Sto-ology: A Metaphysical Exploration of the Human Condition

Chapter - 1

Who, What and Where are We?

If you interpret the Bible literally, you believe that humans were created on the sixth day of creation around five thousand years ago. If you are a semi-educated person with a secular leaning, you believe that humans evolved from the primate branch of animals based on the theory of Natural Selection (adaptation skills) put forward by Charles Darwin. Many do not put much thought into it. They are too busy watching reality TV, surfing the Internet, playing video games or texting gibber gabber to their friends. Fortunately, there are others who put much thought and time studying the epistemology of we human beings in this vast universe. Most intelligent people are able to accept and reconcile that God’s creation and scientifically based evolutionary concepts need not be mutually exclusive.¹ They include some of the most brilliant men and women in history, such as Pythagoras, Plato, Lao Tzu, Hypatia of Alexandria, Hildegard of Bingen, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Marie Curie, and more recently Einstein and Lynn Margulis. These were Men and Women of true wisdom, who embraced or allowed for the greater source as well as science.²

Regardless of what you believe, over hundreds of years, science has empirically proven some things beyond the shadow of a doubt. Namely, that we are residents on an atypical planet we named Earth. It is around 4.5 billion years old, spinning at a thousand miles per hour at the equator on a 23.5-degree angle, moving forward at about 70,000 miles per hour in a one-year elliptical orbit around an average-sized sun. This is in a solar system made up of eight planets (sorry Pluto) of varying sizes and physical make up, located within the outer edge of a greater spiral galaxy moving at around one million miles per hour through outer space. Our galaxy, also known as the Milky Way, consists of approximately 200 billion other star/solar systems (stars=suns=solar systems), within a greater universe made up of hundreds of billions of other types of variously shaped, spinning galaxies. All these galaxies also contain hundreds of billions of star systems and all the planets and moons that usually go along with them. There are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand in all the world’s beaches combined. Our nearest star/sun neighbor is Alpha Centuri at about 4.5 light years away. Distance measured in light years indicates light speed, which is 186,000 miles per second or around 671 million miles per hour. So add up the distance covered if you multiply the amount of seconds in 4.5 years times 186,000 miles. This is a very, very large number and a great distance.³ Seeing as our best ion-jet technology can only achieve around 35,000 mph, it would take over 82,000 years or 2800 human generations to visit Alpha-Centuri.⁴ Therefore, it is highly unlikely humanity will be taking that trip any time soon. That is unless we discover the wormholes in the space-time fabric that Einstein conjectured about,⁵ which may or may not facilitate faster travel of vast distances in space. It is hard to wrap one’s mind around the very tremendous vastness of our universe, which itself is 13.8 billion years old.⁶ And now cutting edge scientists are speculating about potential multiple universes born out of big bangs in other dimensions when the conditions are right. This is truly mind-boggling.

We humans are made up of the stuff of stars themselves – carbon-based matter. This is not some hippie idea from the 1960s, but a true scientific fact. Astrophysics has shown that some of the necessary chemical ingredients for life arrive on comet chunks and the asteroids that constantly hit the earth all the time. The basic proven formula for life is: energy (sun) + water + chemicals (hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen etc.) = Life.⁷

Since the birth of Quantum physics in the early 20th century (study of sub-atomic particles), as well as advanced chemistry, the existing natural elements and what they are made up (number of protons in nucleus of atoms) have been clarified and assembled into a hierarchy in a periodic table displayed in science labs everywhere. Much of modern technology such as the digital revolution would not have happened without the knowledge brought forth from quantum physics, a paradigm-shifting revolution. Yet there are still even greater quantum mysteries where our understanding of our micro-inner universe breaks down; for example the condition below the Max Plank Constant,⁸ where the bubbling quantum foam resides. Our current technology does not let us peer into this unknown sub-atomic realm. The quantum ‘Standard Model’ is based on the most consistently successful applied mathematical formulas to date. Numbers are the universal language of physics and science (More about the implications of the Quantum revolution later).

Einstein figured out that we live in a space-time fabric (4th dimension)⁹ made up of an electro-magnetic field that permeates all space for as far as we know. This grid like structure is flexible and is bent by objects possessing heavy and dense mass such as suns and planets like our earth. This bending process is what creates the gravitational push/pull between objects.¹⁰ As an analogy, imagine a group of folks all pulling a sheet tight equally in all directions. Someone places a heavy circular object in the middle and then takes another smaller, lighter circular object and throws it on the outside of the center object in the middle of the sheet, like a casino dealer would toss a ball at a roulette wheel. The ball will go around until the energy used to launch it dissipates and eventually it will migrate toward the bigger, heavier object in the center of the sheet that represents our sun, which our earth rotates around for the same physical reasons. The sun is much bigger and denser than the earth. One million earths can fit into our average sized sun. If it were not for the huge planets like Jupiter and Saturn pulling us in other opposite directions, Earth, too, would fall into the sun. There is a universal expansion happening, which is currently beyond our limited human comprehension. Mysterious Dark Energy is proposed as the cause of this rapid expansion. Whether space is finite or infinite is still unknown.

Miraculously, our earth ended up in the perfect Goldie Locks position that allows for life to develop. Just near enough to our sun for warmth and energy so as not to burn up and not so far away that we become a cold, lifeless third rock orbiting the sun. Another factor is all the bigger planets’ protection from asteroids that could potentially collide with the Earth and kill us off, such as what happened to the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Discoveries in science have shown that any little change to the ‘fine tuned’¹¹ universe and the interconnected four known forces (Gravity, Strong & Weak Nuclear forces, & Electro-magnetic Field) physical make-up - would not allow for life to exist as we know it.¹²

The space-time continuum is hard to understand. Basically time slows down as we approach the speed of light and supposedly will actually stop once light speed is achieved. Einstein postulated as an absolute that nothing could travel faster than the speed of light.¹³ The EPR equations by Einstein and his colleagues Podolsky and Rosen were designed to refute some of the counterintuitive quantum concepts, which were ironically strengthened by their equations. Additionally, after several important recent experiments, we now know that there are conditions where photons and certain atoms such as beryllium and cesium can travel faster than the speed of light, as in instantaneously.¹⁴ However, no information can be transported as of yet. We have Einstein to thank for these great revelations on gravity in outer space and the concept of the space-time continuum as a flexible fourth dimension, which strangely contains the past, present and future. All of these mind-blowing concepts came from his famous paradigm-shifting Relativity Theories¹⁵ in the early 20th century.

We still have not discovered a graviton, a specific atom or particle responsible for the force ironically labeled the ‘weakest force’ known as gravity. Herein lies the breakdown between the Relativity and Quantum physics revolutions. Until this rupture is solved or bridged together in some sort of theory of everything, we must make do with separate constructs of physics based within the context of differing physical paradigms. We have done so by combining working Newtonian gravity concepts locally and non-locally, Einstein’s relativity concepts (macro) and quantum concepts for the smallest (micro) realms of the physical universe in which we find ourselves.

The very recent discoveries and confirmations of the Higgs Boson particle — a hidden, glue-like particle of the universe — and gravity waves, which Einstein predicted as a result of the Big Bang, are huge accomplishments in astrophysics.¹⁶

Certain quantum theories such as Quantum Entanglement¹⁷ and the Uncertainty Principle¹⁸ bothered Einstein. He said of quantum Entanglement (two identical things instantaneously connected through small or great distances) that it was spooky action at a distance¹⁹ and said of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle (anything measured is affected by the act of measuring and therefore the best we can do is to narrow down to probabilities) that God does not play dice with the universe.²⁰ While I’m inclined to agree with Einstein, quantum experiments have been replicated and have proven that the best we can do is to narrow down our scientific predictions to high-level probabilities.²¹ Maybe Einstein’s strong intuition in an intelligent designer (God) told him deep inside that we as a newly intelligent race are only in our baby stages of science. Therefore, it will take some time to eventually figure out exactly how things work together in a way that is very logical and orderly, which may not be the case after all. Paradoxical mysteries are the new normal, at least for the time being.

In the 16th century, the Jewish mystic Kabala philosopher Isaac Luria put forward an intuitive idea that God is in a mid-life crisis and that we as reflections of it/him/her are engaged in a neurotic tug of war as well. God created humans and left us to our own devices in an inner dimension of divine exile and eventual redemption.²² This idea could explain much of the unexplainable suffering and catastrophes, both natural and manmade that leave us devastated and wondering why God would have the paradox of chaos and order working together at all levels of reality. These simultaneous, seemingly conflicting states of being find credence in the ancient Eastern Taoist²³ philosophy, which finds its roots in the more ancient I-Ching’s²⁴ Yin and Yang principle of a cosmic balance. These two opposite yet complementary forces of nature are working in parallel concert all the time. Other Eastern religions have similar chaos and order themes such as Hindu’s paradoxical deity Shiva,²⁵ who is both the destroyer and restorer engaged in the cosmic dance. Another is Zoroastrianism’s²⁶ dualistic concepts’ of good and evil. Other Zoroaster beliefs such as monotheism, judgment and a hell, have had a profound influence on the big three Judean based religions (Jews, Christians & Muslims) and overall historical flow of Western civilization.

These ancient philosophies and religions are supported by quantum physics in concepts such as the Supersymmetry²⁷ of a perfectly balanced universe and Superposition,²⁸ in which everything exists in infinite probabilities and potentialities. It seems we as individuals and collectives choose or manifest our own narrative within the cosmic matrix, for better or for worse.

Neurology has also shown that our complex brains work similarly - a trillion neurons all doing different actions, all at the same time, working together in an intricate, complimentary dance.²⁹ Our brain’s activities are a reflecting microcosm of the greater macro universe at work where order comes out of chaos and chaos out of order in the great unfolding mystery known as reality.

Is it not God’s right as our great parent to not have to unveil all its/his/her secrets and mysteries? Would you be so rude as to demand from your own Mother or Father that they reveal their innermost secrets? Chances are most of us would not and chances are they would not reveal them to us anyway. Why? Because it is none of our business. Our business is to look after ourselves and those around us. And even within these nuclear human groups, we are afforded the inalienable rights and freedom to have secrets and not be hassled about them. Inalienable rights, meaning one is born with natural rights that are not contingent upon any culture or government and are therefore universal. This belief is a cornerstone of the Enlightenment philosophy, and ended up in our own United States Declaration of Independence.³⁰

Unfortunately, our busy brains create a lot of stupid thoughts that we sometimes fail to edit from coming out of our mouths, and violent impulses we (men) hopefully will not act upon. This is another example of chaos being controlled by order in the form of free will. I lean toward this positive perspective because if order (God) did not rule over chaos (devil), life would probably not exist in the first place. If chaos did rule, it would be completely miserable for all seven billion of us, instead of the current – hit or miss situation. This is the current not so good ratio of one billion really suffering horribly and another two billion suffering pretty badly while the other half of three to four billion of us are doing pretty good. Beyond getting the basics to survive (food, water, shelter), it’s up to the individual with his or her own free will to determine what kind of outlook or attitude he or she chooses.

This includes the entire spectrum of attitudes from positive to negative. A middle mix of attitude latitudes is where many of us fall, most of the time. The fact is that in an over populated planet – a little over a billion in the year 1900 and now passing seven billion in the early 21st century³¹ - people for the most part get along, rather than fighting and killing one another. Most of us are doing our little bit in keeping all our societies peaceable and progressing. It is all proof that God’s better nature shines through most people most of the time. We have and continue to make progress and evolve as a species. According to studies of skull fossils, cavemen had a 50% chance of being hit over the head with a club. Now there is less than a 1% chance of being hit with a deadly weapon in most parts of the world.³² This vast improvement in less violent aggressive behaviors is even more impressive if you consider the huge population increase since ancient times. (More about the term ‘progress’ later)

So let’s do a classic materialist-reductionist breakdown of our physical reality.³³ The mega-micro world of quantum foam eventually turns into measurable sub-atomic particles (and anti-particles) such as quarks and leptons; these form atoms such as protons, neutrons and those crazy electrons; atoms form molecules such as carbon or hydrogen; molecules form chemicals; chemicals form proteins; proteins form DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and finally DNA with help from RNA (ribonucleic acid) forms all living things, including us.³⁴

We are made of DNA that consists of around 3 billion nucleotide base pairs (A,T,G,C) inside 23 chromosome pairs, formed in a double helix made up of an estimated 25-30,000 genes (DNA).³⁵ Recent evidence from the Human Genome Project³⁶ has revealed that the differences in DNA between us and other diverse life forms such as insects or even forms of bacteria are drastically smaller than we once thought. We share 24% of the same genes with a grain of rice, 47% with a fruit fly, 88% with a mouse and around 96% the same as chimpanzees.³⁷ This is further proof of our interconnectedness with all living things.

Chapter – 2

Progress and Progressive Thinking

Some people tend to think of the term progress as a subjective one, and yet its social definition is clear. It means to move forward to improve conditions in society via innovative new methods and policies, such as investment in early childhood education.³⁸ The term is used by all political entities to express what actions they believe will bring it about. This is where the objectivity of the actual meaning of the word ‘progress’ gives way to the subjective and capricious nature of politicians’ individual policy ideas and hyperbole. In this book I will put forward what I believe to be the true path of ‘progress’ for humans, on many levels.

Yes, we as humans have been making steady strides in terms of technology, especially in just the last one hundred years! But we have made much slower progress in terms of how we deal with each other morally. We still lie, cheat, steal, hoard things and in extreme cases, rape and kill. Fortunately, murder rates have dropped dramatically over thousands of years of civilization. Nonetheless, the 20th century was one of the bloodiest ever, due to both the advent of new military killing technologies combined with World Wars on a scale never before experienced, the death toll surpassing over a 100 million.³⁹

As I write this book, the USA is winding down two of the longest foreign wars fought simultaneously in Iraq and Afghanistan, in our ongoing ‘war on terror’ against the country–less enemy Al-Qaeda. Informed citizens knew there were absolutely no Al-Qaeda members in Dictator Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi government, never mind weapons of mass destruction (WMD). It was all fabricated by the good ole’ boys, skull-and-crossbones, white mafia network in cahoots with neocon Jewish leaders. Ultra-right wing institutions such as the Project for the New American Century,⁴⁰ which was cofounded by neoconservative war hawk William (Bill) Kristol, masterminded these imperialist exploits. The push to war with Iraq was led by Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and his under secretary, lap dog Paul Wolfowitz (now president of the creepy World Bank) during the administration of then-President George W. Bush.

This essential list does not include many of the other military industrial complex and oil corporation cronies responsible for dragging us into a very long, costly and unnecessary war in Iraq⁴¹ (and Afghanistan). Thus far, the wars have resulted in around five thousand US casualties and over one hundred thousand deaths of Iraqi civilians. Trillions of our taxpayers’ revenues have and will be paying for these wars for years to come.⁴² These stupid, ill-planned wars are the reason we as a nation are broke and need to borrow money from autocratic China. Yet all the major players involved have made billions of dollars, including weapons manufacturers⁴³ and the highly paid mercenaries.⁴⁴ The execution and success of these imperialist wars for Middle East oil resources and the mega profits thereof for the elite corporate 1%, is one of the greatest and tragic hoaxes played on the American people in its entire history. Justice has yet to be done.

I Like IKE

Two-term President, five star general, WWII allied leader and true American hero Dwight D. Eisenhower (IKE) warned us about this looming ‘military industrial complex’ takeover of our federal government in a final TV speech to the public at the end of his second term way back in 1961.⁴⁵ Did we listen? Obviously not.

Bush and Cheney amassed millions during their two terms. Cheney in particular, took financial advantage, profiting to the tune of around one hundred million to Bush’s mere twenty million by the time they exited White House. Even though these incomes have been accounted for, an investigation into their personal current finances is now due to see if there are any overt war profiteering machination monies hidden somewhere, such as offshore bank accounts. Surely, they would not have put our country and themselves at risk for eight years if there was not some big payoff later on. Can you say Halliburton?⁴⁶ They used evil deceptions like exploiting the September 11th attacks as a reason to invade a country (Iraq) that had nothing to do with it. As for weapons of mass destruction, there was none, as several rounds of international inspectors proved. It was a sad day when respected General Collin Powell⁴⁷ lost a lifetime of hard earned integrity presenting the false evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) before the UN as a final justification for the imminent US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

This ill-conceived invasion still took place in March of that year even after the biggest organized world protest ever - via the Internet, on a very cold day in February. I was here in NYC marching along with millions worldwide, but to no avail.⁴⁸ The Bush Administration manipulated all the major corporate media to their advantage with ultra-conservative monopolist Rupert Murdock’s TV Fox News⁴⁹ (right wing propaganda) leading the way.

All major news outlets in America represent biased corporate journalism,⁵⁰ and they are a joke. They acted like cheerleaders for this unnecessary and costly war in Iraq. Even the liberal left-leaning NY Times blew the trumpets of war.⁵¹ They as well as the corrupt leaders that caused it have blood on their hands. Journalists have a great responsibility as an unofficial forth tier of our nation’s checks and balances system. They are supposed to provide objective, well-balanced and in-depth analyses of current events. Checks and balances as put forward by the founding fathers and written into our system of government.⁵² It ensures a minimal level of corruption, insofar as all entities keep a vigilant eye on each other. A solid constitutional legal system was put into place where parties can battle differences out in court with a jury of their peers to decide who is right and who is wrong. Journalists historically have been taught to seek out the truth or at least be neutral and to show both sides of a story. This is supposedly their integrity-based credo. Sadly, these academic ideals die in the corporatocracy America has become. Corporate puppet journalists (and politicians-lawyers) have no integrity because they sell their souls to the corporation they work and lie for every day.

Just as in the Gilded Age⁵³ over a hundred years ago, there are now monopolies in all major industries, including the big five media outlets.⁵⁴ Whether you are looking at the mass media machine, banking, energy/fossil fuels, pharmaceuticals, insurance or agriculture there are on average only 3-4 top corporations per category controlling the entire USA and many foreign markets with whatever products they are pushing. In this respect, we have not made ‘progress’; on the contrary, we have actually lost ground, slipping backwards in time toward a more stratified feudal society of serfs (99% of us) and kings of industry (less than 1% of them).⁵⁵ The country-less multi-national corporate executives have taken over our democracy and turned it into a Plutocracy/Oligarchy. It smacks of the Gilded Age that President Teddy Roosevelt fought against over one hundred years ago in his corporate monopolies - trust busting legislation.⁵⁶ His kind of courage and integrity is unfortunately a very rare thing.

Back to Progress…

‘Progress’ is a work in progress! We are all works in progress both individually and collectively. The progress of our particular branch of the hominin tree, allowed humans to eventually outlive all our other cousins, including the Neanderthals, and the recently discovered Denisovans and little Hobbit people of Indonesia. These were the last branches to go extinct between thirty-forty thousand years ago. Based on recent evidence however, the Hobbit people of Indonesia may have lived as recently as 17,000 years ago.⁵⁷

There is a recent hypothesis that learning to manipulate fire around a million years ago led to cooking our food stuffs, which in turn led to increased meat eating, which then freed up carbohydrate calories (glucose) to feed and enlarge our brains, which put us at the top of the food chain hierarchy.⁵⁸ This concept has merit based on different studies of human origins in varying academic fields. Yet I wonder how our ancient relatives were able to increase their hunting success to such a degree as to increase their brain size so dramatically. There were ongoing weapon advances such as the invention of the small arrow-throwing device,⁵⁹ which allowed us to hunt with less risk and greater success. But I am not sure if the timing lines up, as we were scavengers for eons before developing affective weapons to hunt. There does seem however to be a correlation between human migrations and prey animal extinctions. This debate is not settled, but one thing is for sure: We omnivore homosapiens have been ever adapting to new environments. There are two key attributes that account for our rise to the top of the animal hierarchy: curiosity combined with intelligence; and dexterity, specifically with regards to the forefinger(s) and opposable thumb configuration.

I believe that if dolphins, killer whales aka Orcas (who are also part of the dolphin family), whales, elephants, and maybe several other intelligent animals had the opposing finger-thumb combination; the entire history of the world would be different. If these very intelligent higher mammals had had the ability to build and execute their ideas with a set of hands like ours, surely they would have done so and would have evolved differently to a more profound and higher level.

Many scenarios come to mind of the way things might have gone. But knowing that men are aggressive by nature as are different groups of dolphins and whales, we could have a world divided militarily with demarcation zones between land and sea creatures. The implications are broad and complex. This land-sea divided world speculation could fill an entire book. But - and this is a big BUT – God in all its/his/her wisdom did not give the incredible combination of curiosity, keen high-level frontal lobe intelligence and opposable thumb-finger hands (to execute and build whatever we imagine) to any other creature except for us the homo-sapiens.

Nonetheless, let’s keep our egos in check here. In the Bible, it says in Genesis 1:26 that God gave us ‘Dominion’⁶⁰ over this world. With this dominion comes a great responsibility to take care of this miracle Goldie Locks planet we inhabit. We inherited it through the great mysterious matrix-like workings of cosmic evolution, which brought us to this point - 13.8 billion years from the Big Bang birth of our universe.

Yet this is not what we have done. In a short eye blink in just the last two hundred years, after the Industrial Revolution, humankind has managed to pollute and plunder the entire planet.⁶¹ There is no more pure drinking water anywhere, nor are there any animals or plants untainted by some kind of man-made radiation or toxic chemical. We have spoiled the great garden called Earth that took 4.5 billion years to create (evolve) - in less than two hundred years!

The good news is that we now know this disturbing polluted-world reality exists and are slowly coming to terms with how to address it. Unfortunately, because of the ongoing current global warming scenario,⁶² certain catastrophic consequences such as a major worldwide refugee crisis via rising sea levels is becoming a reality.

Protection for nature in enforced legal terms here in America actually began with the visionary nature-lover and avid hunter President Teddy Roosevelt.⁶³ He was our first conservationist president, setting aside huge swaths of land as national forest treasures never to be developed by creepy capitalists willing to destroy all our natural bounty merely to become filthy rich. Later, his distant cousin President Franklin D. Roosevelt continued this nature conservation tradition by planting millions of trees and putting millions of Americans to work during the Depression years.⁶⁴ The ignorant American farming techniques of the previous one hundred years eroded all the soil in the breadbasket states and thus led to the huge dust storms. The disaster of the 1930s Dust Bowl led to