CHAPTER 1
THE KEYS TO THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION
INTRODUCTION: The Double Stranded Story.
The misperception of our lives
Shapes our realities.
It sets the path and purpose
To ambition and desire.
Neither lens nor prism
Can correct these insanities
Since a fault within the optics
Never will you find.
From "Blind Vision", by the author.
Yes, there is a great story to be told. It is an incredible story because it transcends logic and human comprehension. It is a universal story concerning life, you and I, and all of us. It also concerns our world, the universe, and the meaning and the purpose of creation and of human existence. Many of us still yearn for some peace of mind, for understanding, and insight into these great quandaries. If that applies to you, then I invite you to follow this meticulously chartered ancestral route that I have now mapped out before you.
A large and varied number of different aspects of this complex and intriguing story have already been told in great detail. Within this more modern and scientific era the greatest emphasis has been placed upon the physical and material evolution of the universe, the planets, and the Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection. Yet, this is no more than a record concerning an intellectual inquiry into a single strand of what is, in fact, a double stranded story. Such an inquiry would be tantamount to our unravelling a single strand of our DNA in our search to unveil the mysteries of our genome and the manner in which it is expressed within our biological makeup.
As with our DNA, there is a second strand to the nature of our humanity, and to its historical unfolding. Likewise, as with our DNA each of these strands mirrors, and complements, the other strand. It is only when both elements are interwoven, and placed together into a unitary structure, that we can begin to apprehend the extraordinary nature, interdependence, and complexity, of the subject of our inquiry. The history of creation, of life and humanity, is more than a physical, chemical, and biological event. These events must be placed within the context of what it is that defines humanity and of what it means to be truly human. The answers cannot be found purely within the scientific and biological terms of reference. The spiritual evolution of mankind is the second, and by far the more important, strand of this great and awesome story.
Having said that, I am not suggesting that human evolution constitutes a biological process within which there is a spiritual strand or elemental subset. On the contrary, I am explicitly, and uncompromisingly, stating that the evolution of humanity is, in its very essence, a unique, and fundamentally spiritual process. The biological element is but a mechanism, and a material means, by which this mystical process would unfold within the parameters that define the material, and the mortal nature of life, and our living universe. Consequently, the task demands the use of more than the left brained language of science, logic, and intellect. We must also resort to the primacy of the right cerebral hemisphere, to the use of metaphor, allegory, imagery and imagination. Most of all we must be able and willing to engage with our human intuition in order that we may recall and recollect that fundamental wisdom which we have long since surrendered to the archives of our subconscious and overwritten with cognitive arrogance. It would appear that we have inadvertently capitulated to the dictates of our intellects and our ego minds.
No doubt, but that some individuals will object to the very thought or idea that this story has a second strand that relates to the spiritual or metaphysical. Despite such objections, the full truth regarding this story must be told and will continue to unfold in word and deed, in truth and in reality, until the end of time. What precisely is this authentic reality? Do we actively seek to fully acknowledge and embrace it? Are we far more preoccupied in our efforts to create and live out some alternative version that is grounded only in the material, the intellectual, and the scientific?
At the core of our inquiry lies the fundamental question of what it is that defines our humanity and what precisely does it mean to be human. The scientists will insist that humanity is simply defined by a unique cluster of biological properties that have been encoded within our D.N.A. throughout the evolutionary history of this planet. Like all forms of life we date back to some specific, and as yet unidentified, primordial ancestor – LUCA: the Last Universal Common Ancestor, some 3.8 billion years ago. Life is no more than "self-replication with variation". Thus, Darwin's theory is restated in a contemporary scientific nutshell. Yet we must ask if these genetic expressions are the sole determinants of our humanity. Might our humanity have more to do with the non - molecular, the nonorganic, with the nature of our mind and that illusive quality which we describe as human consciousness? Might the phenomena of mind and consciousness be something far greater and far more enigmatic than a neurological expression of the biological workings of our human brain? Might it be that these uniquely human properties are not simply generated by the complex neurochemical and electrical interactions located within our craniums?
Furthermore, we might ask the most vital and elementary question within this evolutionary process. At what juncture did the primate, from whom we have presumably evolved, become uniquely human? What precisely was it that became the all defining factor or event? Was it simply the consequence of some final and critical evolutionary alteration, variation, or mutation within a small portion of our D.N.A.?
yes, we will be challenging some critical aspects regarding the interpretation which we have traditionally applied to Darwin's theory of evolution. We will also challenge a number of closely related scientific facts as they are presumed to apply within the historical unfolding of our ancestry and of our human nature. The term "presumption" serves as a useful reminder not to assume in advance that our mental (i.e. mind- full) faculties are exclusively confined to, or the necessary consequence of, our cognitive intellects.
We share nearly 99% of the same DNA sequence as chimpanzees, from whom we split 6 million years ago. If at some future date we were able to reconfigure the 1% difference that exists between...
