THE LAST WAVE OF CIVILIZATION
Albert Einstein and the Last Wave of Civilization:
Hydrogen atoms pioneered the first path of evolution 13.7 billion years ago.
Hydrogen brought into being the first Instruction Book on “how to exist and fit in.” The Instruction Book was imbedded in Hydrogen’s mysterious memory which gave it permanence. It contained the first elegant rules for assembling a viable universe.
Billions of years later on Earth’s Garden planet the scientist Albert Einstein deciphered the rules in hydrogen atoms’ Instruction Book. He made available to humans the powerful formula that had been carried in hydrogen’s memory since the beginning of time.
Humans used the formula to split open the atom. Information from hydrogen’s Instruction Book made possible the atomic bomb. Humans used the rules that gave the Universe its first freedom for their own purposes. They built weapons of mass destruction that destabilized planet Earth.
Einstein warned world leaders that in the new “Nuclear Age” humans would have to master a new mode of thinking, or our species was headed for unparalleled catastrophe. (Einstein’s polite world for extinction.)
Humans and the Evolution of the human species entered the Last Wave of Civilization.
THE LAST WAVE OF CIVILIZATION
Civilizations would remain stuck in an adolescent stage of consciousness as long as every civilization lived out of a mythic little story. The little story humans lived out of would not fit into the real-world story humans and all other species were living in. For that reason no civilization would be sustainable. None would be authentically human. Adolescence was a dead-end path. Every civilization was doomed to fall.
We know that in the past we could count on a new civilization rising up out of the ashes of the last civilization.
We know we can’t count on that anymore.
Every past civilization developed more powerful technologies than the last. But we are the first civilization to develop technologies powerful enough to destroy itself and take our species and many other species with it. If our civilization falls no new civilization will rise up out of our ashes.
We will be the Last Wave of Civilization.
But our civilization is not doomed to fall. We are prepared as a species and as individuals to mature.
We are the first civilization to have a big enough real-world story to make the transition from irresponsible adolescence to a mature responsible stage of consciousness.
The timing is not a coincidence. We have been preparing for more than half century to make the transition. We know we are stuck in a make-believe mythic story. We know the most important function of the story is to justify injustices and violence inevitable in our culture’s pyramid of power and privilege.
We know our scientific technological civilization teaches us that science and technology can give us an unlimited future. No limit to growth. No limit to production. No limit to consumption. Because of our intelligence our species doesn’t have to fit into nature’s law of limits other species have to fit into.
We know the myth is irrational. It is neither scientific nor technologically sound. We know civilization’s institutions depend on the myth for their existence. We as individuals and as a species are co-dependent. We too depend on the myth. We know what the consequence will be if we do not mature as a species and take responsibility for our awesome gift of freedom to choose.
We know there can be no guarantee that we will mature. Our “freedom to choose” is real.
UNLIKE INSTITUTIONS, WE CAN CHOOSE TO CHANGE
To mature as a species we must make “conscious choices” as individuals to change the dysfunctional direction in which civilization and our lives are going. We must take back responsibility for the consequences of our unique freedom to choose that was delegated to institutions.
We can’t blame institutions for not changing themselves. Institutions have no consciousness or conscience. They do what they were created to do. They are as dependent on a make-believe myth for their very existence as every past civilization was dependent. To abandon the myth they would have to make radical changes that would be an impossible dream for them.
Our species has consciousness and conscience. We were created to live in the real-world, but have become addicted to a make-believe mythic world. Unlike institutions we have consciousness and conscience. We are not dependent on our addictions for our very existence. What would be an impossible dream for institutions to change would not be impossible for us. We can choose to change.
At one time our addictions seemed to make sense to us too. Think back to our own adolescence. How many dead-end paths seemed to be going somewhere? This is not to make light of the challenge of real addictions. Our addictions to unsustainable lifestyles and the privileges and powers promised by a pyramid culture couldn’t be more real.
In the last half century we had plenty of experience with every kind of addiction in the book.
Our addictions have kept us divided. We are addicted to walls. We are addicted to gods who are for us and against everyone else. We are addicted to debate and addicted to war. Every addiction from alcohol to drugs to sex to gambling to television to professional sports to games to keep our minds occupied has to bridge the gap of meaning and purpose. That gap comes with the make-believe mythic world detached from Earth reality, Universe reality, and Creation reality.
We can not change ourselves without help. In Alcoholic Anonymous the first step is to admit we are addicted. We must admit we need help from some higher power. We must acknowledge we need each other. We must listen to each others stories. Figure out what real-world niche we fit into. What role will give our lives meaning and purpose? How can we make “conscious changes” to reconnect our species’ story to Earth’s story, the Universe story, and Creation story?
ARE THESE OBSOLETE BELIEFS THAT ONCE SEEMED TO MAKE SENSE?
MAYBE USE FOLLOWING FOR SIGNS Billboards
Humans of good will can strive in their own little world to make a living force to cure the social ills of humanity.
The life of every living individual only has meaning only as so far as it aids in making the life of every living thing nobler and more beautiful.
Desire for approval and recognition is a healthy motive, but the desire to be acknowledged as better, stronger, or more intelligent easily leads to an excessively egotistic that can become injurious to the individual and community.
It is not enough to teach a specialty and become a kind of useful machine; it is essential that students acquire an understanding and a lively feeling for values; a specialized knowledge more closely resembles a well-trained dog than a harmoniously developed person.
Overemphasis on the competitive system and premature specialization on the ground of immediate usefulness kill the spirit on which all cultural life depends.
The Jewish tradition contains something which finds splendid expression in many of the Psalms, namely a sort of joy and amazement at the beauty and grandeur of this world…This joy is the feeling from which true scientific research draws its spiritual sustenance.
The world was promised freedom from fear, but in fact fear has increased tremendously since the termination of the war. The world was promised freedom from want, but large parts of the world are faced with starvation while others are living in abundance.
The nations promised liberation and justice. But we have witnessed, and are witnessing even now, the sad spectacle of “liberating” armies firing into populations who want their independence and social equality.
Interference with the freedom of the oral and written communication of scientific results were supported by an immense police organization…which dominates all our actions; namely the belief that we must in peacetime organize our whole life and work that in event of war we would be sure of victory.
The “Hitler logic” that came close to engulfing the entire world is still far from dead. There is no doubt that Hitler’s ghost might reach up out of his tomb and accomplish what he couldn’t do when alive.
After the War the subversive sickness that characterized the Nazi way of thinking spread like a deadly virus through the United States and the World. That logic enmeshed us in a “world of greed and hatred.”
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We can begin with two billboards telling the Facts and the Truth
Reflect and Respond with each other
Create your own Window of Honesty and Openness.
I was monitoring the endless war in the Holy Land. Daily I checked Internet websites documenting peace movements organized by Israelis and Palestinians. Everyday I was sickened by the irrational killing of children and women. The civilian casualties always outnumbered the military.
I was awed by a group of Palestinian and Israeli parents. Each had a child who had been killed by the “other side.” They organized themselves to campaign together to stop the killing. They were following Jesus’s prescription for curing blindness. They were widening their circle of compassion. They were embracing each other.
These compassionate, articulate parents gave me a rational answer to the question I was asking God.
The killing was insane. Their leaders were detached from reality. If I wanted to see the worst in human nature the Holy Land was the place to see it. The Israeli—Palestinian killing dilemma was symptomatic of what was going on in the rest of the world. Civilization was on a slippery slope to meltdown.
These parents of children killed by the insanity offered me a glimmer of hope. So did Palestinian and Israeli “refusniks,” military combatants from both sides who organized themselves and refused to kill any longer. I posted every glimmer of hope I could find on a website friends and I created: TurnTheTide.info.
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1. ? If we master Einstein’s “new manner of thinking” will entrepreneurial investments better achieve the desired goals of Foundations, nonprofit organizations, and generous individuals than would grants? Will thinking investment rather then grant or gift make a difference in expectations for a “return on the investment?” Could one expectation be that in addition to “fixing” a problem some necessary work has to be done to help eliminate the source of the problem? Should institutions be required to show evidence they are becoming more in sync with species reality, Earth reality, and God reality?
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Hydrogen atoms pioneered a path that would lead to more freedoms. Hydrogen brought into being the first Instruction Book on “how to exist and fit in.” The Instruction Book was imbedded in hydrogen’s mysterious memory which gave it its permanence. It contained the first elegant rules for assembling a viable universe.
Billions of years later on planet on the outer edge of the Milky Way galaxy a scientist named Albert Einstein deciphered the rules in hydrogen atoms’ Instruction Book. He made available to humans the powerful formula that had been carried in hydrogen’s memory since the beginning of time.
Humans used the formula to split open the atom. Information from hydrogen’s Instruction Book made possible the atomic bomb. Humans used the rules that gave the Universe its first freedom for their own purposes. They built weapons of mass destruction. They used their own unique freedom to destabilize planet Earth where they were pioneering the fourth Great Freedom Experiment. In that cosmological historical event the human species achieved power to destroy itself some 13.7 billion years after hydrogen gave the Universe its first stability.
Humans entered the third stage that Carl Sagan said every intelligent species would go through wherever it was seeded in the Universe.
Einstein warned world leaders that in the “nuclear age” humans would have to master a new way of thinking or the path they were on would lead to unparalleled catastrophe. The leaders refused to listen to Einstein.
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Albert Einstein: I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.