Book II

10. Happy New Year. – The New Year has started with a bang. Bang! Bang! More than 110,000 will get the bullet today. About 50,000,000 got it last year, the old year. Count yourself lucky. We’re still alive, somehow together on this earth.

9. First Thought for the New Year. – People all over the world make resolutions for the New Year. They resolve to do things differently…to change things. How wonderful! How human! How divine! Many will even let God now come into their hearts! – And people believe in change. They have faith that things will change. But I ask one question: Is the nature of nature one of change? - quick change? -  immediate change? And the answer is a resounding NO. It is a sludge hammer in my ear! NO!!! The world changes very very slowly…much more slowly than any of us want to admit. Let start with BODIES - flesh and blood, organs and tails, feathers and fur, skin, scales, brains…what we the living are made of: Creatures might very well evolve, i.e. change, but the process takes millions and millions of years. It takes so long that if, in fact, men evolved from gorillas, then why are there still "gorillas" on the earth? Because they haven’t had time to evolve yet, is the only answer you can give. In any case, the evolution of the world is a snail crossing its corner of the universe…BELIEFS: The human mind is still under the influence of the Greeks, Romans, Jews, Chinese, etc. of what we call antiquity…We are still talking about gods, morality, causality, teleology, etc. We have seen Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Skepticism, Atheism, etc. all creep in slow motion across the planet. Hundreds and thousands of years…Plato, Epictetus, Augustine, Copernicus, Galileo, Pascal, Newton, Darwin, Nietzsche, Marx, Einstein, ________ (who should we mention besides him as a 20th century thinker? You fill in the blank. Bill Gates maybe?), and look at the average person today. Look at how they reason and what they think…Yes, yes, it is a very slow process. Most people today see causality similarly to the way people saw it in the Middle Ages, even in pre-historic times (don’t you love the word "pre-historic"?…as if there was a time before history! Of course we’re talking about "recorded" history…then call it that for damned sakes! Call it pre-recorded history!), in that they see spirits of good and evil moving the world, gods pushing people to do what they do…or even "free will"…Now what do those two words mean! Yes, yes again…it is a very ssslllllooooooowwwwwwwww process. New Year’s resolutions should be New Millenium resolutions…but they still probably won’t come true. At least Jesus’s wishes haven’t. The world changes at its pace, not at our pace.

8. The good life. – How many formulas have we all heard for "the good life"? One of the most fascinating human ideas is that "I can know what is good for my neighbor…and for you!"  For millennium people have been telling each other how they should live. And today there are probably more "secret to life" prophets than at any time in history. Every human being is constituted differently – different brains, different bodies, different hormone production, different muscles, different tastes, different waves in the heart and brain…So why are the "secret to life" prophets even allowed to exist? Why does anybody listen to them? Why aren’t they banned by law? Why aren’t we smart enough to turn the other way when they speak?…I’ll tell you why…because if there is one trait most people have in common it is this: they want to be part of a herd and they want to follow a Shepard. And "sacred" herds are the most popular…the one’s that not only lead you through this life, but the next life too.

7. The sheep dogs. As the herd moves forward the sheep dogs will run behind any animal that is trying to go its own way. They will bark and bite the heels of the creature that moves a few meters from the group. Does this sound familiar to members of the higher races?

6. But why should I care? – But why should I care if people are herd animals? If they are comfortable in the mass, let them stay there; don’t try to make them into something they are not….First principle of the enlightened: What is good for me is NOT  necessarily good for others.

5. A historical problem. – Much of the problem is that historically philosophers and thinkers have tried to convince themselves that mankind is special, somehow different from all the "rest" of the universe. They have said that he is "free", that he "thinks", that he can discern between "good and evil", "right and wrong", "true and false". Animals, they have historically said, are not this way. They just live, instinctively, doing what they are programmed to do. Then they die and that is the end of things. Have you ever thought than man may be no different? Would this thought freeze your blood or would it make you happy and make you want to run and jump and play like a young colt?

4. Not what we think we are. – Even if we are not what we think we are, it doesn’t matter. We still are. The questions become: Do I have a self? Do I possess myself? What do I do with what is left of me? Do I lead or do I follow?

3. Special. - It is normal to think you’re special. Haven’t you ever been to a dog show?

2. Technology is no proof. "But look!" the herd bellows, "We have our technology! We build big buildings and airplanes! We fly to the moon! We have doctors and hospitals! We have electricity and nuclear plants!" And the herd keeps shouting, more loudly now… "We can solve mathematical problems! We can understand the universe! We know when and how it all started! The Big Bang! 13,000,000,0000 years ago! We know what quarks and leptrons are! We understand how nature works! We are mankind! We are the children of God! And even if we are not the children of God we are still special! We are INTELLIGENT! In all the universe WE are the holders of the keys to LIFE!"…The herd continued to bellow and bellow and stick out its chest for millions of years and the earth pursued its lonely path around the sun. But do you know what happened?…Lentement…très très lentement the sun had less and less light and heat to give. The great men on earth scurried in their laboratories and tried to find new ways to keep themselves warm. But little by little everything began to freeze on the earth. Then one day there was no more life. And the earth, though now covered with ice, kept spinning and flying for a very long time.  However, there was no one to count the years.

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