The Ascent of Man?

The startling point is that we have not detected, by any means known to man, whether or not lower life forms have any appreciable degree of intelligence beyond what we know. The gravamen is whether they happily accept their fate of diminished awareness as we think. Evidence shows that humans appear to be the only ones at odds with our limitations and actively seek to overcome them. The askance observation is that for all our progress, our limitations may be more finite than we care to admit either by design or by implication. It would appear that all our progress is an illusion of sorts. This sobering thought brings us back to square one. Each civilization seems to reach its peak and, destined to crash into catastrophe. All is erased and we start all over again. There’s nothing to indicate that we have ever transcended our lives, or, at least, no discerning memories of this in any appreciable way. With respect to archeology, who can interpret?

Equally, there’s nothing to indicate that we cannot. The challenge is, if we remove the acquisition of knowledge on the one hand, as the basis for immortality and meaning to life, we then are left, on the other, with subservience to a higher being who can condescend no more than we can ascend. As a matter of juxtaposition, we are saddled with our celebrated freedom as much as that we are puppets operating in a very wide cage of possibilities. That latter point, when carefully examined, tends to show that it keeps our programmers alive and gives them immortality. They feed off our zeal and very own life. Life must have a higher purpose and meaning beyond our will to survive. Yet, the presence of death is a strong evidence of finality since we have not been able to quantify the elusive essence of the soul and no reason to think that it is anything beyond a very complex electrical impulse, or, indeed, the end of all things for the individual.

I fear not death. My dread, however, is outer darkness which is the original position: chaos. Its beauty and mystery enshrouded in the perfection of nature. The existence in singularity and its profound organization. If there has been any real revolution, it is the emergence from the original position. The forces of nature draw us inexplicably to it. Our primordial instincts reject it. Outer darkness. The separation, from the marriage, of matter. Outside it, we have essence and matter. Within its black hole, we are nothing. Just existing as single cells in our pure state and incapable of nothing but random oscillations wandering to and fro. 

Of course, death is an omnivore together with its spouse, Mother Earth. He kills that she may feed and nourish her saplings. She suckles just so that he may wallow in Crimson pools. 

What should one make of it? The undersea of crude matter evidences matter decay. The abundance points to a feasting ground long ago. Of flesh. Of blood. Of bygone spirits. What does it tell us about our past? What does it say of our future?

Certainly, the future of mankind is on earth. If we ever make it anywhere else except in our tempora corporeal, we have ceased to be human. 

Should we then stop our march towards knowledge and civilization? By all means, no. That would be the equivalent of knowingly sitting on your hands before an approaching train. We are aware. That simple recognition changes all. It may well be that we achieve a state of being that was never contemplated by they, whoever they are, that organized us. Or, fulfill the very essence of our purpose – ultimate true freedom. That, it is fair to speculate, may never have been contemplated. Perhaps, awareness is the equalizer. Everything else stems from it. Genuflection pertains to the knees. Healthy respect is an intellectual pursuit based on knowledge and awareness. It is a game of equals. The ascent of man to loftier heights. A nod to his existential curiosity