Are we there yet? It depends on what is “we” and “there”. I think of we as applying to life; all life. I think of there as being ready to go on a journey. For our time it will be an unprecedented journey. From our human perspective living conditions that used to work no longer do. For example, recent college graduates can no longer find work. What may have been seen, as career paths no longer exist. What may have been seen as financial security no longer works.
Are we there yet? It depends on what is “we” and “there”. I think of we as applying to life; all life. I think of there as being ready to go on a journey. For our time it will be an unprecedented journey. From our human perspective living conditions that used to work no longer do. For example, recent college graduates can no longer find work. What may have been seen, as career paths no longer exist. What may have been seen as financial security no longer works.
Even in nature there are strange events occurring now, such as thousands of birds “commuting” between seasonal homes by following compass directions, such as flying north, fell to the ground dead and soon after that thousands of fish showed up dead in a harbor. Even so called experts had no believable explanations. To anyone familiar with magnetic pole shifts, such as north becoming south and south becoming north, such events would be expected.
The end of the world was thought by many to occur on this past May 21st. Personally I saw no believable evidence. It was just an opinion. Now many talk about the end on December 21, 2012. It is not just unfounded opinion. There is believable evidence. But there are many questions, such as what does “end” mean?
Magnetic pole shifts have occurred at intervals of 200,000-250,000 years. However the last pole shift was 780,000 years ago. (How we can have empirical evidence for such periods is a story worth telling, but not now). The universe is not simply a fixed thing, but is living intelligence.
As we begin to understand the ways of life-itself, I think of each period as an epoch. The increasing length of an epoch makes sense. An epoch lasts long enough to reach a kind of satisfaction, i.e. it has done all it can. It leaves all that it has achieved and starts a new epoch. Life is creative. There is not a big gap between the first two epochs but they accomplished a great amount as starting conditions for the third epoch.
What does “end” mean? It means the end of an epoch and the beginning of a new epoch. Now it becomes our task to envision what the new epoch will be. We begin by asking what did the last epoch leave for the new epoch?
780,000 years ago our ancestors were using stone tools to scratch out a living. I suspect our most primitive ancestors were given skills that could develop new forms of intelligence. (The full story of the 780,000 is fascinating but I will leave it for now. Others are more qualified.) The new forms of intelligence provided for new perspectives. By about 300 years ago the arts, philosophy and science were established. There were two fundamental themes. One theme emphasized matter while the other theme emphasized process. Matter led to physics with mathematics as fundamental laws. Unfortunately the structure of mathematical laws excludes meaning. Life cannot be lived without meaning. Life is based on societies of organisms. As we learn an appropriate way to think about societies of organisms we will find they are primarily about meaning.
I searched for definitions of living organisms. They were most disappointing. They were seen as assemblies of various systems that could provide for basic functions we think of as living, such as finding food. A basic element of control is homeostasis requiring fixed-points and adapting to its environment. Finally, there was no challenge to the second law of thermodynamics—the entropy law. None of this, except finding food, is appropriate for a living organism. What is?
This brings us to current research. Is “there” what we might call “a blue print for reliable thinking” and is “there” significant empirical research? These are questions to be answered.
In life-itself research, life is a domain of living organisms. So far organisms have not sufficiently been described. It is only during the last three years that new emergent knowledge has provided previously unknown insights into how organisms work. Before that we assumed they worked like machines. Physics has been assumed to be the most basic science. As new knowledge has emerged it has become evident that physics does not address the full spectrum of reality and therefore it is not the most basic science. What has emerged is discovery of a natural domain we now call life-itself. The World is alive and, except for artifacts, every natural entity works, as life-itself requires.
Life forms habits. Physics is a sub domain of habits expressed in mathematics without meaning. Those habits can be most useful for engineering technology but they cannot express the fullness of reality. Computer experts dream of computers that are so powerful they become alive and will make humans redundant. But to live requires living energy. For example, stem cells can be used to repair damaged tissue. But if the patient dies, the whole process stops.
For reliable thinking we suggest Whitehead’s theory (metaphysics) of organisms. Whitehead’s metaphysics is the most advanced and sophisticated version of process philosophy, it takes events rather than enduring objects for reality. Visit our new website (www.autognomics.org) for ways to explore this foundational thinking.
For empirical research I think confirming data is important. It is satisfying for me to be aware of empirical data concerning past pole shifts. Putting it all together I am not sure that the so-called data is reliable.
I am not about to agree that the designated December 21, 2012 date means end of life on earth. I think the end of an epoch is more likely.
Skye Hirst, Ph.D. provides executive and personal coaching and writes a blog on www.autognomics.org.
Skye’s blog on life with Norm, her husband and partner, lessons and challenges of learning about living and loving together. Norm and Skye are co-founders of The Autognomics Institute and continue together to do research on life as creative organisms, bringing their insights on creative processes to audiences and new leaders for the emerging shifting living consciousness. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.