THE
KINDERGARTEN
[The essay
originally printed in DELUSIONS does not raise any questions, but rather
provides Conclusions. I brought the excerpts from Beyond Religion 1, Essay #52 up to the latest knowledge available.]
“It
begins when the rudimentary consciousness asserts its will to survive as an
individual unit in the phenomenal reality.
An ameba, a virus, a bacterium.
A mono-cellular entity becomes aware of the reality within
and the immediate environment outside of itself. It defines its territory, its
boundaries. The primitive consciousness learns the laws of survival by
re-embodying itself within ever more complex physical forms. Each re-embodiment
is designed to increase the scope of its operations. The Sanskrit scriptures
place the number of transmigrations of each individual consciousness at
8,400,000. Hopefully, this number includes the second phase of our (human)
evolution, though I doubt it. Suffice to say that the primary stage of our
existence consists exclusively of assuring physical survival and wellbeing in
the phenomenal reality (through which individualized Consciousness can
experience the process of Becoming).
The learning process in this phase relies on repetitive
conditioning. The method is that of trial and error. The repetitions serve to
develop a subconscious storehouse of information, on which the primitive
consciousness can draw to survive within its embodiment in ever-changing
environments. Its responses to challenges are reactive, i.e. automatic or
instinctive.
There is no evidence of free will or deductive reasoning;
although the acquired experiences are carefully stored in the genetic code of
the biological constructs and the entity proceeds to advance its evolution. At
this stage, the individualized consciousness is subject to the indomitable laws
of nature.
A mistake costs it its creation and its life.
Nature is a very cruel mistress.
The main problem in Kindergarten is that
there is no discernible communication. What little there might be, by
observation only, is immediately adapted to one’s own survival. Otherwise, it
is ignored. This acute, purposeful self-centeredness seems to persist in some
individualized unit of awareness for many eons. I know people who behave in
this fashion even today, a few million years since its original embodiment.
The hypothetical phenomenon of the hundredth
monkey effect comes much later. In ‘School’.
Nevertheless, nature in her wisdom has
equipped our rudimentary units of intelligence with genetic memory storage,
well ahead of any computer. This code carries most if not all the instructions
for survival, short of the unit coming across new, unprecedented hurdles.
In such circumstances, one of two things can
happen.
Either it follows the input from its genetic
code, or, by accident (though not by design), it tries something new. If the
new works, it becomes incorporated into the revised, enhanced code, and is
passed on to future generations in order to assist them in survival. I believe
this is one way of looking at Darwin’s “survival of the fittest,” although
“survival of the most resourceful” again, by accident, might be a better way to
describe the Kindergarten.
Nevertheless, Kindergarten is the only
the phase of our evolution wherein the process of natural selection reigns supreme.
Millions of years of natural selection result in a veritable plethora of most
diverse, complex and beautiful organisms imaginable—not the least of which is
man. Alas, at the end of the School Year, man and natural selection must part
company.
Thus, the learned biologists must resign
themselves to deal only with primitive life forms. Unless they prefer to sit
back, wait, and see what happens to their own bodies. It might prove to be a
very, very long wait.
Energy cannot be destroyed, remember?
And, after all, we are all... energy.
The immortal aspect is, of course, the Energy
of Consciousness, no matter in how primitive phenomenal body it finds its
transient abode.
While the process of natural selection is, by
definition, a process, i.e. it is not limited by time and thus it continues
even today in more advanced forms, e.g. in humans. All too often it's built-in a rare but necessary tendency toward mutation turns against the organism it
helped develop, by attacking the organism’s immune system. The extremely prevalent
rheumatoid arthritis is a well-known example of this. I suppose one could say
that if it doesn’t kill one, it makes one stronger. Regrettably, it takes a lot
of joy out of life.
Amusing though it may seem, there are people,
today, who appear to be motivated exclusively by the above method. They have
not, as yet, taken charge of their own natural selection. They still have a
50/50 chance of survival. A little like tossing a coin. In fact, I met very few
people who were willing to take full responsibility for their actions. There
was always someone else to blame. Perhaps, at their stage of development, they
were doing the right thing.
There is one other vital lesson that we are
intended to learn in Kindergarten. The lesson deals with evolutionary
absolutism. It is also very pragmatic. It states quite simply: kill or be
killed. You must kill to eat, thus to survive: carnivore and herbivore alike.
Let us never forget that it is the same life-force that enlivens both fauna and
flora. Kill or be killed is not a suggestion, it is an absolute prerequisite of
natural selection.
It is unfortunate that the majority of the
human species still conforms to this primitive evolutionary demand. In fact,
many of us don’t just kill to survive, we kill because we enjoy killing. We
enjoy the hunt. It seems that natural selection has not succeeded in
eliminating this trait, as yet, from the human species. Will it ever?
It
will. Those (energies) which do not evolve will be recycled in the Black Holes.
(Soon to be published)
