Mystical Environmental Philosopher
“If one was to observe the pattern of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations that have occurred on the Earth, a massive fall over a prolonged period (from 5000ppm to 280ppm on the Earth), followed by an abrupt spike (from 280ppm to over 400ppm on the Earth), on any life-bearing planet, then this would be a sign that all is well on that planet. It indicates that the ‘first line of defence’ has done its job and that life on that planet is well on its way to bringing forth its ‘main line of defence’.
If one is observing the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations on a distantly located life-bearing planet, and there is a prolonged fall over a long period of time, but there is no sign of an abrupt spike, then one should be deeply and increasingly worried for the life on that planet. One would be praying to see such a spike soon, for without it one would know that the life that resides there would be hurtling towards extinction. In other words, one would be praying to see global warming that has been initiated by that planet’s master modifier.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 29
The life-forms of the Earth do cheer.
For, my Mysterious Prince is here!
Come out of your seclusion.
Free the human species from its delusion!
Use your unique insight, wisdom & learning.
Prevent this beautiful world from burning!
F. H.
“The purpose of this book is to enable you to come to appreciate the force that propels the unfolding of the Universe. This unfolding encompasses everything, from the formation of planets, to the development of human culture. This force has inevitably brought forth the world that we live in today: a world dominated by technology, a world marked by the human transformation of the face of the Earth, a world which is in grave peril from the phenomenon of global warming.
The coming into being of this world was always on the cards. The coming into being of this world is not a freakish accident. This world, with its technology, its human transformation, and its global warming, is a part of the unfolding Universe, a part of our unfolding Solar System, as it progresses through the millennia to increasingly optimal states.
When one comes to know the force that propels the unfolding of the Universe, then one will know that attempting to deal with the phenomenon of global warming through fossil fuel emission reduction efforts is misplaced. Such efforts will achieve nothing good. Let us hope that they do not do too much harm, by distracting us from the actions that are needed to save life on Earth from the impending peril that it faces from the phenomenon of global warming.
If fossil fuel emission reduction efforts continue to be the mainstay of our response to global warming, the result will be significant global warming in the upcoming decades and centuries. This global warming will cause significant climate change, and the extreme flooding and heat events that this entails will, in turn, cause immense death and suffering that could have been avoided. If fossil fuel emission reduction efforts are the mainstay of our response to the phenomenon of global warming, then the ultimate result will be the obliteration of life on Earth.
The force that propels the unfolding of the Universe has already, inevitably, taken us to the place where fossil fuel emission reduction efforts are a hopeless distraction. Such efforts are analogous to attempting to extinguish a 2000 hectare blazing inferno by using the water that is in a child’s water pistol. This is the tragic state that we are currently in; we have been deluded into believing that using the child’s water pistol is a good idea. If we focus on fossil fuel emission reduction efforts as our strategy to avert global warming, and to avert death and suffering, then the result will be massive global warming and immense death and suffering. Immense death and suffering that could have been avoided if we retired the pistol and took a different approach.
We are cosmic puppets, who have temporarily been deluded into believing that we are fundamentally a destructive parasite, a destroyer of life. We have been temporarily deluded into believing that it is solely our actions that have put the planet in peril, and that we therefore need to act quickly to reign in our activities, to minimise our impact on the Earth, and thereby ‘save the planet’. In reality, averting calamity for life on Earth requires us to simply embrace who we are, embrace what we are, to power forward, and to embrace our destiny.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021
Our Questions
“Life, what is it all about? Does the existence of the human species matter? In other words, is the human species cosmically significant, or is it just one species among many? If the human species is not just one species among many, why is it cosmically significant? What does it mean to be cosmically significant? How does cosmic significance relate to the nature of the Universe? How does the nature of the human species relate to the nature of the Universe? Why has the human species come to dominate the planet? Why has the human species acted so as to bring forth a plethora of pressing environmental issues, the most important of which is the phenomenon of human-induced global warming? These are our questions.
Our questions are outside the realm of science. Science does not encroach into questions of cosmic significance, or questions of the fundamental nature of that which it measures and predicts.
Our questions are also outside the realm of philosophy. Philosophy entails rational critique, but the conclusions that are reached, whilst intellectually plausible, and rigorously thought through, are either uninteresting trivialities or nothing but mere speculation. In the latter case, an alternative view can be just as intellectually plausible and robust.
Our questions are outside the realm of environmentalism. Environmentalists take the data provided by scientists and draw their own conclusions based on this data. This scientific data, the measurements and predictions, are wholly unimbued with anything relating to cosmic significance, or the fundamental nature of reality. Environmentalists can bring to the table their own personal philosophical worldview, but such a worldview is divorced from scientific data, whilst being grounded in philosophical speculation.
All of these things – science, philosophy, environmentalism – have value, they just don’t enable our questions to be answered. The domain of our questions is the domain of mystical environmental philosophy. Mystical environmental philosophy is grounded in an immediate apprehension of the nature of the Universe. Once this mystical apprehension has occurred, our questions can gradually be answered, as this apprehension fuses with the environmental awareness that has arisen from science and the rational philosophical ability to synthesise and express.
This entire book is an expression of mystical environmental philosophy. You might love it, or be repulsed by it, or be wholly indifferent to it. I hope that you love reading it as much as I have loved writing it. However, all of these responses are fine, because stark differences in belief, in personality, and in lifestyle, are an extremely important part of our cosmic significance. It is these differences which enable both human culture, and the Solar-Systic whole, to progress in a desirable direction, through time, as the millennia come and go.
Let us start by answering our questions. The answers might initially strike you as odd, because the purpose of this book is to enable you to come to see the truth of these answers. Such a seeing, such an appreciation, is not your starting point; it is your end destination.
Life, what is it all about?
The Universe strives to come into its optimal state: the non-living Universe strives to become living, and the living Universe strives to become human. The optimal state of the Universe is the human species. Humans following their passions, and fulfilling their potential, is a wonderful thing for themselves, for the planet, and for the Universe. Such a following utilises the amazing abilities that have been provided to us by our Solar System, and it enables the human species to fulfil its cosmic purpose.
Does the existence of the human species matter? In other words, is the human species cosmically significant, or is it just one species among many?
The existence of the human species is immensely cosmically important. The human species is the most valuable and precious life-form that has ever lived, and will ever live, on the Earth.
If the human species is not just one species among many, why is it cosmically significant?
The human species is cosmically significant because it is the saviour of life on Earth. If the human species did not come into existence on the Earth, then the life that has arisen on the Earth would go out of existence.
What does it mean to be cosmically significant?
To talk of a life-form being cosmically significant, is to say that the Universe would be in a vastly inferior state if this life-form did not exist. The human species is cosmically significant. The various species that we call elephants are not cosmically significant. If all the elephants that exist on the Earth were to suddenly die, the Earth, and the Universe, would move to an inferior state. For, the existence of life is preferable to the non-existence of life. However, this move to an inferior state would not be a cosmically significant change, for whilst it is an inferior state, it is not a vastly inferior state.
How does cosmic significance relate to the nature of the Universe? How does the nature of the human species relate to the nature of the Universe?
The Universe is comprised of feelings. Feelings occupy space. The objects that we see around us are collections of such feelings. The more intense a particular collection of feelings is, the more cosmically significant it is. The parts of the Universe that are living are more intense collections of feelings than the parts of the Universe that are non-living. The most intense feelings that exist in the Universe are to be found in the human species. So, the cosmic significance of the human species, the nature of the human species, is directly related to the nature of the Universe. A greater ability to modify is a greater intensity of feeling.
Why has the human species come to dominate the planet?
The human species has come to dominate the planet because humans, like all life-forms, act in accordance with their nature. The nature of life-forms is the nature of the Universe. The non-living Universe was acting in accordance with its nature when it brought forth life. The living Universe was acting in accordance with its nature when it brought forth the human species. The human species acts in accordance with its nature. The activities of the human species arise from its nature. The human species has the same nature as everything else in the Universe; it has come to dominate the planet because it is the epitome of the nature of the Universe. In other words, the fundamental qualities of the human species are the maximal expression of the fundamental nature of the Universe.
Why has the human species acted so as to bring forth a plethora of pressing environmental issues, the most important of which is the phenomenon of human-induced global warming?
The human species has always acted in accordance with its nature, a nature which is the maximal expression of the nature of the Universe. In the past few decades, this expression has escalated and blossomed, and some of the outcomes of this blossoming expression have been labelled as ‘environmental issues’. This blossoming expression, along with its associated environmental issues, are an aspect of the cosmic significance of the human species; they are a stepping stone on the journey to the human species fulfilling its cosmic purpose of saving life on Earth. The phenomenon of human-induced global warming is the most important environmental issue. It is simultaneously a sign that life on Earth is thriving, an indicator of immense danger arising from a non-human source, a bringer of impending doom, and the precipitator of the human species fulfilling its cosmic purpose.
It is now time for you to delve into your journey of insight, so that you can eventually come to appreciate the truth of these answers.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021
Sections
Two Forces for Global Warming 1
Global Warming & Human Cosmic Purpose 17
Human Purpose & the Universal Pursuit of Ecstasy 57
Gaian Wisdom, Astrology & Scientific Knowledge 195
Friedrich Hölderlin & the Environmental Crisis 207
The “Mysterious Prince” 225
Technology, Environmentalism & the Nature of the Universe 229
The Oceanic Travelling Carbon Dioxide Gushes Out into a Vastly Changed World 235
Two Forces for Global Warming
“Do you know that there are two different forces for global warming? I am sure that you are aware of the phenomenon of human-induced global warming, because we are living through the stage of Solar-Systic unfoldment in which there is inevitably an extremely widespread and increasing awareness of this phenomenon. What you might not be aware of is that human-induced global warming is a force which has come into existence against the backdrop of a pre-existing force for global warming, a force for the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere which we can call the force for non-human-induced global warming. It is crucial to appreciate the subtle interconnections between these two forces. For, the force for non-human-induced global warming is a long-standing force, which has set the planetary scene, the planetary conditions, against the backdrop of which the force for human-induced global warming has emerged. Furthermore, the Earth, and our Solar System, are tightly interconnected unfolding wholes, and it is essential to take this into account when considering the emergence of the phenomenon that is human-induced global warming.
It is extremely dangerous to consider the phenomenon of human-induced global warming as an isolated phenomenon, as a human-created problem that is divorced from the wider Solar-Systic context in which it is situated. The force for human-induced global warming, as a non-trivial force, is made possible because of the existence of the force for non-human-induced global warming, and the way that life on Earth has responded to this force. For, a powerful force for human-induced global warming requires the existence of an enormous amount of fossil fuels, and if the force for non-human-induced global warming did not exist, an enormous amount of fossil fuels would not have been created on the Earth. In other words, if it wasn’t for the previous existence of the force for non-human-induced global warming, life on Earth would not face a danger from human-induced global warming. Human-induced global warming has to be seen in the context of non-human-induced global warming, and in the context of our unfolding Earth / Solar System, because it is an immensely significant part of this unfolding.
Whilst the bringing forth of technology heralds the prospect of a bright future, it also brings with it imminent danger. The bringing forth of technology ushers the near future forward to the present. The bringing forth of technology brings things to a head. The bringing forth of technology is a watershed moment on the Earth. For, whilst the bringing forth of technology facilitates a long-term future for life on Earth, its coming into being brings with it a period of disruption which actually threatens the existence of life on Earth. So, whilst life on Earth was in peril before the coming into existence of the human species / technology; this peril was not a dire emergency. The bringing into existence of technology brings the peril forward from the near future to the present. We thus face a dire emergency in the upcoming decades and centuries.
We are currently living through a one-off transformation, a spectacular metamorphosis that will only ever happen once on the Earth, as the effects of the bringing forth of technology pervade the planet and bring the situation to a head. After the coming centuries have passed there are two possible futures. Either technology will have taken control of the Earth’s atmospheric temperature and the life that has arisen on the Earth will have a long and glorious future, or all will be lost and life will be decimated. The bringing of things to a head, this one-off event, can be thought of as the mother of all perfect storms. You know that life on Earth was in peril before the human species came into existence. Indeed, to overcome this peril, through bringing into being a technological force for global cooling, is the reason why the human species was brought forth into existence. Yet, it is the very activities that are involved in bringing forth technology, technology that is needed to save life on Earth, that have brought the future peril that life on Earth was facing into the present, thereby giving rise to the perfect storm that is about to hit the Earth.
We cannot shirk our responsibility. We cannot hide away and evade our nature. If we attempt to deny our nature, and to immediately slash our fossil fuel use, we would continue to fail.
And even if we were to succeed in this endeavour, that would also be a failure; it is the wrong objective; it is an objective that cannot possibly achieve its desired outcome, which is to provide a stable and sustainable atmospheric temperature that is conducive to the continued thriving of the life-forms that reside on the Earth.
We need to come face-to-face with our cosmic purpose, with our responsibility to save life on Earth, and get to work. The more we dither and delay, the greater the extent of the global warming that will occur, and the greater will be the unnecessary suffering and death to the life-forms of the Earth.
The planet that existed before technology came into being is never to be returned to. Things have moved on and a completely different world exists. The epoch of the bringing forth of technology brings things to a head: the previous slow demise of the ability of life on Earth to counterbalance increasing incoming solar radiation, is now replaced by an urgent need for its replacement with a technological substitute.
Far from being a problem, the human release of the stored fossil fuels is part of the solution to the pre-existing problem; for, it is an indicator that life on Earth is thriving, that life on Earth has become technological, that life on Earth is well on its way to saving itself. We just need to embrace our destiny and complete the job.
The hard work has already been done; the hard work was the bringing into existence of the human species. We need to become aware of our destiny, of our cosmic purpose, of the realities of our nature and of our unfolding Earth / Solar System. The force for human-induced global warming is part of the solution to the main issue that life on Earth faces, which is the need to counterbalance the force for non-human-induced global warming.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 pp. 1-14
The Nature of the Universe
The first step of one’s journey into the depths of the Universe is to fully come to terms with the obvious fact that the ‘everyday world’ of objects that one interacts with is created by one’s perceptual interactions with the Universe.
The Universe itself, the Universe in its unobserved state, is a deeply interconnected web of feelings. We are unable to observe these feelings. We are unable to observe these interconnections. The ‘everyday world’ in which we operate involves distinct individual objects that we can only ever observe the ‘exterior’ of.
We can refer to the Universe in its unobserved state as ‘the hierarchy of spatio-temporal embeddedness’. In the hierarchy there is no such thing as ‘the exterior’ and ‘the interior’; there are just feelings interacting with each other more or less deeply in accordance with both their qualitative nature and with how temporally and spatially acquainted they are with each other.
“The things that exist in ‘the hierarchy of spatio-temporal embeddedness’ are not distinct isolated things that answer to a particular label. All things in the hierarchy interfuse with other things to varying degrees. All things in the hierarchy are simultaneously lots of things.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 94
The Universal Pursuit of Ecstasy
“If we seek a pithy phrase to describe ‘the way that things are’, then our phrase is: ‘the universal pursuit of ecstasy’. What on earth does this mean?! The word ‘universal’ refers to every part of the Universe. The word ‘pursuit’ refers to the ‘inner states’ of these parts, and the way that these states change from moment to moment, continuously qualitatively transforming themselves into new states; every part of the Universe is a qualitative feeling that is in pursuit of more preferable feeling.
The continuous transformation of these states, this process of change, gives rise to what we might want to call ‘evolution’; that is, evolution of our Solar System, evolution of the Earth, evolution of life, evolution of individual life-forms, evolution of human culture; that is, evolution of everything. The word ‘ecstasy’ refers to the state which these parts are seeking to attain, the state which they are striving after; it is the end-point of everything; it is the goal which is universally sought; it is the state of maximal excitement and exhilaration.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 pp. 76-77
‘Increasingly Intense Pleasantness’
“The universal pursuit of ecstasy is a pursuit that involves the striving for feelings that are pleasant, as opposed to unpleasant, and that are ideally also more intense. A higher intensity of pleasant feeling is the most desirable form of pleasantness. We can refer to this process, the universal pursuit of ecstasy, as the striving for ‘increasingly intense pleasantness’. This phrase encapsulates the desire of all things in the Universe to experience both feelings that they find to be pleasant, as opposed to unpleasant, and to feel more deeply, more intensely. When a thing attains ‘increasingly intense pleasantness’ it will have a heightened level of excitement/exhilaration.
If the opportunity arises, as a thing interacts with its surroundings, for that thing to experience ‘increasingly intense pleasantness’, then that feeling is grabbed and held onto, whilst any feelings that are experienced that are unpleasant are pushed away. This ‘grabbing and holding onto’ involves a thing expanding in size through transforming itself into a new thing; whilst, ‘pushing away’ involves a thing maintaining its size. What exactly it means to talk of a ‘thing’ in this context will only become clear as our journey progresses. For now, we can imagine that the entire Universe is represented by a sealed room and that within this room there are a plethora of tiny balls. These balls are continuously bouncing around the room, bouncing off the walls of the room and bouncing into each other. In terms of the universal pursuit of ecstasy, each ball represents a part of the Universe, which means that it is a particular feeling state. If, as two balls approach each other, they find that they are experiencing ‘increasingly intense pleasantness’, then they grab and hold onto each other; in this way they become a new thing. If, as two balls approach each other, they find that they are experiencing unpleasantness, then they push each other away. If, as two balls approach each other, one of them experiences ‘increasingly intense pleasantness’, whilst the other experiences unpleasantness, then there is a struggle and the ball which has the most intense feeling, the deepest level of feeling, will prevail. These diverse experiences are the type of acquaintance between two things that we are calling ‘interaction’. As two balls get closer to each other their level of interaction with each other increases.
Whilst our balls are bouncing around they will experience a diverse range of feelings that they find to be both pleasant and unpleasant, but there is an inevitable movement through time in the direction of ‘increasingly intense pleasantness’. However, we need to appreciate that once things attain a higher intensity of pleasant feelings there is a price to pay, for, they then leave themselves vulnerable to experiencing unpleasant feelings of a higher intensity. The intensely unpleasant is the price that needs to be paid for the attainment of the intensely pleasant.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 pp. 81-2
Ecstasy
“Every thing in the universe is a particular feeling. Feelings are states of excitement/exhilaration. Things strive to feel more intensely/pleasantly and it is this striving which drives the unfolding of the universe. As the universe unfolds, as solar systems unfold, increasingly intense feelings come into existence. Increasingly intense feelings arise from an increasing ability to modify. The human species is the state of maximal universal excitement which all parts of the universe strive to attain, but which very few will become.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 92
‘Increasingly intense pleasantness’ arises from the increasing ability of a thing to modify its surroundings, rather than to be modified by those surroundings. The human species is, therefore, simultaneously the maximal state of universal excitement and the master modifier. In other words, the human species is ecstasy.
Life on Earth’s ‘First Line of Defence’
“Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations on the Earth used to be 5000 parts per million (ppm). That is not a typing mistake, I didn’t mean to say five hundred ppm; there used to be five thousand ppm of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere! Where has all that carbon dioxide gone?
As our Solar System has unfolded the amount of solar radiation that has been propelled to the Earth from the Sun has continuously increased. This continuous increasing is a force for the warming of the Earth’s atmospheric temperature. If this force wasn’t offset by an opposing force, the Earth’s atmospheric temperature would now be far too hot for life to be thriving. Yet, life on Earth is currently positively thriving.
Life on Earth is currently positively thriving because it has responded with an opposing force, in order to keep its atmospheric temperature favourable for its continued flourishing. This opposing force is the pulling of carbon dioxide out of the Earth’s atmosphere and its storage under the Earth’s surface. This is why atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have fallen from 5000ppm to only a few hundred ppm.
When the human species started to have a significant impact on the Earth, at the start of the Industrial Revolution, life on Earth had offset increasing incoming solar radiation to such an extent that the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide had fallen from 5000ppm to 280ppm. That is a colossal reduction! Through this colossal reduction life on Earth has been able to prevent its atmospheric temperature from rising to a level that is too hot for life to survive and thrive.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 pp. 25-26
The rainforests and the oceans are the lifeblood of life on Earth’s ‘first line of defence’ against non-human-induced global warming. They are the mechanism through which life on Earth has reduced its greenhouse effect through removing carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere and locking it away, as carbon, under the surface of the Earth. If this ‘first line of defence’ did not exist the Earth’s atmospheric temperature would, in the year 2021, be way too hot to enable the thriving of life on Earth. The only reason that we exist is that life on Earth has utilised the greenhouse effect, it has removed carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere and has thereby prevented the Earth’s atmospheric temperature from rising in the face of non-human-induced global warming. This first ‘line of defence’ has been operating for a very long-time, but it had to expire one day. And this day of expiration is getting much closer with every passing day!
Life on Earth’s ‘Main Line of Defence’
“What does this mean for the future of life on Earth? The amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth is only going to keep on increasing in the future. How can life on Earth continue to thrive in the face of this continued continuous increasing? What has happened in the past clearly cannot continue. In the past, a fall from 5000ppm to 280ppm has been required to offset the increasing solar radiation and thereby maintain the Earth’s atmospheric temperature. Atmospheric carbon dioxide cannot fall much lower than this. One can easily comprehend that, if what has been needed in the past, was to continue to work in the future, then atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations would not only need to fall to zero, they would ultimately have to fall to minus several thousand!! That is obviously not possible!”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 26
If life on Earth is to have a long and glorious future then it needs to replace its fatally impaled ‘first line of defence’ with it’s ‘main line of defence’. The ‘main line of defence’ entails the deployment of technology to deflect incoming solar radiation away from the Earth. This deployment of technology can be referred to as ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’, because when it has been deployed the future existence and flourishing of life on Earth will be secure.
The Age of the Technological Explosion
“One curious aspect of the bringing forth of the main line of defence – the sufficient deployment of technology – is that it entails a partial reversal of the first line of defence. The main line of defence requires a master modifier to bring it into being, and a master modifier does what you might expect. The master modifier explores and investigates its home planet in great detail; it sees every ‘thing’ as a resource that it can utilise and transform, and it doesn’t just see this, it acts accordingly. Investigate; utilise; explore; transform; mould; investigate more; transform more. The master modifier is at work!! In order to power its ‘technological explosion’ the master modifier needed to utilise the resource that was created by the first line of defence. Recall that the first line of defence involved life on Earth removing carbon dioxide from its atmosphere and transforming it into carbon which was stored under the surface of the Earth. We have created the term ‘fossil fuels’ to refer to some of this stored carbon. The master modifier uses its primal technologies to remove fossil fuels from under the surface of the Earth in order to power the ‘technological explosion’ which leads to the bringing forth of the main line of defence.
So, the act of bringing forth technology to ensure the future survival of life on Earth entails a partial reversal of that which was previously conducive to the continued survival of life on Earth. In other words, in the era of the first line of defence the war between life on Earth and the Sun entails progressively lower atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations being favourable for life on Earth, yet the bringing forth of life on Earth’s main line of defence entails temporarily raising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations used to be 5000ppm, but due to the first line of defence they were only 280ppm at the start of the Industrial Revolution. The partial reversal has nudged this figure up to just over 400ppm. That these two opposing movements – the massive fall followed by the tiny increase – are both to be welcomed, might seem to be slightly paradoxical, even contradictory, yet it is actually quite wonderful. One stage of the unfolding journey that is the universal pursuit of ecstasy has provided the resources (resources that we now call ‘fossil fuels’) that the next stage of the universal pursuit of ecstasy requires. How amazing is the universal pursuit of ecstasy! What is needed gets provided!”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 146
We are currently living through the Age of the Technological Explosion. This epoch is of immense importance as it involves the bringing forth of the technological devices that enable the human species to fulfil its cosmic purpose.
The Guilt-tinged Nature of the Age of the Technological Explosion
“Bringing forth its ‘main line of defence’ requires life on a planet to go through a technological explosion. More specifically, a stage in Solar-Systic unfoldment is reached when, due to the inevitable impending impotence of its ‘first line of defence’, the epoch of the technological explosion is needed if a thriving life-bearing planet is to continue to flourish; without it, life on that planet is doomed. However, it is also an atrocious epoch; a truly ghastly period of Solar-Systic unfoldment. The bringing forth of technology entails the bringing forth of immense disruption, large destabilisations and tremendous suffering. These things come into being as the bringer forth of technology explores its planet, as it learns how to master the resources that are at its disposal, as it hones its abilities as the master modifier of its Solar System.
As technology explodes on a planet, suffering also explodes on that planet. The master modifier itself suffers immensely, as do the life-forms which the master modifier inevitably sees as resources for its use. The nature of the master modifier, the human species, is to master modify. So, the master modifier master modifies.
However, a point eventually comes, in the midst of the technological explosion, when the master modifier realises that its master modifications have had consequences that it did not foresee. The master modifier was just acting in accordance with its nature; it didn’t think about consequences; indeed, until very late in the day there were no significant consequences to be thought about. Almost in the blink of an eye the human population size exploded, technology exploded, and the master modifier suddenly had a massive disruptive and destabilising impact on the Earth. When the master modifier comes to realise that its past actions have serious consequences, when it comes face-to-face with the suffering that it has brought into being, when it comes to realise the extent to which it has destabilised the biogeochemical cycles of the Earth, then it naturally becomes overwhelmed with guilt.
There is fear, there is anguish, and there is despair. What have we done to the planet? Why are we so selfish, and greedy, and stupid? We need to stop what we are doing! We need to rein in our activities!! Such is the initial response of the master modifier when it comes to realise the extent of its impact on the Earth in the ‘guilt-tinged’ age of the technological explosion.
This initial response, this guilt, explains the urgings of those who want us to ‘save the planet’ from the destructive and destabilising activities of the human species. Those who urge us to rein in our activity in order to ‘save the planet’ are overwhelmed by the guilt that comes to pervade human culture in the ‘guilt-tinged’ age of the technological explosion.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 pp. 27-28
You will come to appreciate that when the human species is in the midst of the epoch that is the age of the technological explosion, for a fleeting period it comes to feel very guilty about the transformations that it has made to the Earth. This fleeting period comes to an end on ‘the day of the realisation of cosmic purpose’.
The Three Strands of Human Delusion
“In the age of the technological explosion the human species becomes deluded. There are three strands to this delusion. Firstly, the human species is deluded because it does not realise that it is the precious saviour of life on Earth; rather, it believes that it is fundamentally a destructive influence on the Earth, as far as life is concerned. Secondly, the human species is deluded into believing that the non-human animals it shares the planet with are fundamentally different to humans, when in reality they are not. Thirdly, the human species is deluded into believing that it has a fairly good understanding of the nature of the Universe, the world that surrounds it, when in reality it does not.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 32
The human species needs to be pervaded with these three types of delusion, in the age of the technological explosion, in order to be able to fulfil its cosmic purpose.
The Inversion of Causation in the Environmental Crisis
“The partial reversal of the first line of defence is currently widely seen in the context of an overwhelmingly dominant story that has very recently been created by humans. This story proposes that the human species is fundamentally damaging the Earth due to its selfish greed, and that this damage is to the sole benefit of the human species, whilst harming non-human life. We have already seen why this story is wrong. In reality, the activities of ecstasy are for the benefit of life on Earth, and they bring much greater suffering and harm to the human species than they do to the non-ecstatic life-forms of the Earth! The purpose of our journey is to help you to see through this overwhelmingly dominant story and to come to appreciate ‘the way that things are’.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 147
According to contemporary conventional wisdom the environmental crisis involves selfish greedy humans harming the non-human world for human benefit. You will come to appreciate why, in reality, the environmental crisis involves tremendous human suffering for the benefit of life on Earth. There is immensely more suffering experienced by humans than there is experienced by the non-human animals that humans have utilised and exploited.
The Trap of the Flawed Extrapolation
“When one considers the relationship between ecstasy and the rest of life on Earth it is easy to fall into a trap. It is easy to believe that what has happened in the past will also happen in the future. Life on Earth has been positively thriving for millions of years without technology, so it is easy to fall into the trap of believing that if the human species were to suddenly, in the year 2021, vanish from our Solar System, that life on Earth would continue to thrive. If one makes this simplistic extrapolation from the past to the future then one has made a fundamentally flawed extrapolation.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 140
You will come to appreciate the way in which our Solar System is an interconnected, evolving and unfolding entity. Simplistic extrapolations do not always sit well within the context of such an evolving and unfolding entity. We are currently at the stage of Solar-Systic unfoldment in which the past is not a good guide to the future in terms of whether life on Earth would bounce back following a mass extinction episode which encompassed the extinction of the human species. If such an episode occurred, life on Earth would be doomed and would be hurtling towards oblivion.
Individual Human Purpose
“We are not alien to our fellow planetary life-forms, alien to our planet, alien to our Solar System. It is not as if we travelled from an alternate Universe and plonked ourselves on the Earth. Rather, we are a fundamental expression of the nature of the Universe. The Universe, our Solar System, our planet, our fellow life-forms, they all brought us into being; they evolved us. We are an outgrowth of all that is. Our abilities, our talents, our skills, our feelings, are all fundamental expressions of the underlying nature of the Universe, our Solar System, our planet, and the life which brought us into being.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 45
The purpose of individual humans is to utilise the particular abilities, skills, talents and passions that our Solar System has endowed them with. Through such a fulfilment human culture is powered along its inevitable trajectory towards the fulfilment of human cosmic purpose.
Human Cosmic Purpose
“The human species is that part of life on Earth which has the ability to bring forth the ‘main line of defence’. In other words, the human species is the saviour of life on Earth. In the absence of the human species there would be no ‘main line of defence’. And, without the possibility of a ‘main line of defence’ life on Earth would be lurching towards oblivion. If the human species did not exist, the day of obliteration for life on Earth would be nigh.
Thankfully, life on Earth has complexified to the point that is the human species, and it thus has the ability to bring forth the ‘main line of defence’. Life on Earth, thanks to the human species, has a long and glorious future.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 27
It is the cosmic purpose of the human species to bring forth life on Earth’s ‘main line of defence’ - ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’ - and thereby give the life that has arisen on the Earth a long and glorious future.
Human-induced Global Warming is Not a Single Factor Scientific Issue
“It is of immense importance to fully appreciate that human-induced global warming is not a single factor scientific issue. It is all too easy to believe that it is. It is true that scientists have realised that increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere lead to an enhanced ‘greenhouse effect’ and thereby are a force for human-induced global warming. However, this realisation does not directly lead to an indubitable conclusion considering the appropriate human response. It is not the case that one can jump straight to the conclusion that the appropriate human response is to focus on reducing fossil fuel emissions.
There are many other factors in play which determine the appropriate human response. Some of these factors are scientific in nature, other of these factors are non-scientific in nature. Yet, in reality the scientific and the non-scientific meld together in intricate ways, because a simple scientific finding can be interpreted in diverse ways when it is placed in broader contexts.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 pp. 37-38
The Futility of Fossil Fuel Emission Reduction Efforts
“As we are currently in the midst of the ‘guilt-tinged’ age of the technological explosion, it is understandable that there is a widespread belief that we should be focused on fossil fuel emission reduction efforts. However, such efforts are a great distraction which could lead to the obliteration of life on Earth. We don’t have time to waste, time to be distracted, life is in peril and we need to bring forth ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’ as a matter of urgency.
The global warming situation that life on Earth currently faces is a potent combination of two forces: non-human-induced global warming (the incoming solar radiation which has almost overwhelmed the ‘first line of defence’) and human-induced global warming (the release of the fruits of the ‘first line of defence’). The combination of forces, factors and time-lag effects currently in play relating to these two phenomena means that we need to fulfil our cosmic purpose with extreme haste.
Focusing on fossil fuel emission reduction efforts is an attempt to renounce our nature; it is an attempt to eschew our cosmic purpose. The longer that the human species focuses on such efforts, rather than focusing on bringing into being ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’, the greater is the probability that life on Earth will be obliterated. Such is the folly of focusing on fossil fuel emission reduction efforts.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 37
You will come to appreciate why focusing our energies on fossil fuel emission reduction efforts is a dangerous distraction. We currently face a potent concoction of forces, a potentially lethal threat that has inevitably come into existence at precisely this moment in Cultural/Solar-Systic evolution, a concoction which cannot be dealt with through fossil fuel emission reduction efforts. This concoction is far too powerful for such a response to be appropriate.
The Concoction of Forces that Inevitably Threaten Life on Earth at Precisely this Moment
“The force for non-human-induced global warming is currently exceptionally powerful as it has almost overwhelmed life on Earth’s ‘first line of defence’. The extreme potency of this force is inevitably bolstered, in deeply worrying ways, by the activities of the master modifier as it has brought forth life on Earth’s technological explosion. The activities of the master modifier have further weakened life on Earth’s already extremely frail ‘first line of defence’ – its ability to regulate its atmospheric temperature – through the transformation of wonderful forests into desolate concrete jungles and barren expanses that are farmed by mechanised agriculture. Furthermore, the master modifier has released the fruits of the ‘first line of defence’ and has thereby unleashed a potent, and potentially devastating, ‘pent-up force’ for future human-induced global warming, which will be unleashed into the Earth’s atmosphere when the slow-moving carbon dioxide starts to gush out of the thermohaline circulation, in the coming decades and centuries, into a vastly changed world. This is a human-transformed world in which carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere, rather than the land/oceans. So, the Earth’s atmospheric temperature is set to shoot up. This means that there will be an immense threat to life on Earth when the slow-moving oceanic carbon dioxide reaches its atmospheric destination.
The forces that we have just considered form an exceptionally potent concoction; they pose an immense threat to the continued flourishing of life on Earth. This concoction is about to get even more potent! We need to add to it ‘the force that is human nature’. As we are in the midst of the age of the technological explosion ‘the force that is human nature’ is inevitably propelling us down the path of increasing future master modification as humans continue to fulfil their potential. This means that the immediate future entails a greater human impact on the planet: greater perturbations, greater destabilisations, greater transformations, and greater danger in the present moment.
We need to acknowledge this perilous concoction of forces. We need to embrace our destiny. Life on Earth needs us to embrace our cosmic purpose. The time of danger is now. The time for action is now. Will we succeed or will life on Earth perish?”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 47
Lagrangian Point L1
“My role is to highlight the need for ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’ and to explain why such a deployment is not only a necessity, but also an exceptionally precious and wonderful thing; it is not something to be afraid of, or something to be resisted.
What, exactly, does ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’ look like? What does it physically entail? These are questions for the engineers, for the experts in technology; they are not questions for me; my objective is simply to make clear the need for ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’, so that the engineers and policymakers can be encouraged to push full steam ahead and bring it into being.
Any technology that can deflect incoming solar radiation to the Earth in a reliable and controlled way, thereby actively regulating the Earth’s atmospheric temperature to keep it down to a level that is favourable for the continued thriving of life, could be ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’.
Let us briefly consider a few possible physical instantiations of ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’. A space sunshade is the most obvious candidate. The sunshade would seemingly need to be placed at the L1 Lagrangian point between the Earth and the Sun, which is located 1.5 million kilometres above the Earth. At Lagrangian points a smaller object will maintain its position in relation to two larger bodies that are in orbit. The sunshade at the L1 point could either be a single large object or a plethora of small objects.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 50
“If we zoom forward in time, if we envision the state of our Solar System in a few thousand years, we can be confident that there will be technological devices at the L1 point which deflect solar radiation away from the Earth’s atmosphere.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 51
‘The Day of the Realisation of Cosmic Purpose’
“In the future there will come a time when knowledge of the nature of human cosmic purpose will pervade the human species. When ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’ has come into being, when the human species has fulfilled its cosmic purpose, it will then be possible for the human species to come face-to-face with its purpose.
On ‘the day of the realisation of cosmic purpose’ the nature of human cosmic purpose, the reason why humans have been working so tirelessly for so long to enable the bringing forth of increasingly complex technologies, becomes crystal clear for all to see.
On ‘the day of the realisation of cosmic purpose’ the human species joyously celebrates its achievements in saving life on Earth through bringing forth ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’. On this day the human species comes to fully appreciate the unfolding journey of our Solar System as it has striven to bring forth life and then to maintain life. This is a wonderful journey that involves the gallant efforts of the ‘first line of defence’ and its inevitable supplantation by the ‘main line of defence’ that is magnificently brought into being through the tireless work of the human species.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 35
Cherishing the Living
“We might be the master modifier, the zenith of the evolutionary progression of life on Earth, the saviour of life on Earth, the most precious life-form in our Solar System, but we don’t have to see our fellow planetary life-forms as inferior, as resources to be used and eaten. We needed to see our fellow planetary life-forms this way in the past, we needed to use and abuse non-human animals in the past, but there is certainly no need to do so now. When an individual life-form dies this is a cause for sadness; when it survives this is a cause for celebration. Let us cherish each and every one of these immensely precious life-forms.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 52
Paradise on Earth
“When we have passed through the painful era that is the epoch of the technological explosion, when we have fulfilled our cosmic purpose and brought forth ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’, then the Earth will transition into a new phase of its existence.
Life on Earth has a long and glorious future. The super-advanced technology that will be maintaining the atmospheric temperature in order to keep it favourable for the continued thriving of life on Earth enables this. In this new phase of Solar-Systic unfoldment every human will appreciate the nature of human cosmic purpose because ‘the day of the realisation of cosmic purpose’ occurs. In this new era the life-forms on the Earth will be living together more harmoniously than they ever did in the previous stages of the Earth’s history.
In this new phase, the age of the spiritual explosion, the human species is living sustainably and it has the utmost respect for all of the life-forms that it shares the Earth with. Paradise will have come into existence on the Earth.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 p. 52
Celebration
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could celebrate our existence? We are the saviours of life on Earth! The survival of our non-human brothers/sisters is our responsibility; we need to take care of them through bringing forth ‘the sufficient deployment of technology’. Oh, if we could see all this, we could then celebrate our existence! Oh, if we could realise how important and special we are! Oh, if we could see the cosmic responsibility that rests on our shoulders! Could we possibly bear to come face-to-face with this immense responsibility?
Our Solar System is celebrating us; it is joyous at our arrival. Yet, we are miserable! We are in a state of despair! We inevitably tell ourselves that we are selfish and greedy and that our presence on the Earth is destructive and harmful. We tell ourselves that we are the enemy of our non-human brothers/sisters. How deceived we are. How wonderfully deceived!
One day humans will be celebrating. One day will be ‘the day of the realisation of cosmic purpose’. On this day, every human will appreciate the value of all humans, all cultures, all perspectives and all life-forms. On this day, every human will see the nature of human cosmic purpose; they will see the wonderful journey of Solar-Systic unfoldment laid out before them in its entirety.”
Dr C Mystical Environmental Philosophy: How to Save Life on Earth Oct 2021 pp. 52-53