Still More

This is part three of a five-part account.  For the full reading please wait until July 13th.

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“Slow down. You've lost me.”

Besides the underlying doubts, I really didn't understand what he was saying. It was clear that he had a well-formed picture of what he was describing, but it was a little difficult for me to swallow in undigested form.

“Sorry. It's all so vivid for me. Anyway, I was struck by the fact that the Pharaoh had possessions but no one else did. But the reason turned out to be obvious, if not intuitive. He was better prepared. All the things he thought he'd need were buried with him. So he had them. Of course he learned quickly that nothing he had was of any value, but he had all of it. Even the servants that were buried with him were of no use to him. They were now his equals. Everyone was equal wherever it is that we were.”

“Men and women?”

“There were no men. There were no women. There were only souls – souls that were pure, and there was no difference in their nature. And they weren't at all corporeal. There were no bodies. So there were no physical defects. None was young or old.

“The only difference was that some of them had been evil during their lives. But that was a correctable defect.”

He continued.

“Well, it's not completely accurate that they were all equal. There was kind of a hierarchy and it was based on a couple of things. The Pharaoh did have an advantage over many of the others because he had been rich and highly positioned in life. (You don't specifically get recognition for that but it's a better starting point than poverty.) And there was an advantage to having been religiously observant. It doesn't matter what the religion was. The Pharaoh earned credit for his belief, even though it was misplaced. There everyone is brought around to the one true religion. And when they reach that level they seem to be completely happy; completely at peace. That takes longer for some than others – for those who were distant from their heritages – especially atheists – it may take centuries. But eventually they're happy.

“And sooner or later so are the wicked, although it takes a lot more time if you flouted the rules of the society in which you lived – especially if you oppressed others. The basic premise is that those who were evil chose not to fight the unworthy instincts with which we were all born. Their happiness was delayed not because they were evil – we all have that potential – but because they accepted that condition without an adequate fight.”

It made a lot of sense to me. And I certainly wanted to believe it. I'm reasonably well-off, and if not that much of a community leader, at least I'm relatively honest and respectful of all around me. It's reassuring to know that at least there's a possibility that I'll enjoy an afterlife in which I'll be happy. But I didn't know where Fred was leading. All that he had said seemed to be the preamble to something, even though it wasn't clear what the upshot was.

So I pressed him.

“Where is this all leading?”

He went on. I'm not even sure that he heard me. I had the feeling that he was simply continuing his story.

“Later that day – or was it the next day? – ”

This time I didn't bother to make any attempt to bring him back to reality, yet I was impressed, or maybe amused, by the amount that he claimed to have experienced. And he seemed to believe it.

“I spoke to Bernie again. Told him all about my conversation with the Pharaoh. He smiled and told me that Tut was getting there, but he had a long time to go – at least a millennium or two – and that the scenario he related was only part of the story. It's good for now, but sooner or later the Messiah will come. That's no myth. Of course we don't know when that will be. Interestingly, Bernie didn't know, although he didn't seem to lack any other information.

“'Yes. Someday the Messiah will come.' I had always considered that a good thing, but Bernie disabused me of that idea.

“'In many ways it will be a continuation of this life, but there will also be differences.' I asked him to tell me what he meant and he told me that the good life we'd been enjoying would continue in 'Heaven' (that was his word) and all those on then earth would come and join us. But they could bring their money and purchase all the temptations that they'd learned to love during their time on earth. Anything they desired would be available on the OWWW and we'd get an eternal supply for the initial price. Only those already in Heaven would lose out since they'd have no money to spend.

Next episode: “It's Almost Over” – It's almost over.

More

This is part two of a five-part account.  For the full reading please wait until July 13th.

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It sounded weird to me too when I heard about it, so I pushed Fred a little harder when I spoke with him. Carl had backed off and “humored” him. So he never got the whole story.

Fred was “dead” for only a few minutes. At least that was the way it seemed in our terms. But when I asked him about the experience, he had an entirely different perception.

“It was just like the way everyone describes it – that is, not really everyone, but the ones who have been through it like me. There was a tunnel and a very bright light at the end. A hand took me and brought me into the light. It was wonderful, but I can't describe it more specifically than that. I know that I was in whatever place it was for a long time, but I'm sure of that only because so much happened. There was no feeling of time passing, so I can't judge it that way.”

I don't pretend that he convinced me. You read stories of “near-death experiences” all the time. They seem to be simply expressions of what people want to believe. They're afraid of death and the “dream” they had during their coma (or whatever it is) serves to provide them with something to believe so that when they awaken they're immunized against that fear for ever after. And that's the way I understood Fred's story. Until he started going into particulars.

“The place was filled with ethereal figures, but it wasn't crowded. The whole thing didn't seem to make much sense. It was,” and he paused for a moment, “kind of like a dream.”

That was what I had assumed. It wasn't real – only repression, regression, or one of those psychological defense mechanisms. Dismissing what he said was easy. At least at the beginning.

“One of the first people – no angels – I met was Bernie.”

I nodded and smiled.

“I know this sounds bizarre, but this is exactly what happened.”

Right.

“Anyway, Bernie introduced me to some of the others, but he was the one whom I found most interesting. He had died a few hundred years earlier. Told me his whole story. Before his heart attack he had been a banker in Germany. Even though I don't know German I understood him completely. No accent. And he understood me too. As a matter of fact everyone understood everyone else. It didn't seem to matter where you came from, or when. In fact he introduced me to some old Egyptian Pharaoh and we had no trouble communicating. He told me all about all the things buried with him and how much he enjoyed them. There were lots of others there too. And they all seemed to be happy.

“I wondered how they kept busy and was fascinated when Bernie told me that most of them were entrepreneurs. He got my attention. The time at Stanford was great, but it hadn't prepared me for this. When I pressed him a little on the subject he said that his work was actually something that I might know a little about. He had long ago perfected 'cloud' technology and 'virtual reality,' and could use the latter to inform earthbound techies about the latter – or anything else for that matter. When the time was right he'd simply 'invade' every computer. He had me.”

Now I was starting to get bizarre ideas.

“The next day ...”

“You were only unconscious for a couple of minutes.”

He ignored me and just continued.

“I found the Pharaoh and asked him a few more questions. I got most of my information from him, but he underlying idea was also based on what I learned from Bernie. And it's Bernie who's implementing it.”

Next episode: “Still More” – In which many questions remain unanswered.

 

You Can Take It With You

This is part one of a five-part account.  For the full reading please wait until July 13th.

 

 

 

A little less than two years ago the grandson of a college friend of mine died. Fredⁱ was a real “whiz.” Like his father who excelled in scientific development, he outdistanced all his peers.ⁱⁱ He was top of his class at Stanford from which he got an MBA, not too long after finishing in the highest five percent of graduates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he had majored in computer science while taking several courses in aeronautical engineering as well. He was ready to take on the world when it happened. Whatever it was. That was never quite clear, but, after collapsing at work and being taken by ambulance to the hospital, he was pronounced dead by a doctor at New York–Presbyterian, only to be revived using CPR by a medical student who walked by a moment later and saw him twitch. (A similar event had occurred with his father but he had never talked about it.) The whole incident raises a lot of questions which I'll ignore for now, because it also initiated a situation which is far more interesting.

Let me tell you first a little about Fred. I gave you some of the highlights of his academic background earlier, but I didn't mention enough about the fact that he was a real go-getter. He was determined to be rich,ⁱⁱⁱ and he had decided that the entrepreneurial path was the one for him. His first effort involved aeronautics. He developed computer software that could analyze aircraft function and diagnose and repair potential problems during flight, before they could manifest themselves and threaten the situation. He was in the middle of beta testing when he died, but his program had already attracted a lot of attention in the industry and he appeared to be on the way to achieve his goal of self-earned riches.^iv This was primarily as the result of a single incident in which the software, although it didn't actually fix it, located a problem on a plane in flight that would have been unrecoverable and would have resulted in loss of one of the engines if it hadn't been discovered as early as it was, allowing the pilots to land the airplane safely, if prematurely.

And he “died” prematurely. His apparent demise occurred during the testing phase of the device, but since he didn't actually succumb, it didn't die with him. “A Wing And A Prayer,” the name of the product he was creating, may have been delayed but it made a soft landing. His interest in it, however, seemed somewhat muted after he returned from the hospital and others took it over, though he continued as consultant and advisor on the project. No one else could solve the technical problems as elegantly as he. All he would say when questioned about what seemed to be a loss of interest was “I have other things on my mind.”

Most people attributed his new attitude to a very uncharacteristic obsession with “the meaning of life.” His interests had been very concrete and what they considered the switch from science to philosophy was unexpected. But, after all, he had gone through an experience which is rare – one that no one among his acquaintances could imagine, so none of them challenged what seemed to be a change in personality and a change in focus. The loss to the company of his drive and brilliance was of greater concern to stockholders than to friends. His friends – at least those whom he had not solicited as investors in the aeronautics project – were more worried about his mental and physical health than about computer software.

But they were wrong. Fred felt well – better than he had ever felt – though his mind was on a new project. Those who spoke with him assured me that he was completely “with it.”

Well, that could be debated.

Some of his friends pressed him to talk about his feelings – to tell them what had been going through his mind. They wanted to know what accounted for the change in him. Perhaps they had been reading too much pop-psychology, but talking and hugging seemed to be the answer to all problems. Fred refused the hugging, but he was willing to talk a little. One of them (our mutual friend Carl) related what he had experienced.

“It all results from my conversation with Bernie.”

That's what Fred told him.

“Bernie who?”

A little more questioning from our friend.

“The angel Bernie.^v And his ideas about the OWWW.”

“I don't understand. And it all sounds weird. Tell me more about Bernie.”

Fred was happy to continue.

“He's an angel like all the others. Robe, wings, and all that sort of stuff.”

That was where the discussion ended. Carl was too befuddled to continue.

[More next week.]

Next episode: “More” – I told you. Next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I       I won't identify him further for legal reasons and privacy, as well as the possibility that he'd like to do his own advertising.

ii       Actually he had no peers.

iii      Rich on his own. Not simply because his father had made a fortune with his own inventions and computer development ideas.

iv       In fact he had already picked out a house in the Bahamas.

v       Yes. That's what he said. You can't make this stuff up.

Nota Bene 6

Here we go again. More topics that I don't have time to develop so they're up for grabs. The formats vary as do my moods. As usual, I'll offer four topics for you to consider or write about. It's up to you.

Enjoy.

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Take My Memo, Please

The nominal purpose of a memo is to convey information to the recipient, but there are many other explanations for using this kind of communication – and they are sometimes the real reason for its use. It may be intended to demonstrate your thoroughness. Sometimes it is meant as a cover should a problem develop in the future; sometimes it is aimed at those “copied” on it – to discredit or otherwise inform on the recipient. Or it may be intended to show someone that (s)he is “in the loop.”

Schadenfreude and its variants

I told you so:
Results when your advice is followed
If success – That's what happens if you do it my way
If failure – Would have been worse if you hadn't done it my way
or
Results when someone else's advice is followed
If failure – That's what happens if you don't do it my way
If success – Could have been better if you had done it my way
Hoping for problems, failure, by someone else
Hoping for problem in order to have disaster that will make it impossible not to take action.

The result of war
We're told:

1. Israel caused civilian deaths
2. Israel has no right to land

3. Israel must let in migrants and descendants of those who fled because of war

but

wiseGEEK quotes UN on high frequency of civilian deaths in all wars, and “fog of war” are the more likely reasons for collateral deaths. According to UN the percentage of civilian deaths since 1990 is over 90%of all deaths.  No matter how you add in deaths in fact caused by the Palestinians, the total is less than this.

According to President Obama, collateral deaths may occur during the fog of war. He speaks only of deaths of innocent Americans for which our military is responsible when the enemy is targeted. There is no mention of, nor regret for, the civilians we have killed

Britain divided Ottoman Empire as it saw fit and issued the Balfour Resolution. Did it have the right to do either?
Could Britain invent Transjordan?  How did "Churchill's Sneeze" affect the outcome?
Britain refused to let Jews into Palestine, apparently in the hope that the territory would eventually be captured by the Arabs.
“Innocent civilians” vs innocent participants – Are conscripted or otherwise unwilling soldiers following orders not innocent?
Guilty: A “guilty” party may be venal, stupid, or simply inept, as long as it is the enemy.

Ours may make mistakes while using “just” methods.

Registry of sex offenders

Should there be any registry?
Why just sex offenders?
Where does prudence end and prejudice begin?

Are you interested in knowing that a murderer bought the house next door?

Perhaps someone who was convicted of selling pornography lives down the block
A convicted robber has applied for a job in your firm
An adulterer lives nearby
A narcotics dealer sends his children to the same school as yours
Someone with different standards or a different religion is employed by a religious school

Responsibility (and/or wisdom) of organizations not involved in law enforcement?

Sports team – Is the individual a bad example for children?
School – Should a school bar employment of a kidnaper who has served his sentence?
Boy Scouts – homosexual who has committed no crime
Law firm – previously disbarred attorney
Religious organization – accused child molester
Business – never convicted person believed to be white color criminal
Medical office – admitted drug user

Should we assume the guilt of an individual accused (but either not convicted or completely cleared) of rape or any other crime?

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That's all for now.