Preamble: An aphorism, by Aung San U. 2000
Embracing the Advanced Future
Once upon a Reality, there was a young man, who lived with his people on a plateau. One day he started to fall off the plateau. Members of his immediate kinfolk who were close enough to save him from falling did nothing. Within that Reality, the vertical topologies were immensely greater than in ours. He was lucky enough to fall down a giant slope covered with a kind of thick grass that prevented him from getting hurt badly. He fell a long way down and for a long, long time. Finally, he reached what might have been the bottom, or it might have been just a plateau at a much lower level.
He found himself among many different kinds of people with different values, speaking different languages, and realized that some of them were trekking slowly and laboriously up toward the higher and better plateaus. He decided to join those people, and for years he too journeyed. There were many challenges to overcome. Those who failed the challenges and got discouraged went no higher and usually settled at the highest plateau they had reached. Life was tough, but he persevered and continued to overcome the many challenges that came his way. It felt like months, years, going by in a blur. His youth was in the distant past.
He wondered what would happen to him when he got even older. Surely, a day would arrive when his luck or his strength would no longer be sufficient to meet the next crucial challenge. One day as he journeyed upward as he had for years, he became aware that somehow, he had gained supernormal powers. He knew he could now run up the trail ahead—and he did just that. He met many more challenges and overcame them all.
Eventually, the man reached a very high plateau, or it might have been the summit itself. The plateau from which he fell as a young man was somewhere far below. The clear panoramic view of the landscape below and of the distant ranges was a magnificent sight. It was a lovely day with very few clouds. About twenty yards ahead of him was a medium size structure with pillars. It appeared to be some sort of temple.
He found himself addressing a panel of five or six men wearing opalescent light gray suits, standing between him and the structure, obliquely to his right. They were to decide whether he was worthy of managing a super and exacting new program with many challenges. The man told them of his record of achievements and that he was the right person to manage it. He felt that if he got that job, he would certainly be ranked among the best of men.
A beautiful young woman stepped out from the left side of the temple. She had the features of a super model and was dressed exquisitely in burgundy red, befitting the simple but splendorous setting. Everything about her blended perfectly with her surroundings. She spoke to him perfectly in his native language as she walked toward him, passing in front of the other men to her left. He made a few polite replies but was trying hard to figure out the place and time to which she belonged. Maybe, he surmised, trying to explain her excellence in every way, she grew up at one of the highest plateaus.Yet he knew that was not the correct answer.
She came nearer. He was still trying to figure her out. When she stopped next to him, he was unprepared as to what to say to her. His hands went up of their own accord to embrace her. He thought he should stop them but saw that she was going to return his embrace. At the instant they embraced, somehow he became aware that she was transcendental–she could even be from the future, truly advanced and excelling in every way—but she represented his kind. The man realized that he had reached the crossroads of compelling choices.
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Not every future is positive. Many futures can be downright foreboding, especially for the lower classes and the unskilled. Those who do not have the vision or the wisdom to lead a society can easily do great harm rather than good to its people. It is very important that we be fully aware of the status of the here-and-now and have the capability to recognize the characteristics of truly progressive people and societies in order to successfully embrace an advanced future. In the world of men, there are few persons with greater than normal capabilities who would feel sufficiently compelled to help their own less than pragmatic kind. But some of them may do so only if those to be helped choose progress and are going to make the appropriate cooperative efforts.
Progress is only for those with the spirit to climb “mountains.” Not everyone likes challenges. In life there are many crossroads that a person will reach. He who keeps making correct choices, on the whole, will ascend. He who makes too many bad decisions, will not.
We can embrace the advanced future only when we are capable, and only if we truly desire to do so; and we must be in cooperation with like-minded others to realize our common dreams. To shape our individual or collective destinies, we must be able to effect progress however incrementally small it may be in the beginning, and build. Without any positive progress, there is no way that one may shape one’s own destiny.☼