I left off last time saying humans are not in control of this universe. Something else is. I like to think of it as Mother Nature. The lecturer Terence Mckenna has called it the transcendental object at the end of time. I'm sure other philosophers have tried to describe something like this, but I'm only aware of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and his term the Omega Point. I haven't read much Teilhard de Chardin, but his ideas seem parallel to what Mckenna is saying. Regardless of what we call it, the more interesting question is... what's it doing, and where is it taking us?
Time to hit the pause button and say: I don't have the answers to those questions, and I don't think anyone else does either. This is an unfolding mystery that will reveal itself over time. We can't stop it. We can't speed it up, and we certainly can't slow it down.
Is there any evidence to support what I'm saying? History is the best place to look for evidence. And nature as well, out of which history emerged. As I said earlier, Novelty has been conserved during human and natural history. Novelty has occurred with ever increasing complexity and is ever more conserved. We can see the increasing complexity and pace.
One celled bacteria gives way to multicellular protozoa. Swimming sea creatures (Trilobites) 500 million years ago prepare the way for land animals culminating in gigantic reptiles 250 million years ago. Small mammals become larger mammals resulting in hominids (prehumans) between 10 million and 20 million years ago. And finally Homo sapiens appears on the scene about two million to three million years ago. Notice the increased complexity in an increasingly compressed time frame.
And similarly with human culture. An acceleration of process in a limited domain of biology (Homo sapiens) beginning about a million years ago has led to abandoning "traditional" hunting and gathering to agriculture around 10,000 years ago. Consider how quickly human society went from agricultural to industrial (300 years ago) and then the informational (only 60 to 70 years ago) Greater complexity in less and less time. And all along the way novelty is conserved, not lost. I have said that this is all moving in a direction. Why shouldn't we assume that the direction is good and moving toward a positive conclusion?
All of the novelty of history has coalesced in the present moment. Every given moment in any human society is a distillation of what has preceded that moment. The presence of ourselves on this planet is the major evidence that a transcendental process of some sort is underway on Earth.
I want to end this month by saying that I'm relatively new to this subject. I've only been at this idea for a couple of years. I'm thinking to myself, "What do I know about this?" Some of you have been exploring some or all of this spirituality a lot longer than I have. I'll just end by saying I feel like I'm just an explorer on a really strange trip. In other words, don't shoot me. I'm just the piano player.
—David Cutter
Pianist
Pasadena, CA
Free Book Excerpt: "Artistry and Piano Students: Inspiring a Lifetime of Enjoyment."
Time to hit the pause button and say: I don't have the answers to those questions, and I don't think anyone else does either. This is an unfolding mystery that will reveal itself over time. We can't stop it. We can't speed it up, and we certainly can't slow it down.
Is there any evidence to support what I'm saying? History is the best place to look for evidence. And nature as well, out of which history emerged. As I said earlier, Novelty has been conserved during human and natural history. Novelty has occurred with ever increasing complexity and is ever more conserved. We can see the increasing complexity and pace.
One celled bacteria gives way to multicellular protozoa. Swimming sea creatures (Trilobites) 500 million years ago prepare the way for land animals culminating in gigantic reptiles 250 million years ago. Small mammals become larger mammals resulting in hominids (prehumans) between 10 million and 20 million years ago. And finally Homo sapiens appears on the scene about two million to three million years ago. Notice the increased complexity in an increasingly compressed time frame.
And similarly with human culture. An acceleration of process in a limited domain of biology (Homo sapiens) beginning about a million years ago has led to abandoning "traditional" hunting and gathering to agriculture around 10,000 years ago. Consider how quickly human society went from agricultural to industrial (300 years ago) and then the informational (only 60 to 70 years ago) Greater complexity in less and less time. And all along the way novelty is conserved, not lost. I have said that this is all moving in a direction. Why shouldn't we assume that the direction is good and moving toward a positive conclusion?
All of the novelty of history has coalesced in the present moment. Every given moment in any human society is a distillation of what has preceded that moment. The presence of ourselves on this planet is the major evidence that a transcendental process of some sort is underway on Earth.
I want to end this month by saying that I'm relatively new to this subject. I've only been at this idea for a couple of years. I'm thinking to myself, "What do I know about this?" Some of you have been exploring some or all of this spirituality a lot longer than I have. I'll just end by saying I feel like I'm just an explorer on a really strange trip. In other words, don't shoot me. I'm just the piano player.
—David Cutter
Pianist
Pasadena, CA
Free Book Excerpt: "Artistry and Piano Students: Inspiring a Lifetime of Enjoyment."
