To be or not to be

The mortality and immortality

For most of the 5.4 billion years that the cosmos has been in existence, there was no one to ponder the question of to-be or not-to-be. While quarks evolved into atoms, the atoms, into molecules, and the molecules into cells, consciousness of being did not exist. Each new step of evolution brought new entities and new properties. Only in the evolutionary phase when brain cells had evolved the and created the human mind did 'being,' -- the property of thought and consciousness, -- emerge. Only in this brief miniscule submoment of cosmic evolution has the sense of being existed. Only in this small window of time have humans been the source of conscious being and recognized, as Descartes put it, " Cogito, ergo sum" (I think therefore I am).

It is safe to say that for most of the past billions of cosmic years I, as an individual, did not exist. It is also reasonable to believe that in billions of future cosmic years after my death I, as an individual, will not exist. Only in a brief, transient flash do individual people exist. Certainly I was not before a zygot was formed by the union of cells from my two parents. And certainly the development, by chemical and biological means, of an embryo from that zygot did not have the property of independent action and conscious thought. It is also clear that when I drew my first breath on being born I was not the evolved being that I was to become. The question "to-be or not-to-be?" was not in my mind. My process of becoming a human being was still ahead of me.

It is clearly impossible to identify all of the experiences in one's life that contributed to one's development into a unique being. Everyone is learning every moment from birth to death, from waking to sleeping. Each moment is a step in becoming. Our bodies, brains, and minds slowly evolve from the nothingness of our births to the to the final passage back into dust. If there is no heaven or nirvana into which to pass it is reasonable to think we come to an end.

So far I have written about only two aspect of being -- the body and the mind. There is a third aspect.It's probably more the essence of who we are than the other two. It's more ethereal and more everlasting. I'm not sure what I should call it. But for lack of a better word I'll call it "soul." By soul I don't mean anything mystic, magical, divine, or other worldly. The soul is the essence of who we are. It's who we are more that either our minds or our bodies.

This soul, the true center of one's being,is not easy to circumscribe. It, like the mind and body, evolves. But its evolution is over all time. Not that the past will be embodied in one's physical and mental being. But from the beginning of time to the end of time what we become involves the whole cosmos. We have a birth date and a death date. But who we become is already, in part, predetermine by the world around us. The essence of our being -- our soul -- is absorbed over time from the preexisting world of ideas & actions,of nature and technologies, of awe & wonder, ans of the beauty & mystery that exists in, and is, the cosmos. It is the universal cosmic soul. It is similar to the 'noosphere' of Tielard de Chardin, the 'collective unconscious' of Carl Jung, the 'ideosphere' of others. It is the totality of the physical, biological, technological, and cultural worlds and more. It is the the knowledge, the beliefs, the feelings, as well as the written word and the passed on memories of everyone who has ever lived. It is inherited from our ancestors and from the evolving physical, biological, mental. technological and social spheres. It might better be called the cosmic memory.

This cosmic soul or memory has been evolving since the Big Bang. Each step in evolution -- quarks to particles, particles to atoms, atoms to molecules, molecules to cells, cells to life-forms, life-forms to humans, and humans to cultures-- has created a new part of the cosmic memory. It includes Mount Fuji, the Johnston flood, the ice ages, the Crusades, and all other happenings. Each individual at birth is enmeshed in the cosmic memory/soul of the time.

A simple example of this idea of soul is in a flock of birds. The soul of the flock evolves is a unit. It includes migration patterns, eating resources, nesting places, and other characteristics. The flock follows certain patterns for centuries. Individual birds live for but a short time. But the memory esebce or soul of the flock is passed to new birds as they hatch, join the flock , participate, and learn by doing. The soul of the flock evolves as it continually finds new opportunities and faces new challenges. Each bird gains its individual soul and passes its know-how on to other new birds that join. The soul of the flock is passed from individual souls to individual souls, as it evolves to meet contingencies of the time.

Humans likewise are born into the cosmic memory or cosmic soul. They are embedded in the essence of all that exists. Who they are to become depends on what they absorb into themselves from all that is. Each "soul" is immortal. It is part of the "cosmic memory. "Every thing anyone, makes, writes,says,or does becomes part of the cosmic memory and is everlasting. Shakespear, Edison, Einstein, Jesus, Marx, Smith and others are still with us. So is Joe Blow, Anna Finklestein, and other common people. All have left their marks for eternity.

Each act or expressed idea is like dropping a stone in a mill pond. The stone may sink to the bottom never to be seen again. But its ripples spread out and may join other ripples to produce an overwhelming wave of social transformation. The origins of any act of social change may be lost in its myriad of its sources. Once we recognized that, we are driven to live a positive creative life of value-- to be one of the sources of what will become. Whether anyone remembers the name of any one of us, everything we've done, said, or written is part of the evolving cosmic soul.

Each person's soul is formed by every experience and every thought they ever have. It is passed on in the same way. Each "unexpected act of kindness or senseless act of beauty" makes a ripple like a grain of sand dropped in the cosmic mill pond. Every kind word one utters forms a pebble's ripple that will be passed on. More telling in the cosmic soul will be some of the memos, papers and posts that are written. They are rocks that make a bit bigger splash, or at least have a guaranteed longer life. Most important are the interactions with among people close one another -- families, friends, and communities. In a person's children, friends an colleagues there is a cotinual riling of the waters (particularly of the good stuff). It is passed into the cosmic memory/soul in that it remains real in the future and assures the immortality of everyone who ever lives.

Recognizing the immortality of our souls suggests a new emphasis on morality. Every act thought or word we utter should be in the context of its impact on the cosmic memory. They change the cosmic soul as they happen and they will be remembered and they will affect cosmic evolution for ages into the future. They provides us with reason for living. As one colleague stated it, the new moral imperative is: Make all decision based on whatever promotes the health, competence and adaptive flexibility of oneself and of all the larger system of which one is a part.

That's the way I see it.

Bill Ellis

Bill Ellis

Bill Ellis, of Rangely, ME retired early from his working life as a science policy consultant in agencies such as the National Science Foundation, Unesco and The World Bank. For the last 30 years he has work voluntarily to promote the broad range of social innovations that empower people at the grass roots and promote community self-reliance. One of these is as General Coordinator, of 'A Coalition for Self-Learning. With which he facilitated the drafting an online book, "Creating Learning Communities," and, the White Paper, "Life-Long Self-Learning," that promotes the recognition of the vast array of learning modalities in addition to public schooling -- e.g. learning co-ops, public schools, private schools, unschooling, charter schools. His mantra is "everyone should have the right, the freedom, the resources and the opportunity to learn what they want, when they want and how they want.