From: Sehkenenra (Sehkenenra@netzero.net)
Date: Thu Jul 11 2002 - 17:48:06 MDT
>There is a strong tradition in the Sufi teachings to transform yourself,
>which could be a human psychological or a physical transformation, it
>doesn't matter to the Sufis. There is also a strong tradition with them
>for a quest for self-knowing.
Don't forget the Tantric traditions either... basically the same message at
it's heart. Buried beneath the mountain of dreck that passes for religion,
there are some great psychological, ethical, and aesthetic traditions that
shouldn't be ignored in our efforts to clean our memetic house of the debris
of history.
Ken Wilber has defined two types of religion- "translative" and
"transformative". Translative religion is the type of religion we've
outgrown- the religions of literalist mythology, power gods, petitionary
prayer, holy wars, and the Nietzschean "slave-god" mentality. Translative
religions mistake allegory for fact, get in the way of scientific and
technological development, kill thousands (if not millions) of people over
petty doctrinal issues. Translative religions are the "opiate" of the
masses at best, and an incentive to murder at worst. Transformative
religions, on the other hand, aren't about belief- they are about inquiry.
They emphasize faith... as defined by Alan Watts, as "openness to the
truth". "Followers" of such religions (leaders would probably be a better
term) are more likely to side with science and reason than dogma and belief.
Unfortunately, for every devotee of transformative religion, there are a
thousand mythic believers. And, in all likelyhood, this isn't going to
change.
Transhumanism is about change. The desire for change, the willingness to
change, and the desire to become. There have been few people throughout the
ages that have had this desire, and fewer still who have had the drive and
skill to transform themselves. And, as Nietzsche pointed out, even the
greatest of those are still human, all too human.
But let's not forget them. While human they might have been, they were
giants in spirit (however you may wish to define the term)- and we're
standing on their shoulders. We're nearing the end of an AMAZING 3,000 year
period- one of great pain and sorrow, but one of remarkable heroism as well.
In this time period, we've seen remarkable change- the most significant
change being the change in worldview that we've gone through. Before
approximately 1000 BCE, almost every civilization and culture in the world
saw time as cyclic. The seasons pass. We are born, grow, decay, die, and
are reborn. History endlessly repeats itself. BUT THEN- in the period of
time between around 1000 BCE and 1 CE, a dramatic change occured...
philosophers and mystics popped up throughout the western and eastern world
with a remarkable new idea- time is linear, and we're here to serve a
purpose (divine or material, chosen or predetermined, take your pick)- we're
going some where! Whether somewhere was a transcendental heaven, a divine
realm of forms, a peaceful union with the unconditioned state- none of this
really matters. What does matter is that these people- the Hebrew prophets,
Plato, Aristotle, Shakyamuni Buddha, the authors of the Upanishads,
Confucius, the western Gnostics, and many others- heralded an amazing
breakthrough in worldviews. These heroes woke humanity up from it's
slumber- and sent us off on a collision course with destiny. All
philosophy, theology, science, and culture developed since can trace it's
development back to this awakening.
Now, here we stand, sitting close to the edge. The teeming billions of
humans now living on the earth have got the planet pretty well subdued. Our
use of resources is quickly becoming unsustainable with only the earth
available to rely upon. But we're also coming together like never before.
The global communications infrastructure has now connected much of the
planet together in information exchange. New ideas are being generated and
put into practice like never before. Research that took days several
decades ago now takes minutes. We've mapped the human genome- and produced
enough nuclear weapons to destroy everyone on the planet. And, within a
year, the first cloned human being may be living among us.
Wow.
I could be full of it. The entire last three thousand years might just be a
joke, a delusional oil slick on the face of Gaia, and it may soon come to a
screaming end as we choke on our own poisons and murder ourselves with
technologies that our unethical, little, "all too human" brains can't
handle. Every philosopher who talked of the good life was a clown. Every
scientist was merely trading in lies and delusion. Every mystic who yearned
for immortality should have just shut up and died like everyone else in
their prerational slumber. Every dream was nothing more than a dream in the
brain of a mammal who grew too big for it's britches and thought that it
could play at being a supreme being created in it's own silly image.
But if we are going somewhere, if the sacrifices and dreams of this past era
haven't been in vain, we're going to find out- soon. If we're right, and we
are headed for a glorious future and the birth of the transhuman, the
painful history of modernity truly was worthwhile. If we're wrong, then it
doesn't matter anyway.
(How's that for Pascal's Wager, Eliezer?)
-Nicq MacDonald
Aspiring Transhuman / Delusional Ape
(Take your pick)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:15:21 MST