A popular way to depict the ‘life’ of the universe in comparison to the evolution of life on earth, is to condense it down to a 24 hour day, starting and ‘finishing’ at midnight. Life turned up on earth at approximately midday, and the whole of human history (i.e., homo-sapiens) has occurred in the last half of the last second before the next midnight, which is now.
This gives a very good impression of how short a time we’ve been around, from the objective point of view of the universe. However, it also might give the misimpression that ‘now’ is some kind of ‘end’. A better analogy, based on the proposed life-time of the sun and its ability to support life on this planet, is that ‘now’ is really around 8 o’clock in the morning. The universe has been unconscious/asleep (as far as we are currently aware, for at least this section of it) all morning, and is only ‘now’ just waking up……perhaps.
Even if we just consider the life-time of life (on earth) itself, humans have only been around ‘consciously’ observing it and trying to make sense of it (the universe) still in the last second; a fraction of that if we consider that now is around 8am. Life on earth is only just waking up……perhaps.
The evolution of life on this planet, from single-celled organisms and plants to us humans, displays a progression of ‘consciousness’ in three main stages, all of which are still apparent and in operation within each of us.
- The first, ‘vegetative’, stage is of course the most basic and the result of interacting with the raw environment; approach something that is likely to help one’s survival, and retreat from danger.
- The second, ‘mammalian’, stage is the result of animals interacting in a social environment. It is the desire to control territory, obtain status and acquire ‘mates’. To dominate or submit.
- The third is the ‘rational’ circuit, restricted (we think) to humans, due to the advent and use of a symbolic language; developed individually, it is the result of interacting in the intellectual/analytical environment.
Individuals differ in which of these circuits are emphasized in their day to day lives. Everyone seems to be always interacting with the world using one or more of those three ‘scripts’……perhaps.
Maybe there is a fourth level of consciousness. Logically, given enough time, this is almost certainly to be the case. But is it also available, at least to some, now?
This seems to be what all religion, mysticism, and spiritualism, is all about – at least fundamentally. And might also be the goal of ‘The Craft’ in Freemasonry (and many other secret and esoteric societies): to open the ‘third eye’; to foster ‘enlightenment’. But what does this actually mean?
Is LOST trying to provide an answer to that question?
An interesting analogy that can be used to describe the three levels of human consciousness is to compare them to the three dimensions of space. The first circuit can be thought of as being along the ‘length’ dimension – forward or back; approach or retreat. The second can be thought of as along the vertical axis – up or down; standing tall or shrinking into a submissive pose. The third circuit can then be thought of as being lateral – side to side; signifying the abstract nature of a symbolic language. This of course might lead to a clue as to what aught to be the nature of this hypothetical (?) fourth circuit – in its possible relation to the fourth dimension; time.
“Only fools are enslaved by space and time”
The LOST 'answer' could be as simple as that; through enlightenment one gains the ability to consciously travel through time (and space?), possibly not just through one's own life-time, like with Desmond, but through one's whole genetic vector. Three billions years of learning is stored in every cell, including neurons. Or it could be something else or more. Perhaps, as with the clue given with the reading material for the LOST University physics course (The Field, by Lynne McTaggart), the fourth level of consciousness might have something to do with Zero Point Field, and all the paranormal phenomena that are proposed to go along with that.
Whatever it is (or will be), there certainly seem to be, and have been, groups of people who believe in, throughout history, and have endeavored to keep what is learned and/or how it is gained, extremely secret. There could be two reasons for this; one benevolent and the other self-interested; creating the basic distinction between the two main groups that are proposed to have been secretively operating with this knowledge, centuries, or millennia.
In Robert Anton Wilson's writings on this subject (satirically based on thousands of letters he and Illuminatus! co-writer Robert Shea received while doing a piece on civil liberties for Playboy in the 70's) he distinguishes these two groups along the lines of science vs. (black) magick.
One group (The Legion of Dynamic Discord) is attempting to bring the whole of humanity into the next phase of life’s evolution on this planet - in accordance with Leary's SMI2LE (Space Migration from Intelligence expansion and Life Extension). These would be my 'good' guys. The 'intelligence expansion' is akin to 'enlightenment'. And this can be achieved (refer to research by Dr John Lilly) through particular chemical ingestion and bio-feedback (see Room 23). And through scientific research, space migration (whether physical or mental) and life extension (whether through cybernetics or genetics) will follow.
The other group (the Illuminati?) isn’t interested in other people. In fact they would like to use them to achieve their goals, their way - human sacrifice.
(References: See Prometheus Rising, Cosmic Trigger, Illuminatus Trilogy and Historical Chronicles, etc, by Robert Anton Wilson)
This gives a very good impression of how short a time we’ve been around, from the objective point of view of the universe. However, it also might give the misimpression that ‘now’ is some kind of ‘end’. A better analogy, based on the proposed life-time of the sun and its ability to support life on this planet, is that ‘now’ is really around 8 o’clock in the morning. The universe has been unconscious/asleep (as far as we are currently aware, for at least this section of it) all morning, and is only ‘now’ just waking up……perhaps.
Even if we just consider the life-time of life (on earth) itself, humans have only been around ‘consciously’ observing it and trying to make sense of it (the universe) still in the last second; a fraction of that if we consider that now is around 8am. Life on earth is only just waking up……perhaps.
The evolution of life on this planet, from single-celled organisms and plants to us humans, displays a progression of ‘consciousness’ in three main stages, all of which are still apparent and in operation within each of us.
- The first, ‘vegetative’, stage is of course the most basic and the result of interacting with the raw environment; approach something that is likely to help one’s survival, and retreat from danger.
- The second, ‘mammalian’, stage is the result of animals interacting in a social environment. It is the desire to control territory, obtain status and acquire ‘mates’. To dominate or submit.
- The third is the ‘rational’ circuit, restricted (we think) to humans, due to the advent and use of a symbolic language; developed individually, it is the result of interacting in the intellectual/analytical environment.
Individuals differ in which of these circuits are emphasized in their day to day lives. Everyone seems to be always interacting with the world using one or more of those three ‘scripts’……perhaps.
Maybe there is a fourth level of consciousness. Logically, given enough time, this is almost certainly to be the case. But is it also available, at least to some, now?
This seems to be what all religion, mysticism, and spiritualism, is all about – at least fundamentally. And might also be the goal of ‘The Craft’ in Freemasonry (and many other secret and esoteric societies): to open the ‘third eye’; to foster ‘enlightenment’. But what does this actually mean?
Is LOST trying to provide an answer to that question?
An interesting analogy that can be used to describe the three levels of human consciousness is to compare them to the three dimensions of space. The first circuit can be thought of as being along the ‘length’ dimension – forward or back; approach or retreat. The second can be thought of as along the vertical axis – up or down; standing tall or shrinking into a submissive pose. The third circuit can then be thought of as being lateral – side to side; signifying the abstract nature of a symbolic language. This of course might lead to a clue as to what aught to be the nature of this hypothetical (?) fourth circuit – in its possible relation to the fourth dimension; time.
“Only fools are enslaved by space and time”
The LOST 'answer' could be as simple as that; through enlightenment one gains the ability to consciously travel through time (and space?), possibly not just through one's own life-time, like with Desmond, but through one's whole genetic vector. Three billions years of learning is stored in every cell, including neurons. Or it could be something else or more. Perhaps, as with the clue given with the reading material for the LOST University physics course (The Field, by Lynne McTaggart), the fourth level of consciousness might have something to do with Zero Point Field, and all the paranormal phenomena that are proposed to go along with that.
Whatever it is (or will be), there certainly seem to be, and have been, groups of people who believe in, throughout history, and have endeavored to keep what is learned and/or how it is gained, extremely secret. There could be two reasons for this; one benevolent and the other self-interested; creating the basic distinction between the two main groups that are proposed to have been secretively operating with this knowledge, centuries, or millennia.
In Robert Anton Wilson's writings on this subject (satirically based on thousands of letters he and Illuminatus! co-writer Robert Shea received while doing a piece on civil liberties for Playboy in the 70's) he distinguishes these two groups along the lines of science vs. (black) magick.
One group (The Legion of Dynamic Discord) is attempting to bring the whole of humanity into the next phase of life’s evolution on this planet - in accordance with Leary's SMI2LE (Space Migration from Intelligence expansion and Life Extension). These would be my 'good' guys. The 'intelligence expansion' is akin to 'enlightenment'. And this can be achieved (refer to research by Dr John Lilly) through particular chemical ingestion and bio-feedback (see Room 23). And through scientific research, space migration (whether physical or mental) and life extension (whether through cybernetics or genetics) will follow.
The other group (the Illuminati?) isn’t interested in other people. In fact they would like to use them to achieve their goals, their way - human sacrifice.
(References: See Prometheus Rising, Cosmic Trigger, Illuminatus Trilogy and Historical Chronicles, etc, by Robert Anton Wilson)
