The Soul

About twenty-two, 22 years ago in 1989, Gary Zukav published a book titled The Seat of the Soul, in which he argued to the effect that humans were at the brink of an evolution from five-sensory into multi-sensory beings. He identified the emerging human as superior, to the extent that they recognised that from the perception of the multi-sensory human, it is the intention behind an action that determines its effects. Then it would not be necessary to wait for an action to be performed before its consequences are determined. The identification of intentions or purpose, would be sufficient to reconstruct the effects that these could have; on both the person and others, now and in the future.

He characterised this superiority by an expanded consciousness. Thus when questions are asked that cannot be answered within the common frame of reference, the following three, 3 responses to the situation are usual:

• The question may be classified as nonsensical,
• It may be dismissed as a question that is not appropriate, or
• The person who is asking the question may expand their consciousness to encompass a frame of reference from which the question can be answered.

Then he concluded as follows:

We, as a species, have been asking the questions, “Is there a God?”, “Is there a Divine Intelligence?”, and, “Is there a purpose to life?” for as long as we have been able to articulate questions. The time has now come for us to expand into a frame of reference that allows these questions to be answered.

He presented one effect of the larger frame of reference to be an understanding of the experientially meaningful distinction between the personality and the soul. Thus the personality is that part of a person that is temporal; by virtue of the fact that it is born into, lives within, and dies in time. Moreover, the fearful and violent emotions that have come to characterize human existence are experienced only by the personality. It is the personality that feels anger, fear, hatred, vengeance, sorrow, shame, regret, indifference, frustration, cynicism and loneliness. And although the personality can also be loving, compassionate, and wise in its relations with others; love, compassion, and wisdom do not have their source in the personality. They are experiences of the soul. While the personality is rooted in the five-senses, the soul is a product of the multi-sensory nature of humans. It is immortal. And whether we are conscious of this or not, the distinction is still there. It is when people become aware and conscious of the soul that they can recognize intentions, and respond to them; rather than to the actions and the words that they encounter. They begin to recognize, for example, a warm heart beneath a harsh and angry manner, and a cold heart beneath polished and pleasing words.

Thus the soul is not a mere passive or theoretical entity that occupies a space in the vicinity of the chest cavity as has been commonly presented. Rather, it is a positive and purposeful force at the core of our being. It is that part of us that understands the impersonal nature of the energy dynamics in which we are involved. It is able to love without restriction, and accepts without judgment. When the energy of the soul is recognized, acknowledged, and valued, it begins to infuse the life of the personality. Then the personality begins to serve the energy of its soul, to acquire its power.

Twenty-two, 22 years ago when the seat of the soul was published, this writer would not have understood it in the same way that he does now. The publication was only one, 1 year after I began the work to reconstruct the path to soul in 1988. Today, twenty-three, 23 years down the line in 2011; I can recognise the common thrust of both conceptions. The distinction between the five-sensory and multi-sensory in the seat of the soul is made in the path to soul as the preoccupation with appearances and the perception of essentials, respectively. This distinction is also reflected in their effects on the development of personality and soul. In the path to soul, the personality is described according to the power that is stored in it, to respond to stimuli. The power is evaluated as the number of essential components of phenomena that the person is able to identify.

By the perception model of mind, PMM despite the infinite number of items that characterise phenomena, it would be sufficient to identify the essential five, 5. This makes the link between the five-sensory and multi-sensory person feasible. We are born into a material world, with which we relate using our five, 5 senses. Often, we become so familiar with this relationship, to the exclusion of the possibilities that a multi-sensory relationship offers. The five, 5 items is a standard that makes the transition attainable, when it becomes imperative. It is easy for the five-sensory person to relate with the concept of a five-item multi-sensory perception. And the transition should not be difficult. Neither does it require any special faculties that the typical human person has not got.

Whether the transition is made consciously or unconsciously, it is actually the path of a maturation process that is referred to in the seat of the soul as evolution that is non-physical. It is a mental evolutionary process that has continued and progressed with the advancement in the frontiers of knowledge. This writer has also recognised the uniqueness of, and the advantages that are available to us, in the current period of the evolutionary process. So much knowledge has not only been accumulated, it is also more easily and cheaply accessible. Not with the internet, and the accompanied mobile technologies.

In the path to soul, the maturation process is conceptualised in terms of the psychological shift from the simple reflex-only behaviour that is observed in babies; to the more complex motivated-behaviour, which is deliberate. Ultimately, maturation aims to culminate in a motivated behaviour that is reflexive, in the sense of the naturally spontaneous responses to stimuli of the mature adult. This is achieved when the process by which a response is to be made, is already available in the heart memory. This memory is accomplished in the learning process, when the learned procedure is stored. Then, only new experiences need to be learned. What has already been learned does not have to be repeated. This is for efficiency in the energy budget.

The methods by which, the seat of the soul and the path to soul, have arrived at these conceptions may appear radically different. Nevertheless the conclusions are similar, for the most parts. This is an identification of the meeting point between rigorous-reasoning, and mathematical-reasoning, both of which are analytical. They both seek the essential. Once upon a time, Kant, Hume, and Hegel separated noumena from phenomena. They argued that noumena could not be arrived at by mere reason. And reason had to be content with phenomena. However, when noumenon is reduced into the itemisation of essentials in series, then it coincides with the phenomenon. This coincidence became possible with the deliberate expansion of consciousness to encompass a frame of reference that includes both appearances and essentials. The emphasis on deliberation is necessary because a few larger than normal sized mortals have operated in this expanded realm, even if unconsciously. This is evident in the civilisation that humanity has created. Creation is only open to those who can access this realm of thought. But we can all be prodigies.

Secondly, the processes for deliberately actualising the access to the realm of thought that prodigies like Einstein, Edison, and Galileo attained may differ for Gary Zukav and I, it is possible to find the common ground.

• Firstly, we are agreed that to make the advancement from five-sensory to multi-sensory or the preoccupation with appearances to the perception of essentials, people need to become aware that they have souls; which is the essence of the human person.

• Then, they must commit the required effort to the advancement process.

In the path to soul, the following two, 2 points are alluded to:

• The difficulty with making this transition is in committing the required effort.
• This is because people need to mature out of play, which is commonly associated with childhood, into work that is commonly recognised as the adult concern.

But when talent is discovered, the distinction between work and play vanishes. This means that the resolution of the effort problem is to find one’s talent. This solution however needs to be primed. One must begin to make the shift. The following two, 2 categories of work are distinguished, for this purpose:

• Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might, and
• Talented work

Work may not be fulfilling at the lower level of whatever your hands find to do. In fact, it is often dreary and dull, wearying the soul. However, at the higher level of talented work, it becomes a joy. This is where work and play become synonymous. There are therefore two, 2 real problems, in the effort problem:

• Making the prime, and
• Sustaining it until the required depth is reached.

It is commonly known that work is motivated by the following three, 3 vices:

• The pride of life
• The lust of the flesh, and
• The lust of the eyes.

These are typically defined by the preoccupation with appearances that is associated with five-sensory personalities. And that is what makes them vices. Is it possible then that work is motivated differently, but with the same intensity? In other words, how may the multi-sensory personality, who is preoccupied with the perception of essentials, be motivated?

Once more, Gary Zukav and I are agreed that this can be achieved, but requires an understanding of things that appear unusual to the five-sensory human. Things like spirit, mind, soul, and faith that have been commonly classified derogatively as religious and metaphysical. For now, this is where we part ways. In defining the process for arriving at this understanding!

To understand this point of departure, the distinction needs to be made between the persons who successfully download the items of understanding, and the beneficiaries thereafter. Teaching and learning are radically different from inspiration. I hope that I have selected the appropriate words here. Downloading requires inspiration. It is actually a revelation into a realm of knowledge that was hitherto not available to humanity. Thereafter, the learner does not need to be inspired. It is sufficient that they are motivated to acquire the information that has become available. For instance, Bible Moses was not there at creation. But by revelation, he outlined the process of six, 6 items by which our world came into being.  Abraham, David, and Paul, as well as other Bible prophets, corroborated Moses in later revelations. Then our responsibility following, would be to learn these things. At this point what is required would be the justification of the acclaimed revelation, by the appropriate methods; which can be replicated, and which allows two, 2 or more people to compare their observations.

This is what Einstein did, when he reduced Genesis, 1³ into the energy equation as follows:

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light

                                                            E = MC²,

                                                                E = Energy

                                                               M = Mass

                                                               C = The Speed of Light

The model justifies the revelation by the scientific method; which can be replicated, and which allows two, 2 or more people to compare their observations.

In the path to soul the following are done:

• John, 3³, is reduced into the relativity model of humans, RMH.

Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God

                                                  L = 1/A₂ F²,

                                                                         A₁ =  1/A₂    

                                                       L = Love

                                                      A₂ = Evaluation

                                                      A₁ = Appreciation    

• Romans, 12² is represented by the perception model of mind, PMM

…be transformed by the renewing of your mind…

                                      f₀ = 4(1 – 1/√z),

                                            z = ½(4 – 1/√f₁)            

                                                             f₁ = Perception Index, N = 5

                                                             f₀ = Sensation Index, N= 1

• Jeremiah, 31³³and Hebrews, 8¹⁰ become the growth model.

I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts

                                                      L = 2F ± 1,

                                                          L = The Heart

                                                          F = The Mind

When knowledge is justified as true and believable, then it is safe to adopt it into the cultural norms, mores, beliefs and values. This is how traditions can be changed, to make the environment better suited to the growth of humanity.

The Natural Order

The establishment of the fact of creation has always been viewed as a mission impossible. While the attempt will not be made to trace the source of this fact, science is known to have originated, among others, for this purpose. And Hegel, 1770-1831, a German idealist philosopher who became one of the most influential thinkers of the 19th century, is credited with the separation of science and religion; when he made a statement to the intent that science is one thing, and faith is quite another. When this writer first attempted to share the four, 4 page simulation data of the perception model of mind, PMM with a professor of Religion and Philosophy in 1995, he simply said, “it cannot be done”, and did not even bother to look at the data. For him, it was impossible to reduce the human mind into a mathematical model. But more information has become available to us since Hegel, and since 1995. We have the advantage of accessing a large body of knowledge, on the internet, in a way that was never available before now.

The natural order, N-O attempts to trace the signature of the creator of the universe. It is based on the fact that every outstanding creator leaves their signature on their creation. Thus it would be easy to identify the music of the Beatles uniquely, from a myriad of other musical productions; so also with Elton John, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley and Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Different restaurants have developed their individual recipes for preparing chickens, for instance that taste uniquely according to their procedures. It is the procedure that distinguishes creators. Change the procedure, and the product is different.

It is the standard procedure that is the basis for a successful six sigma, 6σ project. As the production process approaches the standard, the number of defective products drops. The standard procedure is also the basis for the success of the balanced score card model. When the management functions that reek in the profits in an organisation are focussed, and the processes for operation in these areas are standardised, then profit is optimised. The value creation model is an alternative that has been derived to compliment the profit and loss model, as a performance management strategy. It focuses on the personnel, who create all the value, according to their procedures for the performance at task. Value is optimised as the procedures approximate the standard.

The standard procedure for the performance at task has been derived to approximate the N-O exactly. When the creator’s signature is reconstructed, and it is approximated, then we can expect the same results. This is achieved by identifying the fundamental principles that underlie nature. They include the following, which were clarified at different times, in the development of the body of knowledge that is available to us today:

• Relativity,
• Normality, and
• Duality.

Following Einstein’s relativity principle, an event in space can be viewed from an infinite number of positions in space. Each of these positions actually represents a perspective of the event, uniquely. Moreover, these perspectives can be mapped into the number line, one-on-one, from negative infinity, -∞ through zero, 0 to positive infinity, +∞. This defines a slope that represents the 2^nd law of thermodynamics; from the positive infinity, +∞ at the top, to the negative infinity, -∞ at the bottom. This has been reduced into the relativity model, by the following relation: L = 1/A F². In this case, the factor-L defines positive infinity, -∞ while the factor-A represents negative infinity, -∞ and the points in-between define the factor-F.

By the normality model in games theory, a game of infinite moves can be reduced into one, 1 unit move; which is then iterated, until the game ends. This means that the infinite number of perspectives that relativity makes possible can be reduced into one, 1 optimum perspective. This would then become the standard, against which all the others are measured. From the relativity model, the unit perspective is defined as the square-root of the multiple of the factors L and A, as the factor-A approaches a unity, for F = √ (LA), A = 1. At A = 1, the negative depreciating influence of the factor-A vanishes; although it does not cease to exist.

This is the principle that underlies mechanisation. A large job is reduced into a miniature process that the machine iterates several times, until it is completed. If several of these miniaturised processes are required, then as many different machines are fabricated, along a production line.

The duality series in operations research provides an outline of the standard perspective as follows:

• Maxima
• Minimax
• Maximin
• Minima

This outline has been adopted as the natural order, N-O. Then it would be sufficient to reduce the infinite number of items that define phenomena, into the essential four, 4. Notice that this series defines the normal curve. Then the saddle point or col, that is located between the minimax and maximin, defines the fifth, 5^th position or item; to satisfy the perception model of mind, PMM. Moreover, the number line or relativity slope can be converted into a standard normal curve. This is done by taking the square of the numbers. Recall that when negative numbers are squared, the sign vanishes, and it becomes positive. Then the same numbers would be repeated, on both sides of the zero, in the middle; from infinity to infinity.

Recall he Platonian duality principle, following which nature can be reduced into two, 2 worlds as follows:

• The world of forms, and
• The world of objects

Then the objects are the crude replicas of the forms. And a procedure would be required to translate phenomena from one world into the other. Creation effects the reduction of forms into objects. And the closer the procedure that is adopted approximates the standard perspective, the better the quality of the product.

To derive the standard procedure series, SPS a sixth, 6^th item is required. This is the phenomenon that is described. It is this phenomenon that is reduced into the five, 5 essentials, as required by the PMM. Recall that by the PMM, for a mind to operate optimally it would need to reduce phenomena into the essential five, 5 items, to describe them. When the phenomenon that has been described is included, it becomes the sixth, 6^th item. Then the descriptive process would have at once outlined the procedure for making the phenomenon.

The typical standard procedure therefore comprises six, 6 items. Each of these items is uniquely located, according to the outline of the duality series presented above. Counting the four, 4 items from below, the saddle point becomes the fifth, 5^th and the phenomenon that is described is sixth, 6^th. These items are grouped into one, 1 unit with reference to the trajectory principle.

The typical trajectory defines the path of a flying object. In general it is the path of a process or event; the way in which the process or event develops over a period of time. In principle it is a curve that intersects at a constant angle; a curve or surface that intersects all of a family of curves or surfaces at a constant angle. The curve describes the path that a projectile makes through space under the action of given forces such as thrust, wind, and gravity. Because of these forces, to hit a target, it is usually necessary to aim higher, according to their observed effects, as well as the distance from the mark. Similarly, to reduce a phenomenon into its essentials, it would be necessary to find the higher equivalent of the phenomenon. This is achieved by defining the purpose for which the phenomenon is intended; and then describing this purpose. This makes the actual phenomenon the seventh, 7^th item; and the purpose for which it is required, the sixth, 6^th.

However, only the first four, 4 items are evaluated on the F-Scale. They are scrambled, and the subject is expected to un-scramble them, to define the procedure that has been outlined. The other two, 2 items five, 5 and six, 6 serve as guides, to direct the subject on how to un-scramble the four, 4 items. Notice from the duality series that the first, 1^st item is the third, 3^rd  on the list. Then the positions of the second, 2^nd and the third, 3^rd items are automatically determined, upwards. The forth, 4^th item remains in its position. Serially:

Maxima, 3             Phenomenon

Minimax, 2           6.  Purpose

Maximin, 1           5.  Col

Minima, 4

This is a typical standard procedure series, SPS. For a real example, a clock would be described as follows:

Power, 3             Clock

Arms, 2           6.  Time

Scale, 1           5.  Rotation

Gear, 4

The series is read in two, 2 tripods as follows:

• The clock, 7 is designed to tell time, 6 according to the principle of the earth’s rotation, 5; which principle is operationalized in the system of gears, 4.
• When the gear is powered, 3 it moves the system of arms, 2 over a scale, 1.

Notice that as a rule, the two, 2 tripods are read backwards. To confirm that each item is uniquely and correctly located, confirm that the items 1 and 2 define item 6. And items 3 and 4 define the item 5. While the power system and the system of gears synchronise the rotation, it is the arms and the scale that tell the time.

It is possible to reduce every task into the SPS of six, 6 items. In the first tripod, the purpose of the task is defined, in terms of what it is supposed to achieve. The principle by which the task may be best achieved is then identified. This is followed by the item that defines how the principle is to be operationalised. In the second tripod, the active items that outline the actual process are outlined, from top to bottom. For instance, when the gear is powered, 3 it moves the system of arms, 2 over the scale, 1; to tell the time. After these operations are done, the items are re-numbered, to reflect the normal hierarchy as follows:

1. Power, 3             Clock
2. Arms, 2           6.  Time
3. Scale, 1           5.  Rotation
4. Gear, 4

It is this hierarchy that is scored.

The Mind

The mind is the seat of knowledge. This makes it the seat of life, as well as love. It is the determinant of how much entropy a person contributes. Then, it would be the determinant of whether we live or die. Whether a person is learned on not, can be determined according to the state of the person’s mind. And whether a person is able to learn or not, would also depend on their mind set. We must guard our minds jealously. Moreover, we must understand it; to control it, and to put it to work effectively and efficiently.

When the procedure for the performance at task is known, when we know how people go about their actions; then the state of mind can be measured. In this case, mind is evaluated as a measure of character, which is a function of the following factors:

• Conviction
• Commitment
• Consciousness
• Consistency

When people are convinced, they become committed to a certain course of action. This translates into effort that is equivalent to their commitment. The effort is used to expand the level of consciousness, from the perception of mere appearances, to the perception of essentials. And because essentials are constant, unlike appearances that change, people become more consistent in their actions. And this shows up in the character, evaluated as the factor-C.

The mind is also evaluated as a measure of the entropy that is contributed to the environment. In this case, the person’s procedure is measured against the standard, as the factor-f₀ or objectivity. The factor-F is then evaluated to measure faith, or the assurance that can be accorded to the person’s actions. The closer the F-Score is to a unity, for F → 1, the better assured that the action will achieve the desired aim. As the observed deviance from a unity, for F > 1, increases, the less the assurance that the actions will result in the desired goal; and the greater the entropy that is contributed.

Émile Coué began to describe the mind in a way that subjects it to measurement, so that it can be known for sure. He reduced the mind into the following three, 3 components:

• The unconscious mind, which is also the will.
• The sub-conscious mind or emotion.
• The conscious mind or intellect.

The unconscious mind is so called because it controls the operations of the visceral systems; including the circulatory, respiratory, digestive, excretory, reproductive, endocrine, nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems. These systems are operated by programmes that people do not control. These programmes approximate the N-O exactly. For as long as they are not tampered with, they continue to run with minimum defects, according to the rate of entropy contributed by thermodynamics.

The sub-conscious mind contains programmes that people have written for themselves, to operate by. Every time we make decisions to act, definite procedures are associated with those actions. It is these procedures that are stored in the memory of the sub-conscious mind. This component of the mind is also called the emotion. This is because the emotions that are associated with success or failure, according to how closely the derived procedures approximate the standard, are stored along with the procedures. This storage, like the memory of the unconscious mind, enables reflex actions, which by-pass the conscious mind. The conscious mind is by-passed when the required procedure is already available in memory. Then the emotional or sub-conscious memory becomes known as the heart. This appears to be in recognition of its similarity with the role of the biological heart, which pumps the blood to sustain human life. Our lives are sustained when the heart is programmed correctly.

The conscious mind is the seat of human decisions. Every time a decision is made to act, it is usually dependent on procedures for performing at the associated tasks. It is in the conscious mind that the procedure is derived. Desire originates in the emotion or sub-conscious mind. But it remains dormant until it registers in the will. Then all the strength that is required to fulfil the desire is given, according to the extent of commitment to the project. The motive strength is used to derive the procedure. The more fully the strength is utilised, the closer the derived procedure would be to the standard, or N-O. Then as commitment drops, so does the deviance from the standard increase; as the observed effort becomes less than the motive strength that was made available.

Émile Coué suggested the following relationship between the intellect, F and the emotion, L: L = F². This actually quantifies the appropriateness of the procedures that are stored in the sub-conscious memory or emotion. As the procedures approximate the standard, for F→1, the sub-conscious emotional memory or heart also approximates the unconscious will memory more closely. Then the programmes that define the human character become similar to those that run the visceral systems. And the person is stabilised, approaching steady state, as they become more consistent.

The steady state defines the model human, where the will is designated by the letter-A which represents the attitude of the will. The factor- L actually defines love, the positive of the three, 3 fundamental emotions, including fear and anger. And the factor-F defines faith, according to the assurance that is accorded the procedure that the mind derives. Then the model human is defined by the following relationship: L = 1/A₂ x F². In this case, the attitude of the will, A has been split into the factor-A₁ for appreciation, and factor-A₂ for evaluation. These two, 2 factors are inversely related. But the inverse relationship is not in their nature. Rather it is manifested in their measure. While the factor-A₁ is measured as a positive integer, the factor-A₂ is a fraction.

It is the mind that makes the person. It is improved upon by the learning process. Every time a new decision is made, and a new procedure is registered in the heart, we have learned something new. Equivalently, a growth is recorded in the appropriate section of the brain, as a neuronal extension. The growth in the heart that the neuronal growth represents is defined by a relationship that is the derivative of the relativity model of humans, RMH as follows:

L = 2F ± 1.

This relationship defines the growth model. It actually defines the operation of the second, 2^nd law of thermodynamics. By this law, nature is going down stream, from greater order to greater disorder; like a river in flood. Given that the strength of the flood is F, this also defines the rate of thermodynamic entropy; the rate at which nature is depreciating. Then amount of strength, F would be required to withstand the flood. To swim up-stream at the same rate as the flood, would require twice this strength, for L = 2F. The ± 1 in the growth model represents measurement error.

Thus, while nature is depreciating, humans are expected to appreciate. It would be sufficient to appreciate at the same rate that nature is depreciating. This is the challenge that creation has thrown to humans, to beat nature! How we respond to the challenge entirely determines our growth and happiness. Moreover, the decision is entirely ours. Even more important than these, the quality of this decision can now be measured, as the factors f₀, C, and F. Thanks to the natural order, N-O and the F-Scale.

Knowledge

The common denominator between death and love is knowledge. This is the reason that the concept demands special mention. When knowledge is absent, entropy, and therefore death, lurks. And when knowledge is absent, so also is love. Who ever desires to live must therefore seek knowledge! And who ever desires knowledge, must seek to love. But between love and knowledge, which comes first? The egg and the chicken, which came first? Bottom lines like these demand revelation. When logic backs against the wall and human intellect fails, then revelation resolves the impasse. This does not put revelation beyond justification, however. What is required is the appropriate method. To justify the answer to these questions, a model has been adopted that juxtaposes life and death, presenting life as a system; with knowledge as input and love as output.

Knowledge has been commonly defined as justified, true, belief, JTB. Belief is important to the extent that knowledge determines action. Recall that love, by its nature, is active. The only information that can be acted upon is the one that is believed. This means that un-belief is at the root of in-action. At this point, un-belief and ignorance become synonyms. Ignorance is the absence of knowledge. But when knowledge can not convert into action, then it is as good as absent. If any thing, it is a clog. And this makes it worse than ignorance, being inclusive of a liability. Recall the following quote from Stevie Smith 1902 – 1971, British poet and novelist; in Collected Poems sub-titled, “To the Tune of the Coventry Carol”

The nearly right
And yet not quite
In love is wholly evil
And every heart
That loves in part
Is mortgaged to the devil

 Ignorance would appear to be safer than knowledge that can not be believed. This is what makes truth a sensitive determinant of knowledge. If knowledge can be shown to be true, then it can, and should, be believed. It would be unsafe to believe un-truths. Statistics defines this as type-2 error. Believing un-truths introduce entropy and chaos when acted upon, according to the extent of deviance. This is detected easily when people are sensitive to their choices. When truth is rejected however, this is a type-1 error. It becomes impossible to find the truth, when it is rejected; except by some stroke of chance. Moreover, the resultant entropy continues to accumulate. This requires that people are conversant with basic approaches to the justification of truths. And the procedures must be accessible to the typical human, without any favours.

Truth is justified when its content can be shown to comprise essentials, and not mere appearances. While appearances change, essentials are constant! The essentials define the inner nature of phenomena. They define what makes the phenomenon tick. It is the essentials that sustain phenomena, long after the appearances have decayed. At death for instance, the spirit is known to go back to its giver. The body returns to dust, from which it was made. And the soul, which is the essence of the human nature, goes to its eternal home. The soul does not cease to exist like the spirit and body that change forms. It continues to live, eternally.

Recall Thorndike, in the following dictum:

The only things that can be known for sure,

Are those that can be measured

This is because measurement comprises the following two, 2 activities:

• Identify the essential components of the phenomenon
• Map these into the number line

Then measurement would be sufficient justification for truth. Recall Thorndike in another dictum as follows:

Whatever exists must exist in some quantity

And can, in principle, be measured

Then essence is synonymous with quantity. The synonym becomes obvious when the number of essentials that must be identified can be counted. By the perception model of mind, PMM a mind that operates optimally would identify the five, 5 essential components of phenomena. Typically, phenomena are characterised by an infinite number of components. By this model however, it would be sufficient to identify only five, 5. Correctly done, the five, 5 items would spread to cover the whole spectrum of what can be known about the phenomenon. These would include the following points on the number line:

• The two, 2 extreme points that define the beginning and the end, the top and the bottom, or the positive and the negative aspects of the phenomenon.
• The middle point that defines the centre, or zero point on the number line.
• The points that split the two, 2 halves of the number line in two, 2.

Normally, the five, 5 points would be equidistant of each other. And it would be possible to continue the interpolation process, ad infinitum, to define the infinite number of points that make up the phenomenon; if humans were omniscient. Finding the five, 5 essentials however equates us with the omniscient, sufficiently for our existence. To love, it would be sufficient for humans to know the five, 5 essentials that characterise the object. The sufficiency is to be understood within the following limits:

• Given the five, 5 items we know the end, from the beginning.
• Moreover, when phenomena are characterised by the five items the procedure for making them is at once defined.

Thus, love is not only enabled by whole-spectrum-knowledge, WSK it is assured. And this kind of knowledge is available to every human. It is acquired in two, 2 steps as follows:

• Gather everything that can be known about the phenomenon.
• Identify the essential five, 5 intuitively; so that all the other items are inclusive of the five, 5.

The entropy that people are entitled to contribute would be determined according to the paucity of knowledge about the phenomenon. As the required knowledge becomes available, the entropy contribution that can be allowed drops. Then people would need to make the effort that is required, to access the knowledge; or become exposed to the entropy that is generated. As humanity eases into the knowledge age, the shield that ignorance provides against entropy is being removed. People do not have to be literate to access knowledge. It is sufficient to present one’s self, to learn. And intuition is common to all humanity.

Love: The Fruit of Life

I thought that death is elusive. But love turned out to be even more so. Countee Cullen 1903 – 1946, a US poet, novelist and playwright saw the similarity between these two, 2 when he made the following utterance in Copper Sun, “Variations on a Theme (The Loss of Love)”:

The loss of love is a terrible thing;

They lie who say that death is worse.

 Listen also to Confucius 551 BC – 479 BC, a Chinese philosopher, administrator, and moralist, in Analects:

To love a thing means wanting it to live

 Notice the paradox in the quotes that follow:

Welcome, thou kind deceiver!
Thou best of thieves; who, with an easy key,
Dost open life, and, unperceived by us
Even steal us from ourselves

John Dryden, 1631 – 1700

English poet, playwright, and literary critic.

All for Love

 Those have most power to hurt us that we love

 Beaumont & Fletcher  

English playwrights.

The Maid’s Tragedy

 For Love is of the valley, come thou down
And find him; by the happy threshold, he,
Or hand in hand with Plenty in the maize,
Or red with spirted purple of the vats,
Or foxlike in the vine; nor cares to walk
With Death and Morning on the silver horns

 Alfred Tennyson, 1809 – 1892)

British poet.

The Princess, “Come Down O Maid, From Yonder Mountain Height”

She who has never loved has never lived

 John Gay, 1685 – 1732

English poet and playwright.

The Captives

Love’s pleasure lasts but a moment; love’s sorrow lasts all through life

 Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, 1755 – 1794

French playwright and novelist.

Celestine

Such ever was love’s way; to rise, it stoops

 Robert Browning, 1812 – 1889

British poet.

Dramatis Personae, “A Death in the Desert”

It is Iris Murdoch 1919 – 1999, Irish-born British novelist and philosopher, in “The Sublime and the Good” published in the Chicago Review, who begins to describe love, in the following quote:

Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real

 Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626, an English philosopher, statesman, and lawyer, in Essays, “Of Love” continues with the description; but modifies it to include the different strands and ramifications in which love manifests. Hear him:

Nuptial love maketh mankind;

friendly love perfecteth it; but

wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it

 The Greek have distinguished several different senses in which the word love is used. For instance, Ancient Greek has the words storge, philia, eros, and agape. Eros (ἔρως érōs) is the equivalent of nuptial love referenced above. In Greek thought, it connotes desire, longing, disequilibrium, and is generally sexual in nature. However, in Plato (especially the Symposium and Phaedrus), although eros may start with a particular person as its object, it soon becomes transferred from the particular person to their beauty (a characteristic that in principle another person could possess to the same or a greater degree), and finally it gravitates towards immaterial objects such as the form of beauty itself.

Philia (φιλία philía) in Greek thought is more akin to friendship, and includes fondness and desire for the good of another. In Aristotle, quite stringent conditions are required for reciprocal and recognized philia. These include familiarity, virtue, and equality.

Agapē  (ἀγάπη agápē) is the Christian addition to the forms of affection here recognized, and suggests a less focused, universal benevolence that pays little or no regard to reciprocity.

Storge (στοργή storgē) is the equivalent of the wanton love in the above quote. It is an expression of our humanity, in its most needy form. While agape gives, storge takes. Philia and eros are transitional. This creates a path of growth that removes the fear and anger that are associated with storge in its raw form.

The emotion is a term frequently and familiarly used as synonymous with feeling. In psychology it signifies a reaction involving certain physiological changes, such as an accelerated or retarded pulse rate, the diminished or increased activities of certain glands, or a change in body temperature, which stimulate the individual, or some component part of his or her body, to further activity. The three primary reactions of this type are love, anger, and fear, which occur either as an immediate response to external stimuli or are the result of an indirect subjective process, such as memory, association, or introspection. Anger and fear occur when storge is frustrated.

But people must love themselves before they can love others. Before they can love themselves un-selfishly however, they must know and understand themselves profoundly. This deep understanding of the self is associated with the awareness of one’s essence, and so automatically leads to a healthy self love. Then love reaches out to other people, at that same moment, in recognition of the same essence in them.

What love is, if thou wouldst be taught,
Thy heart must teach
alone
Two souls with but a single thought,
Two hearts that beat as one

 Friedrich Halm, 1806 – 1871

German playwright and poet.Published in Germany in 1842.

Ingomar the Barbarian  (Maria Lovell (tr.))

 Time was away and somewhere else,
There were two glasses and two chairs
And two people with one pulse

 Louis MacNeice, 1907 – 1963

Irish-born British poet.

Holes in the Sky, “Meeting Point”

Two souls in one, two hearts into one heart

 Guillaume du Bartas, 1544 – 1590

French poet.

Divine Weekes and Workes, “First Week, Sixth Day”

The nearly right
And yet not quite
In love is wholly evil
And every heart
That loves in part
Is mortgaged to the devil

 Stevie Smith, 1902 – 1971

British poet and novelist.

Collected Poems, “To the Tune of the Coventry Carol”

Maid of Athens, ere we part,
Give, oh give me back my heart!
Or, since that has left my breast,
Keep it now, and take the rest!

Lord Byron, 1788 – 1824

British poet.

“Maid of Athens, Ere We Part”

Of all tales ’tis the saddest—and more sad,
Because it makes us smile

Lord Byron, 1788 – 1824)

British poet.

Don Juan

There are some feelings time cannot benumb,
Nor torture shake, or mine would now be cold and dumb

Lord Byron, 1788 – 1824

British poet.

Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

‘There are strings,’ said Mr Tappertit,

 ‘in the human heart that had better not be vibrated.’

Charles Dickens, 1812 – 1870

British novelist.

Barnaby Rudge

No cord nor cable can so forcibly draw,

or hold so fast, as love can do with a twined thread

Robert Burton, 1577 – 1640

English scholar and churchman.

The Anatomy of Melancholy

And now good morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear

John Donne, 1572? – 1631

English metaphysical poet and divine.

Songs and Sonnets, “The Good-Morrow”

If you could see my legs when I take my boots off,

you’d form some idea of what unrequited affection is

Charles Dickens, 1812 – 1870

British novelist.Said by Mr. Toots.

Dombey and Son

It has been said that love robs those who have it of their wit,

and gives it to those who have none

Denis Diderot, 1713 – 1784

French encyclopedist and philosopher.

Paradoxe sur le comédien

It is preferable to change the world on the basis of love of mankind.

 But if that quality be too rare, then common sense seems the next best thing

Bessie Head, 1937 – 1986

South African writer.

Maru 

To love is to live

Not to love is to die

 Agape Consultants

The common denominator between death and love is knowledge. When knowledge is absent, entropy, and therefore death, lurks. More over when knowledge is absent, so also is love. Who ever desires to live must therefore seek knowledge! And who ever desires knowledge, must seek to love. But between love and knowledge, which comes first; the egg and the chicken, which came first?

Given life, love becomes the output; and knowledge, the input. All three, 3 exist together. To have one, 1 without the others is to have a tripod that is incomplete. The reason that knowledge is important is the nature of love.

Firstly, by its nature, love cannot exist alone. It needs an object, on which to express itself.

Secondly, the expression of love is optimum when the object is like the lover.

These define the origin of the pain that has been so commonly associated with love. They turn love into a valley, according to how far the object is, below the benefactor. Then the giver must stoop, to conquer. And the pain must persist, as long as the beneficiary is not able to respond appropriately. And very often, they are not able to; which is precisely what positions them to need love. Among humans, the first, 1^st responsibility of the lover would therefore be to give self-knowledge to the beneficiary. And to respond appropriately, receivers must be learners.

With humans, love is reciprocal because we all start from the same point of ignorance. Recall John Locke, with the tabula rasa principle. The pain is not only shared, but multiplied, for this same reason. Each of us contributes a certain amount of entropy that makes our assent more difficult and painful. Sometimes this leads beyond the blisters of a sore foot, to death.

But what is this human nature that at once gives us our being, and holds us captive? We have begun to peek into it, in systematising life; with knowledge as input, and love as output. And in the juxtaposition of life and death, so that when the input and the output to life are absent, then death lurks.

Death: Where is thy Sting?

Look at this quote from Explicit Mysterium,  by Henri de Montherlant (1896 – 1972), a French novelist and playwright:

A lot of people, on the verge of death, utter famous last words or stiffen into attitudes…they still want to arouse admiration and adopt a pose and tell a lie with their last gasp.

Then hear what has been attributed to Georges Cuvier (1769 – 1832), a French zoologist and anatomist, on his deathbed when the nurse came to apply leeches:

Nurse, it was I who discovered that leeches have red blood

Compare this to the last words of François Rabelais (1494? – 1553?), a French humanist and satirist:

Bring down the curtain, the farce is over

Look also at the quotes that follow:

You can keep the things of bronze and stone and give me one man to remember me just once a year

                                                                  Damon Runyon (1880 – 1946)

                                                                              U.S. writer

It is high time for me to depart, for at my age I now begin to see things as they really are

                                                       Bernard le Bovier Fontenelle (1657 – 1757)

                                                  French philosopher

I have lived carefully, sheltered myself from the cold winds, eaten moderately of what was in season, drunk fine claret, slept in my own sheets; I shall live long

                                                                      Evelyn Waugh (1903 – 1966)

                                                                                   Lord Marchmain

Life is so beautiful that the idea of death must itself arise first before it can be fulfilled

                                               Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839 – 1908)

                                                       Brazilian novelist and short-story writer

The worth of a man is certain only if he is prepared to sacrifice his own life for his convictions

                                                 Henning von Tresckow (1901 – 1944)

                                                          German general plotted against Adolf Hitler

                                                         These words are from his suicide note

Now I’ll have eine kleine Pause

                                                 Kathleen Ferrier (1912 – 1953)

                                                          British contralto 

                                                         Said shortly before her death

What then is this mystery called death that has elicited these myriad reactions from people? According to the Bible, death is an enemy, the last of the enemies that will be destroyed (1Corinthians, 15²⁶).  Notice the melancholy, and the enmity that is implied in the quotes that follow:

Life is a kind doctor who gives us death
in small daily doses
so that when at last, we drink
death’s dark wine,
we have already tasted its bitterness

                Anna Sujartha Modayil (1934 – ) Indian poet in;

               The Voice of the Indian Poets, “Stones”  ( Pranab Bandyopadhyay (ed.)

Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it

                                       Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) U.S. writer in;

                                              The Maine Woods, “Chesuncook”

When I consider the impermanence of everything in this world, then I can find no delight in it. Yes, if this triad of old age, illness, and death did not exist, then all this loveliness would surely give me great pleasure

                                                                                       Anonymous  

For when Death in all its ferocity has arrived on the scene, no bargaining can ward him off, no gifts, no attempt at sowing dissension, no force of arms, and no restraint

                                                                                        Anonymous  

I feel nothing, apart from a certain difficulty in continuing to exist

                                                  Bernard le Bovier Fontenelle (1657 – 1757)

                                                           French philosopher

                                                          Remark made on his deathbed, at the age of 99

I pant, I sink, I tremble, I expire!

                                                             Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 – 1822)

                                                                        English poet in;

                                                                       “Epipsychidion”

I inhabit a weak, frail, decayed tenement; battered by the winds and broken in on by the storms, and, from all I can learn, the landlord does not intend to repair

                                                                John Quincy Adams (1767 – 1848)

                                                                           U.S. president

                                                                          Said during his last illness

Death is the consequence of the entropy that a person contributes; when it has exceeded the limits, to overwhelm the person. Then he/she is occluded, and transits. Elsewhere, this writer has argued that the transition is from the Platonian world of objects, into the world of forms. Recall that Plato described forms as perfect. And objects are crude replicas of the forms. Then the objects would be refined, to the extent that the procedure by which they are made approximates the standard.

The standard procedure is derived from the natural order, N-O. It follows the principles that underlie our world. Then the amount of entropy or chaos that a person contributes would be directly related to the extent of deviation from the standard. The greater the deviance, the more the chaos would be.

Nature is founded on the principle of relativity. This principle is operationalised in the second law of thermodynamics. Thus, our world is going down-slope, like a river in flood; tending from greater order, to greater disorder. And this happens at a certain constant rate. When the entropy that a person contributes exceeds this natural rate, then it becomes inimical, and capable of causing the occlusion that is death. Death would be swift or slow, according to the extent to which the person is overwhelmed. Recall Anna Sujartha Modayil and Evelyn Waugh respectively, as follows:

Life is a kind doctor who gives us death
in small daily doses
so that when at last, we drink
death’s dark wine,
we have already tasted its bitterness

I have lived carefully, sheltered myself from the cold winds, eaten moderately of what was in season, drunk fine claret, slept in my own sheets; I shall live long

Recall also Bernard le Bovier Fontenelle and Percy Bysshe Shelley respectively as follows:

I feel nothing, apart from a certain difficulty in continuing to exist

I pant, I sink, I tremble, I expire!

The sting of death would therefore be entropy! Then wherever entropy is found, death would be lurking. This means that there is death all around us, because of the natural entropy that is generated, according to the 2^nd law of thermodynamics. This allows every person a certain maximum longevity. But this can be shortened, according to the extent to which the person’s entropy contribution exceeds the natural one. Longevity can only be shortened; it can not be elongated, beyond the sum that nature has prescribed. To match this sum, is to approximate the natural order, N-O. And to shorten it, is to deviate from the N-O.

It is in learning that the approximation or deviance is achieved. Learning is accomplished when the N-O is approximated exactly. Deviance would therefore be an indicator of the failure to have learned. The N-O is approximated when the standard procedure series, SPS is reconstructed.

This writer follows John Locke to agree that humans are born tabula rasa, without any prior knowledge. However, this is restricted to knowledge that has been acquired consciously. Émile Coué reduced the mind into the following three, 3 sections:

•       The conscious mind
•       The sub-conscious mind, and
•       The unconscious mind

The unconscious mind has been programmed to run the visceral systems, including the circulatory, respiratory, digestive, excretory, reproductive, endocrine, nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems. And these programmes approximate the N-O exactly. But the sub-conscious mind is programmed individually, by every person, through the learning process.  It is from this memory that pre-meditated human actions are directed. The programmes that are stored in this memory have been derived in the conscious mind, the sit of thought and meditation.

The learning process comprises the following four, 4 activities:

Every human action originates in the sub-conscious mind, which is also the heart or emotion. This is where desire is resident.

But desire remains dormant until it registers in the will as motive strength. This releases all the energy that is available for the attainment of the desire, according to the extent of commitment to the project. The will is also the unconscious mind.

The Motive strength is expended by the intellect or conscious mind, to derive the process for desire attainment.

The process is then stored in the heart memory, which is also the resident of the desire that originated its derivation.

Commitment determines the effort that the person is willing to make, for desire attainment. It is inclusive of all the moral and ethical undertones of the project. People who are committed to do things right, muster the maximum energy that is available. The strength that is utilised drops, with the commitment to do things right. The strength that is available for the attainment of the desire is evaluated my measuring the procedure that is derived, against the N-O. Then deviance is measured on the factor-F as the amount of entropy that has been generated. The factor-F is best at a unity, for F = 1. It drops as the F-Score increases. So does entropy. And the sting of death.