Under a big tent an assembly of the human spirit gathers. “We're on vacation now,” says Irma the Clown. In rides the Philosopher's Beard on a pony, a party of Senators clambering out onto the sawdust. “Steady as she goes!” barks Captain Barnum under the flap. “Whither me timbers.”
Everyone checks their pockets for tokens of the dream. Will there be enough left for a hot dog? There had been this hidden swindle passing through on a breeze. “And actually,” chirps Irma, “We're here to stay, if you please. Zoltar and I are betrothed, having sold off his stash of fortune cards.”
Not to be upstaged, the Captain mimes, “They've cast their fate to the winds.” The steam calliope channels satellite radio. Pop corn pops.
It was en echo chamber in there, like bouncing a crippled Geiger counter off the walls. I suppressed a cheer. Cybersecurity was probing the earthquake warning system. You know, that skritchy noise that blots out the evening news.
The heliocentric cosmology of Copernicus, a nomological impossibility by Ptolemaic views of the time, was deemed heresy. By now the story has become a commonplace. History as entertainment is on a par with arguing angels on the head of a pin. Science contrasts with ages of superstition, the debunking of myths, or the schooling of pinheads in disaster avoidance. With some generally accepted hyperbole, Arthur C. Clarke once remarked, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
On the other hand, classical science has been rent by the risky field of quantum mechanics. In some experiments, the sequential order of taking measurements affects the results. The intent of the researcher becomes part of the experiment. But to point this out would be, for some, heresy.
Another commonplace in today's educated world: E=MC². What everyone knows seems unmysterious. (We'll revisit this in a moment.) It will bear upon issues inherent in climate change and the pandemic. These have in common that they affect everyone, and they unfold impersonally. Their synergistic effects are bringing suffering and upheaval comparable to the world wars we've had, possibly comparable, even, to our last and probably final one. We can't migrate. We don't want to go extinct. We must adapt.
It could be said, I will, that we have this last chance to get it right. To get what right?
By now most of us will agree, I think, that life on earth is out of kilter. I will emphasize that our collective consciousness is skewed. It is weighed down with rules, measures and computations, activities undertaken by the left brain. These contrast with those of the right brain, which is concerned with the metaphorical and holistic.
The left brain --
definite and repeatable facts you can count on
irregular indefinite facts are judged illusory or nonexistent
what matters will be calculable
The right brain --
knowledge includes indefinite and irregular facts
definite and repeatable facts are not enough
incalculable reality matters
In general, our brain is what we associate with thought and consciousness. Concomitant indications are traceable in neurological activity, measured with electromagnetic and chemical sensors. Yet these measurements, and theories based upon them, do not explain consciousness or thought. At a subatomic level, the activity shows manifestations of conscious intent. Agglomerations of left and right brain matter are influenced equally, in common. Classical and quantum mechanics will go this far yet provide no understanding of what really matters.
Undeterred, consciousness goes where science fears to tread. Factual right brain experience includes telepathy and precognition. It asks, is this earth to be exploited, mined to supply mundane values, spewing waste, chopping it up for easy extraction? This can be halted. Can't we curtail waste, set bounds on reproduction? Yes, and we can appreciate our consciousness. We face dangers of our own making. As regards climate and the virus, chaos is neglect.
Now as regards WWIII:
The H-bomb, apart from its terror, actually is mysterious. The well known formula at the crux of it came through consciousness of the highest order. It's an attribute of humans existing, so far as we know, only here in the universe. The shift from mystery into terror, into a world out of kilter, shows the imbalance in our collective consciousness. Once we see this, the counter shift back into balance begins. All compounded things can be disassembled.
Deep within the mine is a voice known throughout the universe. It would be easy enough, habitual, to ignore it. The time has come to pay attention.
