Present State

The challenge of Presence is a big part of Evolved. Presence both in the spatial and temporal sense. Mahayana Buddhism talks about Zen through meditation, a way of seeking emptiness for enlightenment. Judaism describes God in one form as Present. There is something special about the present, being present. In our world we tend to live in the past, highlighted by recent neurological studies focused on the time lag between subconscious and conscious thought.

The universe in Evolved is split into two (what we think of as reality and something else) through the interaction of a ten dimensional brane with a field of resistance. The mind of the protagonist, the Evolved, strives to make two back into one.  While writing Evolved I danced around the concept of presence through many re-writes, approaching it from a cosmological, quantum, philosophical, neurological and then psychological angle. When I finally felt like I had wrestled the concept into something that made sense, I read Martin Buber’s “I and Thou” and Richard Rohr’s “Immortal Diamond.” They approached this concept from a religious and spiritual perspective. Their message came together with what I had written like a thunder clap in my head. Richard Rohr discusses Presence from the Christian faith:

In some ways, presence is the “one thing necessary” (Luke 10:42), and perhaps the hardest thing of all. Just try to keep your heart open, your mind without division or resistance, and your body not somewhere else. Such simple presence is the practical, daily task of all mature religion and all spiritual disciplines. Once you are “present and accounted for,” you grow from everything, even the problematic and difficult things. If your presence is wrong, you will not recognize the Real Presence even in the Eucharist. The Presence will be there–it always is–but you won’t be. I love to say that it has been much easier for Jesus to teach bread and wine what it is than to teach humans, who always resist their deepest and simplest identity.

– Richard Rohr

Silicon Life in Evolved

What defines life is a central question in Evolved. Robots and humans have equal rights in the distant future of Evolved. Robots are all but indistinguishable from humans in appearance, are highly creative, dexterous, and even emotional. The robots/ androids in Evolved are not like Data from Star Trek, a character that always fascinated me, but perhaps somewhat like the artificial life in Blade Runner.

Moving past the term robot, android or other euphemism for “not life,” the world in Evolved separates into silicon and organic life. The two life forms augment one another, blend intimately so that it is unclear where one ends and the other begins. This blending has had a profound effect on society, which is almost completely atheist and mindfully driven. It has been an interesting thought experiment to consider such a world while minimizing many of the biases prevalent today. What came out may surprise you!

The obvious difference between organic and silicon life is the way each is created. Silicon life is quite adept at the mechanics of sex but is unable to create the spark of life that grows into a fully formed life form. There is tension between the two, much like racism or sexism exist in the world today with both sides holding their own notions about the other. Silicon life is theoretically immortal, a source of envy for many organic life forms. However, silicon life seems to miss a spark of true essence that lies within organic life. What may be surprising is that organic life seems intent on emulating silicon life, even at the risk of extinguishing that spark.

On Lake of the Woods life is bountiful. I love watching and listening to its energy and beauty. Laughing at some of its absurdity. While driving the boat I watched a pelican glide down to the water for a landing. I love pelicans. They soar up high, completing slow spirals in the sky. Yet when this one pelican came gliding in smoothly for a water landing the baggy underside of its beak sailed awkwardly in the wind. Its legs hung like granny legs dangling from a parachute. His wings were the definition of grace. Its legs, not so much. Life is often awkward.

Is life simply a conscious intrusion into this strange three spatial dimension reality of ours? Life bumbles around with only one goal: to prolong and expand its access to this reality in hopes it can evolve it to where re-unification with its larger self is possible? Maybe that defines life, its meaning.

Nested Meanings

Two is better than one, as the saying goes. This seems true from the smallest to the largest scale. Did you know particles in quantum theory like photons are monogamous? Only two can become entangled, not three. Entangled particles are connected in a way not completely understood by physicists, but basically it means the measurement of one determines the value of the entangled particle, no matter the distance separating them. Breaking the entanglement is possible, but costs energy. It is one of the stranger and least intuitive aspects of quantum theory, and also one that has proven vexing when scientists have tried to integrate the theory of general relativity with quantum theory.

Bridging quantum theory and the theory of relativity has been an on-going effort, resulting in fields of study like string theory. String theory replaces particles with loops and strands, creating a mathematical basis allowing for the two theories to combine, but not without contradictions. String theory requires higher dimension objects called D-branes to solve some of the contradictions between quantum and relativity. String theory suggests D-branes (branes for short) are ten dimensions, although there are theories that imply many more dimensions are necessary. Dr. Randall at Harvard does a great job pulling it together in a readable manner.

Before your brain cramps, simply think of a dimension as a necessary descriptor to describe your location precisely. In the reality we understand, we can locate every particle by its three spatial dimensions and time. But let’s say we found a way to shift gravitational force, holding everything else constant. Well then, we’d need another descriptor, or dimension, in order to describe our location precisely.

In the book Evolved the universe is based on ten dimensional branes within a higher dimension bulk universe. Think of it as objects floating in space. Humanity is in a four dimensional reality (three spatial plus time) within the ten dimensional brane. The Big Bang was the point when the brane (referred to as “The One” in the book) collided with a resistance field in the higher dimension bulk universe, causing the conversion of energy to mass in three spatial dimensions and dividing the reality we understand from the remaining dimensions held within the brane. It is this theme of division, and its counter force of unification, that runs through Evolved. If you look at the Evolved symbol you’ll see a caret-like symbol with a vertical line above it. This is the ‘Two into One’ theme. A lot more to the symbol, but let’s leave it at that for now.

If division was the split of one into two, unification is the effort of making two into one. Our world is defined by the tension between these opposing aspects. I find it interesting you see this unification at the quantum level through entanglement. In our life the will to unify surrounds us. The Rusty Blackbirds reminded my daughters and I of unification yesterday as they squawked at our presence near their three babies in their nest under the eave of the shed by the dock. The Loons watching us closely as we rowed near their nest with eggs was another reminder, as was the startled Eastern Phoebe flapping out of her nest with eggs when we opened the back door. Of course, the Bald Eagles swooping over our shed on their way to their nest where junior typically perches on the edge is a dramatic reminder.

Makes you wonder if evolution is simply “The One” trying to reunify itself in a divisive reality…

Bear Bait

The reason I started writing was to set an example for my daughters. Two years ago, while she was in first grade, my oldest daughter began writing multi-page stories. I believe in parenting by example and so to encourage her I decided to start writing as well.

Evolved began with a kernel of an idea: “What if inorganic chemical elements were opportunities to enhance life?” I really had no idea whether it would last a paragraph, a page, a chapter or more. Well, a year later I had a novel-length manuscript that I’ve been editing and re-writing ever since.

The good news is my oldest continues to love to write and my youngest, who just finished first grade, now does as well. They both use it as a way to process their thoughts and feelings, a wonderful outlet for their active, curious and sometimes confused minds.

With that, I offer my oldest daughter’s latest story about our black lab, Fleuri. The story is set at our cottage, which is five miles out on a lake, surrounded by boreal forest. Fleuri doesn’t really like riding in the boat, so we leave her in the cottage when we go into town. The first time we left her she voiced her concern, which Isabael turned into a story. (We now leave the radio on when we leave, which calms her)

BEAR BAIT

A STORY FROM FLEURI’S POINT OF VIEW

Written by Isabael McKay (Age 8)

I hear the boat rumble from the dock.

My people are leaving me! What a shock.

Why can’t I go to town to shop?

Shop for goods like dog food and treats.

Treats! A rumble and gurgle from down below.

But, the boat is leaving without me!

I howl for help! Yelp Yelp!

“Good bye,” they call, “Be a good girl,” “We’ll be back home soon!”

Why, oh why do they leave me alone!?

Up on the couch to see where they go.

No, no!  They left me her for BEAR BAIT!

No no don’t go away!

Yelp! Yelp!

This couch is quite comfy and fit for me and now I can see!  See out the window!

Out the window I hear a distant growl.

I howl again.  But this time I know they are gone.

Will they every come back?  I don’t think so.

I lay on the couch and make myself small, eventually falling asleep.

The tap of a woodpecker wakes me. I look out the window.

Several boats go by but ignore my worries.

Soon so soon I hear the familiar whooshing of the waves,

the rumble of the motor as it slows.

My people are back from their stroll in town.

Oh look! My food, food and more food!

Glorious, wonderful food!

Terrific, mouth watering food!

And treats! Oh my!

Uh oh! They caught me on the couch!

Eagle Eye Shared

The path that led me to write Evolved began firmly in science and logic, studying the properties of chemical elements, space time structures, and neurology. It eventually led me to something I called the “Real” in the book as I dove into psychology, specifically the subconscious. It was only at the end that I felt I had missed something in the series of objects I had logically patterned out. Eventually I was guided to Richard Rohr, a Franciscan monk, who explained what I had wrote completely.

To be clear, I believe Christianity is merely one path we can follow to find the “Real.” Most other religions, spirituality and even science also seek to guide one to the same truth. However, our ego gets in our way and every faith or mindful effort focuses on different aspects. In designing the symbol for Evolved, I wanted most faiths and even mindful thinkers to see meaning. After all, the ancient Greeks touched on deeper truths in their math and science discoveries.

This morning I received the weekly summation of Richard Rohr’s writings. “Shared Identity” speaks to what I touched on in “Eagle Eyes Penetrate.” The following is an excerpt:

“Francis spent much of his time praying in solitude in nature. He practiced contemplation, or ‘a long loving look at the real,’ which allowed him to see in a new way. Seeing from a pair of glasses beyond our own is what I call ‘participative seeing.’ This is the new self that can say excitedly with Paul, ‘I live no longer, not ‘I’ but it is Christ now living in me’ (Galatians 2:20). In the truest sense, I am that which I am seeking. This primal communion communicates spaciousness, joy, and a quiet contentment. It is not anxious, because the essential gap between me and everything else has already been overcome. I am at home in a sacred and benevolent universe, and I do not need to prove myself to anybody, nor do I need to be ‘right,’ nor do others have to agree with me.”

– Richard Rohr

Eagle Eyes Penetrate

Everyone does it. “Knows something” and conveniently rationalizes that something into an inconsequential object in our mind. The sun is bright, the oceans vast, the universe infinite. Simple neat objects in our mind. It is only when we’re confronted with an unfiltered view of the sun, swim in hurricane churned surf, or watch the northern lights dance over distant galaxies that we begin to touch the deeper power surrounding us. Objects in our mind become real, threatening, perhaps liberating…

This year we have the good fortune of new neighbors. A family of bald eagles built a nest on the back side of the property. Even better, apparently our lawn and dock is the runway leading to the nest, supplying endless gasps and wonder as they sweep past through our grove of white pines. When they are hungry we marvel as their talons appears, their wings stretch behind their back, and they drop from the sky to grab a fish.

I’ve “known” that bald eagles are big beautifully graceful birds of prey. Yet, until the girls and I had two fly just over our heads as they squawked like sick seagulls at each other, they were simply objects to me. We went and looked at their nest a few times today, the eagle perched staring down at us nonchalantly. Looking into a wild animal’s eyes you see something else, something that connects you in this reality. The world, and all its power, became that much more real today.