Athanasia: Humanity Across the Multiverse

By John Likides

Comprising a novel, 59 essays, and a screenplay, Athanasia: Humanity across the Multiverse is a blueprint for our species’ maturation. The novel features a Mars-astronaut couple (a Scandinavi-an-American surfer and a Tibetan-American woman) and a visionary Tibetan-American physicist (the surfer’s mentor and the woman’s uncle) who summon the galaxy’s apex civilization, which clones worthy deceased humans and tests them on an alien Earth-like planet where dinosaur-like creatures with primitive tech tempt cloned humans with genocide. The essays range from peren-nial questions (consciousness, knowledge, the mind-body problem, etc) to more recent ones (quantum mechanics, alternate universes, Black Lives Matter, American exceptionalism, global warming, the Mars frontier, etc).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664171053

John Likides

John Likides (MFA in English-Philosophy-Writing, City College of CUNY) is the author of God Is a Heartless Recluse: A Novel-Essay-Screenplay Synergy (2017), Foundations of Meaning (2013), Eros Triumphant (2010), Infinite Sustain (2007), and Out of the Labyrinth (2003). His work appeared in Confrontation, The Portable Lower East Side, and other journals. He works in threes: Writes hybrid books on the values necessary for humanity to mature into a spacefaring civ-ilization, composes soundtracks for his books, and paints the covers of his books and CDs. An atheist, he lives daily a spirituality that facilitates humanity’s perpetual improvement and system-atic expansion across the galaxy.

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Copyright © 2021 by John Likides.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 05/06/2021

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CONTENTS

Summoning the Galaxy’s Apex Civilization

Happiness in Eleven Steps

Flight

The Logic of Feminism

A Meditation on Leaving

The Limelight Virus

Lhasa

Humanity’s Fragile Bubble Matters Most

Down Under

The Horror Genre Is A Health Hazard

Amala the Philosopher-Queen

Multilateralism, Investment, and Immigration: A Marshall Plan for Earth

Shaman Girl

Shamanism, the Dreamtime, and Hallucinogens

Himalayan Highlands

Balance

Sign Language

A Two-Planet Species for Our Children’s Children

Mothers’ Day

Using Space Wisely Is a Civic Duty

Alien Probe

Martian Settlers Need a Sense Of Purpose

Lama Tashi

Pessimism and Seclusion

Opening the Mars Frontier

Preparing for Mars

Wisdom-Seekers’ Posthumous Exemplar Academy

Retreats

At Home in One’s Self and the Eternal Multiverse

Roadside Encounter

Overpopulation and the Fallacy of Endless Growth on a Planet with Finite Resources

Friendly Warning

Hallucinogens and the Occult

Boot Camp

The Alleged Law of Attraction Is a Tutorial In Discontent

Pest-Control on the Himalayas

Toward an Authentically New-Age Movement

Initiative

Consciousness Is a Metaspace Spectrum Phenomenon

Dreamtime

Barbarians in Charge During a Pandemic

Time

Let Death-Worshipers Secede

To Denia with Eternal Love

Reparations to the Victims of Manifest Destiny

ISS

Black Lives Matter

Dinolandia

On Consciousness and Computation

Dream-Sync

The Forever Balance

Running on Intuition

Zennify the Police

Mars Rush

Wear a Fucking Face Mask, Already

Breakthrough

Quotas Everywhere

Complications

The Unity Delusion-Scam

False Alarm

Abolish the Electoral College

Mars Transit

Fairness

Purgatory

Emulate the Nordic Model and Save the Planet

First Humans on Mars

A Critique of Libertarianism

Predation-Free World

The Necessity for Single-Payer Healthcare

Alien Probe Encounter

Preventing the Dangers AI May Pose to Humanity

Neighbors

Love Only Worthy Neighbors

Alien Encounter

Tolerating Militant Intolerance Is Suicidal

The Burden of Consciousness

Going Alone Versus Going Together

Rift

Off-World Group Dynamics

Soul-Mates

Eleven Timeless Truths about the Eternal Now

Closing Time

A Wide Range of Eutopias

Conjuring Lessons

Ultra-Advanced Civilizations’ Duty to Emerging Spacefaring Species

Reconstitution

Transferring Consciousness into Cloned Bodies

Ice Queen

Chance Favors Mammals

Prometheus Agonistes

Blanket Statements Are Erroneous

New Arcadia

Varieties of Creativity

Himalaya 2

The Urgent Need for Philosophical Instruction

Methodical Experimentation

Context Dictates the Most Appropriate Leadership Style

Hiking to Himalaya 1

True Friendship via Enlightened Self-Interest

Fertility Issues

Mind-Blowing Paradigm Shifts

Himalaya 1

Antigone the Sublime

Comatose Monster

Exterminate Evil

Webcam Stills

Creativity’s Biggest Challenge

A Monster Dies

Civilization Culminates in Predation-Free Worlds

Priming a Transporter

The Missing Universe and the Astral Plane

A New Era

The Merging of Races into Homo Astronauticus

Reunion

The Culmination Of Intelligence in the Eternal Multiverse

LIVING FOREVER

Pledge

SUMMONING THE

GALAXY’S APEX

CIVILIZATION

Apex aliens, talk to me;

Help me save humanity....

Apex sages, come to us;

Help us save our sorry butts....

H ow does one summon the galaxy’s most advanced civilization? wondered J. J. Williams, an aerospace engineer waiting for his dissertation advisor, Sogyal Norbu, who several months before, during the winter break, had offered to leave his entire estate to whoever provided an entrée to the galaxy’s apex species. At first, people thought Norbu was joking. Then, he added a link to his lawyer’s website, which confirmed the legal truth of his offer and the criteria required to inherit Norbu’s estate, currently valued at 7.3 million.

He’s running away from Malcolm Hackett, cynics alleged, ignorant of the events’ timeline or convinced about some conspiracy theory....

During a winter break three years before, Norbu and Williams had forged a strong alliance against a powerful enemy, Malcolm Hackett: a billionaire university alumnus and trustee, passionate Trump supporter, Putin admirer, petroleum-industry magnate, and all-around feudalism aficionado. During a faculty holiday party, Norbu had left the festivities to answer an important call on his smartphone. The hallway was busy with people laughing and talking loudly, so Norbu sought a quiet room. After opening several doors, encountering more celebrants, and going farther than ever before into a building he rarely visited, he found an empty room....

However, as soon as he closed the door behind him, he knew something was wrong....

No! a woman shouted. Stop, please! Let me go!

Immediately Norbu knew what was going on, so he whispered to the caller that an emergency was in progress, turned on the video function on his smartphone, and recorded the violent incident....

Having cornered a waitress, holding her wrists against the wall, Malcolm Hackett was trying to penetrate her despite her pleas for him to stop and let her go....

While recording, Norbu shouted, Hey!

Annoyed, not embarrassed or concerned, Malcolm Hackett turned around and approached Norbu, whom he didn’t know.

Norbu kept recording while backing away.

"Thank you," the waitress said to Norbu while rushing past him.

"Toss me that phone and go, said Hackett, or I will destroy you and your entire family. I’m a fucking billionaire."

Satisfied he had enough video, Norbu left the room while emailing the clip to everyone on his email list.

Matter-of-factly, as if attending to a minor nuisance, Hackett followed Norbu.

J. J. Williams emerged from an adjacent room, realized Hackett’s belligerence, and asked, Dr. Norbu.... What’s going on?

"J. J.! Good to see you, son. That man is after me because I stopped him from raping a woman."

Hackett approached Norbu slowly and said, Give me that smartphone, and all will be well.

J. J. stepped between Hackett and Norbu, raised his left hand, and said, Back off, sir. Then, pointing with his right thumb, over his shoulder, at Norbu, he added, "That man is my mentor, so I am obligated to protect him."

Hackett looked at J. J. disdainfully and said, Get out of my fucking way, or you too will get on my shit list.

J. J. took out his smartphone and said, If you take another step toward me, I will call security.

Hackett shook his head from side to side and left the scene, but with every step he took, more people found out what he had done....

Serious consequences followed. Several women found the courage to announce that Hackett had attacked or raped them; increasingly more consumers and vendors boycotted the sexual predator’s companies, and the state district attorney brought charges against him, an enthusiastic Trump supporter in a liberal district and state. Moreover, the national Me Too movement soon entered the struggle to hold accountable another wealthy sexual predator. Then, one of the largest legal firms in the country filed a class-action suit on behalf of the women whom Hackett had victimized. Thus, years of litigation stretched far into the future, and the major news media dug into his past while his worth plummeted. Hackett became toxic. He vowed revenge against Norbu and left the state....

Norbu’s friends worried about his safety because Hackett owned a private security company of professional bruisers of identical appearance: black-clad Caucasian musclemen. Norbu shrugged off his friends’ concerns and replied, Then, if something happens to me, you know whom to go after. Use my money to hire a professional assassin. No regret whatsoever about exposing a billionaire serial rapist who looked up to the pussy-grabbing, narcissistic, immature ignoramus currently in the White House....

Back in Norbu’s office, pleased with his dissertation advisor’s courage, sad about the fact that would be their last meeting, tired from working too much and not sleeping enough, J. J. stared at the leafy campus on the other side of the double-pane, soundproofed window, on the last day of his last spring break because his education was about to end and because he had no intention of teaching....

Manicured lawns, healthy evergreens, well-preserved old buildings.... Serene ambiance on a sunny day.... Arms around each other, the ordinary and the unique were slow-dancing to music no one else heard....

Some call this life wonderful, he thought, others rank and gross—a rush job from the cradle to the grave: Let’s go, already, off to another luxury resort—one more trial run in preparation for the journey to the last heavenly retreat, for this world isn’t our home.... Are we there yet...? Here we go.... Hurry up and gorge ourselves, so we’ll have plenty to confess next Sunday before Holy Communion.... Time to head home, now—make more money for another vacation from the rat race.... No time to smell the flowers or breathe properly, for this world isn’t our home.... Being out of breath is where it’s at—extreme sports, instant gratification, conspicuous consumption, weekly confession, and Holy Communion: Fall, rise, sin, repent, and repeat, according to dad, an alcoholic. Easy peasy. All you gotta do is believe. God takes care of the rest.

Across the lawn, an external corridor with Corinthian columns reminded him of the several universities he had visited, attended, or worked for, across the States and in three European countries.... For a few minutes he lost his sense of place.... An amalgam of ambivalent memory, movie scene, dream sequence, video-game adventure, and flash-forward made him wonder what he should do and where he would go after the current semester, his last.... Despite the generous tips, working at an upscale restaurant was odd for a soon-to-be doctor in aerospace engineering. Some patrons thought he was an aspiring actor. Been to any promising auditions lately? a few had asked....

I should be working at NASA’s cafeteria, he thought. Dish out sarcasm to all those spineless administrators serving slavishly all those vendors. The planetary missions are excellent, but we must send humans to Mars soon—before the Chinese or another party opens the Mars frontier. Unfortunately, losing Challenger and Columbia extinguished NASA’s appetite for human spaceflight....

Bob Zubrin is right: NASA lost its way. Instead of sending humans to Mars, it’s planning another space station—orbiting the Moon, this time...! Mars Direct is too straightforward and too bold for a vendor-driven bureaucracy whose planetary-exploration vehicles are the best it can do. Visionaries like Zubrin and Norbu scare all those NASA spineless vendor-slaves. If this were a just world, someone like Sogyal Norbu would be NASA’s top administrator, Robert Zubrin its chief Mars engineer, and I a Mars astronaut....

He thought about the shindig Norbu had thrown a few days before the start of spring semester, their last one....

A way must exist to summon the galaxy’s most advanced civilization, Norbu had said to a fellow faculty member, both standing at the periphery of the backyard party, a few blocks from the southern California campus where they taught.

J. J. was glad he had drunk a double espresso to compensate for the twelve-hour shift he had just pulled at the restaurant during his last semester toward a doctorate in aerospace engineering, having already submitted his dissertation, under Dr. Norbu’s advisement. I hope he invited Zubrin, J. J. thought and looked around for the co-founder of Mars Direct and president of the Mars Society whose combination of scientific rigor, cogent arguments, and bold vision J. J. admired and shared. That’s why I put on my best Mars Society T-shirt....

Unfortunately, nobody had seen Bob Zubrin, so J. J. looked for his dissertation advisor....

Spry and timeless, in a perpetually good mood, American-born to Tibetan parents, Buddhist by birth but atheist by choice, Sogyal Norbu was one of the most popular professors on campus: distinguished in quantum mechanics but skeptical of its observer-fixation—a genuine lifelong wisdom-seeker whose atheism had a strong spiritual dimension centered on humanity’s indefinite survival and perpetual improvement across the multiverse ad infinitum. Generous, too—a living embodiment of enlightened self-interest. Brave, too. Most people would sell that rape video to Hackett and tell nobody. "If Norbu has any baggage, it’s invisible," a colleague had aptly commented.

Excuse the analogy, Sogyal, the other faculty member had said, "but that’s more difficult to do than an ant in San Francisco trying to summon the barker in the White House, by excreting a chemical toward Washington, DC!"

Unable to remember the other faculty member’s name, J. J. was reluctant to approach directly but couldn’t stay away, either, so he inched forward, hoping he’d soon remember the interlocutor’s name....

On a rug at the center of the backyard, as announced in the email Norbu had sent out, two ethnomusicology students were playing a frame drum and a didgeridoo, without amplification, at a relaxed tempo and appropriate volume for the guests to communicate without having to shout into one another’s ears. In a wide circle around the square rug, several people were meditating, lying down, or whispering to others....

"Much more difficult, by several orders of magnitude," Norbu had replied about the other’s analogy, noticed J. J., and motioned him to approach.

Stone, Physics, J. J. remembered as soon as the man glanced at him.

Stone nodded thoughtfully and said, "Indeed. The ant and the barker are on the same planet. Humans and ultra-advanced aliens are separated by many light-years and maybe dimensions. Adolescent species like humanity are less important to ultra-advanced civs than ants, bacteria, and extremophiles are to humanity...."

Your last statement may not be true, Norbu had said. "Put yourself in their place—the wisest and most advanced civilization in the Milky Way. No doubt, they are running all sorts of mind-blowing projects, but wouldn’t you want to know how many promising young species like humanity exist in your own galaxy?"

I’m not sure, Stone had replied. "Humanity is a very recent arrival whereas they’re immortal. To them, we are like a firefly: here today, gone tomorrow. Why bother keeping track of the countless primitive civs like humanity?"

"Because we are not mere fireflies," Norbu had said.

No, we aren’t. Earth’s fireflies will never conceive of symbolic thinking, build spacecraft, and so on, Stone had conceded.

"Speaking of spacecraft...."

"The two Voyagers are now in interstellar space...."

Bingo.

"There are several hundred billion stars in the Milky Way, Sogyal, Stone had replied. Could the aliens be monitoring every solar system?"

What you think, J. J? Norbu had asked.

"If human technology can reach thirteen billion years back in time, J. J. said, the galaxy’s most advanced civ can monitor easily every green-and-watery planet in the habitable zone of every suitable star."

Bingo, Norbu had agreed.

Okay, then, let’s hear it, Stone had said and asked Norbu, "How do we summon the galaxy’s most advanced civilization? You have coordinates for SETI, or something? God knows they need them!"

What you think. J. J.? Norbu had asked.

They’re probably already here, J. J. had said and smiled.

"Expound, young man, Stone had replied. Via fact and syllogism only, please. No extraordinary claims. I don’t do fiction."

Norbu had motioned a nearby eavesdropping couple to approach.

Well, sir, J. J. had said to Stone, "natural law obligates the galaxy’s most advanced civilization to monitor important events, for example, when a species attains symbolic thinking, creates advanced culture, builds spacecraft, and manages to send probes around its native solar system and beyond."

"That assertion obligates you to demonstrate two things, Stone had replied. One, that natural law obligates the galaxy’s most advanced civilization to do anything and, two, that the galaxy’s most advanced civilization heeds the dictates of natural law."

I’m too tired to labor over the obvious, man, J. J. had thought but had gone on to demonstrate that since indefinite longevity is possible only via billion-year-old adaptability in the natural world, the galaxy’s most advanced aliens would be strongly committed to basic natural surveys and galactic affairs, which would surely include a simple galactic census of promising civs—something that an immortal civ must surely be able to perform easily and could benefit from, in a respect analogous to that of any other conscientious steward’s responsibility to know what goes on across the land. Otherwise, the steward’s negligence would sooner or later catch up with him, in all sorts of negative ways: demonstrate his failure to control pests, cause infestations, endanger the community’s well-being, and so on. Consequently, only responsible stewards are viable in the long term, and having prospered for millions or billions of years, the galaxy’s apex civilization must surely be a responsible steward....

Norbu had smiled with casual affection that J. J.’s biological father had never attained, being a humorless Vatican apologist whereas Norbu was an easygoing spiritual atheist, hence the fact that after his parents’ separation, J. J. never called his father anymore and often hung up on him but always dropped whatever he was doing and went out of his way to run errands for Norbu, substitute-teach for him when he was away at conferences, grade stacks of students’ papers for him, proofread articles before submitting to journals, and meet Norbu whenever he called.

In fact, after another twelve-hour shift, going to bed around 3:00 a.m., and sleeping only a few hours, J. J. had dragged himself out of bed, showered, and hurried to Norbu’s office, mostly out of respect but also self-interest because Norbu was also caring and generous toward his kindred spirits....

On the side of a bookcase by the window was the photo of Norbu’s Madonna, as everyone referred to her, an intense-looking young woman, maybe a teenager, looking seriously at the camera, all gravity, without a hint of affectation or hope: someone very close to Norbu because his sunny disposition vanished whenever people inquired about her. Most thought she was his late daughter—gone forever due to accident or suicide, but nobody knew for sure. Not even her name would he divulge....

Too sad a story, Norbu usually said to those who persisted. It breaks my heart. I can’t talk about it, or I’ll start weeping....

The young woman’s piercing eyes reminded J. J. of a similar photo of chanteuse extraordinaire Elizabeth Fraser, a troubled soul battling depression since adolescence, especially after divorcing her bandmate guitarist husband, but still alive and in her late fifties whereas Norbu’s Madonna was a teenager. "Everyone who hasn’t listened to Elizabeth Fraser singing ‘Alice’ is missing a whole lot of sublime beauty," J. J. was fond of saying. Cocteau Twins, Elizabeth Fraser’s band, was his most favorite, and whenever he listened to Ms. Fraser’s sublime glossolalia, he remembered the piercing eyes of Norbu’s Madonna. Though very different in appearance, the Scottish Fraser and the Tibetan Madonna exuded the same intensity, the same sublimity: thanks mostly to the piercing eyes of those struggling with inner demons. Many times J. J. thought about researching Norbu’s family history to find out the young woman’s name, but he never did so, out of respect for his advisor....

J. J. turned around, surveyed the tidy office, and marveled again at the colorful spiral of the Fibonacci numbers poster behind Norbu’s chair. While most scientists worshiped at the altar of math, Norbu countered that for 13.8 billion years in this universe, the improvisation of natural laws and chance events gravitated toward whatever patterns worked—without intentionality, will, or consciousness—hence the helices in draining water, growth patterns, revolving galaxies, and so on. The fact that the ubiquitous natural patterns can be expressed mathematically doesn’t prove the existence of higher intelligences toying with us, as the holographic-simulation modelers posit to reconcile Einstein’s theory of gravity and quantum mechanics’ mysteries due to our inability to detect 96 percent of the physical universe. The fact that Norbu uttered these ideas while studying The Tibetan Book of the Dead astonished many people but amused J. J., who shared his advisor’s keen interest in the Tibetan sacred text but didn’t believe most of its assertions. Karma may be more than wishful thinking. Unchecked desire causes suffering, indeed, but properly-managed desire is the prerequisite for adolescent civilizations to mature into spacefaring ones. Most importantly, asserting that this world is illusory and that humanity should seek nirvana is religious dogma....

On Norbu’s orderly desk, on its leather mat, was a book in another language: Tibetan, J. J. guessed, probably The Tibetan Book of the Dead....

He picked up the Buddhist text on reincarnation, sat down, and opened it, using the ribbon marker featuring a red-and-golden Chinese dragon descending from the clouds....

Many highlighted lines. Countless marginal comments in Tibetan....

The affection J. J. felt for Himalayan culture was at peace with his contempt for transcendentalism, which considers this world secondary to a metaphysical one—the back-to-godhead thing that Prince Buddha unleashed upon the world, that Plato institutionalized in philosophy, and that the three Abrahamic religions used to divide humans into warring tribes. A fucking mess, he thought. The biggest threat to humanity’s struggle to survive its suicidal adolescence. However, to be sure, people who can’t control their impulses are far better off in synagogues, churches, or mosques than in bars, casinos, or opium dens. For instance, people like dad, who gets drunk every night and goes to church on Sunday to confess and repent so that he can continue to be a boozer for another week, need religion. When mom brings up the Vatican’s crimes against humanity and the pedophile priests whom bishops reshuffle among parishes instead of turn over to cops, dad loses his cool; familial ugliness follows, and either he or she storms out of the room....

Sogyal Norbu entered, closed the door behind him, and said, Good morning, J. J.

J. J. rose. Good morning, Dr. Norbu.

Norbu sat down at his desk and busied himself with his book bag. How was your spring break?

J. J. sat down, holding Norbu’s book. "Productive. I worked twelve-hour days, seven days a week, at a restaurant. I’m not complaining, or anything. I’m merely stating a fact."

Do you really have to work at a restaurant? Norbu asked, and out of his book bag he took a thermos and set it down....

Standing near a desk lamp, the silvery thermos resembled a rocket on a launch pad....

I’m afraid so, sir, J. J. replied. I can’t afford a car, and the restaurant is near the motel where I’m staying. From his angle, the desk lamp’s cone resembled a tether attached to a rocket on a launch pad, and suddenly, for a few seconds, he felt as if he were flying above Cape Canaveral, minutes away from liftoff....

"I thought you lived with your parents."

"They separated, sir. Each lives in a small one-bedroom. No room for me—physically or psychologically. They are stuck in an impossible power-struggle."

Norbu nodded and looked sympathetically at J. J. "Hang in there for a little longer, son. Your troubles will soon be over...."

"I don’t mind, sir. I’m thankful for a job I can get to on foot. I’m very good at budgeting and saving. As soon as I pay back my student loans, in about a decade, I’ll have enough to rent my own apartment! Just kidding...."

"Glad to see your sense of humor is intact. I have something better for you. In fact, I have two pieces of good news for you and some relatively-sad news for both of us.... First, the sad news: I’m going on sabbatical—leaving the country soon on account of the Hackett incident. At the university’s request—a good idea. Early retirement will probably follow, so we won’t see each other for several years...."

Time to get out of Dodge, J. J. thought, nodded, and tried to look sad.

"The first piece of good news is that the committee approved your dissertation,"

Norbu continued. "You’ll be notified by email tomorrow and in writing shortly thereafter. You are now a doctor. Congratulations."

Thank you, sir.

"The second piece of good news is that an Australian colleague emailed me this morning. He needs an aerospace engineer with advanced computer skills and interdisciplinary vision. I recommended you...."

"Thank you, sir."

"It’s a small research station in the outback, and the pay isn’t anywhere near what you deserve, but the work is easy. You’ll have plenty of free time to take advantage of the fact that the station has access to all six working satellites around Mars...."

Sounds great. Thank you very much, sir. When do I start?

As soon as you can get there, Norbu replied while typing on his laptop. They’re paying for airfare. Someone will meet you at the airport and drive you to the station, which is in the middle of nowhere—very conducive to sustained focus. I’m emailing you the contact info right now. Email them within the hour, so they can make arrangements....

J. J. nodded, took out his smartphone, and thought, I hope Hackett’s assassination boutique has no rep Down Under, or I’ll have to go on a walkabout for a few years, join the Aborigines, and all that....

Here’s a picture of the station, said Norbu and turned the laptop’s screen toward J. J.

An aerial photo of the rural Australian research station....

I better get going, then, J. J. said, rose, and offered to shake hands. Thanks for everything, sir. I hope we meet again someday....

"So do I, son—under better circumstances, too, I hope...."

They shook hands and nodded while looking at each other intently, possibly for the last time or for several years at least because their mutual enemy had the temperament and the resources to wait or even go after them.

J. J. left Norbu’s office simultaneously sad and relieved. Saying goodbye to his spiritual father was difficult, but their personal safety dictated that they put as much distance as possible between them—leave the country immediately for different destinations preferably worlds apart....

Maybe I should ask dad to have one of his ex-Marine buddies euthanize Hackett, J. J. thought. I’ll go to church for six months afterward, fast, confess, repent, take Holy Communion, then sin and repeat the process, as he does. Maybe I’ll even hang out with him on weekends, go camping and hunting, do all the other manly things that real men do....

He shook his head from side to side, amazed by the ridiculous things that his mind churned daily. My own mind fucking with me, he thought. Dad’s an alcoholic Catholic who never learned to chill out. Hanging out with him would be an excruciating drag. I’d rather take my chances with the Aborigines, whose hands aren’t dipped in blood for over two millennia, as the Vatican’s hands are. I’d rather hang out by a billabong, breathe properly, play the didgeridoo, study the starry sky, and be happy....

*

HAPPINESS IN

ELEVEN STEPS

H appiness is possible via a philosophy-centered education enabling us to avoid ignorance, achieve clarity, overcome the fear of death, find peace, attain balance, and help our species mature into a spacefaring civilization that spreads across the multiverse forever. The ensuing timelessness brings the varying degrees of happiness: ongoing satisfaction, contentment, pleasure, and bliss as well as frequent epiphany and occasional ecstasy. No crashes from the peaks that drug addicts, adrenaline junkies, and other escapists climb to flirt with death, so they can feel alive. On the contrary, a philosophy-centered education entails only safe and mind-blowing steps: wisdom-seekers’ lifelong road without a final destination—perpetual improvement and indefinite survival in the eternal cosmic grandeur.

One, distinguishing among fact, opinion, belief, and bias (prejudice) enables us to free ourselves from the tyranny of ignorance that preceded the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, humanism, feminism, civil rights, environmentalism, and the other positive forces that transformed us from cave-dwellers to lunar-walkers. The ensuing clarity is the prerequisite to wisdom and happiness. Facts must be verifiable, opinions informed, and theories evidence-based, but uncertainty is ubiquitous because we are an adolescent civilization, so lifelong wisdom-seekers always err on the side of Earth, humanity, and progress—not personal gain. Fortunately, even when no evidence is available, philosophical extrapolation helps us access realms beyond the reach of science: As our Sun is one of countless stars in the Milky Way, and as our galaxy is one of countless others in this universe, so this universe must be one of countless others—the eternal multiverse.

Beliefs must be in tune with the facts: humanity’s wondrous journey from cave-dwelling to lunar-walking and history’s progress from feudalism to feminism. Therefore, considering this world secondary to a metaphysical one (our alleged origin and destination) is escapist, cowardly, and suicidal. Moreover, believing that divinity pervades everything means that toxic substances, lethal viruses, and bloodthirsty cannibals are divine; that the divine is amoral; that the multiverse is a fallen world, and that the only way out is to embrace non-consciousness and the absolute. However, that is transcendentalist propaganda of people who refuse the fact that rationalism powers humanity’s progress from feudalism (when the church and state were overlords) to feminism, civil rights, and environmentalism whereas religion brought us division, war, genocide, and suicide. The facts that rationalism has limitations and that it has been abused don’t warrant we abandon it, because anarchy, chaos, and annihilation would ensue.

Bias (prejudice) has many forms, all erroneous, even when they are positive, for example, the claim that Canadians are polite. In general, throwing a blanket (positive or negative) over any group of people (Canadians, Americans, Mexicans, Europeans, women, men, boomers, hippies, hipsters, millennials, teenagers, et al) is an overgeneralization, stereotyping, bias, and prejudice. The reality is that every group is heterogeneous in its own unique way, so overgeneralizations are always wrong because they claim to know every member of the target group. Valid generalizations (broad statements or concepts derived via inference from specific cases) are an integral part of learning, for example, concluding that all objects heavier than air always fall to the ground, after seeing this fact only a few times. Unfortunately, the boundary between valid generalizations and overgeneralizations is difficult to detect for people without the requisite clarity. In addition, observer bias is a problem in scientific experiments, especially when researchers are under pressure to produce certain results and when the grant money comes from sources with an agenda other than the truth.

Two, knowing the logical fallacies enables us to avoid errors in our thinking and detect them in others’ claims. We all try daily to understand ourselves and the world, convince one another to do certain things and avoid others, propose solutions to problems, use logic to allocate resources, and so on. In doing so, we must avoid logical mistakes, confusion, superstition, and ignorance. For example, attributing causality wrongly, our ancestors believed eclipses were caused by angry deities. Furthermore, today millions of people, many of whom consider themselves enlightened, labor under the ignorance of conspiracy theories, claim special knowledge from metaphysical sources, and confuse reality and fantasy. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, a peer-reviewed academic resource has a comprehensive presentation of the many logical fallacies that plague the human mind.¹ Consulting them periodically fetches all sorts of rewards.

Three, constructing fallacy-free syllogisms enables us to understand ourselves, others, and the world progressively more deeply. A syllogism is a form of reasoning, a logical argument consisting of a series of facts (premises) leading to a logical conclusion: If A equals B, and B equals C, then A equals C. Unfortunately, most syllogisms are much more complex and include more than two premises. Furthermore, even when we have only two premises, we must ensure that the conclusion follows logically from the premises—that we don’t commit a logical fallacy. Consider the following facts arranged in a syllogism:

Socrates was an Athenian.

Socrates was executed unjustly.

---------------------------------------

Therefore, Socrates was wise.

Although all three statements are true, the conclusion doesn’t follow logically from the two premises. In other words, Socrates was wise, indeed, but not because he was an unjustly-executed Athenian.

Four, being intellectually honest to recognize the truth in others’ assertions is essential to our becoming wise and happy. Humans being imperfect, nobody has a monopoly on the truth, and well-educated honest people often disagree, especially when uncertainty is high. In such cases, after recognizing the truth in one another’s claims, all parties must use neutral language to demonstrate exactly where and how the others’ claims are faulty. Unfortunately, deceitful people weave some facts with unsupported opinions to confuse the issues and convince others, so we must be able to, one, distinguish among facts, opinions, beliefs, and biases; two, detect erroneous arguments; three, acknowledge the facts and reject the opinions presented as facts.

Five, reading widely and deeply across the disciplines teaches us as many main issues in as many fields as possible, so we can synthesize a well-informed worldview, fine-tune it throughout our lives, reach a progressively-deeper understanding of ourselves and the cosmos, and be happy. Increasingly more researchers in all fields recognize that the holistic approach is a necessity because humans’ biology, psychology, sociology, and other aspects are interrelated and often inextricable from one another. As a result, increasingly more academic departments coordinate their curricula and offer degrees in interdisciplinary studies to equip graduates to deal effectively with globalization and diversity. For example, healthcare providers, sociologists, psychologists, and service-industry professionals have been dealing increasingly with more immigrants and people from different ethnic/religious backgrounds, so the Western Judeo-Christian model is inappropriate and its long history of colonial patriarchy a well-documented fact.

Six, performing salvage operations on tradition throughout our lives is absolutely necessary to separating the timeless values from the ephemeral notions. Humanity’s journey from cave-dwelling to lunar-walking has been wondrous, and history is the record of progress from feudalism to feminism, but institutionalized racism and systemic sexism are still preventing minorities and women from reaching their full potential. For example, the US hasn’t yet had a female President while prisons are filled with a disproportionately-high number of minorities, whom countless police officers stop, frisk, abuse, arrest, and often kill in much higher numbers than Caucasians.

No doubt, the federal government has made progress in protecting minorities, women, the handicapped, and the environment. In fact, the left has won the culture wars. Even big business shuns parties with sexist/racist views and states with regressive laws. However, women and minorities still don’t receive equal payment and are underrepresented in positions of power, one, because wealthy elites spend billions to lobby lawmakers; two, because millions of ignorant voters support regressive politicians; and, three, because millions of pessimists, cynics, and others don’t even vote. In the meantime, institutionalized sexism and systemic racism hurt everyone because we are underutilizing the creative power of our women and minorities, depriving the IRS of hundreds of billions of income that could benefit everyone by improving our national infrastructure, reducing our fossil-fuel use, investing more in renewable energy, and so on. People capable of informed salvage operations on tradition vote always for the Democratic nominee because no independent party has ever reached the White House and because Lincoln’s Republican Party has regressed into Putin’s pet POTUS’ GOP.

Seven, devoting one’s life to the freethinking pursuit of wisdom liberates the mind from fear, ignorance, cynicism, pessimism, solipsism, nihilism, anarchism, and other similar mental maladies. Thus, fearlessness, reason, hope, and all sorts of other positives bloom and generate a lasting sense of well-being. The ensuing clarity is priceless—timeless. Democracy is slow and messy, for all sorts of reasons, including the fact that many people don’t deserve it, abuse it, and use it to harm others. However, the philosopher-ruler model is nonviable, and so are well-meaning left-wing dictators. In the final analysis, the Nordic model is by far the most advanced system in humanity’s history, so the sooner we recognize this fact and adopt a similar model, the better off the US will be. Otherwise, it will join the club of have-beens: old colonial powers that failed to adapt to the changing global environment.

In fact, the only way humanity can survive its turbulent adolescence is if we temper our technology with wisdom. Otherwise, technology will be the implement of our annihilation, which back-to-the-godheaders await anxiously, being an evolutionary dead-end. Fortunately for the rest of us, humans and our australopithecine relatives have been around for over four million years, and the instinct of self-preservation is powerful, hence the wondrous journey from cave-dwelling to lunar-walking and the historical progress from feudalism to feminism, civil rights, and environmentalism. As a result, wise people focus on solutions that will facilitate our descendants’ perpetual improvement and indefinite survival—philosophy’s summum bonum: the greatest good and ultimate objective from which all ethical systems must derive.

Eight, furthering the lessons of existentialism as articulated by Sartre (ontological freedom, personal responsibility, and lifelong commitment to progressive causes) enables freethinkers to avoid cynicism, solipsism, nihilism, anarchism, and other suicidal mental illnesses. Thus freed from the lunacy of back-to-the-godheaders and Nietzscheans, lifelong wisdom-seekers transform existentialism into a never-ending cosmic adventure without a final destination. Acting thus tunes humanity to the eternal multiverse. However, contrary to nature’s amoral unfolding, humanity must embrace a heightened sense of ethical behavior: the methodical eradication of social ills and the advancement of justice and equality.

That is the only way humanity can survive the Sun’s death, spread around the Milky Way, and build increasingly-better civilizations in every new star system we settle, via a synergy of technology and wisdom. By that time, alienation, division, desperation, alcoholism, drug-addiction, and injustice will be ancient nightmares because they can’t attain the necessary degree of organizational complexity and high operational cost necessary to build and sustain starships capable of reaching other star systems. Outer space is unforgiving. A deranged individual can do much more damage aboard a spaceship than on Earth. Only highly-capable and well-adjusted individuals will board starships to other systems, so disagreements among the crewmembers can be easily resolved.

Nine, helping along daily life by solving problems—not creating any—enables informed and well-adjusted citizens to fine-tune existing systems and to innovate new ones, so humanity can survive its suicidal adolescence, mature, and spread around the Milky Way, then to other galaxies and other universes forever. A mantra for freethinkers. Personal happiness, collective contentment, and humanity’s indefinite survival and perpetual improvement comprise a positive feedback loop that can usher us to immortality: an open-ended era starting with indefinite longevity via cybernetic technologies, to cloning and consciousness-transfer, to plasma-being, which is also an endless continuum of increasing capabilities.

Repeating such visionary mantras and acting thus generates a mindset of timelessness that connects lifelong wisdom-seekers with our ancestors and descendants. Daily life becomes meaningful. Contentment reigns. Epiphanies cascade: a relay race between back-to-the-godheaders and progressives. Back-to-the-godheaders want history to end whereas progressives want it to continue forever. As we progressives today thank our prehistoric ancestors for studying the stars, inventing symbolic thinking, and laying the foundations of civilization, so our distant descendants will thank us for improving the tradition we inherited, abandoning feudalism, embracing feminism and environmentalism and civil rights, and doing all the other things that will hopefully cause our species’ maturation.

Ten, remaining guardedly-optimistic about humanity’s future promotes health and happiness. The future is open, and we have many reasons to hope, so we must do all we can to trigger as many positive chain-reactions as possible on the personal, local, national, and international stages. Pessimism is grossly presumptuous: a mental malady, a dead end, a death wish. Only suicidal people venture that way. The facts are that our earliest australopithecine ancestors emerged over four million years ago, that Homo sapiens has been around for 300,000 years, and that we have not only survived but also advanced from cave-dwelling to lunar-walking and will soon walk on Mars as we struggle to shift from fossil fuels to renewable-energy sources. Therefore, guarded optimism is appropriate and necessary, especially if we act on it daily.

In fact, our guarded optimism must be active. We must be increasingly more engaged in whatever way we can, and our words must be in tune with our deeds. However, we must refrain from mindless new-agers’ claims about loving everyone and so on. Lifelong wisdom-seekers are rigorous realists who know for a fact that monsters (professional predators, serial killers, bloodthirsty cannibals, et al) in human form dwell in our midst, not to mention to churchgoing racists and sexists with college degrees who support Putin’s patsy POTUS, an aggressively-ignorant, suicidal-anarchist, limelight-addicted hypocrite who (after selling himself to Vlad for a hotel he won’t get) embraces the US flag while eviscerating American democratic institutions, excusing dictators’ crimes, grabbing women by the pussy, and making fun of the handicapped—on national-fucking-TV! If his churchgoing supporters had any sense, they’d be militant materialists because if their God did exist outside their petty minds, Saint Peter would cast them into Hell.

Eleven, acting out of enlightened self-interest—not for personal gain, fame, or fortune because they are ephemeral whereas the light of wisdom is eternal—is the ultimate win-win deal for all who try to improve the world in whatever way we can: acting on the dictates of liberalism (supporting diversity, pursuing free thought, and so on) and helping benign strangers in need in order to increase the amount of goodwill and civility. However, racists, sexists, predators, and serial killers don’t deserve any of civilization’s accomplishments, not even mercy. Avoiding them is the thing to do if they are not hunting. If they are hunting, calling 911 immediately and alerting everyone in the vicinity is necessary. If a crime is in progress, eyewitnesses must neutralize the aggressor and detain him until cops arrive. If the victim is dead, the serial killer deserves immediate termination, having lost his membership in humanity and thus forfeited all due-process rights.

Natural rights (life, liberty, property, ownership, free will, choice, independent thought, free speech, personal beliefs and values, and so on) precede laws, many of which we changed because they were wrong: slavery, discrimination, segregation, and so on. Consequently, when someone violates people’s natural rights, people have the natural right to defend ourselves by any means possible, including the execution of serial killers whose guilt is beyond doubt. Serial killers (Hitler, Stalin, Putin, Bashar al-Assad, Kim Jong-un, Ted Bundy, et al) don’t deserve due process, free medical coverage, and free room and board for life. Instead of murdering minorities and arresting respectfully Caucasian mass murderers, law-enforcement officers (well-trained in martial arts and Zen principles, well-educated in American history, and sensitive to systemic racism) must do the reverse: treat minorities as respectfully as Caucasian citizens and execute on sight all mass murderers whose guilt is obvious.

A philosophy-centered education enables us to overcome the fear of death, find peace, attain balance, and help our species mature into a spacefaring civilization that spreads across the multiverse forever. The above eleven steps put wisdom-seekers on a lifelong road without a final destination: perpetual improvement and indefinite survival in the eternal cosmic grandeur. Devoting our lives to such timeless principles connects us with our ancestors and descendants, gives us a taste of immortality, and prepares us for whatever follows death.

*

FLIGHT

W ill J. J. and I ever see each other again? Norbu wondered while waiting to board a plane to Hong Kong. Very apt that he’s my last advisee and I his last teacher, because we must both leave town asap. My sabbatical starts next week, followed by early retirement because that package the dean offered me is decent, indeed, and because that evil motherfucking Hackett is looking for me and J. J. Thus freed from teaching, I must find one of the ultra-advanced-alien probes that must exist on Earth because all prerequisites exist: utility, necessity, capacity, time, opportunity, ethos, pathos, logos, sophia, eros....

The eternal multiverse extends forever in far more dimensions than humans detect. By definition, the eternal multiverse contains everything that has ever existed and will ever exist, so it hasn’t an outside, a start, or a finish. Beginnings and ends are often arbitrary signposts: dualist fictions necessary for humans to reduce the multidimensionality of existence into the binarism of perception and language. Recycling is the operative mechanism, and it’s sublime. Instead of trying to escape the cycle of rebirths, we should be trying to improve civilization by managing desire wisely. The Buddha was an extremist prince who went from his daddy’s palace to a metaphysical luxury resort, gave birth to Plato and the three Abrahamic religions, and caused the institutionalization of transcendentalism; hence, the US Constitution’s references to God. In short, Prince Siddhartha poisoned one of the two main wells sustaining the fragile human oasis. Fortunately, the other well, the future, is open....

Ironically, Buddhists, the popularizers of Hindu transcendentalism, are the ideal cover for the ultra-advanced alien monitors in our midst. Hence, Tibetans’ reincarnation beliefs and extraordinary claims. Buddhists’ rigorous denial of self and world is very attractive for the collective-type model necessary for all civs to heal the rift between the individual and the community, freedom and responsibility, personal ambition and enlightened self-interest, past and future. The Himalayas’ thin air and high peaks are excellent cover for an automated alien probe monitoring humanity’s progress....

I won’t be surprised if atop the highest Himalayan summit an alien plasma-being civ has installed some sort of monitoring outpost. No need for us to schlep all the way up there, however. A billion-year-old civ’s monitoring capabilities must surely rival what humans consider magic, notwithstanding the sound and fury of the human condition. The aliens’ monitoring station must surely have filters that cancel the ubiquitous noise and isolate the precious signal. Thus, attracting the aliens’ attention is all we have to do. First, we need to find the right Sherpa to give us an entrée to the keenest yogi living the closest to the highest peaks. If there’s an alien probe on the Himalayas, the most perceptive lama yogi better be able to give us directions, or he’s a poser.

Only a collectivist appeal exuding enlightened self-interest can trigger the aliens’ tripwires, which may be ubiquitous—from urban centers to yogi caves. Moreover, the collectivist appeal must be praxis: a continuous series of civic-minded selfless actions on behalf of humanity’s inner angels. In addition, the praxis must be compelling enough to trip the aliens’ wires. Appeals involving terminal childhood diseases, the countless genocides, and world wars go unnoticed, being the results of humanity’s inner demons and therefore our species’ responsibility to excise. Ultra-advanced civs won’t save us from our own inner demons because they have far better things to do and because we are insignificant. After all, humanity doesn’t grieve for the countless beasts dying daily in the jungle, not to mention the innumerable ones we raise for food, in narrow cages that drive some to self-mutilation, cannibalism, and suicide. Not even our alleged Heavenly Father has ever done anything about any of that, and neither will any apex aliens because our many sins offend them....

A childish commotion between immature adults behind him exemplified the fact that humans do not have our act together. Hence, the silent treatment that ultra-advanced aliens give to our species although they can easily help us escape our suicidal adolescence and mature into a spacefaring civilization....

Nevertheless, all things considered, Norbu didn’t mind his current westward trajectory, away from his native country, thanks to the telephone call that had caused him to expose Malcolm Hackett, who had tried twice to kill him and would keep trying. Had Norbu not answered that phone call, he’d be back in LA, would continue to teach for another decade or so, and would be living in another universe: the multiple-worlds interpretation, according to which that other universe without Hackett in Norbu’s life was as real as the one with him....

Norbu shook his head from side to side, at the hubris of colleagues laboring under the delusion that a unified-field theory is possible while 96 percent of the universe eludes human detection. We don’t have enough data for such endeavor, he thought. A unified-field theory is impossible for realms we can’t even detect! The more dark matter and dark energy we detect, the more our conception of reality will change. Only after we detect 100 percent of the observable universe will we be capable of composing a unified-field theory....

Such waste, he thought, closed his eyes, and tried to ignore the commotion behind him. The many billions we spent on particle accelerators chasing atomist illusions could’ve built the lunar infrastructure necessary to mine helium-3, which can give us 10,000 years of clean fusion energy. With the danger of a runaway greenhouse effect thus eliminated via clean fusion, humanity could then eliminate systematically the other existential threats. Unfortunately, many scientists are careerists without a sense of duty to the species....

He stowed his carry-on bag, sat down, closed his eyes, breathed slowly and deeply, and tried to abandon the disgust he felt for the plethora of assholes, svengalis, narcissists, nihilists, anarchists, and other ignoramuses—from the White House, to Congress, to the Supreme Court that now included the sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh, in academia, in urban centers, and across the heartland. Ah, America, he thought, a work-in-progress with blood on your hands, you consist of about a third of deplorables, as Hillary correctly said but chose a safe middle-of-the-road VP when the zeitgeist wanted Bernie Sanders. After decades of living with Bill, Hillary acquired many of his fleas, and she learned nothing after losing to the more liberal Obama, playing it safe again when running against Putin’s pet POTUS, a 72-year-old abomination without sense, dignity, class, or any positive attributes....

He sighed deeply, closed his eyes, tried to clear his mind, and wished he could doze off, time-dilate, and wake up during landing. No need to dream, he thought. Dreams are mostly meaningless random associations, anyway. For example, even though interrupting Hackett’s raping a waitress changed drastically my life’s course, I rarely dream about him. When I do, he’s a peripheral character lurking backstage while I try to solve the irrational predicaments ensuing from the random neuronal firings resulting from the autonomic system’s nonstop functions. Hence, the difficulty in shaping the oneiric narrative. However, focusing on an image or idea, for an hour or so before sleep, does shape some of the dream sequences....

Amorphous, polymorphous, and communal ultra-advanced aliens huddle around the Milky Way’s central black hole, like prehistoric humans around a fire that lightning kindled, struggling to nurture the blaze, improve their quality of life, keep predators away, and increase their lifespan....

Amorphous, polymorphous, and communal ultra-advanced aliens obsess about hygiene because infection, corruption, decay, and death offend them profoundly....

Amorphous, polymorphous, and communal ultra-advanced aliens are ambivalent about engagement in galactic affairs....

Amorphous, polymorphous, and communal ultra-advanced aliens feel obligated to a certain degree of engagement in galactic affairs....

Amorphous, polymorphous, and communal ultra-advanced aliens feel compelled to keep track of adolescent civs with the potential to mature....

Amorphous, polymorphous, and communal ultra-advanced aliens have technologies that humans would consider acts of God....

Amorphous, polymorphous, and communal ultra-advanced aliens considered humanity a virus—until we landed on the Moon....

Amorphous, polymorphous, and communal ultra-advanced aliens extend their tripwires across every star system harboring a civ that manages to reach another planet....

Amorphous, polymorphous, and communal ultra-advanced aliens’ tripwires bloom like fractals across the Earth....

Amorphous, polymorphous, and communal ultra-advanced aliens’ tripwire fractals contain the species’ full range of wondrous abilities....

Amorphous, polymorphous, and communal ultra-advanced aliens’ tripwire fractals may morph into humanoid holograms like the one I witnessed a few days ago, after a meditation, when I dozed off....

Unfortunately, Norbu’s plan to sleep as much as possible during the trans-Pacific flight proved impossible when two ugly Americans, a Hindu with a Texan drawl and a Muslim with a New York accent, seated next to each other in first class, got on each other’s nerves and wouldn’t get off. A fucking malarkey marathon. An idiotic display of who was more American! Eager to demonstrate they were native-born Yankees, they repeated every pop-culture colloquialism (dude, bro, fuckface, and so on), and they uttered nearly every sentence as if it were a question—the way teenagers and trend-conscious adults do....

Then, politics reared its ugly head, and the barbs sharpened. The Hindu Texan was an NRA-supporting conservative whereas the Muslim New Yorker was a gun-control liberal, and neither was in the mood to concede anything to the other. Two slogan-spewing dimwits determined to pester everyone. On and on they went about how the other’s ideology was destroying America, but the real purpose of their idiotic argument was their desire to establish they were native-born Americans....

In vain the stewardesses tried to convince the other first-class passengers to trade seats with one of the two combatants....

"They deserve being stuck next to each other, someone said. Put on earplugs and headphones and listen to music," he encouraged the others.

Separating them would increase the scope of the problem, another passenger aptly noted, "unless you manage to move one of them to economy class."

On and on the Hindu and the Muslim went: two immature and insecure adults, determined to prove who was more American, a few inches away from each other, shouting patriotic slogans and threatening to brandish their US passport and American birth certificate, as if anyone gave a fuck....

Nobody did. Earplugs and headphones on, all but one of the other passengers did their best to tune out and get some sleep....

The only passenger without headphones on did his best not to look like an air marshal or law-enforcement official. Scrolling through a long document on his laptop, he was probably studying the fine print of a training manual on whom to bust and whom to ignore. Preparing for an FBI or CIA test perhaps....

After the two fools’ back-and-forth insults showed no signs of abating, Norbu had enough, so he composed a polite note:

Dear Sir,

If you are a law-enforcement agent, please do something about those two fools. I am a university professor, and I promise you all the support I can muster, including testifying in court about those two fools’ prolonged disturbance of the peace, during a long trans-Pacific flight.

Respectfully,

Dr. Sogyal Norbu

Then, next time Norbu rose to stretch his legs, he passed the note to the marshal.

Shortly thereafter, the air marshal rose, approached the two fools, showed them his badge, and tried to reason with them: Excuse me, gentlemen, he said. "I am Marshal Morse. You’ve been at it for many hours already, disturbing the public peace in a confined space, during a very long flight. I am asking you to stop immediately."

"Or, what, partner? asked the Hindu Texan. I’m a fucking millionaire, and I know my god-damn rights as an American-born citizen, alright?"

"That’s right, bitch, the Muslim New Yorker said to the marshal. I’m fucking rich, too, and an American-born citizen, and I also know my rights."

Taser them! Norbu wanted to shout. You’re the law! Don’t let them disrespect the law like that!

The air marshal nodded thoughtfully, not at all angry, and then like a pussy, he returned to his seat....

The Hindu Texan and the Muslim New Yorker high-fived each other, ordered drinks, exchanged some slogans about civil rights and free speech, congratulated each other about standing up to the marshal, forgot about who was more American than the other, and fell asleep shortly afterward....

*

THE LOGIC OF FEMINISM

D espite the setbacks, history is the record of progress from feudalism to feminism, which is good for everyone. However, as they break increasingly more glass ceilings and attain positions of power, women make mistakes, being human and having little historical experience in wielding power. Therefore, expecting women to demonstrate great wisdom at all times, when very few men throughout history have done so, is unrealistic and unreasonable. Reason and justice require enlightened men to support feminism because humanity needs it.

Throughout history, all texts on education, power, governance, and so on addressed men because women had no legal standing and passed from father to husband or other male relative. Even in the twenty-first century, in many countries (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, et al), women are second-class citizens who can’t hold public office, can’t drive, must be accompanied by a male relative in most encounters with the state, and endure all sorts of other barbaric prohibitions. In fact, until very recently, the only texts addressing women were on how to attain the few roles available to them in a male-dominated world: nanny, wife, mother, nun, and so on. Only a few revolutionary works encouraged women to become adventurers, explorers, leaders, and masters of their own fate, at a high cost, including personal safety. Moreover, religion still pressures women to have as many children as possible, stay at home, and vote for conservative politicians, most of whom are misogynist troglodytes.

Consequently, when in the professional and academic worlds, having no behavioral guide addressing their concerns, women must deal with institutionalized sexism, glass ceilings, sexual harassment, lower wages, and other obstacles. These pressures lead some women to adopt aggression, competition, and similar behaviors to survive in a male-dominated world filled with power-hungry barbarians, nepotism’s spoiled poster-children, merciless predators, borderline-illiterate ignoramuses like Putin’s patsy POTUS, and all sorts of other career criminals. To survive in such a jungle, many women use aggression, make mistakes, and undermine feminism, the force that brought them access to increasingly more areas, in the first place.

For example, a female doctorate-holder and Director of the Writing Program at the English Department of an NYC university said the following to a male adjunct who had been teaching syllogisms to strengthen students’ critical-thinking skills: "Syllogisms are patriarchal." In other words, she implied that the fact men had abused logic historically made it an instrument of subjugation. However, that notion amounts to throwing away the baby (logic) with the bathwater (abuses of logic). In other words, the fact that many people abuse logic doesn’t diminish its value and necessity when used properly. After all, besides enabling us to transform ourselves from cave-dwellers to space-walkers, logic is responsible for the fact that (despite the many setbacks) history is the record of progress from feudalism to feminism, thanks to humanism, the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, and other progressive social forces powered by the correct uses of logic—even for Romantics choosing to err on the side of emotion, intuition, and so on.

Humanity needs feminism because it improves everyone’s quality of life. In fact, feminism’s logic is simple: Women must become financially independent, first—before having children, because even if their partner is honest, hardworking, and supportive, he or she may lose the ability to provide for the family, for reasons beyond anyone’s control. Fortunately, as increasingly more women enter the labor force and have careers, they heed feminism’s dictum about financial independence, hence the many benefits for all: fewer unwanted children, less poverty, more tax income for governments to invest in infrastructure and social programs, less crime, fewer incarcerations, and so on. Unfortunately, most women outside the West have far fewer opportunities for financial independence. Consequently, feminist women and men in the West must do all we can to extend feminism’s umbrella around the globe in whatever way each of us can.

With the aggressively-ignorant, borderline-illiterate sexual-predator and Russian-compromised traitor in the White House raping logic daily, as many male leaders have done since antiquity, expecting women to act wisely always is unreasonable and unrealistic. As a result, enlightened men support feminism openly despite the fact that some women repeat men’s mistakes and others are religious conservatives who abhor progress. The stronger feminism grows, the more likely humanity is to survive its suicidal adolescence and mature into a spacefaring civilization.

*

A MEDITATION

ON LEAVING

C hin down, sun glasses on, his baseball cap visor low, carrying a heavy backpack, J. J. shuffled on like the homeless student he was. Off to Australia, then, he thought and hurried to campus, via backstreets to avoid any Hackett goons that might be stationed at