PROJECT MIND
The Conscious Conquest of Man & Matter
Through Accelerated Thought
by David S. Devor (T. Kun)

Summary of CHAPTER 12:
Questions and Answers

Some readers can entertain the belief that a real basis for hope may still be found in man's psyche, and that man - and by extension existence - may yet be shown to be fundamentally good. Such readers are also more apt to give a fair hearing to a new theory as long as it does not blatantly contradict itself or egregiously insult common sense or offend human dignity. [page 161]

Q.
What are the main qualifications required of candidates for participation in Project Mind and how will they be screened?

A.
Candidates will be selected according to several criteria: independence of spirit, matter-related aspiration, and strength of character, among others. [page 161]

Q.
Are the vast majority of scientists who, by your standards of creativity, fail to qualify for participation in Project Mind, to be thought of as dross and unfit to help build the "brave new world" you envision? And even if you succeed in focusing and integrating the mind processes of a few select individuals, how can the resulting discoveries amount to anything more than a mere "drop in the bucket"?

A.
The principle criterion for participation in Project Mind is an overriding desire to enter a state of Accelerated Thought in the tenacious pursuit of objective knowledge - truth. Thus it is to a considerable extent a self-selecting criterion. Those who eschew this path for whatever reasons are by no means written off, but remain recruits-in-potential.

Few people are by nature pioneers. But this does not mean that they will not eventually join the effort. They have yet to be convinced of the desirability of this direction. Such conviction will come with the emergence of tangible results from Project Mind. The activity of Accelerated Thought will gain sufficient credence for it to spread beyond the boundaries of Project Mind, ultimately, to encompass all thought. [page 162-163]

Q.
What is so special about the conditions of Project Mind that will enable creative people to change the quality of their thought sufficiently to produce scientific breakthroughs?

A.
The psychological environment provided by Project Mind will be unique and unprecedented. ...it will embody a recognition of the grandeur of the immense, even divine potential of mind that is overlooked by modern technological society. ...it credits man with having the innate creative capacity to technically transform matter and energy. ...These conditions will grant individuals having real vision and a reasonable level of practical command over the elements of their chosen domain due credit for their most intimate pretensions - pretensions, that if revealed would be spurned by the world. ....will recognize and take into account what these pretentious aims, and the effort to maintain them have cost these individuals in terms of personal courage and suffering. ... encourage them to delve into their minds more deeply than they ever dared before in the pursuit of their destiny. ...will also include a built-in understanding of the dangers attendant to such mind-adventuring, and the measures to be taken to steer the adventurer clear of certain stumbling blocks, and help him over the rough spots. [page 163-164]

Q.
Without divulging too many details concerning the mechanisms of Project Mind, specifically what special conditions will your "subjects" - the pioneers of Accelerated Thought - be offered that are so unique?

A.
... the combination will be uniquely tailored to the needs of individuals seeking to transform the world through the results of Accelerated Thought.

1. ... Project Mind, recognizing the deepest psychological needs of these pioneers as well as their potential, is the only entity truly capable of defending the dignity of these valiant individuals.

 

 

Every contact subjects have with the personnel of Project Mind will reflect that dignity.

2. Subjects will be provided with self-contained living quarters offering complete privacy, solitude and total comfort enabling them to concentrate on their chosen problems without fear of intrusion or interruption.
3. To the degree possible, Project Mind will underwrite the financial obligations of subjects during the course of their participation.
4. Project Mind will have an in-house, on-line, computerized information retrieval system second to none in the world. Subjects will be able to locate sources of strategic information from the quasi totality of the world's technical literature within moments after the need arises.
5. To assist visualization and computation, access will be provided to the latest and most powerful computer equipment and software including virtual reality and neural networks.
6. Subjects will have rapid access to a broad spectrum of in-house personnel specially trained to deal with blocks, stress, disorientation, and other conditions related to intense creativity. General guidance will also be available. Several experts with the required philosophical sophistication, experience, empathy, impartiality, wisdom, and dedication are being selected now.
7. Daily conditions of existence will be regulated as closely as possible to subjects' needs.
8. Subjects' progress will be closely monitored. Everything possible will be done to enhance their effectiveness and well-being.
9. Appropriate resident medical staff will provide first aid - both physical and psychological.
10. Project Mind will do everything possible to realize commercial gain for subjects from their discoveries with the object of releasing them definitively from financial worry and enabling them to give their lives over to breakthrough-oriented creativity either within or independent of Project Mind. ... the key factor for success is the will and motivation of the individual. Only the most intrepid "meaning-adventurers" merit the opportunity which the exclusive conditions of Project Mind represent. [page 164-165]

A.
Our relationship with matter is dual. We must consider matter a boon, as the matrix within which we must struggle and thanks to which we may perhaps eventually prevail. At the same time it also - if only temporarily - represents a curse, for it weighs upon the spirit, cuts us off from higher reality and for the majority of humanity is suffocating. [page 165-166]

Q.
You claim that through Accelerated Thought we will be given more and better inventions, and yet you also claim that society is corrupted through constant novelty. Is innovation to be our salvation or our ruination?

A.
Innovation plainly cuts both ways, at least under our current conditions of existence.

New knowledge, and breakthrough knowledge in particular, is necessary if we are to break out of our restricted perception of reality and human potential. Such knowledge is absolutely essential if we are to remove the material basis of that restriction. Project Mind will show that this is both possible and desirable. [page 167]

Q.
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that physical possessions do have a more or less corrupting influence on man's spirit and that abundance will somehow defeat material greed, how is this to affect man's avidity for territory, power, attention, adulation, glory, honor, love, sex, privilege, and other non-material objects of man's desire? Might not the capacities bestowed upon man by highly advanced technology only exacerbate his competitive drive as far as these are concerned?

A.
The principal evil of the universal phenomenon of alienation is that we reduce the miracle of man and his attributes to the status of objects - things to be possessed. To recognize our neighbor as pure process, and his physical body as merely a casing to contain this process, requires of us the conscious vision we presently lack.

... we will have to begin to see the concrete proof of that potential through the expanding impact of Accelerated Thought on our lives and minds. Nothing less will induce remorse in us for the habit of considering others, their bodies, their time, their attention, their esteem, their love, or any other aspect of their existence as the means to our happiness or comfort.

Why covet territory when technology will render the vast uninhabitable areas of our world (and undoubtedly, in time, those of other worlds as well) veritable gardens of Eden? [page 169]

Q.
Does not the claim that our bodies are potentially incredible mind reservoirs invite the argument that "dumb" animals, who evidently do not suffer from distraction are, in reality, highly intelligent beings?

A.
And intelligent they are, not in the sense of calculation or intellectual reasoning, but in the sense of harmony and integration. Nature as a whole, in fact, is one enormous intelligence providing the matter and form to complete the cosmos.

...animals pursue their purposes with single-minded devotion and, through our representation of them through myth, legend and parable, offer man enviable moral examples. [page 170]

Q.
The remaking of society seems to imply major institutional dislocations, social disorder and even chaos. Assuming for the moment that Project Mind will induce sweeping changes in man's thinking and conduct, is there any way to assume a smooth, non-catastrophic transition to the utopia in which you believe?

A.
Early on, abundance can act as a balm to relieve the stress of deprivation so that people's psyche can begin healing. Then, with the alleviation of the social pressures that legitimize artificial needs and the pursuit of their satisfaction, people will be able to begin to take stock of what their real needs are, and not just on a superficial level.

...abundance ...does weaken external and internal sources of distraction so that the individual can gain insight into his situation. He can then take steps to rectify unwholesome habits of thought and feeling, and his relations with others.

Change in the sense of the elimination of dysfunction can hardly be a source of dislocation and disorder. The fact that we'll all be changing together in a way that reinforces mutual interest will eliminate the many ills and stresses that normally derive from social maladaptation and isolation.

The problem is how to get the ball rolling, how to catalyze the initial reaction in the absence of such supportive conditions. This is the job of Project Mind and the pioneers of Accelerated Thought. [page 172-173]

Q.
Project Mind seems to be a kind of synthesis between spiritual endeavor and science. But in "conventional" spirituality, notions such as "non-doing," "non-desire," "self-effacement," "submission" and "dying to oneself" are very central. Where do they fit into your system?

A.
Having moments of losing one's sense of separation - the sense of belonging to the oneness of everything - is only the first step on the way to consciousness. This stage in classical spirituality involves the "non-doings" of abstention, fasting, renunciation, purification, ritual, and negative precepts in general.

The "non-doings" of Accelerated Thought, to the extent that it could be said to include such elements, do not include explicit techniques for stilling or emptying the mind or even for relaxation. Instead, it uses desire as a lever for funneling the individual's energy to a focal point of concentration sharp enough to pierce the veil of distraction.

Distraction consists of a chaos of inner "doings" controlled by the chaotic vagaries of external circumstances. Thus the "non-doing" of Project Mind is initiated by an intensely focused "doing." This "doing," consisting of intense reflection driven by the individual's deepest creative urges and most persistent desires (precursors of will), allows him to work simultaneously through the two processes - "doing" and "non-doing" - that lead to objectivity. [page 178-179]

Q.
What is the difference between "peak" experience and "Eureka" experience?

A.
...peak experience is a general term taking in a broad spectrum of feelings resulting from temporary contact with higher reality or involving a new level of awareness. It is often a response to beauty, and is usually restricted to aesthetics and symbolism, and remains implicit.

Eureka, a limited case of peak experience, is a response to a specific discovery in the realm of form or matter which allows for some sort of application in our world. It involves not only a higher feeling function, but also some aspect of higher thought. [page 181-182]

Q.
You make a clear distiction between subjective and objective consciousness, claiming that the former concerns the expression of more superficial, and the latter, deeper levels of essence. But you also claim that the outer layers of essence express of levels of being common to all men, producing a communion of consciousness, while the heart of essence is the seat of what makes us unique and thus distinct from others, which also seems to imply separation and subjectivity. Does objectivity point to the truth that we all share, or to that which separates us? Can you clarify these apparently contradictory uses of the concepts of subjectivity and objectivity?

A.
... some might call it a koan. In the objective sense each of us is unique. Not even two leaves or two snowflakes are exactly alike. Thus our connection with one another in the level of objective consciousness is.. through our complementarities.
... our ultimate salvation derives from our essential differences and our interdependence that can be fully revealed only through objective consciousness. [page 185]

Q.
The question of death seems to be at the core of your understanding of life. In what ways has mankind been conditioned by his awareness of death?

A.
...The awareness of death, or rather the anxieties spawned by that awareness, sent mankind, as a species, along two separate avenues. ... These two orientations - religion and science - provide the most fundamental of keys for understanding human purpose and aspiration, and reflect two modalities of response to life hardwired into our nervous system. These neurological systems, called "parasympathetic" and "sympathetic," respectively, provide what Koestler calls our "integrative" and "self-assertive" modes of responding to situations.

Spiritual students feed on the energy of their teachers, while there are never enough students to give a determinant boost to the teacher. ...some...limp along for years, decades and sometimes centuries before they eventually disappear. Science is compromised by consenting to serve ends other than the pursuit of truth and life. Individual scientists seek comfort and status while the scientific establishment, unable to support or justify itself through scientific ideal, allows itself to be used cynically by an expedient industry and by the military.

This is the riddle of existence ensconced in man. This is the riddle man was created to solve. [page 185-186]

Q.
There are those who say that death is just a process and does not oppose life, that life is eternal, irresistible and indestructible. Death of intermediary forms is said to part of a transformatory process which serves to reveal life. So why the adversary attitude towards matter and death?

A.
Life is indeed eternal. The search for that total compatibility between matter and life, through form, is the role of man as a partner in Creation.

Physical death, on the other hand, at least as far as this world is concerned, is the ultimate relinquishing of particularity and, with it, the privilege of exercising an influence in matter. To be recalled "into the light" may be a welcome relief to those whose lives have become tiresome, exhausted, aimless, or hopeless. But for those whose life's theme has been a prelude to action - vital action connected to salvation - death is the annihilation of the exquisite vibrancy of an objectively hopeful life.

To go into the bliss of the next world may be the ultimate consolation for failure in this one. But the process of making possible the significant expression of that higher world now is to help realize the purpose of Creation and confirm the eternal validity of the particularity of the individuals concerned. Unity does have its eternal expression in multiplicity through archetypal particularities as hinted at through the 12 months of the year, the 12 sons of Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 signs of the zodiac, etc. [page 186-187]

Q.
The main thrust of Project Mind is to create spectacular scientific and technological breakthroughs. But who will exploit these? How can they be kept from falling into the wrong hands?

A.
Project Mind, by flooding the market with radical innovations, will break the stranglehold of those who presently control technology. Those who are involved in production for reasons of pure greed will lose interest once they see that their social privilege and material advantage are condemned by the prospect of universal prosperity. Industry will be left to the truly industrious. [page 190-191]

Q.
How will these breakthroughs be developed and brought to market? How will their benefits be made available universally and equitably?

A.
Initially, the existing system with all its shortcomings will appropriate breakthroughs as it has always done. Corporations, most expediently placed to do so, will rush to make fortunes on the time-honored premise that even a minor breakthrough is a freak, windfall to be exploited for their own benefit. But as breakthrough opportunities multiply, monopolies based on older technologies will be broken at a pace that those with vested interests will find disconcerting. So many research establishments and businesses will be scrambling to innovate that the net effect will be liberating.

The question will no longer be: who will control what technology? It will become: what wonders will be appear next?

The growing ability to produce what one needs at home will gradually eliminate the need for ponderous distribution systems. Nanotechnology and molecular engineering, increasingly becoming credible options, are offering prospects of home-grown cars, appliances and anything else we are likely to need. Food, indistinguishable from natural products, will be similarly synthesized at will.

Even before benefits are disseminated, breakthrough proliferation will signal real hope to the genuinely deprived while the rest of us will pause to reassess our values and priorities. [page 191]

Q.
How long will it take the world to feel the effects of Project Mind from the moment it goes operational?

A.
While the total mastery of matter may take as long as 40 years, it will be necessary, within five years to concretely prove the validity of Project Mind and Accelerated Thought. The short-term impact of the breakthroughs made during this period must suffice to send an unmistakable message to the world that the age of greed has ended.

Excessive retentiveness will be universally regarded, not with envy, but rather with the same jaundiced eye as smoking, sexism and racism are now in some quarters in the West. This message of hope will defuse political tensions and relieve ecological stress as mankind prepares itself to enter the Age of Mind. [page 193]

Q.
Won't a perfect world be boring?

A.
When contemplating a world of material and social perfection, we tend to forget that most of existence is metaphysical. The far-off vision of absolute perfection - the ideal of G-d - will hold our interest. Is unending ecstasy boring? Is G-d bored? [page 193]

Q.
If Project Mind is so all-important, why have you waited for so late in life to get things started and specifically what do you expect to gain?

A.
Distraction is a formidable enemy. And while I have been true to the spirit of Project Mind from the age of four, it has taken over 40 years to acquire the understanding and confidence necessary for this first disclosure. Claiming to have discovered the key to the cosmic riddle is a pretension that risks provoking incredulity in most, and worse in many.

My use of a pen-name is a measure taken to buffer the onslaught of pique to be expected from some quarters. Adolescence is ideally the time to find and formulate the assignation of our essence - the mission our soul. Majority is the time for realization - for action. Those like myself dedicated to providing conditions for such realizations will benefit, first hand, from the resulting world transformation as well as from the satisfaction of knowing and doing what was necessary for it to happen. We will try to be worthy of our charges and grow with them. [page 193-194]

Q.
There exist many dedicated and accomplished teachers in a wide variety of spiritual schools and disciplines whose knowledge of man's inner life, in all likelihood substantially surpasses your own. If they haven't been able to solve the ills of mankind, how are we to believe that you or I could do what they could not?

A.
Spiritual systems and schools today are primarily extensions, relics or atavisms of ancient teachings that pursued "pure consciousness" - a euphemism for attachment to G-d. In those times men were more self-possessed, more in touch with themselves. Men's perceptual, emotional and spiritual acuities were much finer than ours. Even in the absence of modern scientific findings, there was a much stronger and clearer feeling for the inner meaning and structure of existence.

Although these systems or schools are normally for the spiritualization of matter, none to my knowledge have succeeded. Nor to any serious extent have they even considered the issue of the physical transformation of matter - a domain they have abandoned to the external sciences. Even the ancient discipline of alchemy, which on the surface did address itself to such matters, is said by authoritative sources to have been a purely spiritual endeavor, seeking inner transformation exclusively and using the laboratory paraphernalia and the "transmutation of metals" largely as camouflage against the aggressively superstitious church and civil authorities of the period.

Since the spiritual disciples feel themselves indifferent or unequal to the challenge of engaging external matter directly, and science in its servitude to conventionality is unable to make full use of man's creative intelligence (which is the domain of the spirit), the field is left wide open to anyone, regardless of merit, who has some appreciation of the problem and who, for whatever reason, feels obliged to try to fill the vacuum. [page 194-195]

As for my personal qualifications, time will tell.

Readers are invited to submit their own questions and comments to:

Project Mind
P.O. Box 1603
Ormond Beach, FL 32175-1603
U.S.A.

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