emergence of the ultimate Universal Organism.
R: If you were to choose 3 words for this Universal Organism, what would they be?
I: Oh my God!
R: Are these the three words?
I: No!
R: What is God?
I: God is believed by the vast majority of this democracy to be the creator of the Universe.
R: God is a matter of religion. The religion by which you have been indoctrinated is Catholic. So what three words do the Catholics use to describe God?
I: Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent.
R: And what three words would you use to describe the Universal Organism?
I: Since it embraces the entire Universe, it will be all present. Since it encompasses all the knowledge of all the civilizations within it, it can be said to be all knowing. And since, an amoeba and a human are only one level of organization apart, noting the quantum leap in power between the two, and since the Universal Organism is a good 10 levels above the individual human, it can be said to be all powerful. Thus, the three words the Universal Organism could only be Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent!!!
R: Are there any differences between the Universal Organism and your God?
I: Well, yes. One, It did not create the Universe, but it is the evolving Universe. Two, It did not create us; instead, we will be part and parcel of its own self-creation. And three, there is nothing supernatural about this Godly being; It is all natural.
R: And how would you name such a worldview?
I: This worldview encompassed the entire Cosmos, and is based on all fields of science, I would call it the Omniscientific Cosmology.
R: And what would the central teaching of the Omniscientific Cosmology be?
I: The Tao spoken.
R: So speak it, Homo Sapiens of Earth, speak the “Unspeakable”.
I: Integrative Transcendence.
R: Amen.
By then the moon had moved more than half way down the western sky. I was overwhelmed by the vision implanted into my mind. I looked around to re-orientate myself. The van was gone. I was all alone, except for Raminothna, who may still be a trick of electronic wizardry, or just a figment of my own imagination. But you know what? Half a night ago, I would have been devastated were Raminothna not real. But now, having seen the Tao, the Way of the Cosmos, and the highest human destiny, and the optimal fate of the Earth, laid out in my brain so clearly and systematically and scientifically and symmetrically, it no longer matters if Raminothna turned out to be real or not. The truth has come forth. The agent may rest.
But I have further questions for Raminothna.
I: This is absolutely amazing and breathtaking. For me at least, it answers not just one great question but all the great philosophical questions rolled into one: The Meaning of Life, the Purpose of Existence, the Human Destiny, the Fate of the Earth…
R: All are interrelated.
I: But let me figure out what in nuts and bolts needs to be done so that our planet can pass this cosmic test.
R: By all means. I am well pleased with you as my choice of a human vehicle on Earth for my visit.
I: Uh, my pleasure.
R: Have you heard of the term Cosmic Providence?
I: Can’t say that I have.
R: It goes something like this. Billions of years ago, life arose out of non-life. Since then, life has evolved to produce humans, which in turn created the technological civilizations that feed upon oil. Concurrently some of the dead turned into the fossil fuels fed upon by the technological civilizations.
I: Cosmic providence indeed!
R: But here is the twist.
I: Let me guess. There are more fossil fuels than can be burnt without driving the planet into runaway global overheating.
R: Thus the Cosmic Test.
I: I see. And I concur. The species that cannot pass this test is greedy, selfish, myopic and brutal beyond redemption, and does not deserve to survive to join the interplanetary and interstellar community. And the executioner will be none other than itself.
R: Now, there is a final test for you.
I: For me?
R: Yes, just for you.
I: Okay, go ahead.
R: If you are allowed one yes/no answer, what would it be?
I: Will our planet Earth pass or fail this Cosmic Test?
R: Very well. Now, gather five round rocks of about the same size together.
I: Here they are.
R: Arrange four on the ground in the form of a square, with each rock touching its two neighbors.
I: Done.
R: Now place the fifth rock on top of the four to form a pyramid.
I: Done.
R: Now, go back to your car, get a pen, and write this on a piece of paper: “Homo sapiens of Earth will fail the Cosmic Test.”
I: Will fail?
R: Yes. Fail. Now, fold the piece of paper twice to make a small rectangle.
I: Done.
R: Now, insert it into the cavity in the center of the pyramid.
I: Done.
R: Now, listen to me very carefully.
I: Which I have been doing all along.
R: Which I fully appreciate. Now, if the Geo-Embryo of your Cosmic Egg Earth is destined to be still-born, the sun will rise, and nothing will happen to the piece of paper. But if the Earth is destined to pass this Test, a Cosmic Hand of Destiny will – before sunrise - reach into the pyramid and reduce the paper to ashes. Good luck, and goodbye.
I: Good bye? Are you leaving?
R: Other worlds await, and I must go to them, as I have heeded your call, and come to you. I sincerely hope that we will see you in the interstellar community one of these eons. So long.
I: Raminothna, wait!
No reply.
The rest of the night was long. But I managed to stay awake. It became colder and colder, and I began to shiver. The near-full moon declined lower and lower until it was lost to view, meaning that the sun was rising higher and higher beneath the horizon. At long last, and all too soon, the eastern sky began to glow. As the last minutes dwindled to the last seconds of this fateful night, and I had sunken to the lowest ebb of my nocturnal despair, a cosmic hand of destiny did reach out, and in a burst of flame from a lighted match, reduced the piece of paper to ashes.
Not a moment too soon, the sun broken through. And in its first glorious rays, I regarded this Cosmic Hand of Destiny, which was my own.
By
Anthony Marr, founder and president
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Emergency Operation (GEO)
