Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.

    ~Chinese Proverb

Art by Richard Quinn

What would you do, whether through accident or providence, stumbled on a way to radically accelerate your personal and spiritual evolution and could show others how to do the same?  Would you tell the world, scream it from the rooftops, go on a lecture circuit, etc? OR would you keep it to yourself and spend that valuable time applying what you know to your own life to see if it actually works, then through example show others how to do the same?  To me this is not an easy question.  The reason is that now more than ever people need answers - practical, no-nonsense solutions to improve their condition. This is especially paramount today as the problems of the world continue to mount with no clear way out.  The question of our age is will we as a species survive our technological adolescence long enough to lay a clear pathway for humanity long-term survival in the future.  But not just survival, but learning to live in harmony with each other and the Earth and in turn spread out into the cosmos and fulfill the hopes of Utopian dreamers everywhere.

I am reminded again of one of my favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation Episodes called Transfigurations. where a beautiful and tender man with emerging and extraordinary abilities is rescued by the Enterprise crew. Initially he suffers from amnesia from a shipwreck in which the others traveling with him were killed.  Later we discover they were fleeing their home planet because their government wants to execute them because it fears their new abilities.  It turns out the survivor is the first of his kind to transcend to the next evolutionary phase of their species - an immortal being of light.  It's definitely worth watching, especially it's allegorical treatment of current society's fears around similar themes.

So back to my original question.  What would you do?  If you decide on the first option you will join a loud and growing course of others saying the same thing, most of whom are making such claims in an effort to secure a fast buck in the spiritual marketplace. If you check out this "spiritual" bazaar you'll find it absolutely saturated with every imaginable huckster, motivational speaker, and guru offering their own special technique that when followed will bring you instant riches and spiritual enlightenment.  It continues to astound me how the same old message gets rehashed every few years by a new person on the scene, where the public is all too willing to embrace them as if finally someone will tell them "The Secret" to it all.

But, if you indeed do have something truly valuable and that has worked miracles so far, thousands, perhaps millions of people would benefit if they knew what you knew.  And time is wasting every minute you hold on to your little secret.  But then you just happened on this little formula for rapid evolution.  You're not sure if it will keep working.  More importantly after using your new found knowledge for a few years you discover in the long run it doesn't produce the results you thought it did. You're smart enough to know there are no short cuts, but you do have a way now to take the only road their is through the thick of it, but do it in a way that is vastly superior (faster) than anything that's come before it..or so you think so far based on your experiments.

What would you do?  Tell the world now and possibly save the world from its misery, or keep it to yourself and see if it really works?  Then if it does you can show people by your example, risking perhaps a lot of unnecessary misery in the world that could have been prevented had you spoken up sooner.

Personally I'm taking the middle ground - staying mum on any grandiose claims until I've had enough time to see the long-term results, while sharing what I know with those sincere and courageous seekers willing to do it for themselves.

 

Related: Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot by Andrea Leininger and Bruce Leininger

Fellow transhumanist Ben Goertzel is working on A Cosmist Manifesto devoted to developing a cogent and refreshingly "holistic" approach to transhumanism incorporating all that it means to be human and the whats and hows of improving upon it.  This has been one of several chief complaints I've had with technological transhumanism (of which Singularitarianism represents one corner of), which is that in order to understand and appreciate what it means to become better than human, it helps to understand what is best about being human.  Technological transhumanists seem to think the only thing worth saving or improving upon is reasoning skills, with little more than lip service to the other aspects of human consciousness. Most transhumanists I know are so obsessed with the underlying technology they entirely neglect the human (i.e consciousness) side of the equation.  I've waxed poetic and sometime not so eloquently about the underlying psychology of these types, coming to the conclusion that those most poised to improve technology are those most likely to have Asperger's, lacking in both social and artistic skills, and thus unable to appreciate and be sensitive to the more subtle and beautiful aspects of being alive.  Ben on the other hand appreciates these good qualities of humanness and does his best to articulate a vision of transcendence incorporating them.

I love to write about just how big the universe is, but this is a great visual collage of our scale compared to other stars and galaxies.

Click on image for original size.

Since I've never really talked to anyone about this type of experience, I'm not sure if thing only certain rare people have or common by another name.  Throughout my life there are certain dreams or experiences that are so deep they leave an indelible mark, or psychic signpost whose timelessness continues to influence in distinctly conscious ways how I see the world. One of these is from 1989 when I was living in Cupertino, California. At that time I lived just a few blocks from DeAnza College and right across from Memorial Park.  The headquarters of Apple Computer was just around the corner, and most of my neighbors worked there. I spent many summers as a youth growing up in this area (Los Altos) and to this day the memory of this part of the Bay Area has a fond place in my heart.  It saddens me to think how much things have changed since then, with most of the orchards now replaced with housing tracts and strip malls.

I could spend hours reciting the delights this area held, but one of my favorites was a truly unique bookstore called A Clean Well Lighted Place For Books, nestled within the intricately complex and simple but eloquently designed Oaks Shopping Center, right of Stevens Creek Blvd. Describing this little treasure of a bookstore could never do it justice. It's the kind of place that only exists in pleasant dreams, but then when you're there it takes on a magic all it's own. Firstly the entire layout consisted of dozens of nooks and cranny's of shelves, chairs and couches.  There was almost no open area except by the purchasing desk where you could look up to the second floor. Looking up you would see small outlying balconies, book shelves, and numerous skylights where sunlight  warmly embraced you wherever you happened to cocoon yourself with a good book.  I would spend hours here absorbing the ambiance, the beautiful music, and novel delights coming off the pages of the myriad books and magazines.  It was here at the tender age of eleven I first discovered fully my affection for science, science fiction, and trippy new ago books on consciousness exploration. The store had only been open a couple of years then.

After getting caught up in my imagination I would then ride my bicycle across to Memorial Park and sit on the wide open grass with my new book or magazine and trip fantastic about human potential and our journey into the future.  I have continued to have the occasional dream which takes place in the dream equivalent of this area.

When I found myself living back in this area as a working adult in Silicon Valley, I made a point of going to A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books whenever I could.  The last time I was there was in early 1997.  It was with sadness that this bookstore closed a few months later.

Like a persistent memory, I decided to google it today, and found two stories about it. The first is a writeup at the decision to close the store in 1997, and the below a story of recollecting the feeling of loss at the changes Oaks Center had gone through just three years later in 2000:
 

As a child, I remember the thrill of riding my bicycle to the Oaks Shopping Center for the first time. Many great weekend afternoons were spent riding to the Center, catching a movie, buying ice cream, taking a pass through the bookstore and perhaps riding around Memorial Park.

Many of us in Cupertino share similar fond memories of time spent at The Oaks Shopping Center with family, friends and loved ones. Imagine how many first dates, anniversaries or birthdays were spent at the movies or in one of the restaurants at the Oaks Center. Sometimes going to the Oaks Shopping Center feels like coming home again.

Like many long-time Cupertino residents, I was saddened when the Oaks Shopping Center and the community said good-bye to the bookstore A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books in 1997. The recent City discussions surrounding the possible closure of the Oaks Center movie theater to make way for a grocery store has brought back many of these feelings. It has also raised a larger issue of concern about Cupertino losing some of it's unique history and the character that makes this such a great place to call home.

The Oaks Shopping Center is one of the core symbols or locations that demonstrate Cupertino's unique character. Though a place of commerce, its style and architecture does not match the all too prevalent strip malls along Stevens Creek Boulevard. The Oaks Shopping Center is one of Cupertino's few "town squares."

Observing the debate surrounding the proposed grocery store at this location and the potential forced closing of the movie theater, many Cupertino residents stood up at recent government meetings to express their concerns, fears and anger over the proposed transition.

It is not surprising that the landlord of the Oaks Center keeps an eye peeled for ways to generate revenue. Though many have embraced the center over the years, it has not been a financial success as evidenced by the closing of such center favorites as the bookstore, Cafe Quinn, Blue Chip Cookies and other small businesses.

I realize that the Oaks Shopping Center lacks the one anchor tenant needed to support the financial investment in this prime business location. However, isn't the heritage and history of Cupertino equally valuable, deserving of protection?

Why couldn't both the proposed grocery store and movie theater coexist? Unfortunately, there are plenty of empty store fronts in the center. Shifting the plans to accommodate the theater and the grocery store could be beneficial to both the landlord, store owners and the community. This will give the Oaks Center the anchor tenant it requires to draw patrons, which will trickle in to businesses coming back to the center with the theater remaining open, as well.

As a result, local government will also benefit from the increased sales tax dollars generated from an economically booming Oaks Shopping Center.

Cupertino is the gateway to Silicon Valley. It was Cupertino residents who helped build the Information Superhighway and this community continues to be one of the most sought after areas to live in in the United States. We have the best schools, a top-notch community college and a character that make this place unique. Thinking about the Cupertino we want for our children ought to be at the forefront of this debate.

Bringing a grocery store to the Oaks Center is an idea with merit, but let's not sacrifice the movie theater in the process. We should protect the things that are unique and fun about Cupertino, and our heritage at the Oaks is part of that. We deserve better than reducing our community to a cookie-cutter town like many suburbs in Southern California with one main street, no bookstores, no movie theaters, fast-food joints and a few gas stations. We deserve much better, and we should protect the things that make this community a great place to call home. One step in this process is to find a compromise at the Oaks Center by bringing the grocery store in while protecting the movie theater at the same time.

So I'm not alone after all in having this defining experience.

If anyone reading this has a picture of this bookstore when it was still open please contact me.

Below is a beautiful poem written by a 10 year old named Robert Chan, who is the Shasta Bioregion (California) Prize Winner in Poetry for Elementary Schools.

I am the ragged obsidian solar flare
that flies in the bright red sky.
I am the steaming hot spiky crimson
seaweed that soars by my
glowing star hands.
I am the atom floating
in the DNA strip
giggling in the brown nucleus,
shining bright smiles the plant cell,
floating in red orange fluid,
dancing happily in the narrow
parallel segment vein,
sprinting across the American seaweed,
opening a door to the earth,
spinning in the singing solar system,
twisting in silky ways,
jogging by the Milky Way,
and trying to circle the dark red universe.

Source: River Of Words.