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PROJECT MIND
The Conscious Conquest of Man & Matter
Through Accelerated
Thought
by David S. Devor (T. Kun)
Summary of CHAPTER 3:
A World In Danger - Matter, Greed, and Separation
One would have to be either singularly poorly informed or remarkable insensitive
to be unaware of the increasing level of tension and anxiety that has been
invading the planet. Although strife and suffering have never been strangers
to this world, until recently trouble's reach always seemed to have its
limits. ... Now along with the present growth trend of the earth's population
and man's technical capacities, the scope of the mischief he was once capable
of has also increased. [page 21]
Greed for material advancement and effortless existence is promoted
by our luxury-oriented culture and is spread far and wide by the media.
... Such frenzied grasping has always tended to promote conflict, injustice,
anomie and alienation. Greed also has uniquely modern consequences. Heedless
squandering and pollution of our natural resources is proceeding on a scale
that permits refuge to only a shrinking minority of privileged individuals.
[page 21-22]
The term for what such conditions of existence generate in us is "alienation".
Alienation has many definitions and is understood differently by different
psychological schools and political ideologies. It basically means estrangement--estrangement
from ourselves, our families, our peers, our work, society, our belongings
and all those things we consider extensions of ourselves. [page 22]
What is the matter? "Matter" is the matter. Matter--the substrate of
our daily existence--is the object of our needs and cravings, hopes and
dreams. Matter sustains us, it is true, but it also divides and separates
us from ourselves and others. It forces us to compete and ultimately to
conflict with one another. All the rest is commentary. [page 23]
What would happen in a world where matter and its attendant manifestations
of greed, envy, passion, vice and injustice became irrelevant--actually
neutralized by unlimited material abundance, security, universal health,
longevity and well-being? [page 23]
. . . our attachment to matter can and must be eliminated as the principal
cause of pathological division and conflict. [page 23]
. . . we need . . . an empirical method to accelerate dramatically our
already growing mastery of matter. . . . This transformation is predicted
by Nobel price laureate Dr. Barbara McClintock . . . [page 23]
In her view, conventional science fails to illuminate not only "how"
you know, but also, and equally, "what" you know. McClintock sees additional
confirmation of the need to expand our conception of science in her own--and
now others'-- discoveries. [page 23]
Behind the intellectual drive of the great creators in science, a deeper
force seems at work. I believe that at some intuitive level of his awareness,
the scientist senses that nature is simple, subtle, interconnected and
one. Without this idea or something like it, it is difficult to account
for the way scientific genius operates. Why should one equation expressing
nature's workings be truer and better than four, three, or two? The drive
to unveil this inner structure and to express it in the beautiful and elegant
language of mathematics seems similar to the mystic's insistence that behind
the multiplicity of appearances there lies the unity of reality. [page
24]
The need for ownership can represent various levels of attachment to
the matter of this world. And while this need can account for legitimate
needs and real vulnerabilities that pertain to the physical nature of our
body, the extent to which we exaggerate these needs suggests how little
we acknowledge the non-physical side of our nature. That some people can,
paradoxically, seem completely satisfied by materiality, can be attributed
to the anesthetizing effect that abundance can have on our personality.
[page 25]
. . . We take pride in our technological culture while all the time
becoming technologically and culturally less and less literate. We glory
at the technological conveniences at our disposal while, through the abuse
of these amenities, we allow our spirit to slip imperceptibly into oblivion.
[page 26]
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention
from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end.
[page 26]
As long as true breakthroughs remain few and far between, and science
continues to advance at a conventionally regulated rhythm (however rapid),
the shocks and dislocations of innovation will be minimal. This allows
the individual and society to adjust to an increasingly pathological situation
at a more or less convenient and comfortable rate. . . . The main feature
of that situation is our mortality. [page 27]
Once matter is sufficiently devalued, ownership becomes irrelevant.
Unreal matter-related desires need no longer be satisfied since, with their
bases of deprivation and invidious comparison removed, they evaporate.
[page 27]
We know from everyday experience that all appetites vanish once they
are satisfied and don't return until the feeling of lack returns. . . .
The appetite for ownership has five main drives: comfort, power, jealousy,
prestige and security.
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Comfort . . . Once the means exist to satisfy all physical needs, real
and imagined, the foundation for generating illusions concerning the general
importance of such satisfactions will be undermined.
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Power . . . With universal abundance no one will need to depend upon the
material wealth of others.
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Envy . . . When material advantage disappears, envy will gravitate to objects
of finer materiality such as aesthetics, knowledge and wisdom, and will
empower them.
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Prestige . . . When the objects of people's interest change, those who
embody higher values will become prestigious. The higher the values, the
finer their objects and the more difficult to counterfeit and use as props
for emulation.
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Security . . . Once the means become available for objectively increasing
health and security for all (without distinction), and the prospect of
physical immortality becomes real, anything other than reverence for life
and the values that enhance life will be inconceivable. [page 28-29]
Once new conditions of existence . . . deliver us from these aspects of
lack and deprivation, we will soon become aware of other, more essential,
more spiritual, insufficiencies. We will at last realize what Socrates
meant when he said that those who pursue wealth and honor are distracted
from the pursuit of truth, wisdom and virtue. Once we have nothing to gain
from our neighbor's deprivation and everything to gain from his well-being
(virtue, unlike material benefits, cannot be appropriated), loving our
neighbor will be our only remaining option. [page 29]
The prospect of waking up to reality and taking full possession of their
faculties has always interested certain men. They deeply intuit that no
virtual or simulated reality nor other fantasy, however vivid, can compare
to the natural, holistic reality that awaits us. [page 30]
Go on to summary
of Chapter 4:False Bases of Hope
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Book Contents
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