Spheres of Perception

1)      With relative easy-acceptance of their safe place in this pretentious hierarchy, they are the easiest targets for unscrupulous marketeers. They are also the backbone of our society. ­

2)      Homo sapiens ignoramus— Ignorant, either due to an unfortunate genetic shortfall, bad luck or a self-created, drug-induced ignorant bliss. Due to their inability to part with much money, they are predominantly of use to the other classes to boost their egos, promote political images or do their dirty work.

With such a background we now have to create a purpose with a system of ethics and morals to satisfy the lot. For some of more enquiring mind we also have to create a system of beliefs to add meaning and purpose to life. An enormous task indeed—with science having determined reality, the existentialist having killed God (after the churches have already done a good job scaring people off), and worth measured in monitory terms. Military regimes are not very fashionable; although under current systems of democracy guns have been replaced with money.

With such an overwhelming task it can be easy to see how most failed entrants of sub-group (1) quickly accept their place in the scheme of things, or else fall victim to sub-group (3).

 Either way, we are mortal beings with a limited lifespan, facing the reality of needing a purpose with ethics and morals to justify our stay here. We are inevitably again faced with the, possibly unrecognized impact on our existence here, of deciding between the brain as a freak event or an emerging goal directed sense.

              In this search for meaning and purpose there has always been an undercurrent of awareness of something higher, something more meaningful than a struggle to survive or get rich quick. Some are quite happy to ignore issues like these since they appear to be of no value in their rather short objectively defined lives.

              Others of more enquiring mind, or those lucky enough to have exhausted the pleasures of what money can buy, need something more. There is then a profound wish to dig deeper than religion and science (politics and economics being an unworthy pursuit for our purposes here).

             In order to start somewhere we need to tap on all we can— ancient and present day religious wisdom, philosophical thinking and inevitably science. The task seems enormous but possible due a vast amount of duplication and cyclic activity in human thinking.

             We start our search in China. Revived again today in modern-day China is Confucius’s ancient wisdom, where it has become especially popular amongst some Chinese intellectuals. This has enormous benefits to its populace in elevating moral standards in a new more democratic and capitalistic China where unchecked greed and capitalism has slowly planted its’ segregating roots (we in the West are already experts at this).

Confucius based the pillars of his wisdom and high morals in an ancient tale where humankind, bequeathed with the enormous task of pulling Heaven and Earth together, has to act wisely and with caution and care. Facing a new interconnected world narrowly defined by science, economics and politics, ‘freed’ to some extend from the confines set by some religions, it may never have been more applicable than now to intermingle Western and Eastern philosophical thinking in facing a very complex future. Tapping on both Western and Eastern philosophy has also never been more appropriate and practicable than in a more interconnected world as we have today, thanks to the Internet and air travel.

I found it fascinating during my travels and explorations to see how some people brought up under the influence of Eastern religious and philosophical thinking such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and others are grasping at wisdom and ideas in Western religion and philosophy. Likewise, we are all familiar with how in the West disillusioned individuals (we do not mention agnostics here, since they do not care anyway) are reaching for escape in Eastern religions and philosophical thinking. Many individuals on both sides have emerged from this with a ‘newly’ discovered enlightenment, satisfied with a new life and death formula. Inevitably, we have to ask ourselves if there is a common pattern here, and if so, how can we simplify and apply it.

Confucius continued and brilliantly exemplified a more open-minded wisdom centuries ago— “with only ambition (heaven) and no realism we are dreamers, with only realism (earth the objective) and no dreams we are plodders”. Clearly, either way, it can be seen we need move forward from another plodding phase of our existence, this time spiritually depraved and entrapped in a money driven technocratic society where God is dead and science our only guide.

The significance of revived Confucius and Zen thinking lies in its involvement with the detachment of sense from object. Almost simultaneously with this detachment comes the responsibility to utilise sense in an ongoing pursuit to amalgamate sense and object. From this it may already become evident to some the duplicity in Eastern philosophy and religion to detach form object –move outside the objective world and then be drawn back with more clarity of vision--enlightened. 

Cause and effect is an obvious reality of life and the known universe, in science we call this evidence-based research. ‘A hot plate burns’, ‘water is wet’ (we do not need much more to prove this), ‘drug C causes such and such’, and so on. Ignoring a sense of awareness of a higher aspiration simply because it lacks objective evidence would in essence be as ignorant as burning a finger on a hot plate. Mathematics is an exact science with minor changes over time all the other sciences are constantly changed and adjusted based on new discoveries and advances.

How do we explain a current sense that something is amiss and a new more harmonious era is dawning, eradicating greed and poverty?  Certainly, science and a better understanding of a material world cannot be where it begins or ends.

We have evolved the perceptive capacity to survive in the objective material world, all the way to now mapping the human genome, certainly not due to a freak chance genetic mutation or selective coding. If, on the other hand genetic coding is merely a selection process to create the fittest to survive, we have done pretty well, and passed our objective goal with the ability to destroy an entire planet. Based on current available knowledge and scientific evidence the Big Bang origin of our universe is the most acceptable and realistic explanation. We still have no idea why and how replicating DNA creating an organism to sense and perceive such things fit into the scheme of things.

We, based on all current evidence at hand, also now know how simultaneously unique, small and fragile we are in this scheme of things. We may be part of a bigger plan or maybe not. Ultimately, from where we stand and however many belief systems we want to create, it actually does not matter and we are the ultimate achievement. This is so unless we suffer from a serious case of self- refutation.

Under such a scheme, where higher perception (sense as I refer to it in this book) is our ultimate achievement ethical and morally guided living, become a lot more meaningful. Under such a system, we also cannot justify extreme wealth greed or poverty and any neglect of the weak and poor. The reason is that if we care for  our higher Sense (unless this is undeveloped or diseased) we will not cause it to be neglected, in pain or suffering. We also from our understanding of science realise the interconnectivity of all, so selfish and egoistic living (see later chapters) are scientifically wrong (besides the ethics and morality involved).

  A serious problem now arises if values are misconstrued and a few powerful people have the ability to control the masses and manipulate the rules driven by material gain. Religion has slowly been replaced by economics and science to determine values, perhaps forcefully perhaps due to destiny. In addition, lawyers of the powerful and rich, subject to their financial power, benefit form more available means to manipulate the rules than the poor masses. Never before in the history of humankind have we had a complex society governed by such blunt and archaic economics and materialism.  Clearly, we blindly follow and worship option (a) and the meaninglessness of it all.

In order to explain, imagine a futuristic scenario, very likely to occur since the science is already in place. Genomics, nanotechnology and genetic engineering, to name but a few, new era advances in medicine that will benefit the wealthy.

With stem cell replacement therapy and genetic manipulation to fix damaged tissue, what an amazing new era of blissful painless living awaits some of our richer compatriots. However, to different ‘minds’ this will be of different value:

For Joe 2 the clone of Joe (the initial Joe Self), this is great news because after a promiscuous lifestyle and smoking for years he now develops lung cancer.

Joe Self on the other hand, raised by a Buddhist monk group was the sole survivor of a plane crash in Tibet. He move back to the West and dedicated his life to writing philosophical text and helping others through pure and healthy living. He is in good health, happy although financially considered poor.

Joe 2, considered a lucky and successful man, growing up with the odds against him as a cloned orphan can now afford the new stem cell replacement therapy on offer. He can do so after making a fortune selling off a pornographic website where you can meet your future dream date and invested it ‘wisely’ in a property soon to be developed for a new casino.

Under option (a), survivalist lucky events create winners and we can justify a successful, evolutionary winner in Joe2 (although not in agreement with many individuals’ moral values). He potentially has the means through his wealth to control many more and create jobs than the initial Joe Self. The above may even suggest there is a valid argument for cloning select genomes (the rich who can afford it) to expose their replicas to potentially more diverse environments.

We now face a philosophical dilemma. A cloned individual based on material gain has obtained a higher placing in the gene pool than the original pure form. Under our current ethical standards and moral values governed by material wealth, we can see how easy it is to accept Joe 2 as the evolutionary winner in the complex scheme of things. Clones may have biological flaws and with the potential to be cloned again can enhance biological disasters and restrict the natural selection process.

Delving a bit deeper in the above situation we can also argue that Joe 2 has employed many people in the new Casino (also destroyed many families and caused suffering in many), so he seems like a bit of an economical stimulant besides a genetic success?

Option (b) argument, a higher purpose, Jo Self is the winner. This is so because of his focus on  developing the senses and morality. Furthermore, consider the casino property now turned into a park, open to all and available for spiritual escape and recreational needs; in a society where greed and excess is not highly valued.  Jo Self has created spiritual awareness and healthy living through his simple lifestyle. He has given more to society than he has taken. Instead of fabricating a shaky base for addictive behaviour patterns driven by an enigmatic lust for more money, he set a less rapacious platform for people to improve their mental and physical wellbeing— also less dependent on material needs. No prizes for guessing who has created a better platform for an ethical and moral society to develop.

We all generally object to greed and self-gain at the cost of many, and consider it repulsive. So what drives this edacity?

Aggressive competitive behaviour is a genetically acquired trait needed for primeval survival—we should now confidently discard its use in civilised society. Ongoing competitive behaviour is of use only to obtain recognition in the group, to stand out and inflate one’s own ego. The marketing fraternity are experts at utilising this, driven by large paycheques from big industry. To stand out not only as a potential mate for breeding purposes, but to elevate one’s status when it comes to compete for food needed for survival. Alternatively, the motive is brash egoistical comfort seeking or fear.  Such primitive recognition in the group is no longer of any use to society as a whole and has become a damper for future development; it may even be a threat to group safety. Elevating status based on wealth and property ownership as a creator of more access to power and freer lifestyle choices set false aspirations and created the platform for corruption, nepotism and greed. Everybody is and should be, born free. We can see how easy it is to lose the plot under such a system with the Confucian heaven slipping away. None of humankinds’ intellectual endeavours, our religions, sciences and philosophies, can ignore the fact that they are in search of a higher level of existence. In this way, we can sense the sagacity and motivation in our noble pursuit. Seen as driven by financial gain it loses acumen.

Therefore, we need to change the basis of our ethical design system to be less dependent on material gain and more preoccupied with mental wellbeing and spiritual gain. Under such a system, we also will reduce crime and greed.

The first step is simply to reject option (a) and accept the higher reason for our purpose here—to nurture advanced perception and sensory wellbeing on all possible levels.