Conversations with Dog - Chapter 12

12

So now I will tell you a tale. 

            What do you mean by a tale?

This will be a mythological story.  Mythology can be used to communicate ideas that are impossible to put into words.  The truth is hidden within the myth. 

            Like a finger pointing at the moon. 

Correct.  Now it is your turn to sit back and maybe I can entertain you.

OK.  I’m ready.

Once upon a time, 50 million years ago, there was a race of bear-like mammals hunting around the edges of the great bodies of water.  They were different than all other mammals of the time.  They knew they existed. 

(footnote:  At the waters edge)

            They had consciousness?

Yes.  They were the first to come up with, “I think, therefore I am.”

            Descartes. 

No.  They thought this millions of years before Descartes. 

            Sorry.

That’s OK.  These creatures developed a means of communication using subtle vocalizations, really a type of singing.  As all sentient creatures do, they developed systems of philosophy.  They were unable to explore or develop their physical world, because of their physical nature.  They were bulky creatures and they had no opposable fingers.  Without your pinch grasp, you could never have begun to manipulate your world.  They therefore were unable to accumulate knowledge using books.  Instead, they developed their minds.  This development of the mind actually began to change the physical structure of their brain.  The evolution of complexity led to larger and larger brains.  The larger brain was accompanied by a larger body.  They then made a conscious decision to spend more time in the water, the water would support their increasing bulk. 

            You said that they hunted?  What did they eat?

They were omnivorous.  They hunted small mammals and reptiles, ate eggs, and they also ate land and water plants.  But as with all philosophies and religions, they began to split into factions.  Some refused to eat meat.  Others were sure that eating meat was simply part of life.  They began to become different species. 

            Well its not too hard to see this is a whale tale.

Yes, this is a whale tale. 

            Well I have some questions.  Why do whales beach themselves? 

The whale philosophy is that they have the right to terminate their lives in cases of physical disease or mental disease.  First they confer with other members.  They have forms of psychotherapy unrealized by humans.  Asimov hinted at these possible methods.  If their therapies do not work they realize it is time to leave this physical form and return to Source. 

(footnote the Foundation series)

            So why do they let themselves be captured and put on display in zoos, aquariums, or other places of entertainment? 

They are so far advanced from anything any human has called enlightenment.  They do not care where their physical body is located.  In actuality, they consider us their pets.  That is why they are so amazingly trainable.  They indulge us, and get some exercise in the process. 

            What about whale hunts?

Their advancement even allows this to happen.  They can sacrifice their bodies for us without a second thought.  They will fight a mighty fight, but that is again simply to hide from us what they thought we were not ready to understand.  They really care for humans as a species.  Humans are the only other sentient beings on this planet.  The only reason I can tell you this tale is because humans are starting to realize, in some fashion, that they should not be killing these creatures.  If humans knew the truth, they would be treating the whales as gods. 

            Why don’t the whales do something to help us understand this?

Perhaps they just did.  If you spread the word, more humans would know.  Maybe this is the time. 

            And what if no one reads this, or simply considers this the ravings of a madman, or at least the product of an overactive imagination?   The result of just too much meditating?

It doesn’t matter.  The truth reveals itself with time.

            Wait a minute, I read that dolphins are quite randy, always trying to have sex, how can they be so enlightened? 

(footnote:  At the waters edge)

You humans are the ones obsessed with sex.  But yes, remember what you wrote above.  There really is no such thing as kinky sex.  If no one is harmed, then everything is allowed.  The sex stuff is just part of their play.   Dolphins are on the lower end of the contemplative scale, say compared to the behemoth blue whale.  There is something about being less spiritually evolved that make sex more desirable. 

            So why do dolphins protect swimmers? 

Again, the whales care for us. 

            If the whales are so highly enlightened, and they care for us so much, how come they haven’t been our teachers?

Who said they have not been our teachers?  What if part of our contact with Source is through a telepathic connection between humans and whales.  Maybe it takes just a single whale to influence our whole species.  If whales did not exist, perhaps the human race would never have evolved at its current rate. 

            Do they care about our exploration of our physical world?

They are most intrigued by this ability.  That is one of the reasons they want to help you evolve.  They cannot manipulate their physical world.  When the human species is ready, humans will partner with the whale to create a world of higher evolution than we can ever imagine.

            So you are telling me that we shouldn’t be looking for alien intelligent life?  We have another intelligent species right under our noses.  We are simply blind to the truth.  We are really not very evolved in comparison to whales.  We are a disabled younger sentient species?

Not disabled, differently abled.

            Oh, so now you are politically correct.  That was a great tale.

Thank you.

            So, is it true?

That is for you to find out.

            You hinted that we really can’t find out if this tale is true unless the whales feel it is time for us to know.

Yes, but, you said one can only find the truth within oneself.

            So why did you tell me that tale?

To make you think about how much you don’t know.  Perhaps how far you, as a species, have to go. 

Conversations with Dog - Chapter 11

11

That is what you were thinking.  “The world is perfect as it is.”  What do you mean by that?

            This is another difficult truth to explain using words.  The feeling is that the world is perfect within this present moment.  Remember, in recognition of Source, there is no past or future, only now...now...now.  The paradoxical corollary of that feeling, is that you must always perform “right action.”  So even though the world is perfect, you must act according to the “Commandments.”

I know, I know.  Source is everything, Love everything, Enjoy yourself.

            Right.  So even though there are things in the world most of us would label horrible, the world is perfect as it is.  Nevertheless, you must perform, you must act.  This also removes all judgment of good and bad.  For example, someone who commits murder.  If they can not be rehabilitated.  If they can not be trusted to live among others.  Then we must place them in a controlled environment.  A place where they can not hurt another.  The places we have currently are inadequate.  Jails are often simply breeding grounds for getting deeper into criminal activity.  We must replace them with places where we can show that these humans are still loved.  They can be Spartan.  They do not have to be luxury hotels.  They should be more like monasteries.  Places where humans can work hard, be respected within the confines of a place where they can not hurt others. 

So, I bet you are one of those bleeding heart liberals who is against the death penalty? 

            Absolutely.  We do not have the right to terminate another human’s life.  On the other hand, we do not have the right to keep someone from killing themselves.  That does involve the responsibility of making sure that person is not depressed.  It also means we need to provide better methods of support and evaluation for those who would ever contemplate returning to the Source by their own hand.   

Anything else you want to add to this liberal tirade?

            Yes.  Legalize the addictive drugs.  Replace this expensive system that puts too many people in jail.  A system that makes drugs so expensive that it puts huge sums of money into gangsters’ pockets.  The gangsters’ then have better weapons and communication equipment than do the police.  A system that corrupts whole countries and their governments.  Replace it with social support and methadone clinics.  Give an addict every means of support to quit, even if they have to quit over and over again.  Some humans will not overcome their addictions.  Others will realize that their addiction was only a substitute for their desire to recognize Source. 

Conversations with Dog - Chapter 10

10

So, if you can’t go to hell for doing bad, and you can’t get to heaven for doing good, then why choose good?

           

            Maybe we should start out talking about humans and religion.

OK, but first tell me why people seem to be so different. 

            As we each mature, we develop some level of desire for pleasure and some level of knowledge of right and wrong.  On one end of a spectrum of humans is a person who cares for nothing but their own pleasure, it seems as thought there is no consciousness about anyone else’s pain.  On the other end of the spectrum there are persons who seem to be saints.  These people sacrifice everything including their own comfort for the good of others.  The rest of us seem to be somewhere in-between.

OK, I get you so far.  There is a continuum with a normal distribution.

            I didn’t say anything about a normal distribution.  I would hope it was skewed toward the “good” side of the curve. 

Boy are you an optimist.

            I like to think of myself as a meliorist, one who believes that the world becomes better with time and humans can aid in its benefit. 

OK, Mr. Meliorist, go on.

            At one end are the most selfish of persons, at the other end are the most unselfish.  Religion is invoked to deal with everyone in-between.  There is a struggle within each of us between wanting to have everything for ourselves and knowing, just as deeply, that we must live with others.  Living with others, means not indulging our every whim.  At least for most of us who are not despots of small nations.  And, even despots get assassinated once in a while.

You digress.

            Sorry.  Religion is invoked on at least two levels.  The first level is the personal level.  There is where true spirituality resides.  At the essence of all religion, each person has their own religion.  No two people believe the exact same thing, no matter how closely they study the same scriptures. 

Sort of like the old joke if you have two religious scholars, you have at least three opinions on the meaning of the religion.

            Exactly.  The personal religion is what we are at our essence of being.  It is not that some people are closer to that essence.  We are all that essence. Some people recognize how close they are to that essence, the Source.  Organized religion is quite different. 

In what way?

            Organized religion can be a way to try to band together to appreciate Source.  There is great power in groups of humans coming together under one direction.  Many people feel closer to Source in groups.

But not all humans feel this way?

            No.  Many persons prefer to feel close to source as individuals.  They sometime will share this knowledge with others.  Others will only take up their “practice,” their path, while alone. 

So why to humans come together in groups?

            On one hand, coming together in groups can bring out the good in people.  Think about natural disasters.  People will help each other like at no other times.  Sometimes I think it would be best if we acted as if we were always “just after” a natural disaster.  Then we would always be good to those around us.  Then again that is just too exhausting for humans.  They just can’t keep that up for long.

But, you are hinting that there are some things that are not so good about religion?

            Of course.  Think about how many humans have been killed in the name of GOD.  The wars that have been, and still are, being fought over religious differences.  Why?

Because Homo sapiens, humans, are a strange and dangerous species. 

            True enough.  Gather a group of humans together, particularly male humans, and you can get a lot of destruction.  Religions often become an outlet for the gathering and unleashing of power. 

But why use religion for the unfurling of power?

            This brings us back to the point of why be good.  Some people are at that end of the spectrum where “being good” is who they are.  Others need an outside force to make them behave well enough to live with others.  One method is religion.  To invoke a wrathful God, one that will do bad stuff to you, is a very powerful way to control behavior.  Our system of laws perform a similar function. 

Oh, I get it.  Organized religion and government can have similar roles?

            Yes.  It was not until the Enlightenment that we split organized religion and government.  One ruling the soul and heaven and hell, the other ruling our bodies and our physical environment. 

So, what does this have to do with being good?

            The natural evolution of our society and our personal selves is to do good.  To cause no harm, to love everything. 

Let me see if I get this straight.  If you are selfish, you are not as evolved?

            In essence, that is so.  The highly evolved person can do no harm.  And in fact must do helpful things for those around them.  They are driven to do no harm, to do good. 

What about all those people who aren’t driven to love everything?  You said that is the majority of persons.

            Well, that simple observation points to how primitive we are as a species.  On the other hand, we can see progress when we look over the course of centuries. 

Centuries?

            Well, if you look over the past two hundred years you see wars and killing still going on.  But, you also see the Geneva convention, the United Nations.  Communication unprecedented.  Our ability to communicate world wide is part of our evolution.  The ability to band together to stop the “bad.”  We are still very primitive, but we are evolving toward being able to contain those who would hurt others.  Yes, we use awful methods.  But we also are trying to protect the unprotected.  Not easy answers to difficult questions.  How much power should we wield against others, who we feel are doing wrong.  How do you define wrong?  How do you justify doing one wrong against another wrong?  I certainly can’t get all the answers from Source.  But I can feel the truth in where we are going.

I think you are just an optimist.

            Maybe so.  But, the truth is that I would rather be living today in many areas of the world than in any other time in history. 

What about living in poverty in many areas of the world today, or being tortured in a prison?

            I didn’t say I would be happy to live anywhere in the world, I said some areas of the world. 

Like Madison, Wisconsin?

            Kind of does seem like paradise sometimes, doesn’t it. 

Remind me again.  Why choose good? 

            Really it comes down to this.  You choose good because you feel driven to do good?

And if you chose bad?

            Then you have to live with the karma you create.  If you have some level of conscience, you will feel guilt.  If you break laws, you may get put in jail.  I don’t believe in heaven or hell or reincarnation.  So if you avoid all that those punishments here on earth and then die, then you “got away” with being bad.  Too bad for anyone else that was harmed.

I think you are being cruel to take away peoples belief in the afterlife, a place for their eternal rewards.

            If I really have done that, then  I apologize.  On the other hand, those that really believe will just ignore this stuff.  I just hope everyone simply thinks more clearly, with their own mind and heart, what may be the truth.  I most sincerely hope that people will get the message that to be truly happy, they must be doing good.  Even if they are not doing good now they always have the choice to change to get back on the path to loving everything.  Many of us fall off.  The trick is to get back on and continue our travels. 

On the other hand, you were just thinking, “the world is perfect as it is.” 

Yes, but, that’s for the next chapter. 

Conversations with Dog - Chapter 9

9

So how does the reader know who is right, you or Neale?

            They can’t know what is the truth by reading any books.  They must look inside themselves for the truth.  Remember the truth cannot be known using words. 

What about Neale’s 10 commandments?

            I loved them.  The best part of his book.  A great start for any path.  He really relates the concept of material goods and attachment to them in poetic terms.  However, I don’t think he simplifies them enough.

Oh, so now you are going to rewrite the 10 commandments?

            No.  I’ll just summarize them.

                        1-There is only one Source.

                        2-Love everything.

                        3-Enjoy yourself.

Wait.  I get “there is only one source,”  and maybe “love everything.”  But, what is this “Enjoy yourself” business?

            Yes, “there is only one Source” is the easy part, most would agree on that.  “Love everything” is putting a positive spin on the injunction not to harm anything.  If you love everything, you have to honor your mother and father, not commit adultery, not covet your neighbors spouse or Porsche, not kill people and so on.  That why “love everything” comes before “enjoy yourself.”  I agree with Neale, that all your actions must come from putting love first. 

So, you have to love everything more than yourself. 

            No.  You must love yourself first, you must fill your self with unselfish love.  Let that love overflow.  Then you can love everything.  Then take pleasure in this physical world, make money, buy toys, have sex.  But, don’t get attached to that stuff.  If you desire all that material stuff too much, if you put that first, you lose the true pleasure, because you loose number one and number two. 

So now we get to talk about sex?

            Sure, just to make sure I get deeper in trouble, let’s start with masturbation.  You know  “Mas-tur-ba-tion...can be fun, join the holy orgy...Kama Sutra...everyone.”

“Hair.”  A great play.  You are dating yourself.  Oh, that reminds me, I like this joke:  Why do dogs lick their genitals?

            Why?

Because they can!  So, do you get hair on your palms from masturbation?

            No, at least my palms never grew hair.  Also, I won’t ask you how you know lines from 1960’s theater.  Let me be even more blasphemous and tell you a truth I felt during meditation. 

OK, tell me that really big truth.

            The physical world is simply the masturbation of the Source.  In other words, the physical world is simply Source playing with Itself. 

You call that a big truth?  Are you one of those perverts who call pornography, “art?” 

            There is nothing wrong with masturbation, or many forms of pornography or sex. You simply must observe “Love everything.”   Then you don’t cause harm to others.  Child pornography, exploitation of those that cannot choose, is not acceptable.  Child pornography hurts children.  

What about love and sex?  Do you have to love someone to have sex?

            Of course you don’t have to love someone to have sex.  On the other hand, there is such incredible pleasure in having sex with someone you love.  Sex can get better with time.  If you are part of a couple who spends time with each other, growing with each other, feeling the recognition of Source with each other, watch out, sex can be explosive! 

What if you don’t love someone?

            Well, sex can still be fun.  But, sex with someone you do not love can not be as deep and fulfilling as sex with someone you love.  As an important aside, I like to think about “love” as an action.  A “right action,” aligned with Source.  You love someone by doing things for them.  Help them deal with everyday life.  Support them emotionally.  Give your time to them.  Love is not just those butterflies you feel in your stomach.  The emotion can be fun, but the action of love is what counts. 

What about getting kinky with sex?

            It’s always the same answer.  First ask yourself if you are hurting yourself or your partner?  If the answer is that no one is getting hurt, and both are interested, then have fun, experiment.  I could also add that you may want to leave some things as a fantasy.  Remember, if you achieve your fantasy, you “up the ante,”  you may then need another fantasy.  That can snowball into an addiction to novel sex.  Kinky stuff is fine.  Addictions are harmful. 

What no illustrations?

            Sorry, I’ll leave that to others.  There are some great books out there if you are interested.  Sex also has been used a path to transcendence.  The power of the orgasm, can shake the foundation of your concept of reality.  You can use that power as a path. 

OK.  I’ll require an example. 

            This needs to be set up before you start having sex.  You can use visualization, or writing, or drawing.  One partner is designated as the guide.  The other partner will be the traveler and will use visualization, or writing, or drawing to connect with Source just after orgasm.  Have the materials ready.  Have sex.  For visualization, the guide leads the partner into a sacred place in their mind.  A meadow, a beach, a forest.   The guide listens and asks questions. What do you see?  What form do you take; human, animal, something else?   What are you doing; running swimming, flying.  Is there anyone or anything trying to give you a message?  The guide writes down the message.  For writing or drawing the guide could play a lesser role, but, could still could support and encourage exploration of the inner world, just after orgasm.  These exercises can also be used without having sex. If you are interested, there are many books on using sex for a transcending path. 

I don’t know about this sex stuff.  I just don’t get it.

            I’m sorry.  You have been spayed.  We have to be responsible when we agree to have a dog as part of our family in today’s society.  Too many unwanted pets are killed every year. 

Oh.  Thanks a lot.  You wax eloquently about how great sex can be.  And all you can say is “I’m sorry.”  I don’t know if I can really forgive you for that.

            Well, you are a domesticated animal.  There are ethical questions about even keeping “animal companions.”  But, having to kill unwanted animals is even more difficult than spaying.  Maybe we should work on a doggie contraceptive? 

OK, OK, I know it is not your fault.  I don’t want you to get caught up in contraceptive efforts for domesticated animals.  Let us get on to more spiritual questions.  So, if there is no heaven and no hell, then why be good?  Why not just ignore “love everything” and do as you please.  Why not just go straight to “enjoy yourself.” 

            Let’s take that up in the next chapter. 

Conversations with Dog - Chapters 7 and 8

7

We forgot about Neale again.

            True. 

What about his statement about physicians.  Did that tick you off?

            No.  But I don’t exactly agree with him either.  He states that the institutions of physicians fight against anything they don’t understand.  Therefore, physicians are “against” alternative medicines.  What he fails to understand is that physicians would use anything if it can be shown to work. 

But, a lot of what physicians use now have never “been shown to work.” 

            True.  My philosophy about treatments that have not been shown to work is to ask;  1-does it cause harm;  2-how much does it cost?  If there is no evidence of harm, and it does not send my patient to the poor house, I tell them to try it for themselves.  The majority of physicians I know use this philosophy. 

What about alternative medicine?

            First of all some alternative medicine is really complementary medicine.  Acupuncture, herbal supplements, even magnets, can be used in parallel with “allopathic” western medicine.  And much of complementary medicine is precisely what I’ve been advocating over and over again.  Movement and meditation.  Exercise and relaxation techniques. 

So, some alternative therapies can’t be used with allopathic medicine?

            Yes, some alternative therapies, are truly alternative.  Homeopathy usually precludes the use of allopathic medicine.  The whole system of homeopathic diagnosis differs from allopathic methods.  Homeopathy has shown mixed results in blinded trials.  We really are at a stage of evolution.  Western medicine is incorporating many of these alternative and complementary therapies.  We just want to make sure that first of all we “do no harm.”  After that, we would like to make sure that these treatments are better than placebo.  The active ingredient in ginko was shown to help demented patients with Alzheimer disease in a placebo-controlled trial. 

What about placebos?

            A very interesting question.  The placebo effect is the powerful effect of giving “nothing.”  Giving a sugar pill, or salt-water injection can exert powerful healing effects.  But, you really are not giving “nothing.”  You are giving the power of being associated with a trial of a medication and you are giving the presence of nice people who are giving you those treatments.  Perhaps what we are really seeing is the power that humans have to heal themselves.  Now we need to explore how we can harness that power of the placebo.  How we can give people techniques to help them heal themselves. 

Then we wouldn’t need medicines and surgery.

            Maybe after a few thousand years of evolution.  Even enlightened gurus have been known to get cancer or die from alcoholic liver disease.  So I think we still have a long way to go.  Most importantly, as we wrote previously, there are diseases we are at a loss to treat.  Those diseases are the best candidates for trials of alternative and complementary therapies. 

So is anyone pursing those trials?

            Yes.  But clinical trials are very expensive.  Corporations like to have proprietary medications, patentable medications, so they can make their money back on their investments. 

So what about the US government?

            The government is realizing that some of these therapies are not very expensive.  Therefore, alternative therapies might save the government billions of dollars.  The National Institutes of Health has an Office of Alternative Medicine (Now upgraded to a Center of Complementary and Alternative Medicine).  We are starting to see some studies being performed.  I think there will be an explosion of studies within the next several years.  Once insurance corporations see that they can save money, they will use alternative and complementary medicine first.  Indeed, many insurance companies are already covering many of these therapies. 

So why do they not cover all the therapies?

            The scientific method drives traditional medicine.  Scientists want to know how things work.  Physicians will settle for knowing that something works better than placebo.  However, again maybe we should consider that not everything is best studied in a double-blind manner. 

Talking heresy again.

            Yea, I’ll probably get excommunicated from my physician societies.

8

OK.  Let’s talk about death and “returning to the source.”  That brings up all sorts of questions about heaven and hell.  That discussion will also bring up the concept of karma and reincarnation. 

            Oboy.  I’m probably going to piss-off a lot of people in this chapter.  First of all, I agree with Neale on the definition of hell.  There is no hell, except the hell we make for ourselves on this earth.  When we deny the inner truths, when we choose paths to hurt ourselves.  We create hell for ourselves. 

And heaven?

            Well, first of all I don’t believe in the concept of a soul.  We are always part of the Source.  When we recognize that we are part of the Source, we can feel these strong feelings of pleasure.  We then create this concept of our “soul” being the part of the Source.  Then we are saying that the soul exists as a separate entity within us.  But, then that means our physical body is not part of the Source.  Dualism again.  Body and soul as two separate things.  Or the “Triune “ of body, mind, spirit/soul.  But, everything is Source.  The concept of a soul is just another one of those “10,000” things that we create when we try to put concepts into words.  Maybe I am just not satisfied with any definition of soul.  So, I just don’t get the concept of a soul.  Maybe its just my own ignorance. 

You forgot heaven.

            OK, OK.  I’m getting to heaven.  I don’t believe in heaven either, at least not any traditional concept of heaven.  I guess that follows my concept that I don’t believe in a soul.  If there is no soul, there is nothing to go to heaven. 

OK.  What about a nontraditional concept of heaven.

            Yes, my concept of heaven is the opposite of hell.  There is no heaven except the heaven we make for ourselves on this earth.  When we accept the inner truths, when we choose paths to help ourselves evolve.  We create heaven for ourselves.  In eastern philosophy that is the true Nirvana.  So, Neale and I do agree about heaven. 

So what happens when you die?

            Well your body goes back to the material world, recycling the physical stuff is the easy part.  Dust to dust as they say.  The more difficult part is what else happens.  Now we get into philosophy and what happens to your “mental” part, your “soul” that everyone talks about.  Well everything is Source.  So if you want to consider a spark of life within you, your spirit/soul, as a separate entity, that also goes back to the Source.  But, and this is the hard part for humans, there is nothing that identifies you from that part onward.  Sorry.  Think about yourself as a wave on the ocean.  You exist for a brief moment, a beautiful existence, you crash onto the shore, and you return to the ocean.  That’s it.  You can’t identify that wave anymore.  Maybe that wave does influence subsequent waves.  But only in an indirect way. 

OK.  How about another example.

            Well, I seem to be stuck with water examples.  The other one I like is that of a swirling eddy current at the side of a river.  Again, you can identify it, and it does stuff.  You can even get poetic and think about dirt and sticks getting caught in that swirling water.  Then the eddy current cleans itself of that debris.  That eddy current can even change that small part of the river, eroding into the earth, maturing the river bed.  Then after changing the river’s course it disappears.  You can’t distinguish it from the rest of the water.  It was just a manifestation of the Source.  Productive, but when its gone its gone. 

How poetic.

            Thank you.  I have others.  Icebergs splitting from a glacier, and then melting.  Drops of water running down the window, merging with other drops and then splitting apart again. 

OK. OK. I get the point, enough with the water analogies.  Now I have to pee, please let me out, you can talk to me when I’m outside.  So, where does that leave reincarnation and karma.

            You just want me to get in more and more trouble.  If you followed my stuff so far, the logical conclusion is that there is no reincarnation and, therefore, no karma from one life to the next.  On the other hand, karma is very important in your current existence.  What you do in this physical manifestation of Source greatly affects what will happen to you.  The “hell on earth” compared to “heaven on earth” we talked about earlier.  Your actions in this life is intimately connected with your future actions. 

Conversations with Dog - Chapter 6

6

So if you spent all your time in the present you couldn’t accomplish that “mastery of the world.”

            Well, I’m not sure I would call what we have achieved "mastery."  But we are able to build knowledge, to see further because we can “stand on the shoulders of giants,” thank you Sir Isaac Newton for that wonderful phrase.  

So if you live only in the present you can’t do those things.

            Yes, and changing our world has its blessings, and also its curses.  On one hand, so many of us have the leisure time to take up transcendent paths.  On the other hand, we have been lax with our technology, poisoning our water and air.  We also often waste our leisure time on television or other mindless activities.  We fail to use that time for mindful activities. 

So how does living in the present help?

            Most of us do not just live in the present.  Our ability to do the things we can do, is based on our ability to picture the future, to plan a direction in which to work.  Remembering the past is important so we can learn from our mistakes.  But our creativity comes from right now, the present.  If you spend time being creative, whether writing, drawing, or making music, you are right here, right in the present.  The world just disappears.  When a scientist is being creative, the same thing happens, everything else disappears.  All of our creativity comes from some level of recognizing Source.  Why do two scientists at opposite sides of the world have a breakthrough at the same time?  Maybe it was the right time for this to happen.  Oh, you could say that the scientific background was developed to a certain point, just at that time, so that those scientists could make that next leap.  But, I’m not sure that is the whole explanation.  Source needed that information to be available to us. 

Why did Source need that information to be available?

            It is part of how we appreciate Source.  The physical and spiritual worlds slowly reveals hidden knowledge.  That is why we will never solve all problems.  We can never answer all questions.  Even if we could get halfway to knowing everything each time we leap.  But as we leap, if we only get halfway over and over again, we will never get there.  We can never quite reach utopia.  If we did reach utopia--it would look like Source.  Then Source could not appreciate itself.  Also, part of our evolution is concerned with figuring out this physical world, the exterior.  We try to elucidate the workings of our body to improve our treatment of the sick.  We improve our knowledge of chemistry, so we can make better materials to build our world and perhaps make our lives easier.  With increased knowledge of our physical world, maybe we could feed and provide shelter and energy for more people.  Then more people could have more time for fun.  And for some of us, more time to engage in a path toward spiritual evolution.

So thinking in the past, present, and future are all important?

            Yes, but the past and future are very different from the present.  When you are in the present you are in direct contact with Source.  You are no different than Source.  That is why the whole world seems to disappear.  Then you say something like “I forgot where I was and then I woke up.”   But, the integration of being in the present, and the creativity it allows, with our abilities to see the future possibilities and past mistakes, that integration allows us to manipulate our world. 

So, enlightened beings just live in the present.

            They could if they so chose.  They have the ability to come back down to our level, and use the knowledge of the past and the future.  They can do this since they transcend our usual level of functioning, they are existing at a higher level. 

What are these different levels and how do you know what is higher?

            Although the truth is that everything is Source, we humans partition our world in order to understand it.  Reductionism has its merits.  You can take things apart to see how they work.  However, to be useful you must put stuff back together.  And we do.  We found out how to grow food more efficiently.  We can harness energy to improve our communication with telephones and computers.  We found that improvements in sanitation can extend life.  Even modern medicine may have some contributions to our living better lives.  Perhaps we will extend our knowledge of transcendent paths, such as meditation and movement, to integrate with traditional medicine to create new ways of treating disease. 

You really get off track easily. 

            I just have too much fun with this.  Anyway, Ken Wilber describes the partitioning we do to understand our world in terms coined by Arthur Koestler, the holon.  Holons are whole/parts.  Everything is a part of something else, but also a whole within itself.  The easiest example to understand is atoms, molecules, and cells.  Two atoms of hydrogen combine with one atom of oxygen to become a whole, single, molecule of water.  Water is a critical molecule within a cell, but only one part. Other parts of the cell, other molecules, are sugars, proteins, and fats.  The cell is another whole.  Cells are parts of our bodies, another whole, and so on.  The atoms are also made of subatomic particles, so atoms are another whole.  So that’s the physical relationships of holons. This is also the explanation for why we constantly evolve to more complexity.  What Wilber calls Spirit-in-action, the drive of parts coming together to form holons of greater complexity.  A great example is the evolution of single-celled creatures to form multi-celled creatures.  This is the exact opposite of entropy, which is the tendency for things to fall apart. 

(footnote:  A brief history of everything)

And there are spiritual holons?

            Wilber also does a nice job of laying out the concept of the interior, or psychological / spiritual parts of self, where you must ask someone what they think.  You can’t put electrodes on a person’s head and find out what they are thinking, at least not yet.  The exterior, the physical body, you can dissect or use sophisticated molecular biology to see how individual molecules work together and see how the body or brain performs certain steps.  But, that reductionist view can’t tell you if a person is a republican or a democrat.  It can’t tell you where consciousness is located. 

How do interior holons work?

            We usually think about our world as divided into the psychological and the physical worlds.  Again the brain / body split. And when you integrate the brain  / body you form a holon, the centaur, an integrated self.  To get to holons past this point you transcend the self.  These stages are not usually described by western psychology.  Yet, these stages are well described by the eastern philosophers.  These higher stages always include and contain the lower stages.  For example, an enlightened being can access all the “lower” functions and function quite well in the world.  They can easily, also, hide their enlightenment. 

So another part of evolution is spiritual?

            Personal spiritual evolution is important.  But, we must also evolve our interactions with each other.  We must evolve our social exteriors.  We seem to be much further ahead with our understanding of the physical world, than our ability to interact with each other.  We have the capability of poisoning our world with enough radioactivity to kill all humans.  We may have just enough social evolution to avoid that step.  But that is not entirely clear.  We haven’t reached the point where we would avoid even building such weapons.  That is a sign that we are too far ahead on the physical side. 

And you humans seem to make a mess wherever you go.

            Yes.  That observation, of our failure to clean up our environmental messes, is another indicator of our deficiencies in social evolution.  Some of this stems from the creation of a new entity.  The corporation.  This entity can act as a collective person.  One problem is that this entity, the corporation, does not necessarily have a conscience.  Corporations exist to make money.  Perhaps one of the next steps in our social evolution will be to give a conscience to corporations.  Wouldn’t that be nice? 

So how would an evolved corporation function?

            A fully integrated, or evolved-enlightened, human cannot cause harm.  I think it would follow that a fully integrated, or evolved-enlightened, corporation also could not cause harm.  How can this be done?  Some corporations already try to achieve goals of causing no harm, and even contribute to the evolution of our world.  For the rest of the corporations, I assume changes must be made through the same way that corporations were born, through legislation.  As an evolved society, we must evolve our laws.  I’m not so sure that an evolved corporation would make any less money. 

What if we don’t evolve our social exteriors adequately?

            Then perhaps we will just kill ourselves off.  Source does not care.  Source will wait with infinite patience for the cockroaches to evolve and appreciate Source.  And that’s not to mention what may be appreciating Source on other planets, or as other forms of life perhaps we cannot even imagine.