When helping my teen-age son type out a biology project on my computer I discovered that he and his biology teacher had a problem with Darwin. The teacher who has had a spiritual experience and my son who had a Catholic upbringing were both baffled with the concept of creation. Those without an understanding of dualism are frequently placed in a position where their dedication to science and their experience of the spirit leave them helpless. Man, as creator, thinks manually. He is accustomed to fabricate things with his hands. Every material object in nature is subject to his manipulations. It is very difficult for him to envision a creator with aeons of time to create in . . . a creator who has made such intricate and complex objects as neural synapses . . . a creator who evolves things. That this evolution is seemingly compassionless and cruel seems to contradict the idea of a beneficent God. Our nature is altruistic and loving because we are members of a social group. We are probably the only practioners of generosity in nature. We did not adopt this saintly directive because we are better than God. Altruism is a survival mechanism for our species. Like the neural synapse, it too, is a creation of God.
We are being put to the test of survival. If we do not survive we will be nothing more than the other mutations that were mistakes. Today altruism is being put to the test of surviving the results of Man's technology. Certainly it is in the interest of God that it survives. It is also in the interest of Man. God guarantees nothing. He is like a corporate brainstormer. "Lets throw it against the wall and see if it sticks." It is hard for us to imagine a creator who is so wealthy he can afford to make mistakes of this magnitude. It must be hard for foreigners to imagine how the American national debt could reach its present magnitude. The idea of a creator who uses such bumbling methods is unacceptable to Man with his electronic gauges. Only by contemplating the enormous span of time available to God can we understand this mode of creation.
I do not believe that God is unaware of our problems nor that he does not intervene on our side. If he could zap everything right I am sure he would. The best we as individuals can hope for is that we are doing his will to the best of our ability. He won't pay our rent but if we get out of his way he will see that it is paid.
The messenger of God to Man is the Spirit. Most humans are equipped with spiritual receptors. Like the laboratory animal who is motivated by food . . . Man is motivated by the Spirit. I do not think that Francis Crick will get it under his microscope because it emanates from some other dimension of reality. Perhaps he will locate the receptors. Until then we must look to spiritual principles that seem to work.
Controlling ones thinking is like picking up one by ones own bootstraps. I don't know about other peoples thinker but mine just goes on doing its thing. The only way I can change my thinking is to engage in a dialogue with a book or a person. Like putting a cake in the oven . . . the old thinker begins to change.
I spent an hour watching the young leadership of the African National Congress explain their victorious march to equality in South Africa. They were different from the other people in the room. Wide open eyes sparkled with intelligence like South African diamonds. The spirit of God emanated from them and from every word they uttered. An American Black disagreed with the reconciliation motto of "forgive and forget". The answers from the A.N.C. were in opposition to his vengeful attitude. White chauvinism is ending in failure . . . why should Black chauvinism be a success? The would be leader who exhibits the Totem Gene is not worthy of leadership. "Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord."
The one-sided are not capable of carrying two buckets of water. They want to put the spirit and the material in the same pail. Consider the difference between the results of World War One and World War Two. The international community went in the direction of vengeance after 1918 and laid the groundwork for the terrible World War Two. The lesson was learned . . . and today, former enemies are a bulwark of peace. It was called "The lesson of Versailles", and the same lesson must be carried into every struggle.
The effort to acquire the Spirit must not be to provide some egotistical Nirvana for the individual but to help us get through the pain of reality and to experience the joy of life. Its hallmark is love and it is accompanied by a personal surrender to the will of God. The Spanish "si Dios quiere", like the English "God willing," precedes any affirmation of action. This book will be published only if God is willing. I and the publisher can only take the steps (one at a time) that will have this result. "Self will run riot" ends in disaster.
Generally the admonitions to "change your life" or "change your thinking"
are valueless. Better is: "take yourself to some place where the atmosphere
will cause you to change." If you want to bake a cake . . . you put it
in the oven and wait. If you are a loser you will not learn to be a winner
by hanging around other losers. If you decide to change your thinking .
. . go to school, or at least to a library. Changing yourself is an impossibility.
If you want to feel the spirit, go to a church or some other group
of like minded people and allow them to change you. "Where one or more
are gathered in my name . . . I will be there also". This is the only way
this result can be attained except if in a moment of surrender the holy
spirit descends upon you. And this will not happen by exercising your will-power.
We do not like this advice because being manual we want to have our hands on any project we attempt. This manual tendency is fine in approaching material problems but the subjective barriers to personal success are internalized and will not respond to this approach. Hard heads like myself have to be beaten to a pulp before we surrender to the spirit. It requires humility and the only way to become humble is to be humiliated. Humbly applying yourself to an immediate task will turn the humiliation into victory. My all American self-will run riot finally brought me to my knees. "The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" disappeared and the sun came out. Could it be that the present prosperity of Germany and Japan are the result of surrender?
The Spirit can and does heal miraculously. One time after a long
dry spell of poverty I found myself contracting three beach houses in Newport
Beach California. I was progressing nicely when I stepped off a curb and
onto a two-by-four, twisting my ankle. It swelled up and I had to remove
my boot. The foot was blue and swollen and I hopped on one foot to my truck
and returned home. That night I awoke with a high fever and the bed was
soaked with sweat. I looked at the ceiling with a laugh and said, "O.K.
God . . .
You ruined my foot and now you have given me pneumonia but I guess
you know what you are doing." In the morning I jumped out of bed as healthy
as I have ever been in my life. The foot was just like the other one. When
I went to bed it had either been broken or was sprained badly. I have never
heard of such a rapid cure for this. The rational scientist might have
an explanation but my explanation is that it was healed by the Spirit .
. . and don't forget . . . I was there!
God through his spirit selectively intervenes in this world. There is no doubt of this. Why he helps in one case and allows all sorts of horrors to take place in others passes understanding. I can only suspect that he is adhering to some master plan of his own. We can only accept it and go about our business. I do not attempt to read his mind. My mind is the mind of a very temporary individual. His mind spans the cosmos. It can only be noted that while he is promoting altruism he is not necessarily altruistic himself. Still . . . we are dealing with other dimensions in this discussion. To feel God's love is an almost unbearable ecstasy. It does not happen all the time. To know that he is watching over us does not mean that we can cross against the light or drive on the freeway while kissing a girl. God does not want us to be careless. He wants us to go about our business as does every other living thing. He wants us to be happy . . . being unhappy means that we are not doing his will. Everyone wants money because of the illusion that it will bring happiness. It has been shown that a spiritual person can be happy without it. In fact it has been demonstrated that a spiritual person can be ecstatic under conditions that a normal person would consider horrible. How did Nelson Mandela survive twenty years of incarceration by the South African government? How did he come out healthy and obviously contented with himself? The Spirit lives, even in prisons.
In this work I have taken a materialistic position . . . but only on one side. On that side I reject any form of idealism. I castigate that which does not meet the empirical demands of science. I do not deny that Man is a technological animal and that his development was contingent on war. Being a dualist . . . I see no need to attribute qualities to Man that he does not possess. In this world the key word is survival. Overpopulation is not conducive to survival. Overpopulation can cause a species to die. Altruism demands that we find the least hurtful methods of bringing our population into line with our holding capacity. War will no longer do it. Disease will not do it. The agony of starvation cannot be countenanced as a natural ecological mechanism for us. The only answer is birth control on a massive scale. If you are against birth control you are a warmonger. The truth of this is shown by the "right to life" guilt of murdering health workers at abortion clinics.
Dualism mandates that we also promote and elevate the spiritual receptors
of the tribe of Man. Man's individual freedom depends on his individual
behavior. The holy spirit is the modifier of behavior. The spirit is found
in the ranks of the artists. In the final analysis it is the artist who
will shape the public spirit. It is the artist that must ennoble the tribesman.
From the well of talent that contains the holy spirit the artist
must cleanse our hearts. As the ranks of the artist swells, the role of
the police becomes secondary. Art must once again proclaim its message
of beauty. Artists should not be forced to produce what the public demands.
The artist is the leader and trend-setter. It is not for nothing that Newt
Gingrich (the voice of the jungle in our tribe) has taken P.B.S. and the
National Council of the Arts as his first targets to be eliminated.
Technology and its economic techniques have brought the jungle into the tribal kraal. The primitive world of Tribe against tribe has been replaced with Man against Man . . . yet technology continues to develop. Communications technology is bringing Man back together as satellites and fiber optics and computer networks enter the bi-millemnium. The false gods and their false prophets must wither under this light. Man will become united. The age-old dream of the idealist will become reality. This is the message of survival. The tribal spasms afflicting us with the warrior gene will subside as we get our population under control. Crime and the resurgence of epidemic disease and murderous tribal warfare are natures answer to overpopulation. We must presume that any further increase in the world population will intensify these disasters.
In nature . . . there is no "right to life." In nature "flesh is grass". We have stood above nature for too long. If we are to take an intellectual position on "life" we must also take a stand on death. The question of euthanasia must be faced by more people than Doctor Kervorkian. Birth control must take advantage of the French birth control pill. The central problem of an approach to this unnatural situation is the over-riding question of whom shall make these decisions. While population control by government edict faces the same condemnation that confronts the Chinese government . . . the decision of the individual to terminate a pregnancy or to end his own life must not be abridged.
Primitives had no compunction about summarily killing a child that was born defective. Primitives were very conscious of their ecological responsibilities. They developed social arrangements to limit birth e.g. younger men with older women and older men with young women. In times of drought or other natural brakes on their food source . . . newborns were slaughtered. If a woman gave birth to twins, one was executed. In flight situations caused by war a woman could not run with a child in her arms and it was discarded lest she fall victim to the enemy. Tribal Man took responsibility for his own ecological viability.
It was only with agriculture that large families became valuable. The Third World subsistence farmer needed many helpers to survive. Whereas a child born in the city is an economic liability . . . farm children are carrying water and helping out. The so-called "machismo" of the Mexican peasant who takes pride in having many children is a result of the fact that these children work. The wealth of the farmer depends on the number of his progeny. The inventions that led to the industrial revolution brought many of these people to the cities. Child labor in the mines and factories was countenanced because it had been the norm before they arrived. The stress of urbanization brought down the birthrate in the cities when child labor was outlawed. The mechanization of agriculture had a similar effect on the farm. Technology must find its way into Africa and South America as it has in Asia. The international community through the United Nations and the various free trade agreements should promote the techno-jungle to spread its roots into these places. This must be accompanied by the politics of insuring that backward countries have the social defenses to protect them from child-labor, convict labor, and labor without representation. This is a difficult proposition as free traders seek to profit from these horrors.
Population control must be central to our vision of the future. The leadership of the Catholic Church and other promoters of "life" must be forced by their enlightened congregations to take a position on "death". These are the dual aspects of existence. We cannot dodge this duality. If it is not confronted the modern medical miracles that are promoting life will one day become a curse. The Catholic Church as promoters of "life" does not take a position against war. They talk of peace but have participated in just about every war in history. As a Catholic I do not accept their "discipline" on this subject.