Omicron Blue Chapter# 23

23

‘Once a year, we head for the land. We drive for weeks til the last traces of smoke and noise are far behind. We leave the car in the dust, then walk for days through brush, trees, and meadow. There we live on the land for many days, lost in lush grass under blue sky. My love and I stand naked beneath the blazing sun, whose warmth is absorbed within and all dampness and chill of metallic cages forced out. Then we plunge into sparkling crystal pool, and float serenely by reeds and grasses drenched in light until the hills hide the light and we enfold ourselves in the embrace of night, with the pulse of nature all about us.

‘We are home, yet we are not. The umbilical cord to the metallic womb is still in place. It is not yet time. But how shall a new day be obtained? Come the dawn, I stand on jutting rock overlooking green fields flooded with light, white ships floating supremely on high across the blue, and vow… I,…we,…shall return…for good!’

It was autumn…The fields were full of the fruits… the product of months of intensive care. Nowadays agriculture was highly automated. Plants were seeded and nurtured in environments almost solely of water. Then they are harvested.

The Great Valley was once one of the major agricultural producers in the world. Now with food being able to be produced in all parts of the world… in water environments… there was plenty for all… any time, anywhere.

In addition, a new sort of agriculture had been brewed….although it was still in its infant stages….It had always been known that the easiest way to grow food would be in a molecular manner…to harvest the diatoms and algaes of the sea… yet piling these invisible bits together formed masses of food that were less than delectable…However, there is now a science…which allows man and woman to form Life from scratch…so of course common sense now would ask…Why not just use the same steps to form food easily and twist it into configurations that are more tasty…Just take streams of hydrogen ions plus carbon dioxide plus water…plus infrared energy …plus some skill learned from manipulating processes…and pow!….sugars…and perhaps ultimately even proteins …that can be coaxed from broad expanses of captured sea water….harvested by fine meshed nets, released into mountains of final product which then can be used by genius culinary chefs to integrate into sumptuous meals….In this way, we can produce herds of organic molecules which are fat free, delicious, and cheaply rendered….Well, the magic… is just beginning!…

It was now the second week in September. Omicron and Aura moved to a student cluster in the University tribe. The blushing face of the happy bride was now flushed in the first days of pregnancy, although only her relatives and closest friends would know until the spring. Steve and Sylvia assisted in every way, but only when asked. The parents were filled with the sweetness of Life as the cycle of birth, Life, and earth tumbled head over heels… on and on… and another phase of physical creativity was completed. Physical creation was its second decade of change. Couples were limited to one child. Many had to forgo having children completely as was determined by the tribes in order to achieve zero population growth. And now due to genetic engineering… it was not unusual for individuals to Live as long as one hundred and fifty years. Because couples now were Living longer and having one child soon after marriage… the physical, creation stage occupied a smaller and smaller part of the total Life cycle. A person could be a grandparent, great grandparent, great great grandparent. People’s Lives, more and more, were now being devoted to intellectual creativity and to the social creativity and Cosmic communion of the primal band. One’s child would always be dear and so too, the grandchildren,… less so the great grandchildren, until one’s lineage, as far as one’s feelings were concerned, were related almost in name only as the children of children of children melted in one’s mind into the joyful, Cosmic Heartbeat of the band, tribe, and nation… until in old age people were surrounded by the children… all their children… That is…all of the children in the band…became theirs….From the first attempts at constructing artificial communities…leaders were desperately searching for ways that people who were strangers… could actually bond together and become One…usually with less than glowing results. Of course in the evolution of human beings….bands were mostly of one blood…that is, pools of genes were among those of blood relationships…and these pools competed with the other for success in a certain environment….so as bands in the new epoch became more and more genetically related there was asserted effort to make certain that communities would not become too inbred which could lead to fetal deformities …occasionally females were induced to leave their blood band for another…which helped diversity…Yet as they became more and more of one blood…the clusters of humanity became more like their paleontological past….pools of related genes…and bonding came more and more naturally and securely.

Omicron and Aura were very happy. However, they were alert to all which could threaten that happiness. They were going to the University and Living and working in a student cluster. Their schedule was basically the same as it had been in the bands….as the course and group creative work at the University was conducted during the day consistent with the biorhythms of the “larks” and “owls”… and individual learning and creative work was undertaken at night. Each worked at his or her highest level of activity. They were doing research on their own, viewing lectures and procedures on Cerebrum, outputting conclusions and concepts into computer memory, which served as input for the next group. Cerebrum was able to do rudimentary A-type and I-type thinking, combining ideas in accordance with obvious associations to form concepts on the basis of similarity and then utilizing the logic of mathematics to sort out, separate, differentiate and delineate implications inherent in the concepts. Cerebrum, as well as all cybernetic devices, now sported consciousness to various degrees…hydrogen ions had now been integrated onto chips which increased Power and capability magnitudes of times….these ions could perceive, think, and act on their own…eliminating the need for expanses of circuitry…

As has been said, the couple received salaries from these activities, in addition from the fact that they were married, and later they would receive additional energy credits for the music Omicron wrote for the Academy. There would be more salary when they had a child. All of this income would more than meet their needs. All people in the nations had as much as they desired. Empirical research had conclusively proven that pleasure and the absence of pain did not produce joy and happiness. Hard work, devoted to physical, intellectual, and Cosmic creativity, were necessary to obtain that end. However, progression of the Will along a creative path means nothing without the Connection, the Love of community. Both together yield the greatest in joy and happiness…for an individual…for a group of people…striving to survive in the plant/animal sphere. There was no way out of it….man and woman’s lot in Life was hard even if they continually took the ‘easy’ way and diverged from the Cosmic path. Only the fruits of creativity produced by communal hard work made Life worth while. As a consequence, people accepted their lot in Life as other animals do, working to survive in the world, and benefited greatly because of it.

Omicron and Aura were busily fixing up their cluster. There was a myriad of furnishings, biologically generated, that was available. The design of the cluster had been created by the couple. It had been ordered and created for them weeks before. The cluster was globular with a large Circular Living and lounge area, with smaller Circular ‘globs’ attached for a kitchen-dining area combination, two bedrooms, two research rooms, an art room, where Aura could design clothing…and a music room. There was a large bathroom area, which opened out to a pool ….around which several other clusters were arranged in a Circle.

Individuals went to college as long as they desired. There were no grades, but they received a salary for the research they did. The important thing was to be accepted by a learning and research group and to demonstrate one’s usefulness to them. These groups were like the research bands they would work in afterwards. Thus, college students were in the first of three stages… instruction, work, and golden years,…similar to the stages all the people in the country went through. In the work stage in the research groups, one participated and progressed according to his or her abilities. All persons from the lowest para-researchers to the highest Cosmic theorists took part in the creative process and were given credit for their efforts physically, that is, with energy credits; intellectually, by copyright and citation; and Cosmically, by the patent of products and the bestowal of economic and political leadership, at the community level, for the nation, and world-wide. As individuals grew older, they could drop to lower levels of ‘golden’ intensity in their creativity, concentrate upon philosophical matters, and visit for extended periods the seashore bands and resorts on mountain peaks. They could relay their conclusions and thought into group creativity from these remote places by means of Cerebrum. Their declining years were the golden climax of the Cosmic period and for Life in general. This was the period when one’s works bore fruit. During this final period, they could devote more and more time to community service, working with children, caring for the community grounds an facilities, singing in the choirs, sitting in the tribal councils of sages. In every stage of Life, the product of their work and efforts was absorbed by community, country, and world and would remain a Force throughout succeeding generations… an influence never ceasing.

Most people now were in research bands or in bands helping research bands. However, as has been said…other people were in construction, or in the service bands in the Creative Center, comprised of doctors, lawyers, chefs, and fashion models and many other profession bands. All went through the basic three periods of work Life.

Aura looked around their new residence.

‘Our place is almost ready for us…for all of us. Everything is so nice and spacious,’ she said.

‘Well, I was thinking of bringing a chorus in to practice my new musical every night. I think we could set up here in the Livingroom, I’ll direct from the kitchen. An artist must have complete control over his medium, you know,’ he bantered.

‘Why don’t we just grow our baby in a bottle and save a lot of trouble?’ said Omicron. ‘Technologically we could do it, you know.’

‘Because there is a time and place when man, or woman, and machine must part ways,’ Aura replied, with a pervasive seriousness that pregnant women often display.

“Creating babies is the work of our bodies. Physical creativity gives men and women joy and happiness.

‘To have a child. An animal bearing its young. A romantic notion. No, it’s a primal notion, which is related to structures deep within our brains. And it is related to feelings and passions which cannot be denied, no matter how great your darn machines are getting.’

‘Now, now, there is no need to get upset, you know,’ Omicron teased. ‘It’s probably because you are pregnant.’

‘Now it’s because I’m pregnant. Before it was because it was that time of the month again. These spells of fury are related to processes and wondrous happenings which are some of the most important occurrences in our Lives. When I’m nice, when I’m bitchy, when I am sassy, or in a fury, I am a queen. I am a part of Life, full of the matter, full of the energy of the universe.’

Omicron took her into his arms and kissed her.

‘You are my queen, and we are going forth in full fury through this pregnancy… propelled constantly at full blast…right on through every stage of our Lives.’

Omicron was writing a musical about the future. For he felt the greatest challenge to man and woman lay ahead. It seemed as if they had reached a state of Heaven. Man and woman’s tools seemed to do all that they could wish for.

But what would happen if human creativity were no longer required in a world full of machines that could produce everything? How could there be joy and happiness, if creativity were no longer required? Omicron did take into account catastrophes of all types which could happen at any time. On the other hand, the world of humanity had solved so many problems routinely since the turn of the century. Could man and woman become too successful, and thereby become extinct? Must man and woman continue to strive… and struggle for survival …to Live… to feel the need to Live? What was there for him and her when he and she reached the top? Might humans jump to their deaths, rather than suffer the torture of success, of tedium and boredom?

The rewards of Life were tied to creativity and community. However, community creativity was tied to striving, to innovation, to progress. What happens when humans reach the Light? Omicron had begun the musical as a philosophical diversion, a question to be pondered, and perhaps to be partly answered in the process of attempting to visualize the future in the five dimensions of the stage. What would happen to these people now reconfigured into primal clusters, such as existed back at the dawning of mankind…but a primal people, who now were not harassed by wind, cold, or predators… Yes, they would still be gathered together, bathed in the Light of Heaven, singing together and dancing with the full motion and sweat of their bodies. Yet…..

Would this be enough? Could the Love of the band be enough to perpetuate joy and happiness when all else was given to them, when the need for creativity of any type and for the Will was gone…when they would become irrelevant to the survival of human Life? The flash of teeth. The clap of hands. The swirl of the skirt. The muscle on the drum… as his great great grandfather had written….Would these be enough?

The survival of human Life…that was the rub. In the past creativity could always be utilized for diversion… raising children and then grandchildren…that is, physical creativity could fill a Life…then intellectual and Cosmic creativity took over…but if all three are no longer needed or in the case of children…not even allowed…what will people do?…Just fifty years before, people had consumed vast parts of their Lives playing video games… watching news that was more fun…than important. Perhaps war was devised to present challenges… challenges for creative minds to solve. Throughout history there was a positive relationship in some cases between war and economic development. Of course, too much war and no progress is possible. And of course…war is just plain bad.

So could man and woman survive success? The ultimate answer was a surprising, ‘Yes!’ For no matter how he conceived the future, Omicron could not deny the fact that man and woman were the most adaptable of animals. That if they needed to create diversions to entertain themselves, they would do so. If they needed meaningful things to create, they would create challenges …filled with meaning!

In the end, though… the Laws of evolution would hold. First, the process of evolution for humans will be drawn out if there is little reproduction and everyone lives to be 300 years of age. Second, what evolution there is… will probably emphasize women. The world may not need men. Reproductive inventions might be created that could leave men out altogether. If Will and creativity are not needed for survival, Love, the Cosmic priestess… the wild mercy of women will have to show the way!…perhaps become the future by itself!…leaving a world consumed by Love…an all female planet. Maybe we’ll become like bees or ants and become mostly female with a few lucky males copulating themselves to death.

For purposes of a musical, we mustn’t go that far, Omicron thought, or the reason for Love songs will cease to exist. And as far as scientists now could discern… the reason I’s are willing to come to earth and endure years of oxidation, that is, ‘burning up’ …and difficulties… is that Connections with other I’s can be made… that will insure that they will be in the Light… forever… and not consigned to darkness… As was said…male-female coupling is one of the surest methods for eternal connection… that exists. One does suppose, however… that a world of female-female coupling…is possible.

Whatever the answers are, Omicron thought… his bet was on the human species to endure or evolve into a higher species where a Loving world is possible. Humans would change. Humans will go through the final transformation beyond the physical, intellectual and the Cosmic, on to a world of laughter and Light… which will last until the sun is extinguished, perhaps beyond.

For man and woman have seen no equal. With their tools, they have climbed higher than all else. And all matter and Life is pleased thereby. For Homo is matter and their success is also that of matter. And that of the Cosmos. Man and woman… the Crown of the universe.

One final thought went through Omicron’s mind… all of this is hubris unless one considers that something cannot come from nothing. I’s have always existed… In the beginning…there was a sea of energy…all one gigantic I...Within milliseconds after the Big Bang..vortexes arose in the primordial energy…particles were formed…individual countless I’s emerged….each with a different personality…strewn across all space and time….Conscious thought of the caliber that man and woman possess…may have existed before Life on earth…or right now…somewhere else. Great suns may be composed of countless I’s that can perceive and act…perhaps think. When so many I’s are aggregated, the swirling molten plasma of ions may actually be able to think like a God. If this is True, then only man and woman, that we know of, has approached the intelligence of a God. A pale reflection probably, it is True. And embarrassing for us…the less thinking species on earth are often the most successful ones.

Still human beings are something special. The sun may rain its Light down upon us,…the reality is…there is Light in each speck of Life… shining right back.

Oh, all is well… thought Omicron, as he turned from his piano to watch the setting sun. Then he saw a picture of ‘a Spirit blowing a trumpet over a half-open tomb.’ This was symbolic of Cosmic step twenty… Renewal… and represented ‘the passage from Life on earth to the Life of the future. A man, a woman, and a child, a collective symbol of the human trinity,of physical, intellectual, and Cosmic man, are shown rising from this tomb. It is a sign of the change which is the end of all things, of Good as well as of evil.

‘Remember, son of Earth, that fortune is variable, even when it appears most unshakable. The ascent of the soul is the fruit of its successive ordeals. Have hope in times of suffering, but beware of prosperity. Do not fall asleep in laziness or forgetfulness. At a moment unknown to you the wheel of fortune will turn; you will be raised or cast down by the Sphinx.’

Man and woman will probably reach for the sky and fall back on their behinds, Omicron thought. So much for grand dreams. The odds are…that the world will change and humans will have to adapt or die. Business as usual…. But man and woman won’t die. The gods are with them… at least dei ex machina…. at least their powerful tools are always with them.

Aura opened the membrane door and tiptoed up to him.

‘That certainly is pretty music you are playing.’

‘Look up at that mountain and tell me what you see. Do you see three puffs of spirit ascending upwards to the heavens?’

‘My man is handsome,’ quipped Aura. ‘But he often mutters on, incoherently.

‘I see three small clouds floating above our mountain. Now what is this about puffs of spirit?’

‘Well, now that we are married and settled,…I have a few thousand things to tell you.’

And Aura sat on the floor at his knee and he stroked the flowing, glowing river as he said…

‘Cosmic step one is represented by the Magus, the type of the perfect man, in full possession of his physical and moral faculties. He is represented

…’

‘Once a year, we head for the land. We drive for weeks til the last traces of smoke and noise are far behind. We leave the car in the dust, then walk for days through brush, trees, and meadow. There we live on the land for many days, lost in lush grass under blue sky. My love and I stand naked beneath the blazing sun, whose warmth is absorbed within and all dampness and chill of metallic cages forced out. Then we plunge into sparkling crystal pool, and float serenely by reeds and grasses drenched in light until the hills hide the light and we enfold ourselves in the embrace of night, with the pulse of nature all about us.

‘We are home, yet we are not. The umbilical cord to the metallic womb is still in place. It is not yet time. But how shall a new day be obtained? Come the dawn, I stand on jutting rock overlooking green fields flooded with light, white ships floating supremely on high across the blue, and vow… I,…we,…shall return…for good!’

It was autumn…The fields were full of the fruits… the product of months of intensive care. Nowadays agriculture was highly automated. Plants were seeded and nurtured in environments almost solely of water. Then they are harvested.

The Great Valley was once one of the major agricultural producers in the world. Now with food being able to be produced in all parts of the world… in water environments… there was plenty for all… any time, anywhere.

In addition, a new sort of agriculture had been brewed….although it was still in its infant stages….It had always been known that the easiest way to grow food would be in a molecular manner…to harvest the diatoms and algaes of the sea… yet piling these invisible bits together formed masses of food that were less than delectable…However, there is now a science…which allows man and woman to form Life from scratch…so of course common sense now would ask…Why not just use the same steps to form food easily and twist it into configurations that are more tasty…Just take streams of hydrogen ions plus carbon dioxide plus water…plus infrared energy …plus some skill learned from manipulating processes…and pow!….sugars…and perhaps ultimately even proteins …that can be coaxed from broad expanses of captured sea water….harvested by fine meshed nets, released into mountains of final product which then can be used by genius culinary chefs to integrate into sumptuous meals….In this way, we can produce herds of organic molecules which are fat free, delicious, and cheaply rendered….Well, the magic… is just beginning!…

It was now the second week in September. Omicron and Aura moved to a student cluster in the University tribe. The blushing face of the happy bride was now flushed in the first days of pregnancy, although only her relatives and closest friends would know until the spring. Steve and Sylvia assisted in every way, but only when asked. The parents were filled with the sweetness of Life as the cycle of birth, Life, and earth tumbled head over heels… on and on… and another phase of physical creativity was completed. Physical creation was its second decade of change. Couples were limited to one child. Many had to forgo having children completely as was determined by the tribes in order to achieve zero population growth. And now due to genetic engineering… it was not unusual for individuals to Live as long as one hundred and fifty years. Because couples now were Living longer and having one child soon after marriage… the physical, creation stage occupied a smaller and smaller part of the total Life cycle. A person could be a grandparent, great grandparent, great great grandparent. People’s Lives, more and more, were now being devoted to intellectual creativity and to the social creativity and Cosmic communion of the primal band. One’s child would always be dear and so too, the grandchildren,… less so the great grandchildren, until one’s lineage, as far as one’s feelings were concerned, were related almost in name only as the children of children of children melted in one’s mind into the joyful, Cosmic Heartbeat of the band, tribe, and nation… until in old age people were surrounded by the children… all their children… That is…all of the children in the band…became theirs….From the first attempts at constructing artificial communities…leaders were desperately searching for ways that people who were strangers… could actually bond together and become One…usually with less than glowing results. Of course in the evolution of human beings….bands were mostly of one blood…that is, pools of genes were among those of blood relationships…and these pools competed with the other for success in a certain environment….so as bands in the new epoch became more and more genetically related there was asserted effort to make certain that communities would not become too inbred which could lead to fetal deformities …occasionally females were induced to leave their blood band for another…which helped diversity…Yet as they became more and more of one blood…the clusters of humanity became more like their paleontological past….pools of related genes…and bonding came more and more naturally and securely.

Omicron and Aura were very happy. However, they were alert to all which could threaten that happiness. They were going to the University and Living and working in a student cluster. Their schedule was basically the same as it had been in the bands….as the course and group creative work at the University was conducted during the day consistent with the biorhythms of the “larks” and “owls”… and individual learning and creative work was undertaken at night. Each worked at his or her highest level of activity. They were doing research on their own, viewing lectures and procedures on Cerebrum, outputting conclusions and concepts into computer memory, which served as input for the next group. Cerebrum was able to do rudimentary A-type and I-type thinking, combining ideas in accordance with obvious associations to form concepts on the basis of similarity and then utilizing the logic of mathematics to sort out, separate, differentiate and delineate implications inherent in the concepts. Cerebrum, as well as all cybernetic devices, now sported consciousness to various degrees…hydrogen ions had now been integrated onto chips which increased Power and capability magnitudes of times….these ions could perceive, think, and act on their own…eliminating the need for expanses of circuitry…

As has been said, the couple received salaries from these activities, in addition from the fact that they were married, and later they would receive additional energy credits for the music Omicron wrote for the Academy. There would be more salary when they had a child. All of this income would more than meet their needs. All people in the nations had as much as they desired. Empirical research had conclusively proven that pleasure and the absence of pain did not produce joy and happiness. Hard work, devoted to physical, intellectual, and Cosmic creativity, were necessary to obtain that end. However, progression of the Will along a creative path means nothing without the Connection, the Love of community. Both together yield the greatest in joy and happiness…for an individual…for a group of people…striving to survive in the plant/animal sphere. There was no way out of it….man and woman’s lot in Life was hard even if they continually took the ‘easy’ way and diverged from the Cosmic path. Only the fruits of creativity produced by communal hard work made Life worth while. As a consequence, people accepted their lot in Life as other animals do, working to survive in the world, and benefited greatly because of it.

Omicron and Aura were busily fixing up their cluster. There was a myriad of furnishings, biologically generated, that was available. The design of the cluster had been created by the couple. It had been ordered and created for them weeks before. The cluster was globular with a large Circular Living and lounge area, with smaller Circular ‘globs’ attached for a kitchen-dining area combination, two bedrooms, two research rooms, an art room, where Aura could design clothing…and a music room. There was a large bathroom area, which opened out to a pool ….around which several other clusters were arranged in a Circle.

Individuals went to college as long as they desired. There were no grades, but they received a salary for the research they did. The important thing was to be accepted by a learning and research group and to demonstrate one’s usefulness to them. These groups were like the research bands they would work in afterwards. Thus, college students were in the first of three stages… instruction, work, and golden years,…similar to the stages all the people in the country went through. In the work stage in the research groups, one participated and progressed according to his or her abilities. All persons from the lowest para-researchers to the highest Cosmic theorists took part in the creative process and were given credit for their efforts physically, that is, with energy credits; intellectually, by copyright and citation; and Cosmically, by the patent of products and the bestowal of economic and political leadership, at the community level, for the nation, and world-wide. As individuals grew older, they could drop to lower levels of ‘golden’ intensity in their creativity, concentrate upon philosophical matters, and visit for extended periods the seashore bands and resorts on mountain peaks. They could relay their conclusions and thought into group creativity from these remote places by means of Cerebrum. Their declining years were the golden climax of the Cosmic period and for Life in general. This was the period when one’s works bore fruit. During this final period, they could devote more and more time to community service, working with children, caring for the community grounds an facilities, singing in the choirs, sitting in the tribal councils of sages. In every stage of Life, the product of their work and efforts was absorbed by community, country, and world and would remain a Force throughout succeeding generations… an influence never ceasing.

Most people now were in research bands or in bands helping research bands. However, as has been said…other people were in construction, or in the service bands in the Creative Center, comprised of doctors, lawyers, chefs, and fashion models and many other profession bands. All went through the basic three periods of work Life.

Aura looked around their new residence.

‘Our place is almost ready for us…for all of us. Everything is so nice and spacious,’ she said.

‘Well, I was thinking of bringing a chorus in to practice my new musical every night. I think we could set up here in the Livingroom, I’ll direct from the kitchen. An artist must have complete control over his medium, you know,’ he bantered.

‘Why don’t we just grow our baby in a bottle and save a lot of trouble?’ said Omicron. ‘Technologically we could do it, you know.’

‘Because there is a time and place when man, or woman, and machine must part ways,’ Aura replied, with a pervasive seriousness that pregnant women often display.

“Creating babies is the work of our bodies. Physical creativity gives men and women joy and happiness.

‘To have a child. An animal bearing its young. A romantic notion. No, it’s a primal notion, which is related to structures deep within our brains. And it is related to feelings and passions which cannot be denied, no matter how great your darn machines are getting.’

‘Now, now, there is no need to get upset, you know,’ Omicron teased. ‘It’s probably because you are pregnant.’

‘Now it’s because I’m pregnant. Before it was because it was that time of the month again. These spells of fury are related to processes and wondrous happenings which are some of the most important occurrences in our Lives. When I’m nice, when I’m bitchy, when I am sassy, or in a fury, I am a queen. I am a part of Life, full of the matter, full of the energy of the universe.’

Omicron took her into his arms and kissed her.

‘You are my queen, and we are going forth in full fury through this pregnancy… propelled constantly at full blast…right on through every stage of our Lives.’

Omicron was writing a musical about the future. For he felt the greatest challenge to man and woman lay ahead. It seemed as if they had reached a state of Heaven. Man and woman’s tools seemed to do all that they could wish for.

But what would happen if human creativity were no longer required in a world full of machines that could produce everything? How could there be joy and happiness, if creativity were no longer required? Omicron did take into account catastrophes of all types which could happen at any time. On the other hand, the world of humanity had solved so many problems routinely since the turn of the century. Could man and woman become too successful, and thereby become extinct? Must man and woman continue to strive… and struggle for survival …to Live… to feel the need to Live? What was there for him and her when he and she reached the top? Might humans jump to their deaths, rather than suffer the torture of success, of tedium and boredom?

The rewards of Life were tied to creativity and community. However, community creativity was tied to striving, to innovation, to progress. What happens when humans reach the Light? Omicron had begun the musical as a philosophical diversion, a question to be pondered, and perhaps to be partly answered in the process of attempting to visualize the future in the five dimensions of the stage. What would happen to these people now reconfigured into primal clusters, such as existed back at the dawning of mankind…but a primal people, who now were not harassed by wind, cold, or predators… Yes, they would still be gathered together, bathed in the Light of Heaven, singing together and dancing with the full motion and sweat of their bodies. Yet…..

Would this be enough? Could the Love of the band be enough to perpetuate joy and happiness when all else was given to them, when the need for creativity of any type and for the Will was gone…when they would become irrelevant to the survival of human Life? The flash of teeth. The clap of hands. The swirl of the skirt. The muscle on the drum… as his great great grandfather had written….Would these be enough?

The survival of human Life…that was the rub. In the past creativity could always be utilized for diversion… raising children and then grandchildren…that is, physical creativity could fill a Life…then intellectual and Cosmic creativity took over…but if all three are no longer needed or in the case of children…not even allowed…what will people do?…Just fifty years before, people had consumed vast parts of their Lives playing video games… watching news that was more fun…than important. Perhaps war was devised to present challenges… challenges for creative minds to solve. Throughout history there was a positive relationship in some cases between war and economic development. Of course, too much war and no progress is possible. And of course…war is just plain bad.

So could man and woman survive success? The ultimate answer was a surprising, ‘Yes!’ For no matter how he conceived the future, Omicron could not deny the fact that man and woman were the most adaptable of animals. That if they needed to create diversions to entertain themselves, they would do so. If they needed meaningful things to create, they would create challenges …filled with meaning!

In the end, though… the Laws of evolution would hold. First, the process of evolution for humans will be drawn out if there is little reproduction and everyone lives to be 300 years of age. Second, what evolution there is… will probably emphasize women. The world may not need men. Reproductive inventions might be created that could leave men out altogether. If Will and creativity are not needed for survival, Love, the Cosmic priestess… the wild mercy of women will have to show the way!…perhaps become the future by itself!…leaving a world consumed by Love…an all female planet. Maybe we’ll become like bees or ants and become mostly female with a few lucky males copulating themselves to death.

For purposes of a musical, we mustn’t go that far, Omicron thought, or the reason for Love songs will cease to exist. And as far as scientists now could discern… the reason I’s are willing to come to earth and endure years of oxidation, that is, ‘burning up’ …and difficulties… is that Connections with other I’s can be made… that will insure that they will be in the Light… forever… and not consigned to darkness… As was said…male-female coupling is one of the surest methods for eternal connection… that exists. One does suppose, however… that a world of female-female coupling…is possible.

Whatever the answers are, Omicron thought… his bet was on the human species to endure or evolve into a higher species where a Loving world is possible. Humans would change. Humans will go through the final transformation beyond the physical, intellectual and the Cosmic, on to a world of laughter and Light… which will last until the sun is extinguished, perhaps beyond.

For man and woman have seen no equal. With their tools, they have climbed higher than all else. And all matter and Life is pleased thereby. For Homo is matter and their success is also that of matter. And that of the Cosmos. Man and woman… the Crown of the universe.

One final thought went through Omicron’s mind… all of this is hubris unless one considers that something cannot come from nothing. I’s have always existed… In the beginning…there was a sea of energy…all one gigantic I...Within milliseconds after the Big Bang..vortexes arose in the primordial energy…particles were formed…individual countless I’s emerged….each with a different personality…strewn across all space and time….Conscious thought of the caliber that man and woman possess…may have existed before Life on earth…or right now…somewhere else. Great suns may be composed of countless I’s that can perceive and act…perhaps think. When so many I’s are aggregated, the swirling molten plasma of ions may actually be able to think like a God. If this is True, then only man and woman, that we know of, has approached the intelligence of a God. A pale reflection probably, it is True. And embarrassing for us…the less thinking species on earth are often the most successful ones.

Still human beings are something special. The sun may rain its Light down upon us,…the reality is…there is Light in each speck of Life… shining right back.

Oh, all is well… thought Omicron, as he turned from his piano to watch the setting sun. Then he saw a picture of ‘a Spirit blowing a trumpet over a half-open tomb.’ This was symbolic of Cosmic step twenty… Renewal… and represented ‘the passage from Life on earth to the Life of the future. A man, a woman, and a child, a collective symbol of the human trinity,of physical, intellectual, and Cosmic man, are shown rising from this tomb. It is a sign of the change which is the end of all things, of Good as well as of evil.

‘Remember, son of Earth, that fortune is variable, even when it appears most unshakable. The ascent of the soul is the fruit of its successive ordeals. Have hope in times of suffering, but beware of prosperity. Do not fall asleep in laziness or forgetfulness. At a moment unknown to you the wheel of fortune will turn; you will be raised or cast down by the Sphinx.’

Man and woman will probably reach for the sky and fall back on their behinds, Omicron thought. So much for grand dreams. The odds are…that the world will change and humans will have to adapt or die. Business as usual…. But man and woman won’t die. The gods are with them… at least dei ex machina…. at least their powerful tools are always with them.

Aura opened the membrane door and tiptoed up to him.

‘That certainly is pretty music you are playing.’

‘Look up at that mountain and tell me what you see. Do you see three puffs of spirit ascending upwards to the heavens?’

‘My man is handsome,’ quipped Aura. ‘But he often mutters on, incoherently.

‘I see three small clouds floating above our mountain. Now what is this about puffs of spirit?’

‘Well, now that we are married and settled,…I have a few thousand things to tell you.’

And Aura sat on the floor at his knee and he stroked the flowing, glowing river as he said…

‘Cosmic step one is represented by the Magus, the type of the perfect man, in full possession of his physical and moral faculties. He is represented

…’