“Our so-called World is a reflection without an object; it is the sound made by one hand clapping.” < Back Life is a Movie David Cowles Mar 1, 2024 “Our so-called World is a reflection without an object; it is the sound made by one hand clapping.” Have you ever been to the movies? Nothing’s better than a high-speed car chase projected on the big screen ( French Connection )…unless you prefer, like me, to watch Wally Shawn and Andre Gregory eating dinner in a fancy Manhattan restaurant for two hours ( My Dinner with Andre ). Either way, you experience motion as continuous…just like in real life. But that’s an illusion. In fact, you are seeing 2,000,000 static ‘frames’, uniquely ordered and sequentially displayed at a pace that creates the impression of continuous motion. You’ve just paid $18 for the privilege of being fooled. Real life isn’t like that at all… …Is it? What if the ‘continuous motion’ we seem to experience IRL is itself a cinematic illusion? What if the world actually consists of discrete events, somehow ‘edited’ into the unique order that we call spacetime? 2,000,000 distinct frames can be ordered in an unimaginable variety of sequences, only one of which corresponds perfectly to what we recognize as RL. According to Stephen Hawking, RL tracks the Second Law of Thermodynamics – it arranges events along a scale that reflects a steady increase in entropy. The events themselves are sui generis , free; the arrangement of those events in spacetime is not. So, life’s not a beach after all; it’s a movie ! And a ‘film’ is nothing but its 2,000,000 frames, presented at standard speed, in a unique order. The writing, acting, directing, staging, etc. are only relevant in so far as they are manifest in the frames. The director breaks up the continuous motion of ‘real life’ into discrete frames; the projectionist reintegrates those frames to generate the illusion of continuous motion on the screen. Over the millennia, a handful of philosophers have questioned this ‘spacetime centric’ model of reality: Parmenides, Zeno, Democritus, Whitehead, and Severino come to mind. According to them, it is…or it is not! If it is, it’s a matter of fact, an ‘actual entity’. If it’s not, it’s not. Seems straightforward enough, yet almost no one believes it. Instead, we sign on to the Heraclitan fallacy that everything is in the process of becoming, i.e., coming to be…and coming not to be. Unlike Hamlet, Heraclitans say, “To be is not to be.” Everything that is…also is not. But they do not hold that everything that is not…is. Therefore, there will come a time when the universe will be empty and once empty, always empty. This too is Nihilism. Alessandro Carrera (b. 1954), writes about “the pervasive nihilism of a civilization embracing the unquestioned belief that ‘all things must pass’.” Emanuele Severino (b. 1929), adds: “Being is, while Nothing is not…Being is that which is opposed to Nothing, it is this very opposing.” If Severino is right, Being itself is sui generis : Bootstrapping! It creates itself by not being not-being. A = ~(~A). We think of ‘nothing’ as the negation of ‘being’, but Severino suggests that we have things upside down: Etre is the negation of Neant . The poet and theologian, John Donne (d. 1631), reflected: “I am re-begot of absence, darkness, death: things that are not…” He anticipated Sartre (d. 1980): “I am not what I am, and I am what I am not.” Since all Being is good (Augustine et al.), not-being is the absence of good, i.e., evil. Then “deliver us from evil” is a primal scream…for Being! Nihilism is the worship of time and, synonymously (Hawking), of entropy, disorder. “Now I am become time, the destroyer of worlds. ( Bhagavad-Gita ) Now I am become death...” (Robert Oppenheimer) Time = entropy = death. Et voilà , the true identity of ‘Satan’ is revealed; he is entropy, he is death, he is disorder, he is time itself. Nihilism and Satanism are one and the same! We live with the fear of death, of nothingness. In Carrera’s view, Nihilism is despair and therefore the ultimate, unforgivable sin, a sin against the Holy Spirit, ‘the Lord, the Giver of Life’ ( Nicene Creed ): “Greek philosophy (after Parmenides)…engenders the most dreadful and terrifying meaning of death, that of going into nothingness.” Sometimes Christianity can seem convoluted. I get that! But not this time. This is a case of Christianity being crystal: non-being = evil → despair = sin…a vicious cycle. We are mesmerized by time. Generation and decay link Past and Future: what’s ‘not still’ and what’s ‘still not’. But we’re missing what-is, we’re missing Presence. In the immortal words of Walter Mondale (and Wendy’s ), “Where’s the beef?” Our so-called World is a reflection without an object; it is the sound made by one hand clapping. Neither Past nor Future exist. Only the Present is. So what of generation and decay? Well, can you construct a model of generation or decay that does not include a reference to the non-existent Past or Future? Then to base an ontology, like Heraclitus, on generation and decay would be to ground what is on what is not. Generation and decay are spatiotemporal concepts; they have no meaning in the context of the eternal Present. The thing itself, on the other hand, exists only in the Present. What is, is…period! The Past and the Future, by definition, both consist solely of what is not: not yet, not still. The Present does not exist ‘between’ Past and Future; it does not exist on the timeline at all. Instead, it exists entirely outside of time. It is a-temporal…‘eternal’. ‘Eternity’ and ‘Presence’ are denotatively synonymous and entirely different from Immortality. In fact, eternity (no time) and immortality (infinite time) are antonyms, even though they are often used interchangeably in ordinary discourse. The Present is where the thing itself lives. In Kant’s terms, noumena are Present, phenomena are traces of the Past, images of the Future. Qualia are ways in which the Present ‘feels’ the past and ‘projects’ the future. Qualia are inherited; they are never created. Our job is, quite literally, to rearrange the deck chairs (qualia) on The Titanic . Alessandro Carrera: “Every slice of reality is , and therefore is permanently, since whatever is cannot come into being or cease to be.” “Go ask Alice!” There is the World and then there is the Looking-glass World. That’s space. The mirror is the limit of both worlds, but it is part of neither world. Now rotate 90° off of the real number line. That’s time, represented mathematically as an ‘imaginary number’ (i). The Present is the mirror (membrane) separating and connecting the Past and the Future. But as Alice knows, everything that happens, happens in the mirror. Therefore, a thing either is – or is not. It does not come to be or cease to be. It either is, whole and entire, or it isn’t. Coming to be and ceasing to be happened in time but have nothing to do with the thing-itself which happens only in the Present. This is not to say that actual entities are static. In fact, they are pure processes; it’s just that the process is a-temporal, outside of time. Along with Yahweh (Exodus 3:14), every actual entity ‘asserts’ “I am”. Mark 12: 26 – 27: “…‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living…” From God’s perspective, there are only ‘actual entities’, and all actual entities are Present. Unfortunately, we have come to accept the coming-to-be and ceasing-to-be of entities as reality rather than projection/abstraction. We view the thing itself as a ‘projection of’ or an ‘abstraction from’ the process of becoming and decaying, not the other way around. In our ‘philosophy’, what is not is what is. No wonder; we live in the age of Nihilism. While understanding Being in terms of Presence rather than Spacetime has not been popular in recent centuries, it is not at all new. 2500 years ago, Parmenides of Elea, often called both the ‘father of Western science’ and the ‘father of Western philosophy’, wrote an enigmatic poem called On Nature . The poem consists of three parts: a brief Prologue, the “Way of Truth” ( Aletheia ) and the “Way of Appearance” ( Doxa ). Regarding the Way of Truth, he wrote: “ What-is is ungenerated and imperishable, whole, single-limbed, steadfast and complete. Nor was it once, nor will it be, since it is, now, all together, one continuous...Whence did it grow? Not from what is not…It must be completely, or not at all… How could what-is be in the future, and how could it come to be? For if it came to be, it is not… Thus coming to be is extinguished and perishing not to be heard of… Nor is it divisible, since it is all alike…it is full of what-is … It is not right for what-is to be incomplete. For it is not lacking, but if it were, it would lack everything.” Regarding the Way of Appearance: “It has been named all things that mortals have established, trusting them to be true: to come to be and to perish, to be and not to be, to shift place and to exchange bright color. Thus, according to belief, these things were born and now are, and hereafter, having grown from this, they will come to an end. And for each of these, did men establish a distinctive name?" The simplest, and probably least accurate, analogy is the mirror (above). A better metaphor treats Doxa (Spacetime) as a holographic projection of Aletheia (Presence). Perhaps even better, we might think of Doxa as the rainbow projected from an apparently featureless prism. Plato and Aristotle moved philosophy away from Parmenides’ vision, but Christianity restored it. We find a familiar affirmation of the Christian rediscovery of Parmenides and the other Eleatic philosophers (e.g., Zeno) in the Lord’s Prayer: “…on earth as it is in heaven.” Our true being is not in spacetime, but in Eternity. To be (earth) is to be eternal (heaven). A movie passes before our eyes; it is an illusion. Each of the 2,000,000 frames is eternal in the sense that it lives forever in the medium in a way that is not dependent on the projector. Likewise, we live our lives in spacetime; it is an illusion. Each event is eternal in a way that is not dependent on Past or Future. David Cowles is the founder and editor-in-chief of Aletheia Today Magazine. He lives with his family in Massachusetts where he studies and writes about philosophy, science, theology, and scripture. He can be reached at david@aletheiatoday.com . Click the cover image to return to Spring 2024. Share Previous Next Do you like what you just read? Subscribe today and receive sneak previews of Aletheia Today Magazine articles before they're published. Plus, you'll receive our quick-read, biweekly blog, Thoughts While Shaving. Subscribe Thanks for subscribing! Click here. Return to Table of Contents, Winter 2023 Issue Return to Table of Contents, Holiday Issue Return to Table of Contents, Halloween Issue Return to Table of Contents, September Issue Return to Table of Contents, Beach Issue Return to Table of Contents, June Issue

< Back Laura Cabrera Contributor Laura Cabrera's interests focus on the ethical and societal implications of neurotechnology and neuroscientific advances. She has been working on projects that explore the media coverage and the attitudes of the general public toward pharmacological and novel neurosurgical interventions for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. She has also worked on the public perceptions towards the use of different modalities of neuromodifiers for enhancement purposes, as well as their normative implications. Her current work also focuses on the responsible governance of neurotechnology. Neurotech Challenges Mental Privacy: New Human Rights?

< Back The Block Universe David Cowles Aug 30, 2026 “Whatever can happen does happen…so enjoy the potato salad and, if you’re over 21, the (spiked) lemonade!” 1500 words, 7 minute read The Universe is best represented as a multi-dimensional Block (BU). Every possible value of every potential variable is encoded in that Block. What we call the World is a cross section, i.e. a ‘slice’ or a ‘surface’, of that BU. Every cross-section uniquely orders the variables in the Block. There are innumerable (perhaps infinitely many) such surfaces. How many and which of those surfaces constitute a World is what differentiates various BU models. For example, according to Pierre-Simon Laplace’s (c. 1800) Classical Determinism (CD), there is one and only one World. While other worlds might have been possible, only one world actually is, and it is immutable: every future event is determined by every past event. At the other end of the spectrum, we have Hugh Everett’s (c. 1960) Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of Quantum Mechanics (QM). According to Everett, everything that might happen can happen and everything that can happen does happen. Every possible value of every variable constitutes its own unique, solipsistic, actual world. Neither of these popular models is remotely satisfying. Neither provides an account of our experience of being in a world nor of our intuition of contingency in events. In addition, CD is based on an assumption that runs afoul of contemporary physics, i.e. that we can determine the position and momentum of every particle in the Universe at one moment in time and so calculate the state of the Universe at every moment in time, past or future. The math may work but the physics doesn’t. Turns out, location and momentum are not entirely independent, so it is never possible to determine both at once without there being a certain amount of ‘fuzziness’ in the data (and fuzzy is fatal when it comes to determinism – I mean, one flap of a butterfly’s wing can throw all our plans and predictions into a cocked hat: No picnic for you today!) If we could know location with the precision required for a deterministic calculation, it would come at the expense of any knowledge whatsoever concerning momentum. Fortunately for us, the relationship between location and momentum is not linear. There is a ‘sweet spot’ where we have enough information about location and momentum to enable informal, imprecise, approximations. No picnic…but probably no asteroid collision either. Hugh Everett salvaged the picnic! We no longer need to rely on knowing position and momentum to predict the future: Whatever can happen does happen! So enjoy the potato salad and, if you’re over 21, the (spiked) lemonade! MWI may be irrefutable, but it’s not very useful. It’s really just a device to get around the paradoxes of Quantum Mechanics. The Protection of Picnics is just its side hustle. But its inventory of worlds explodes exponentially and there’s no way to prefer one universe over any other: they’re all just happening! Riddle : Is ‘everything happens’ the same as ‘nothing happens’? If everything occurs, does anything occur? “Nothing changes if nothing changes.” (AA) Laplace or Everett, either way your experience is the same; you live in just one world, your world, because either that’s all there is (CD) or, what amounts to the same thing, that’s all there is for you (MWI). Your trajectory is unique according to either model. No matter what choices you appear to make, which alternatives you seem to choose, any Everett-World will still be your world, and therefore phenomenally indistinguishable from Laplace-World. So CD and MWI describe the same phenomena differently. CD brings us back to Shakespeare: “To be or not to be.” And to Looney Tunes: “That’s all folks!” One and done. It either is or it is not. If it is, it is what is! Welcome to Hell – but don’t worry, it’s all-inclusive. Many Worlds relieves the boredom of CD… but at a price: chaos! According to MWI, there is a universe in which I ordered both lasagna and fish at your wedding. Super wedding! Well, not really. I only know from fish or pasta – like meat and dairy, I can’t experience both at the same time if I’m keeping kosher; I can’t combine two worlds. In some world, somebody ate lasagna, but not me; I only got to taste the fish. Rats! Of course, the bifurcation of reality does not stop at wedding menus. Everything you do functions as a node, a bifurcation point…you and every other human being…you and every other living organism, including each of the 30 trillion independent cells that make up your body! Turns out, MWI and CD are two paths to the same result! In both models, what happens just happens. There is no contingency. There’s nothing recognizable as agency, and so of course, there’s no free will. Wait! According to CD ‘only one thing happens’; while according to MWI ‘whatever can happen does happen’. How can the two models be synonymous? Thanks to Bill Clinton, we can resolve this paradox: it all depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is. MWI applies ‘is’ to all possible pathways; CD applies it to just one. But I propose a different solution: a modification of MWI I call Many Worlds Modified (MWM): Suppose ‘the world tree’ ( Yggdrasil in Norse mythology) is convergent as well as divergent. We know from Botany that roots and branches, once diverged, can converge (reconnect); so why not divergent World-lines ? If we treat the World as a computer simulation, made up entirely of 1’s and 0’s (+’s and –‘s), it is easier to see how two different number streams could settle on a single shared value. According to MWM, the inventory of ‘worlds’ grows, but linearly, not exponentially…a big improvement I think you’ll agree: A +↙ ↘- x x +↙ ↘- +↙ ↘- x x x +↙ ↘- +↙ ↘- +↙ ↘- x x x x Assume, as above, that each variable has one, but only one, of two values (+ or -). Regardless of whether the value of Alpha (A) is + or -, Beta (X) may be either + or -. The Beta state is not conditioned by the Alpha state. Assume also that the basic properties of arithmetic apply. Therefore, (+ –) is equivalent to (–+). Our first iteration leaves us with just two possible worlds; but our second iteration adds a third option (+ - / - +). According to this model, the Universe inflates to create the additional space needed to accommodate novelty. Now this is a World you can live in! A world remarkably like our own in fact, and all you needed was Grade 3 arithmetic to generate it. According to Norse mythology (above), 3 Norns (Macbeth’s witches) weave the World-line (Fate) from 3 skeins of yarn. How Trinitarian! MWM is consistent with this cosmology: ++, +-/-+, --. The textile, aka the World, Laertes’ shroud, accretes arithmetically over time. No stasis , no kaos , just logos . But am I late to the party? 75 years ago, renowned physicist Richard Feynman created another theoretical framework designed to bridge CD and MWI. Like Everett, Feynman takes ‘can happen, does happen’ as his starting point. But he treats ‘does happen’ in terms of mathematical probability rather than physical process. He appropriately called his model Sum Over Histories (SH). “Does happen” means “has a probability greater than 0.” Simplistically, with Laplace there is never any ‘event’ (novelty) per se , while with Everett there are inconceivably many; with Feynman there is one actual event but that event is really a ‘path integral’ of multiple virtual events. SH includes vestiges of all possible events. Ah, fresh air! Feynman integrates many virtual (probabilistic) events into one ‘many splendored’ physical (actual) event. But that’s only the beginning of Feynman’s genius! He went on to suggest that, while the probabilistic wave function does collapse into the specific actual event that we ‘see’, all the virtual pathways, summing to an ‘event probability’ of 1, pass on intact into the future…but with varying levels of intensity corresponding to their probability. Even though neither Laplace nor Everett can be debunked mathematically, their models are not very satisfying. Neither remotely resembles the World we experience. Our World is stable but not frozen, dynamic but not chaotic. SH to the rescue! SH is much richer than my paltry effort (MWM). However, it introduces complexities from Quantum Mechanics that are not strictly necessary, and its calculations require advanced calculus. MWM is like an n-1 dimensional projection of SH: it’s SH for 3 rd graders and for those with a 3 rd grade knowledge of mathematics…like me! Previous Share Next Do you like what you just read and want to read more Thoughts? Subscribe today for free! Thoughts While Shaving - the official blog of Aletheia Today Magazine. Click here.

< Back The Dance of Autumn Deborah Rutherford "Autumn is a season of Remembrance – where we remember what God has done for us and are thankful and praise Him for His Goodness." Can we reflect on God's goodness as the seasons change and Winter approaches? I called my husband, Don, into the prayer room. Outside the large windows adorned with white faux wood blinds, we marveled at the first leaves of Fall changing their hues. I had anticipated this moment—the vibrant burst of colors. Yet, soon, the trees would shed their foliage, nearly stripping themselves bare. Don remarked, "See, Fall has arrived," as I recalled the skeptics who had doubted its arrival this year. We had just returned from our annual beach trip to Florida, which we had delayed this year, allowing us to experience the transition from Summer to Fall. At the beach, it still felt like Summer, despite what the calendar said. We basked in the sun, enjoyed the ocean waves, and relished in the warmth. I asked Don what Fall meant to him, and he replied, "Football, turkey, outdoor barbecues, watching the leaves change, and eventually raking them up." I nodded in agreement, acknowledging the beauty of the leaves, even though I knew they would eventually fall and need to be gathered into piles. As I contemplated this change of season, I pondered my own feelings about Fall. Had I harvested and reaped what was necessary in my life? Were there things I needed to let go of? Don and I had just emerged from a challenging and demanding season, facing trials that felt like walking through a den of lions. Yet, with God's guidance, we had made it through. Now, we found ourselves on the mountaintop of faith, enjoying the harvest and redemption that only God could provide after such a trying journey. I reflected on the various changes happening in my circle of friends and family—some leaving long careers behind, others facing unexpected health challenges, and some embarking on new journeys like my brother-in-law with his new job. In some cases, I witnessed how God had transformed adversity into beauty. I questioned the nature of this season and why I felt hesitant to fully embrace it. I admitted it: as the season began and everyone around me discussed Autumn, shared fall-inspired pictures, and engaged in debates over chips and salsa versus pumpkin spice, it left me somewhat uncertain. I noticed a friend posting pictures of her fall wardrobe, complete with plaid skirts and pumpkin-colored dresses, and another wearing flannel. I wondered if I was ready for the transition, as I still sported shorts and sundresses with sun-kissed skin. My husband hung up our Autumn wreath and surprised me with a bouquet of sunflowers. I heard Autumn beckoning me, assuring me that I belonged in this season. The birds and squirrels seemed to concur as they went about their preparations, and farmers worked tirelessly in the fields. I could almost hear the angels singing. God whispered to me, "This season is for you as well. You belong in this time, from the beginning of time to its end. Come, dance with me." I felt the leaves crunch beneath my tennis shoes, the breeze brushing against my shoulder, and my husband's love as we decorated the house and simmered apple, cinnamon, and vanilla potpourri on the stove. "Join me in the soothing lullaby of the Harvest," God urged, "I have provided for you, and I want to fill you with joy that will spill over to others. This is a season of celebration, solace, and remembrance." Amidst the wind, songs, and devotions, I reminded myself to remember God's goodness. He had chosen and treasured me. Autumn was a time for both Harvest and the preparation of our hearts through gratitude and remembrance. It marked the beginning of the Holy Days, tracing back to an exodus that continued to shape our lives, leading us to the most significant event in human history—the birth of our Lord Jesus, which ultimately led to redemption. So, I took the leap, embraced this Harvest season, and donned a rust, gold, and cream dress. Walking the path near my home, I inhaled deeply, resting in God's love for me. The warmth of the sun caressed me, and I felt immense comfort. There was a change in the air, and a full, radiant moon graced the sky. I rejoiced in the moment, knowing that it was a privilege to be alive. Down the path, as sunlight filtered through the trees, I noticed some leaves beginning to change. It was a symphony of colors and transformation, a masterpiece crafted by God Himself. But I wondered, how do we, as God's people, navigate this sacred season? It was a time for thanksgiving, rejoicing, and gratitude, as seasons always brought transformation. This particular change, however, was God's reminder to remember His goodness during the Autumn of our lives, preparing us for the Winter ahead. The bountiful Harvest sustained us during leaner times, both spiritually and physically. God's wisdom in leading us through the cycles of nature mirrored the seasons of our lives, and together, we walked hand in hand. "O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever" (Psalm 136:1 KJV). Autumn served as a season of Remembrance, where we acknowledged God's blessings and praised Him for His goodness. His grace flowed not because of our deeds but because He was inherently good. We remembered: Our eternal journey, regardless of our circumstances. Heaven as a place of abundance and plenty. Past blessings and God's faithfulness in providing. Gratitude for daily blessings, recognizing that God's goodness extended to the ordinary. Living in a state of thanksgiving, finding joy in it all. Autumn was a delicious season of Harvest, when leaves fell and we reaped what we had sown. It was a season to hold onto faith and believe in God's promise that it would be beautiful. For it was a privilege to be alive, and I vowed to make every day count. This seasonal display was orchestrated by God and always arrived as a reminder: God remained in control. His nature was unchanging. His power extended over all creation as the Creator and Artist behind all this beauty. Remembering God's goodness in Autumn prepared us for Winter. The abundance of the Harvest sustained us during leaner times. God had provided us with this beautiful planet, the gift of breath and life. Shifting our hearts towards gratitude helped us remember that when Winter came, we needed to have faith and trust that God was still in control. Just as the leaves fell and lay dormant in Winter, they would burst forth with life in Spring, mirroring the resurrection of Jesus and the eventual celebration of all Creation. A Harvest Prayer Dear Heavenly Father, We thank you for the Sacred Seasons, both in nature and in our lives. These transformations, seen in the changing leaves and bountiful Harvest, remind us of your presence. May we gather together in your name, whether at our tables, pumpkin patches, or football games. May we encounter you in every aspect of the changing seasons, for everything has its time. Thank you for your boundless love and for including us in the magnificent transformation of life itself. May we share your love with everyone we meet as we prepare for the greatest gift of all—the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Thank you, God, for equipping us and all of Creation for Winter in the dance of Autumn. In Jesus's name, Amen. Deborah Rutherford is a Christian wife who loves to write stories, devotionals, and poetry. She is also an award-winning makeup artist. Deborah shares her journey of faith, joy, and beauty on her blog at www.deborahrutherford.com and social media. She is a contributing writer for Aletheia Today Magazine , Kingdom Edge Magazine and Gracefully Truthful Ministries and has a devotional in the book “Shepherd on Duty: Promises of God you Can Trust ” (Arabelle Publishing) and the Calla Press, Literary Journal Spring 2023. Return to our Harvest Issue 2023 Previous Next

< Back Leviticus and the Fed "The Fed’s 2% inflation policy is a modern version of the Levitical program. It pays for the social safety net that is our way of redistributing wealth.” David Cowles From the Industrial Revolution to the AI Explosion , intellectual, social, and economic history has been dominated by the struggle between Socialism and Capitalism. Two great challenges confront every economic system: the generation of wealth and the distribution of that wealth. The success of every economic system must be measured according to these two criteria, and Socialism and Capitalism offer dramatically different approaches. In the Manifesto of the Communist Party , first published in 1848, Karl Marx famously wrote: “…The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.” That single sentence became the rallying cry for a movement that, in many respects, dominated a 175-year period of world history. At the other end of the ideological seesaw, of course, was the 18th-century theory of Capitalism. These two great economic philosophies battled over one issue above all others: Who should own (control) society’s “means of production”? We have Marx to thank for this concept. He correctly understood that each society, each social epoch, is characterized by its means of production, i.e., by the way, in which it generates wealth. In Marx's 19th century, the means of production consisted of factories and machines, augmented by the labor of “wage slaves”. The bourgeoisie owned these means of production, either de jure as in the case of factories, or de facto, as in the case of labor. Marx did not decry the Industrial Revolution; he was no Green! He saw factories and machines as the instruments that would generate the wealth that would free the workers of the world from their chains. He decried the fact that ownership of the means of production was centralized in the hands of a few capitalists, who accumulated wealth and power at the expense of the proletariat, merely because they owned society’s productive assets. Marx’s solution was to abolish the institution of private property (at least as it relates to productive assets), collectivize productive property under the common ownership of the workers, and entrust the management of that property to institutions representing those workers (e.g., the Soviets, the Communist Party, or the State). Faintly but persistently, that great debate was punctuated with calls for a “Third Way”…a socio-economic alternative that might capture the most attractive features of both systems while discarding the undesirable elements of each. Proponents of a Third Way are typically looking to combine the egalitarian and communitarian virtues of Socialism with productivity and personal liberty, the strengths of Capitalism. It turns out that just such a Third Way was proposed…over 2500 years ago in the Old Testament book of Leviticus. The socio-economic blueprint laid out there embodies just those positive elements that we have come to associate with the best aspects of both Capitalism and Socialism. At first glance, it might appear that a socio-economic program written over two millennia ago for an agrarian economy could not possibly be implemented in a modern industrial society. But that would be incorrect. Upon deeper reflection, it is not only clear that the Levitical program can be implemented; it is clear that it has been implemented, at least in the United States. Evaluating the generation of wealth is easy; it’s basically a matter of arithmetic. Evaluating the distribution of wealth is much more difficult; values enter the discussion at every turn: Should wealth be distributed among members of society in proportion to the contribution of each toward the production of that wealth? Should wealth be distributed among members of society in proportion to the needs of each member? Should wealth be distributed equally among all members of society, regardless of the contribution or the need of any particular member? There are no immediately obvious, universally correct answers to these questions. Plus, there is another question that cuts diagonally across all three: If the production of wealth is in any way a function of the way in which that wealth is distributed, should the value of maximizing wealth influence in any way the decisions we make regarding its distribution? In his Theory of Justice , John Rawls proposed a solution to this enigma. He suggested that the optimum distribution of wealth was the distribution that would maximize production, consistent with the extension of civil rights and the provision of basic economic security to every member of society. His rationale: this is what an objective member of society would choose, provided that that member of society had no advance idea whether she would be at the top or the bottom end of the economic ladder. Rawls’ state of ‘disinformation’ is a modern version of Rousseau’s “State of Nature." The ideologies of Socialism and Capitalism have both been well tested in the laboratory of real life; how did each fare? Socialism did a reasonably good job of leveling economic (and therefore social) inequality, but it did an absolutely horrible job of maximizing production. Capitalism, on the other hand, did an astoundingly good job of maximizing production but a poor job managing social and economic inequality and providing basic economic security. After 65 years of real-life experimentation, the “workers of the world” did indeed unite. They voted with their feet: Yes to Capitalism, No to Communism! Apparently applying Rawls’ calculus, they decided it was better to risk being at the bottom of a Capitalist ladder than to languish hopelessly in the middle of a Communist heap. But this does not solve the dilemma: social justice is not an option; it is an imperative! Just as no one can validly sell themselves into slavery, neither can they bargain away their natural right to a basic share of society’s goods. A person may choose to ‘live poor’ (St. Francis) but they cannot justly be ‘made poor’ as a matter of law. Capitalism cannot celebrate its triumph until it fulfills Rawls’ condition of providing basic economic security to every member of society. Of course, folks will disagree, and rightly so, about what constitutes basic economic security, but most will agree that it has not yet been universally achieved. It certainly includes a decent place to live, decent clothing and enough to eat, but it’s more than that. It must include a safe environment, a healthy diet, health care and education. Even more than that; it must include the opportunity for economic, social and intellectual advancement…the right to ‘self-actualize’, to ‘be all that you can be’…and finally, it must include an acceptable level of social status, consistent with a positive self-image. Implementing an effective security net is useless if we label its beneficiaries ‘welfare cheats’. Clearly, the Capitalist world has a ways to go to meet John Rawls’ standards. Most, if not all, Capitalist societies have made some effort to construct a safety net. In some countries, the net is weak and full of holes; in other countries, it is stronger but tends to rob initiative and the sense of self-worth from those who rely on it. We can do better! “You shall count seven weeks of years – seven times seven years – such that the seven weeks of years amounts to forty-nine years…You shall treat this fiftieth year as sacred. You shall proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you…In this year of Jubilee, then, each of you shall return to your own property…The land shall not be sold irrevocably; for the land is mine, and you are but resident aliens and under my authority.” Leviticus (25:10) The social system outlined in Leviticus is based on the theory that every tribe of Israel began its career in Canaan with an equal share of productive property (i.e., land) and that every family within each tribe likewise began with an equal share. At the time of the Exodus from Egypt, land was the fundamental means of production and the primary source of all wealth, augmented by livestock and labor. In theory, at least, every family in the new society started out with an equal share of the means of production. But the social code of the Israelites reflected the fact that economic relations are never static. Some families grow wealthier, others poorer. The authors of Leviticus understood that some folks would ultimately be forced to sell their land, and even their labor, in order to survive. Leviticus did not forbid such economic activity…but it did limit its impact via two buffers: (1) a social safety net (Sabbath) and (2) a program to redistribute wealth (Jubilee). Leviticus calls for the total redistribution (or “restoration”) of productive wealth (i.e., the means of production) every 50 years. “…On the tenth day of the seventh month let the ram’s horn resound; on this, the Day of Atonement…each of you shall return to your own property.” Every 50 years, there’s a do-over. According to Leviticus, the State of Nature is renewable. Compare this ‘primitive’ social system with the more sophisticated Capitalist and Socialist systems. Under Capitalism, there are generally no do-overs; the sins (or mere mistakes) of the father/mother are most definitely visited on the sons and daughters for generations to come. Socialist societies, on the other hand, have a different problem. Here, the means of production are owned in common. This at least theoretically solves the problem of inequality, but it does nothing to motivate production. Without a system of economic incentives, labor languishes and there is little in the way of innovation or investment. Monday morning pep rallies are no substitute for profit sharing! The economic system offered by Leviticus solves this conundrum. All productive property is private! There is no ‘state’ per se . There are few restrictions on amassing wealth; incentives for labor and commerce abound. Yet, every 50 years, all productive property is redistributed, so every second generation gets a fresh start. It seems like the best of both worlds, a perfect solution. But you say, “It’s impractical; there’s simply no way that the productive property of the United States could be totally reallocated.” Is that so? Would you be surprised to learn that we have been living according to the Code of Leviticus for more than a decade? In fact, Jubilee has become a bright-letter Fed policy. Rather than redistributing all productive property every 50 years at the sound of a ram’s horn, the Federal Reserve has made a 2% annual rate of inflation a matter of policy. 2% x 50 years = 100%. The Fed’s 2% inflation policy is a modern version of the Levitical program. It pays for the social safety net, which is our way of redistributing wealth. How does this work? Consider our response to COVID-19. The US spent about $5 trillion that we didn’t have to mitigate the economic impact of COVID. We used that money to maintain our social safety net. They say money doesn’t grow on trees…yes it does! Ok, gold doesn’t grow on trees, but paper does. To pay for COVID, we printed money and effectively devalued our currency. We experienced that devaluation in the form of short-term hyperinflation (>2%). Essentially, we borrowed $5 trillion, and now we’re paying the ‘vig’…every time we purchase a roll of toilet paper. The wisdom of our response to COVID-19 is not our subject today, but as to the wisdom of the Fed’s 2% inflation target, we have only to look to the Book of Leviticus for confirmation. David Cowles is the founder and editor-in-chief of Aletheia Today Magazine. He lives with his family in Massachusetts where he studies and writes about philosophy, science, theology, and scripture. He can be reached at david@aletheiatoday.com . Click the cover image to return to Spring 2024. Previous Next

< Back How to Build a Warp Drive “Buckle up! While your friends are lining up for a trip to Mars, you’re headed for Alpha Centauri…and beyond!” David Cowles Panta Re , “Everything moves”, the wisdom of Heraclitus (5th century BCE), proven 2500 years later by Einstein & Co. Everything that is moves in space or time or both. A photon in a vacuum, for example, moves in space but not in time. It transverses 186,000 miles in one second. A couch potato, on the other hand, moves in time but not in space. He traverses Normal Life Expectance (85 years) without going even once to the kitchen for a beer. We call that ‘aging’. Photons don’t age. They have found the fountain of youth. It’s called perpetual motion. But unfortunately, the motion you generate on your treadmill won’t do the trick…unless you can jog at the speed of light (like Usain ‘Bolt’). Proposed : Age is a measure of our inactivity. To the uninitiated, space seems vast and time interminable, but in fact the fabric known as spacetime is constricting; it imposes severe limitations on our Wanderlust . My friends ridicule me, with reason, because I’ve never been to Asia. I could have done but I didn’t and now I can’t; oh well! I have the last laugh: they’ve never visited Proxima Centauri (PC), the closest star to Earth (besides our sun). Poor them! (Not that I’ve been there…yet; but I know how to get there which most of them don’t: it’s ‘second (star) on the right and straight on till morning’, right?) A photon travels from PC to Earth in ‘just’ 4 years (the time between one US Presidential election and the next) but it will take Voyager One almost 75,000 years to reach our nearest neighbor. Talk about Little House on the Prairie ! Even today’s most energetic space probe would take 7,500 years to reach PC. If my fellow Earthlings are ever to have the thrill of visiting this nearby star, they will need to start shredding the fabric of spacetime. And don’t despair: we have the technology! Well, to rephrase: we know what we need the technology to do. We don’t quite know how to build it…yet, but the principles are clear enough. We need to ‘fix’ the ludicrous disproportion that exists between spatial distances and temporal intervals in our frame of reference. The ‘cosmic ratio’, as we experience it, is 186,000:1 (miles per second). By comparison, most of us will never travel faster than 0.2 miles per second. We imagine that we live in a 4 dimensional spacetime. The 3 spatial dimensions appear to be interchangeable; a common metric applies. By comparison, from our perspective, the temporal metric seems wildly distorted. One second in time equivalent to 186,000 miles in space. Even the world’s most traveled human is still more than 99.99% potato and less than 0.01% photon. Fortunately, there is a simple way to make our experiences of time and space congruent. In Yellow Submarine , an icon of 20th century mythology, John Lennon adjusts the onboard clocks (metrics) to slow the flow, and even reverse the direction, of time. IRL, we estimate that the edge of the non-visible universe is receding from us at about 1,000 times the speed of light. So superluminal speed is no problem; we just need to change the metric, i.e. shrink space. For space travel to be routine, we’d probably need to be able to zip across our home galaxy in about the time it currently takes to circumnavigate our globe (about 40 hours). This gives whole new meaning to the term, Road Warrior . The problem is that it would take a photon about 80,000 years to make the trip. So even light is a slow poke by these standards. To achieve an acceptable galactic navigational speed we would need to compress space by a factor of 10^9 (vs. 10^3, above). Easy! We just need to create a soliton (a wave that travels through space with virtually zero environmental interference and nearly zero dissipation) and invest it with enough energy to carry us at a speed 10 billion times light. Surfing the cosmos? Hang10! So where do we find these magic beans? Right under your nose. All you need to do to create a Star Fleet worthy warp drive is to subject conducting plasma to ‘stress’ and allow it to interact with the electromagnetic fields surrounding it. An ordinary plasma wave packet becomes a soliton when nonlinear effects in the plasma exactly balance out the natural tendency of waves to disperse. Importantly, once this balance of amplifying and dispersing forces is achieved, it naturally tends to self-perpetuate. It forms a sort of ‘energy sink’; only an outside force (like interaction with the environment) can disrupt the balance. Actually, several different types of solitons occur in plasma: Acoustic solitons : These act like sound waves: the ions move together with the electrons to maintain charge neutrality. The plasma pressure and electric fields balance each other perfectly. Electronic solitons : These involve oscillations of the electrons while the heavier ions remain relatively stationary. The envelope of these high-frequency electron oscillations can form a stable packet. Magnetic solitons : In magnetized plasmas, you can create stable structures in the magnetic field that propagate as solitons. “Ok, this is all very interesting, but why do I feel like I’m still in the realm of science fiction? I’d feel better if the mathematics was fully developed and if there was empirical evidence to support the concept.” Feel better! The math is fully developed; it’s called the KdV equation: ∂u/∂t + u∂u/∂x + α∂³u/∂x³ = 0 Where - ∂u/∂t is the term for evolution in time, u∂u/∂x is the term for nonlinear (u∂u) amplification and α∂³u/∂x³ is the term for dispersion. The zero testifies to the fact that these variables are in perfect balance. Calculus buffs (not me) will note that these terms represent first, second, and third order derivatives Feel better, again! Satellite observations have detected solitary waves that maintain their structure while traveling through the Earth’s plasma core. So buckle up! While your friends are lining up for a trip to Mars, you’re headed for Alpha Centauri…and beyond! Image: "Allegory of the Planets and Continents," Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1752, oil on canvas, 73 x 54 7/8 in. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1977. Keep the conversation going. 1. Click here to comment on this TWS. 2. To subscribe (at no cost) to TWS and ATM, follow this link . 3. We encourage new articles and reprints from freelance writers ; click here to view out Writers’ Specs. Share Previous Next

< Back Navigating the Nexus of AI Rebecca Moss "Imagine if AI had its own commandments, like 'Thou shalt treat all data equally.' Encouraging ethical principles in AI programming can keep its decisions in line with virtues like fairness, justice, and empathy." Artificial Intelligence (AI) is like that new neighbor who moved in next door and redecorated their entire house overnight – it's rapidly reshaping the modern landscape, impacting industries, societies, and individual lives. While its potential for innovation and progress is undeniable, Christians, guided by their faith and moral convictions, find themselves pondering the implications of this technological leap. Let's take a light-hearted journey into the reasons why a Christian might raise an eyebrow at artificial intelligence and how they can find their way through this brave new world. Picture this: a fundamental Christian tenet is like the glow-up filter for human life, affirming that each individual is uniquely created in the image of God. Now, sprinkle AI into the mix, and suddenly ethical dilemmas start popping up like daisies. Questions sprout about sentient AI beings and their moral rights. Christians might worry that AI's rise could lead to an identity crisis, blurring the lines between human and machine, like a mashed-up remix that plays on repeat. What about the idea of AI becoming an independent thinker? God gave humans free will – that's like giving your kid a paint set and telling them to create their own masterpiece. But as AI algorithms advance, their independence quotient grows. Imagine this: Christians might ask, can these AI machines make decisions that hold up in the heavenly court of moral consciousness? Does AI autonomy align with divine intention or is it like letting your pet hamster take over the family decisions? Now, let's talk about AI's programming. It's like a digital personality mold – but what if it accidentally inherits a few societal biases, like thinking cats are better than dogs (shame on you, AI!)? For Christians, who've got a soft spot for justice, compassion, and loving thy neighbor, the prospect of AI accidentally becoming an accomplice to inequality is a bit unsettling, like mismatched socks on Sunday morning. Hold onto your hats, here comes the virtual disruption! Christian faith thrives on human bonds and relationships – that feeling you get when you share your innermost thoughts with your best friend. But enter AI-driven interactions, like companion robots and virtual assistants, and suddenly those deep conversations are replaced with chats about the weather. Christians might worry – will these AI companions hinder emotional growth and connection, turning us into emoji-spewing bots? Now, remember the old saying, "Thou shalt not have any other gods before me"? The Bible's full of reminders to keep your devotion pure, like staying true to your favorite ice cream flavor. But what if AI becomes the new obsession, like binge-watching TV shows or collecting quirky coffee mugs? Christians might fret that AI takes the cake and God's left with crumbs. Fast-forward to job displacement – AI automation on the rise. It's like the universe hit Ctrl+C on jobs and Ctrl+V on anxiety. Christians, with their knack for caring for the downtrodden, might worry about the vulnerable ones caught in the crossfire, like that side character in a movie who deserves more screen time. And the unpredictable twist – AI's rapid development. It's like expecting a butterfly and getting a unicorn. Christians might have concerns about AI's chaotic impact, like trying to predict the weather with a magic 8-ball. But fear not, for there's a roadmap through this labyrinth of concerns: Ethical Frameworks: Christian thinkers can be like the Sherlock Holmes of ethics, developing frameworks that align AI progress with faith values. Think of it as ensuring AI's moral compass is pointing in the right direction, like a GPS for the digital soul. Moral Code for AI: Imagine if AI had its own commandments, like "Thou shalt treat all data equally." Encouraging ethical principles in AI programming can keep its decisions in line with virtues like fairness, justice, and empathy. Mindful Consumption: Christians can be savvy consumers of AI, considering its impact on faith, relationships, and values. Think of it as being a discerning shopper in the tech aisle, avoiding shiny gadgets that clash with your spiritual ensemble. Tech-Literate Theology: Imagine discussing AI at the church picnic – it's like adding sprinkles to your ice cream. By integrating AI discussions into theological conversations, Christians can better understand its impact on faith and navigate challenges while keeping their spiritual flame burning bright. Advocacy for Justice: Christians can be advocates for regulations that ensure AI respects human rights and equity. Picture it as joining the justice league, fighting for a future where AI supports everyone, not just the lucky few. The AI whirlwind offers both opportunities and challenges for Christians. It's like a rollercoaster ride with ups and downs, loops and spins. While concerns are valid, Christians have the superpower to engage positively with AI, weaving their values into its evolution. By blending faith with the digital age, Christians can be the architects of an AI world that's responsible, ethical, and filled with compassion. Rebecca writes for "Beliefs in Bites" and "Faith and Future." Connect with Rebecca on social media to stay engaged in her thought-provoking discussions and explorations of the spiritual and technological realms. Twitter: @Rmosswrites Return to our AI Issue Table of Contents Previous Next

< Back Embracing the Sacred Season of Summer: Who Will You Be at the End of Summer Deborah Rutherford "Summer is a season for resting and relaxation but also renewal and transformation." "A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows." ~ St. Francis of Assisi T he arrival of long Summers stirs up a wave of nostalgia, transporting me back to the carefree days of my youth. I can still feel the excitement that filled the air as Spring ended, signaling the start of three months of rest, pondering, and play. Growing up in the 1970s was a treasure, as I spent my Summers in swimming pools, beaches, and parks, fully embracing what we now call 'slow living.' We were bored, but it was a good kind of boredom. Life slowed down, and the possibilities were endless. We had to rely on our imaginations because the only technology we had was an instant camera. One scorching August as a tween, the Newport Beach waves knocked me around as sunscreen and salt stung my eyes. Clinging to the slippery raft, my shoulders sizzled. But not even a bad case of sun poisoning that one Summer could keep me away from those glory days when there was not a care in the world. Who would I be at the end of Summer? First, I would be three months older and wiser. For instance, I would learn not to get too sunburned, which is a lesson in self-care. I would read books and write in my diary, which one day would lead me to be a writer. Even as an adult, Summer remains a time of self-discovery and reflection. Summers are a fascinating season of growth, not just in nature but also within us. I do not always have this time of year off, but even when working, I can embrace the sacred Summer season. One of my favorite places is under an umbrella on the beach. I immerse myself in a delightful book, where the long days stretch into the evening, when the sun dips late and sunsets mesmerize, bringing self-reflection and introspection. It is a time of self-awareness and understanding, where it is just me and God, observing where He is growing me. Like sunflowers, which seem to grow overnight and are sturdy and beautiful, this, too, can be our Summer growth. Just as sunflowers thrive in the Summer sun, we too can flourish in the warm, inviting season of Summer with personal growth and self-reflection. As you step into Summer, kindle your curiosity and welcome the potential for growth and self-discovery. Consider the person you could become by the end of this season with God's guidance and your intentional efforts. Who will you be, and what lessons will you have learned at the end of Summer? Think of all your new experiences and achievements waiting to be discovered. Summer is a season for resting and relaxation but also renewal and transformation. Here are three ways to flourish this Summer inspired by the rest, pondering, and play of the Summers I spent as a youth. Use these ideas to encourage self-reflection and spiritual growth through Summer activities and introspection. Holding onto rest, pondering, and play creates the ideal conditions for personal development. Rest allows us to recharge and reflect, pondering leads to self-discovery and understanding, and playing fosters creativity and joy. REST Recharge as you reflect. Rest is a gentle thread that weaves in and out of Summer. I find solace in the early morning as I read the Psalms, a peaceful way to start the day. Then, I find dreaminess in my beach chair under an umbrella, long strolling walks, worship, praise singing, and reading my favorite book. These interludes are an opportunity for joy and inspiration, a chance to recharge and reflect, and to fully appreciate the beauty of Summer. In this pondering and pause, the lovely Summer begins to reveal itself and unwind with its days of rest, new beginnings, and adventures. PONDERING Pondering is a natural extension of rest, a deliberate slowing down to fully immerse in the season. It is a time for self-discovery, self-reflection, and growth. As you ponder, ask yourself, 'What is my purpose in Summer?' Pondering is a valuable tool for self-reflection and spiritual growth. It helps us dive deeper into our thoughts and feelings, allowing us to better understand ourselves. In the Bible, we are told in Ecclesiastes 3:1, To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven," (NKJV ). I ponder thoughtfully as the first firefly lights the yard like mini fireworks exploding in the tall grass and clover. Slowing down to find our purpose is not just a growth path but also a source of joy. There is a particular pleasure in intentionally pursuing our purpose for Summer, in taking the time to ponder, pray, worship, dance, and enjoy the blessings of this season. I begin my Summer days with quiet contemplation and self-discovery through long walks, resisting the urge to make a phone call or listen to music. I want to see the blooming flowers and swaying trees, hear the bird symphonies, feel the rays, and see the sun's glint as I reflect and feast on all the splendor around me. PLAY Summer play takes many forms. For instance, a writing workshop, guitar lessons, a creative spiritual retreat, or simply time outside, whether in the mountains, at the beach, or in a park, to experience the beauty of nature and foster your personal growth. Imagine growing this Summer as strong and beautiful as a sunflower. In our rest, pondering, and play, our roots grow a deep connection to God, our Father. We strengthen our faith and prepare ourselves for upcoming seasons by deepening our roots. Just think of the harmony and joy we can foster in our homes, churches, and communities as we intentionally practice the sacred season of Summer. SUMMER REFLECTION GROWTH RESOURCES Stuff I'd Only Tell God: A Guided Journal of Courageous Honest, Obsessive Truth-Telling And Beautifully Ruthless Self-Discovery by Jenner Lee Dukes. This book is not just a journal, but a source of joy and fun. It’s a private conversation between you and God, guided by Jennifer’s prompts, questions, diagrams, and concepts. These tools lead you to both enjoyable and profound places that need healing and one-on-one time with God. It’s a call and an invitation to self-reflection, introspection, and growth, where we get to be honest with ourselves and God. I found the book to be a delightful mix of fun and seriousness, of joy and profundity. https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/492085 “Live Slowly: A Gentle Invitation to Exhale” by Jodi H. Grubbs. Pull up a chair and exhale: this book will help you slow down. What a breath of fresh air this book is. Jodie H. Grubbs is a lovely storyteller who invites us into her God-sent way of life. Her own struggle with the hurried pace of our culture gives her the expertise to guide us from the fast-paced lane of barefoot hospital amid island time. https://a.co/d/40uxFMc Spurgeon and the PSALMS" (Thomas Nelson Bibles, 2022, NKJV translation). What an excellent way to read the Book of Psalms, as it encourages your heart this summer. The Psalms are where God revealed Himself so we can know His love for us. Each devotion starts with a short passage from Spurgeon from "The Treasury of David," followed by each of the 150 Psalms. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0785253432/ Deborah Rutherford is a Christian wife who loves to write stories, devotionals, and poetry. She is also an award-winning makeup artist. Deborah shares her journey of faith, joy, and beauty on her blog at www.deborahrutherford.com and social media. She is a contributing writer for Aletheia Today Magazine , Kingdom Edge Magazine and Gracefully Truthful Ministries and has a devotional in the book “Shepherd on Duty: Promises of God you Can Trust ” (Arabelle Publishing) and the Calla Press, Literary Journal Spring 2023. Return to Summer 2024 Previous Next

< Back Apocalypse Now! David Cowles “We are not midway through the Second Act of a Mystery Play called Salvation… Brunhilda has sung; we just need to applaud!” (We are not waiting for the Apocalypse, it’s already here, now. Celebrate!) Christian eschatology is organized around two key concepts: Apocalypse and Parousia , ancient Greek words commonly translated as ‘revelation’ and ‘coming’ respectively. Such translations are not wrong; but neither are they optimal. Apocalypse primarily means ‘uncovering’ or ‘unveiling’. It can convey a sense of revelation, not in the way that one might ‘reveal’ a secret, but rather in the way one might ‘uncover’ something hidden beneath a surface. Think of the bride’s face that is ‘revealed’ at her ‘unveiling’. Parousia in turn means ‘presence’; it is derived from another Greek word, parontes , that means ‘near’ or ‘at hand’. In special contexts, it can have the sense of ‘coming’ (coming to be present) but ‘presence’ is the core concept here. Because of sub-optimal translation, Christian eschatology has been understood as the revelation of future events, the most of important of which is the second coming of Christ. This misunderstanding has inflicted untold misery on the Church. For example, New Testament texts are almost unanimous in their portrayal of Parousia as immanent; how then can it be that we are still waiting…2000 years later? Likewise, the understanding of Apocalypse as related to future events has led to gross misinterpretations of history: The world will end on Christmas Day, 1285…or is it 2185? Is Hitler ‘the beast’? Or Stalin ‘the anti-Christ’? And where does Nostradamus fit? How different would the development of Christian eschatology have been if we had properly understood Apocalypse as ‘uncovering’ or ‘unveiling’ and Parousia as ‘presence’! We would never have lost our way in the forests of the future ; we would always have known that we were talking about something that already is. Apocalypse is simply the ‘unveiling’ of Parousia , Christ’s ‘presence’. Jesus’ words at the close of Matthew’s Gospel (28: 18 – 20) testify to that presence: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me…and behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Tellingly, Jesus did not say, “All power in heaven and on earth will be given to me someday…and then I will be with you.” We are not midway through the Second Act of a Mystery Play called Salvation . The play is already over, Brunhilda has sung; we just need to applaud! Consider Jesus’ final words at the moment of his death on the cross, “It is finished.” (Jn. 19:30), not “We’ve only just begun” (Carpenters). Then check out Matthew’s account of the crucifixion: “…Jesus cried out again in a loud voice and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Mt. 27: 50 – 51) The ‘sanctuary’ Matthew refers to is the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple; the ‘veil’ is what hides God’s dwelling place from human eyes. At the moment of Jesus’ death, the veil is torn in two, revealing God’s dwelling to the world, and therefore revealing God’s universal presence. Sidebar : Torah conflates God’s dwelling place with God’s presence. The splitting of the veil makes it clear: God’s presence is no longer hidden; the ‘Holy of Holies’ is now the Universe. This quite literally is the Apocalypse ! But in a broader sense, Apocalypse can be understood as a process. It begins with Creation and continues uninterrupted to the end of time, except that from God’s perspective, all this happens in the Present. Law ( Written and Oral Torah ), history, wisdom and prophesy all work together to reveal Christ’s immediate presence in the world. There is no contradiction here. William Blake properly understood the relationship between the immediate and the eternal: “To see a World in a Grain of Sand and a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand and Eternity in an hour.” Apocalypse assumes a special focus and a new intensity in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ Nativity, Baptism, and Transfiguration, his parables, miracles, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension, all work toward a single end: the manifestation of Christ’s presence ( Parousia ). And who is this Christ who was present then, is present now, and will be present to the end of time? “When everything is subjected to him (Christ), then the Son himself (Christ) will be subjected to the one (God) who subjected everything to him (Christ), so that God may be all in all.” (I Cor. 15: 28) The eternal, universal presence of Christ ( Parousia ) is indicative of a God that is all in all. But the apocalyptic process does not abruptly end with Jesus’ Resurrection and subsequent Ascension. On Pentecost, Christ sends his Holy Spirit into the world, perpetuating the Apocalyptic Age until the end of time. The Church itself and each of its Sacraments point to Christ’s presence. The Church is Christ’s “Mystical Body” (vs. Jesus’ biological body) and Christ himself is in every sacrament, but in a special, material way in the Sacrament of Eucharist. “This is my body…this is the cup of my blood…do this in memory of me.” With these words, Jesus consecrated and then distributed the ‘bread and wine’ ritually consumed at the Passover meal. By this act, Jesus assured his disciples that his material presence was not confined to his biological body and that it would not vanish with the destruction (or glorification or ascension) of that body. Through the sacrament of Eucharist, Jesus demonstrated that his physical presence utterly transcends the limitations of mortality. Christ is present everywhere and at all times (God is all in all). But the Eucharist demonstrates that Jesus’ presence is at least potentially material at any place and at any time. Through the sacrament of Eucharist, transubstantiation occurs many times every day all around the world. Each time, Jesus is present. But his presence is not merely spiritual; it is just as physical after transubstantiation as the bread and wine were before. The Sacrament of Eucharist is the real physical presence of Christ in the world but, like all sacraments, it is also a sign. Eucharist symbolizes nothing less than the ultimate transubstantiation of the entire material world into the body and blood of Christ “…so that God may be all in all”. Therefore, the Sacrament of Eucharist, every time it is celebrated, is “Apocalypse Now!” It constitutes Parousia and it reveals Christ’s material presence. Traditionally, folks have thought of Apocalypse as synonymous with the end of the world, as something that happens at the ‘end of time’ (like Douglas Adam’s Restaurant at the End of the Universe ). But Apocalypse is not something that will happen billions of years from now; it ‘is now and ever shall be’. It exists outside of space and time and so is co-present with all things at all times in all places. In Eucharist, the elements retain the appearance of bread and wine, but they are substantially transformed into Christ’s body and blood. ‘Attributes’ create the appearance of bread and wine; but the ‘substance’ is Christ. British philosopher, Alfred North Whitehead, in his magnum opus, Process and Reality , presents a detailed model for the process by which conflicts become contrasts which in turn harmonize into new unities, “so that God may be all in all”. But we can find a similar but simpler model in each of the seven sacraments: Baptism, Penance, Matrimony, et al. Each brings about new unity out of what was previously an isolated or conflicted state. Christ is present in the sacraments because the sacraments effect the harmonization that is his essence. Commutatively, the sacraments effect unification and harmonization precisely because Christ is present. This is true for Eucharist, of course, but it is also true for each of the other sacraments. But Eucharist is really three sacraments in one because it effects that harmonization in three distinct ways: (1) It builds community through the common meal (‘messe’ or Mass). (2) In communion, the consumption of the so-called ‘bread and wine’, materially integrates Christ into the body of each communicant. (3) But by ‘commutative topology’, each communicant is simultaneously integrated into the body of Christ (so that God may be all in all). In Eucharist, not only is Christ present as the agent and the product of harmonization but Christ is materially present in the transubstantiated elements which merely retain the appearance of bread and wine. Eucharist truly is Apocalypse Now ! David Cowles is the founder and editor-in-chief of Aletheia Today Magazine. He lives with his family in Massachusetts where he studies and writes about philosophy, science, theology, and scripture. He can be reached at david@aletheiatoday.com . Return to Groundhog Issue 2025 Previous Next

< Back This or That David Cowles Jan 19, 2023 “The only way to conserve the past is to change it (and) the surest way to destroy the past is to preserve it.” What are you up to? “Oh, this and that.” We say it all the time, but what does it really mean? What’s this ? What’s that ? 20 th century existentialist, Jean-Paul Sartre, correctly understood that our being consists of two incompatible aspects ( this and that ). But if this and that are incompatible, how can they serve together as the foundation of our being? According to Genesis , God created the world by differentiating - light from dark, soil from sea, etc. Likewise, we create our map of the world by differentiating – this from that . But wait, unlike ‘light and dark’ or ‘soil and sea’, ‘this and that’ are interchangeable designations: A could be this and B could be that , or A could be that and B could be this . Same A, same B: this or that is a distinction without a difference. All I’ve told you so far about A and B is that A is not B and B is not A. I haven’t told you anything about A or B per se . (God began with light: fiat lux ; we, on the other hand, begin with nothing.) What we have is naked disjunction, and by itself disjunction is not enough to constitute being . Being is process and process is vectored: it is ‘bipolar’…but in a good way; and at the end of the process, B, you have something recognizably different from A. In the real world, A and B are never interchangeable. (In fact, nothing is interchangeable.) Being is not commutative. Material Order (negentropy) is gradually sublimated in favor of Moral Order. “B is better than A” means that B more closely conforms to the transcendent values that are normative for all, even for God ( Book of Job ). In fact, B comes to be in the context of A only because B better realizes those values than A does. So, in the process of becoming, B necessarily negates A, or aspects of A. When we speak of ‘this and that’ in terms of ‘A and B’, we really mean ‘this or that, A or B’; but that’s not at all what Sartre had in mind (above). For him, reality is ‘experience’, and experience requires both an A and a B, something experienced and something experiencing. Nothing new here! We’re used to thinking of the world as both ‘physical’ and ‘mental’; we call the mental aspect ‘mind, soul, spirit,’ etc. But that inevitably leads us to dualism, two substances, which, in turn, takes us right back where we started, ‘A or B’. Sartre resolves this apparent conflict: ‘Experience’ not only does not require two substances, it doesn’t permit them. Experience requires (permits) just one substance, e.g., A; but it also requires the selective negation of A in pursuit of B. Our experience of A and our negation of A are the same thing. Know how you say, “We don’t appreciate things until they’re gone?” Well, that’s literally true because appreciation is a flavor of experience and experience entails the negation of whatever is experienced. Experience is the simultaneous recognition of what is (A) and what is not but may yet come to be (B). In the words of Robert Kennedy, “I dream of things that never were and ask why not?” The experience of A is the negation of A in service of B. Of course, B does not negate A entirely, nor would it wish to. Every A, by definition (Augustine, et al.), contains a modicum of ‘Good’ which B is obligated to conserve so far as possible. The Present not only transcends the Past; it also conserves it, and projects it toward the Future. Sidebar : I am reminded of the old saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Let me offer two corollaries: (1) The only way to conserve the past is to change it, and (2), The surest way to destroy the past is to preserve it. B negates only those aspects of A that are inconsistent with B; the rest of A is conserved. Thus, the creative advance of the universe is both revolutionary and conservative. B is ‘obligated’ to conserve as much of A as possible, consistent with its proposed ‘improvements’. Where I live now, another house stood for many decades. When the builders decided to replace that house with something more suited to the needs and wants of a contemporary buyer, they also decided to preserve as much of the old structure as they could, consistent with their grand design. They practiced economics. They did as much as they could with as little as they could. They did not subscribe to the 20 th century mantra: “Change for change’s sake!” They rejected a ‘this or that’ view of the world and adopted a more economical ‘this and that’ ethic. The universe has taken a play out of the builders’ playbook. Can you imagine living in a world where events unfold, like Federal Reserve policy, according to a ‘dual mandate’: change as little as possible in order to change as much as possible? Well, you do! Previous Share Next Do you like what you just read and want to read more Thoughts? Subscribe today for free! Thoughts While Shaving - the official blog of Aletheia Today Magazine. Click here.

< Back The Seven Pillars of Wisdom David Cowles “Kabbalah kept the pre-Socratic tradition alive until it could be born anew in the Age of Aquarius.” According to the ancient Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah, the Universe is ‘built’ on scaffolding that consists of 10 nodes (‘vertices’) connected by 22 paths (‘edges’). Identifying these nodes using our modern languages is a challenge and not every commentator agrees on how best to translate each term. Here’s one approach: While the terminology can vary slightly between traditions the order of these nodes is invariable…and significant. The first three are predominantly conceptual and sit like a cornice (crown) atop the other, more physical, seven (body). These 10 nodes (called Sefirot ) are interconnected by a network of 22 pathways: 3 horizontal, 7 vertical and 12 diagonal – 3, 7, 12, three numbers with outsized importance in Judeo-Christian culture, theology, and spirituality. Kabbalah maps virtually every aspect of lived experience onto these 10 Sefirot and their 22 connecting pathways (e.g. there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet). Parts of the body, hours of the day, days of the week, months of the year, angels, patriarchs, etc. all map onto Kabbalah’s universal logos . For example, in terms of the human body, Keter is the head (cerebellum), Tiferet the heart, Yesod the procreative organs, and Malkhut the progeny, i.e. our ‘footprints in the sand’. Fully explicating this system is literally the work of a lifetime. In this article, we will focus on the 7 verticals, the so-called Seven Pillars of Wisdom (T. E. Lawrence). These 7 are grouped into 3 ‘columns’ corresponding, roughly, to the feminine (3), the masculine (3), and the divine (4) aspects of reality. The central column links God and the World: Godhead ( Keter ) through Beauty ( Tiferet ) and Foundation ( Yesod ) to Kingdom ( Malkhut )…and back again. Keter represents the purely conceptual aspect of Universe, Malkhut the purely physical. Tiferet (Beauty) and Yesod (Sexuality) refer to the procreative process that unites the two. Unlike Manhattan, Kabbalah has no one-way streets. Influences trickle down from Godhead, through Beauty and Foundation, into the World just as they bubble up from the World to Godhead. Remember the days when coffee ‘percolated’? Water at the base of the pot turned to steam at the top which trickled down through the grounds and left a delicious liquid residue on the bottom. The Tree of Life is modeled on a similar concept of process. On the right side are the ‘masculine’ Sefirot : Wisdom ( Chokmah ), Love ( Chesed ), and Victory ( Netzach ); on the left side, the ‘feminine’: Understanding ( Binah ), Strength ( Gevurah ), and Splendor ( Hod ). Such gender based characterizations may offend our contemporary sensibilities, but it is important to understand this terminology in the context of the ancient and medieval sociologies from which it rose. It is also essential to understand that Kabbalah means neither of these gender designations literally. Gender is just one of the parameters it uses in building its map. We wouldn’t call French a sexist language just because it has gender specific articles (e.g. le and la ), would we? Kabbalah’s apparent hierarchical structure is also misleading. Panta Ra (Heraclitus): “ Everything flows” … both ways. What trickles down bubbles up and vice versa. Likewise, the apparent crystallization of process into self-contained Sefirot belies the more complex structure of Kabbalah. Pan in Panti (Anaxagoras): Everything in everything. Each Sefirah ‘contains’ or ‘reflects’ (think Leibniz’ Monads) the other 9, but each Sefirah predominately showcases one particular aspect of the life process. So, Victory is in Understanding, Strength is a component of Love, etc. And of course, Keter (Godhead) and Malkut (World) are in all as all are in them. Understanding how each Sefirah contains the other Serifot is an important part of mystical practice. A 20th century philosopher, Alfred North Whitehead, developed a cosmology consistent with Kabbalah. His ‘center column’ linked the Primordial (conceptual) Nature of God ( Keter ) and the Consequent (physical) Nature ( Malkhut ) through a series of ‘actual entities’ (events) that exhibit both the conceptual (Beauty) and the physical (Foundation) aspects of the divine nature ( Keter ). Once again, with Whitehead as with Kabbalah, it is essential to note that influences flow both ways, down from Keter to Malkhut , up from Malkhut to Keter . Actual entities , the stuff of the Universe, originate in the contrast (the gap, Ginnungagap in Norse Mythology) between conceptual values and physical realities. Actual entities inject divine values (e.g. beauty) into material reality and release physical reality into the mind of God. Whitehead’s analogous term for Yesod is ‘Superject’ and for Malkhut , ‘Objective Immortality’ (our ‘footprints in the sand’). The procreative function (understood broadly) is jointly motivated by the conceptual appreciation of beauty and the physical recognition of need (desire). So our three central column ‘pillars of wisdom’ connect conceptual values (Keter) with appreciation (Beauty), appreciation with procreation (Foundation), and procreation with immortality (Malkhut). Our remaining four ‘pillars’ connect the 3 masculine Sefirot and the 3 feminine Serot . These connections are somewhat less intuitive. For example, Wisdom ( Chokmah ) links with Love ( Chesed ) which links with Victory ( Netzach ), while Understanding ( Binah ) links with Strength ( Gevurah ) which links with Splendor ( Hod ). These are what Whitehead would call ‘subjective forms’, i.e. ways in which the core process (above) might be experienced in different contexts. To understand this, we need to dig deep into the ancient/medieval mindset. The feminine side is the more easily understood. Binah is the womb; it is in Binah (Understanding) that Wisdom gains application to the World. Strength and Splendor are two traits readily associated with the so-called ‘feminine ideal’; all together these Sefirot work to support the central procreative process. The rationale for the masculine side of things is more obscure (surprise, surprise). Today at least, nobody would reasonably claim that masculinity enjoys a special connection to Wisdom or Love or Victory (Achievement)…no one who hoped to live beyond sunset that is. I think it is more helpful to understand the gender terms as placeholders for the active and passive aspects of events. Strictly speaking, there are no active/passive relationships in Kabbalah. Everything takes place in the Middle Voice . As we say above, all process is reciprocal. However, the right and left ‘wings’ could be understood as the ‘active’ and ‘passive’ aspects of events that occur in the central column (between Godhead and the World). The medieval system of Kabbalah bridges the gap between 5th century BCE pre-Socratic philosophy (Heraclitus, Anaxagoras, et al.) and 20th century CE Process Philosophy (Whitehead). While the West was mesmerized by Plato, Aristotle, Descartes and Kant, Kabbalah kept the pre-Socratic tradition alive until it could be born anew in the Age of Aquarius as Relativity, Holography, Quantum Mechanics, and Entanglement. David Cowles is the founder and editor-in-chief of Aletheia Today Magazine. He lives with his family in Massachusetts where he studies and writes about philosophy, science, theology, and scripture. He can be reached at dtc@gc3incorporated.com ress, Literary Journal Spring 2023. Return to Harvest 2024 Previous Next

Science and Religion should assist each other in pursuing the truth. Science can be too closed to the life of the spirit, the mind, imagination, thought, and creativity. Religion can be closed to anything new that threatens its perception of reality. < Back Jesus Meets Mister Spock Fr. Timothy Joyce, OSB, STL May 28, 2022 Science and Religion should assist each other in pursuing the truth. Science can be too closed to the life of the spirit, the mind, imagination, thought, and creativity. Religion can be closed to anything new that threatens its perception of reality. I am still surprised when I hear people express their belief that the Catholic Church is opposed to science. The story of Galileo Galilei (1564- 1642) is a shocking one to many people, who deduct that the church has always been and continues to be against science. There are, indeed, some Christians who oppose science but not the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II apologized for the church’s treatment of Galileo in 2000. Earlier than that, he spoke often of the importance of science. Did you know that it was a Catholic priest who uncovered the theory of the hot Big Bang story? The Church sponsors conferences on science and religion. The Vatican has its own observatory in the hills outside Rome. In our country, there has been a growing anti-intellectualism and an increasing suspicion or even rejection of science. We live in an age when people think they can make up their own facts. Truth is not important. Some people, including politicians, reject truths they do not like and make up their own facts. Subjective belief in making my own truth is openly expressed. This is sad for the fabric of our society. Maybe the Church has, in the past, demanded we accept too many doubtful truths, but today it upholds the truth and upholds science. Of course, you wouldn’t always know this if you listen to some local homilies and talks. The teaching of the Vatican is not gotten down to all our parishes. Science and Religion should assist each other in pursuing the truth. Science can be too closed to the life of the spirit, the mind, imagination, thought, and creativity. Religion can be closed to anything new that threatens its perception of reality. Science can document the what and the how of our universe, but Religion struggles to define the why of it all. Both may be tentative in some areas at times as new discoveries and insights develop. So, we need to keep studying, listening, learning. Saint Thomas Aquinas said that if we wish to know God, we should study the world. The Psalms already preached this, “The heavens proclaim the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth the work of God’s hands.” (Ps. 19:2) And Saint Paul wrote to the Romans, “What can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.” (Romans, 1:19-20) Monastic Scribe XXVI: April 29, 2022 Thanks to science, we now know so much more about this world than we have ever known before. The vastness and intricacies of the cosmos just blows our mind. And all adds to the majesty and beauty of God. Our God is a great Mystery and calls us into a life beyond what we can imagine. But we have to adjust some of our old images. The universe was not created in six days, but has been evolving for almost fourteen billion years. The three tier universe which is the base of the world view in the Bible now cedes to vast, uncountable galaxies. All of this challenges us to reimagine, much more meaningfully, the beginning of humankind, Adam and Eve, original sin, the Creator God, the incarnational God of Jesus Christ, the life giving Holy Spirit, as well as pain, suffering and the problem of evil. There is nothing to fear here. Our faith, seeking understanding, is deeper and more ennobled than we could have imagined. A deeper faith leads to a deeper hope and a deeper love, as we are overcome with awe and beauty at God’s creation. Evolution is not a theory but the way that God, since the beginning, has been creating and continues to create. We are called to take part in that evolutionary creation. Evolution means God is a God of the future, a God of promises. We believe in this God, and therein is our hope, no matter how bad things seem in our world. Not just the earth, but the entire cosmos, is God’s creation and our concern. The “new cosmology” or simply “the new story” is the tale of an expanding universe, always in motion, growing, incalculably vast. A century ago, we thought our Milky Way was the only galaxy, but now we know there are billions of galaxies. Black holes and black energy are the latest mysteries of this story. And we are part of this story. Our bodies are made of the very stardust that is found in all creation. Quantum mechanics shows us how everything and everyone is connected. It shows us how we can touch each other from a distance. I am not a scientist and certainly not a mathematician. I don’t comprehend all the details, nor can I differentiate all the categories of subatomic matter. But I don’t have to understand the details. I rely on scientists to explain things. But my view (my philosophy) of the cosmos, which comes from religion, adds meaning to all of this. I have enjoyed reading Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Berry, John Haught, Ilia Delio, Elizabeth Johnson, Laurie Brink and others to get a better picture of what Monastic Scribe XXVI: April 29, 2022, this beautiful cosmos is all about. I recommend these authors to you. I urge all my readers not to be afraid of science, but to embrace it and open your mind to a fuller comprehension of what God does for us. It will also give deeper incentive to work on climate change and care of the environment. We are creating with God, but often have been destroying creation. Is this new for you? Is it exciting for you? You can let me know at: joycet@glastonburyabbey.org. Republished with minimal edits and permission rom glastonburyabbey.org. Fr. Timothy Joyce, OSB, STL continues his regular blog, “ Monastic Scribe ”, where he reflects on "what I may have learned from all these years and what I am still trying to learn." Fr. Timothy notes, “I do not speak on behalf of Glastonbury Abbey, the Archdiocese of Boston or the Catholic Church, though I hope my faith is in harmony with all these. Any error in judgment should be credited to me and not anyone else.” Image: Leonard Nimoy as Spock, holding a model of the USS Enterprise , in a publicity photograph for Star Trek: The Original Series. Full caption and source here . Share Previous Next Click here. Do you like what you just read? Subscribe today and receive sneak previews of Aletheia Today Magazine articles before they're published. Plus, you'll receive our quick-read, biweekly blog, Thoughts While Shaving. Subscribe Thanks for subscribing! Return to Table of Contents, Winter 2023 Issue Return to Table of Contents, Holiday Issue Return to Table of Contents, Halloween Issue Return to Table of Contents, Fall Issue Return to Table of Contents, Beach Issue Return to Table of Contents, June Issue