Last week a 520 day isolation experiment involving six “voyagers” concluded.  The six volunteers, including three Russians, two Europeans, and one Chinese researcher, began their experiment on June 3rd of 2010 and left their isolation on November 4th of 2011.  I have very mixed feelings about this experiment.  In many ways it is quite underwhelming that this is the biggest space news that we’ve had for a while and that it is not tied to any actual planned mission to Mars.

Also it is frustrating that there were no Americans involved in this experiment.  Can America slip even further behind in world space exploration?  I didn’t think so, but at this point it  looks like the future of space travel may lie in some combination of private interests and other governments with the US one member among many.  This may be a good model, but I only hope that the US stays a major player in the future of space exploration and doesn’t take a further back seat to Russia, Europe, and China.  No matter how you slice it humanity’s future ultimately lies in space and I hope that the United States keeps an important role in that future.

All of that being said, I do think that this experiment and others like it are important to do before a mission is planned and executed.  The astronauts only had about 550 cubic meters to live and work in, which replicated what actual astronauts would have traveling in between Earth and Mars and as a habitat on Mars..  In addition to space limitations they had to perform many experiments and tests, deal with limited food and water, and perhaps most difficult of all deal with isolation and unchanging routine for a year and a half.  Overall, I think the experiment was a success and an important, if small step, on our journey to the stars.

Follow this link to read an article and see a 15 minute video detailing their 520 days in isolation.

Kevin

My favorites that still remain are Martin the Warrior, Jon Snow, Paul Atredes, Pug, and Vin.  Follow this link to see the current bracket of present and past matches.

http://suvudu.com/2011/03/your-2011-cage-match-contenders-video.html

–Kevin

An amazing view of science fiction history.  Shows the major ins and outs of the genre including the major authors and influences.

http://scimaps.org/submissions/7-digital_libraries/maps/thumbs/024_LG.jpg

–Kevin

“The guests were all intellectuals and an interesting conversation began among them on our faith and faithlessness.”

Thus begins the remarkable short novel On the Edge of the World written by Nikolai Leskov in 1876.  It is not a s.f. novel, but it is a novel of ideas.   The quotation from the novel above is actually intended by Leskov to echo Goethe’s famous observation that “the profoundest, nay, the one theme of the history of the universe and of mankind, the theme to which all others are subordinated is the conflict between faith and unfaith.”

The novel opens with a group of intellectuals and professionals discussing contemporary politics and religion.  The host, an elderly arch-bishop, to illustrate a point tells the story of his time as bishop in Siberia (newly acquired by Russia at the time).  He recounts the successes and failures of the missionary work there among the native populations who, for the most part, were either Buddhist or members of shamanistic religions.  The bishop goes to Siberia to spread the faith to others, but in the process, he discovers an inner Truth about his own heart and its relation to Christ. 

I cannot recommend this novel highly enough.  It touches on so many important issues of faith, philosophy, and how best to evangelize those who are non-Christian.  The humble monk Kiriak is an unforgettable character, and the “snowstorm scene” is justly famous as one of the most exciting scenes in 19th century Russian literature.   Interestingly, the primitive peoples of Siberia reminded me a lot of modern Americans. 

Some reviewers have compared Leskov to the 19th century American writers Mark Twain and Jack London.  admittedly, Leskov does employ some humor and verbal comedy in the same vein as Twain, and he does describe the natural world with a depth and accuracy akin to London, but Leskov’s writing is replete with references to 17th, 18th, and 19th century European philosophers and theologians; Leskov’s writings are, as mentioned above, deeply steeped in the history of thought.  Twain and London have never been accused  of being steeped in the history of thought or ideas.  Twain is considered important to the history of ideas, but more as a result of his break from it, and his embarking and popularizing a new set of ideas, than for taking any part in building of what came before.  Twain, as the quintessential American, starts his thinking anew without regard for past development.

Another area of difference between Leskov and his American contemporaries is his incorporation of religious ideas into his writings.  Of course, by the 19th century, secularization was deeply imbedded in the European and American mindset.  Hardly any novels from this century deal with serious religious themes.  Twain and London were both atheists, the former a sarcastic one and the latter a pessimistic one, but they both treated traditional religion in a similar way.  Leskov, however, respectfully weaves religious ideas into On the Edge of the World. 

So if reading a book steeped in the 19th century discussions of faith, reason, and theology appeals to you than this book is a must read.  It does not just tell us Truth, but like all great novels should do–it is a work that presents us with  “philosophy in action.”

–pio

The one big problem with these types of modifications is that no licensed doctor will perform them because they are seen as not being medically necessary.  This could open up a whole line of argument about what it means to call some procedures medically necessary and others not.

In any case, while I do not applaud the hackers disregard for their own safety I do recognize their drive and passion for pushing boundaries and exploring the new, which is a rare thing these days.  So while I am intrigued by the level of technology involved in these modifications and I think that in the future this will become more common and accepted by our larger culture.  I am also disturbed by the spiritual implications that these surgeries and their intended purpose bring up.

First off, by spiritual implications I do not mean to suggest that these types of body modifications or others such as putting ID chips in our hands are a sign of the end times.  While they may not on the whole be a healthy sign for our culture I don’t believe that they are a problem by themselves.  People have been modifying their bodies as long as there have been people.  I don’t believe that these types of modifications are inherently different than adding pacemakers or artificial limbs to our bodies.  While there may be many valid concerns of privacy, safety, and equity in this arena I do not believe that our souls are in danger if we modify our bodies.

That being said, I am troubled by the idea that modifying our bodies alone can somehow lead to transcending our humanity.  These body hackers are part of a growing “transhumanist” movement, and while I understand that they are transcending many of humanities’ past natural physical limits they are by no means changing what it means to be human.  No matter the body or the abilities of said body our human soul is above all what defines us as humans.  This is a lesson that we are still learning or perhaps are relearning in the 21st century.  We are not defined by our physical differences or modifications, but rather by our inherent value as human beings and as children of God.  Again while I am not against these types of modifications in principal, especially if they can be done safely, I do wish that people and our culture in general spent as much time and energy as we do on our physical selves on our spiritual selves as well.

You can read the full Wired Article here.

-Kevin

Noted children’s fantasy author Brian Jacques died on Feb. 7th of a heart attack.  He was 71 years old.  Jacques is the creator of Redwall Abbey–a medieval abbey inhabited by mice including the famous mouse, Martin the Warrior.  His stories are noteworthy for their wholesome images and their unambiguous structure in which the forces of good and evil clash.  May he find peace with God.

–pio

Tron: Legacy is a fast paced special effects ride through a literal computer generated landscape.  The plot picks up about 27 years after the original Tron ended.  Kevin Flynn disappeared 7 years after his original adventure leaving his son Sam Flynn as an orphan.  Sam, now an adult, doesn’t have much that he cares about in his life and is little more than a rich prankster.  Out of the blue he is called to his father’s old video arcade by a mysterious page and is quickly trapped inside the computerized world that his father created.  There he participates in deadly games and must help to free his father from his runaway creation, Clu, who has become a virtual dictator on the grid.

The strongest points of Tron: Legacy are without a doubt the special effects and the music, which are consistent throughout the film.  The special effects sell themselves and are worth the price of admission alone.  While some may feel that they are too flashy and that it’s hard to see what’s going on I thought that they were crisp and clean and worked very well.  The soundtrack, performed by Daft Punk, also helps to set the scene and develops a transcendent atmosphere.

The character devleopment and the acting are also fairly strong.  Jeff Bridges’ rendition of Kevin Flynn and his alter ego Clu are distinct and create depth and emotion in the characters.  The dichotomy between Flynn and his created program Clu is the single best plot point of the movie and it is acted very well.  Clu was originally created by Flynn to help him create a perfect world, but the search for perfection eventually consumed him and he rebelled against his creator.  Flynn’s search for redemption for his sin of pride is a major theme of the movie.  The other main characters, the independent program Quorra and Flynn’s son Sam, are also both portrayed fairly well especially when you consider that the majority of their acting was done surrounded by green screens.

Where Tron: Legacy fails the most is in realizing its potential for a great plot.  Alan, Flynn’s friend and the creator of Tron, tells Sam: “He (Flynn) said he was about to change everything…science, medicene, religion.  He wouldn’t have left all that.”  The implication is that the digital world that Flynn created somehow has real world implications that will literally change how we see and live in the world.  This sounds very compelling, but it is not really supported throughout the movie.  There are occasional lines that point to religious or spiritual ideas, but they are not really followed up.  For instance, Flynn talks to his son Sam about the importance of doing nothing and waiting, and while he is not a complete hypocrite as his hand is forced, shortly after he says this he proceeds to do quite a lot.  The other big religious implication is the development of the Isos.  The Isos are independent programs that emerged or evolved inside Flynn’s world without Flynn’s direct guidance.  They are literally a new form of life.   This is truly an amazing idea, but unfortunately it is not explored and is little more than a throw away line to provide a back story.  What made the Isos so unique?  Where did they come from?  Unfortunately these questions are not answered, but the good thing about Tron: Legacy is that the action is quick and engaging and the audience doesn’t dwell on these questions for too long.

Despite its lack of a solid plot or any 3 dimensional ideas it is a fun movie and worth watching, especially in 3D.
2.5 out of 4 stars!

- Kevin

I finally got around to watching The Fountain last week.  The Fountain is a s.f. film that was released in 2004 and is generally regarded by the s.f. community as an important and stylish film.  It surely is a subtle masterpiece of story telling that presents our transcendent desires for eternal love and life in an artistic and beautiful way.  I was impressed with the film and it definitely caused me to think.

The film actually follows three distinct and very similar story lines–each separated by 500 years.  Each story involves the separation of two lovers (played by the same actor and actress), and the attempt of the lovers to make their love eternal.  I will not go into a full review here, but suffice it to say this attempt at creating an eternal love touches on many aspects of life, spirituality, and science.  Specifically the film touches on the following ideas:  reincarnation, Buddhist mysticism, Mayan mythology, the nature of death, ecology, the great chain of being, comparative religion, the function and limits of science and reason, and of course, the film also makes a point of depicting orthodox Christianity (specifically in this case the Roman Catholicism of 16th century Spain) as being a bloodthirsty and malevolent religion fueled by greed and a thirst for the blood of the innocent.

My question is this–why do the heathen rage?  Or, to put it more simply and perhaps more thoroughly:  why and how did a popular knowledge and understanding of Christian Mystery (the preferred Christian term over mysticism) die out so completely in the West?  Why on Earth is it that when Western artists (even Christian ones) want to depict someone or something as being mystical in a film or book, an Indian or a Buddhist or a Mayan or an African experience is shown?  Why is Christianity so frequently pictured in the popular imagination as simply a worldly religion of materialism, corruption, greed, perversity, and duplicity?  Why is it that every non-Christian religion is spiritual, metaphysical, and mystical?

The Fountain  depicts Mayan and Buddhist spirituality as enlightened forces that really complement a scientific understanding of the universe, but Christianity in the film is relegated to…of course…an inquisator who graphically and mercilessly tortures heretics to death to the thunderous applause of a huge Christian crowd.  The film even opens with a quotation from the Book of Genesis–where God puts an angel to guard the Tree of Life from humanity.  Even this is a critique of Christianity–the God whom the Christians worship cuts us off from eternal life, while the film depicts Mayan cosmology as being true and complementary with the spiritual realities of life:  the Mayan creator god offers us the tree of life that the Christian God hides from us.

The Fountain is so beautifully filmed and edited, and yet, I just had to shake my head at the anti-Christian symbolism.  It would be different if The Fountain did not reference Christianity at all, or if it presented Christianity positively as it did the non-Christian religions, but the film instead depicts Christianity in the most negative sense imaginable.  Since I have seen The Fountain, I have spoken to several friends about the film, and they all admitted that they liked the film and found the mysticism in the film to be deep, well presented, and thoughtful.  I mentioned that it would be great if someone could make a film that was that beautiful and well done, but depicted Christian Mystical experiences instead of Pagan ones.  But when I mention this I have gotten blank stares….”but, Christianity offers no mystical experiences” is the essence of the responses I seem to get!!!

And this is what astonishes me…that so many atheists and Christians in the West only view Christianity materially as a social ethic or a moral code!  Christianity, it seems, is good for prompting us to feed the poor (that is, when it is not torturing us to death for no reason), but if one wants to experience the Divine–one has to look to Buddhism, Hinduism, Animism, Mayanism, Aztecism, etc…

I wonder….I wonder how this state arose.  The experiencing of Christianity as an ethic or as literature seems to  me to be a product of Western Europe’s embrace of “enlightenment” in the 17th century, which itself is a consequence of the religious revolt that arose in western Europe in the early 16th century.  Western European Man’s communion with material “enlightenment” affected both his science and his Christianity, but I think the problem may in fact be much deeper than this.  As I type this–I am looking at my copy of the Philokalia that is sitting on my desk.  How can anyone read and reflect on the Philokalia and not see Christianity as a mystical religion?  The problem is, of course, how many “Western” Christians and atheists have ever read, or even heard of, the Philokalia or the ideas it contains?  These original mystical aspects of Christianity are not popularly known in the Western/Americanized media.  How is it that most Christians in the West have become ”children of a lesser God”?

I’ll continue these thoughts later as time permits, but let me end for now by saying that The Fountain is a beautiful film that I liked a lot.  Watching it, however, prompted me to wonder about many things.  That is, I think, the mark of a great film.

–pio

http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/12/21/new-2001-a-space-odyssey-footage/

–pio

Published in 1993 this novel tells the story of a future in decline where hope is hard to come by and the gap between the rich and the poor has widened to a nearly impassable chasm.   Extrapolating from trends that she saw in the late ’80s and early ’90s Octavia Butler writes of a future where America, and the world at large, begins to slide backwards with too many people, too much corruption and not enough resources.  Amidst souring food, water, and service prices, exotic and dangerous drugs, and many other dangers young Lauren Olamina must struggle for survival against overwhelming odds.

The novel is told entirely from Lauren’s perspective as she writes entries in her journal.  The narrative begins in a gated community, which has become an island of relative stability in a sea of chaos and poverty.  From there Lauren’s story takes us on the road north to the rumored safety of Oregon.  The story covers 3 years following Lauren from age 14 all the way to 17, but in those 3 short years she is forced to grow up very quickly as she encounters the worst of human nature and searches for the ultimate limited resource, trust in a world of the vicious.

Overall, the story is very powerful and told in a strong and clear voice.  The characters are well drawn and deep, and the pace of the narrative makes for an engaging read.  I also really enjoyed the level of detail that Butler went into concerning the society and one very possible future that we may face in some form.  She also didn’t focus too strongly on the technology, but rather focused on the people and the circumstances that they encountered deepening their characters along with the impact of the story.

My only major qualm concerning the novel was the religion that the main character develops based on her own experience with the world.  The religion, called Earthseed in the book, is not so much a religion as it is a way of life.  It borrows from many religious traditions and philosophies, primarily Buddhism, Confucianism, and a little Greek philosophy.  It also shares some of the same language and discussion points as Tielhard de Chardin, a catholic monk who wrote about the end result of evolution, what he called the Omega Point, among many other topics.

The central belief/paradox of Earthseed is that God shapes us and we shape God.  In fact, in the Earthseed religion God literally is Change and vice-versa.  Unfortunately, in the novel these ideas are not supported by much other than the character’s disdain for traditional religions and her own experiences with the world.  Certainly an unstable foundation to build a new religion on.

While I see some appealing aspects to it, especially its focus on humanity and the spiritual nature of our journey to the stars, I believe that Earthseed ultimately fails as a complete religion because it lacks numerous aspects that I have found to be essential to my faith such as revelation, prayer, and a transcendent God just to name a few qualities.

Despite its lack of development in the novels the idea of Earthseed has taken root in the world and many societies and groups such as SolSeed have taken its main principles as their own.  It also works well within the context of the novel as it is a new religion for a people who are struggling to recreate themselves in an old and failing world.

Unfortunately in this case, getting rid of Christianity while shedding the trappings of a consumerist society is like throwing the baby out with the bath water.  What we will need in the future is not a new religion divorced from the past, but rather an ancient religion rooted in the past, looking to the future, and living in the present.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book.  It is thought provoking, powerful, and above all enjoyable to read.  In my opinion, this is one of Butler’s best works second only to her Patterner series of novels.  Enjoy!

–Kevin

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves hobbits.

–John Rogers (my paraphrase)

–pio

15. The Fifth Element, 1997 (PG-13):  Space Opera with an actual opera scene in space.  The fifth element is love, which shines in the night and pushes back the darkness.  Overall, it was a fun look at the future.

Priest Vito Cornelius: “Because it is evil, absolutely evil.”
President Lindberg: “One more reason to shoot first.”
Priest Vito Cornelius: “Evil begets evil, Mr. President. Shooting will only make it stronger.”

14. Bicentennial Man, 1999 (PG):  A fascinating movie that despite some pacing and scripting issues deeply explores what it means to be human and to become human.  Also based on an Asimov short story.

Andrew Martin: “In a sense I have. I am growing old, my body is deteriorating, and like all of you, will eventually cease to function. As a robot, I could have lived forever. But I tell you all today, I would rather die a man, than live for all eternity a machine.”

President Marjorie Bota: “Why do you want this?”

Andrew Martin: “To be acknowledged for who and what I am, no more, no less. Not for acclaim, not for approval, but, the simple truth of that recognition. This has been the elemental drive of my existence, and it must be achieved, if I am to live or die with dignity.”

13. The Abyss, 1989 (PG-13):  A film with everything.  Complex characters, special effects, and exploration of the final frontier: the oceans.  At first it seems like it’s a run of the mill action/disaster movie, but it quickly gets much deeper in more ways than one.  Lessons learned: nitrogen bubbles in your blood can make you crazy, and deep water oil drilling is dangerous…too late.

Lindsey Brigman: So, raise your hand if you thought that was a Russian water tentacle.

12. Alien, 1979 (R):  A true classic of both horror and sci-fi.  It explores our deepest fears  about the unknown both within (literally) and without.  It also contains many classic scenes and characters and in my opinion this movie holds up and is one of the least dated of almost any other movie from this time period.  “In space no one can hear you scream.”

Ripley: “Ash, that transmission… Mother’s deciphered part of it. It doesn’t look like an S.O.S.”
Ash: “What is it, then?”
Ripley: “Well, I… it looks like a warning. I’m gonna go out after them.”
Ash: “What’s the point? I mean by the, the time it takes to get there, you’ll… they’ll know if it’s a warning or not, yes?”

11. The Empire Strikes Back, 1980 (PG): Far and above the best of the Star Wars movies.  This has it all from romance to lightsaber duals.  I still remember the moment where Darth Vader reveals the nature of his relationship to Luke.  What sets this movie far and above the rest of the saga is really the depth of the story and the character development that all of the characters go through.

Yoda: “Stopped they must be; on this all depends. Only a fully trained Jedi Knight, with the Force as his ally, will conquer Vader and his Emperor. If you end your training now – if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did – you will become an agent of evil.”

10. Children of Men, 2006 (R): A more recent movie that explores an apocalyptic future where hope takes the form of a baby, the first baby to be conceived in over 18 years.

Theodore Faron: “I can’t really remember when I last had any hope, and I certainly can’t remember when anyone else did either. Because really, since women stopped being able to have babies, what’s left to hope for?”

9. Pandorum, 2009 (R): An amazing exploration of the depths of space and the depths of the human soul.  It also takes an interesting look at what happens when man plays god.

Payton: “I can’t remember any of my life before this flight began.”

8. The Fountain, 2006 (R): Directed by Darren Aronofsky The Fountain explores life, death, and rebirth in three different time periods.  Throughout the narrative it jumps from a Spanish conquistador in 1500, to a scientist in 2000, to an astronaut in 2500 all exploring the purpose of life and death.  The cinematography is also beautiful and breathtaking along with the story.

Tom Creo: “Death is a disease, it’s like any other. And there’s a cure. A cure – and I will find it.”

7. Akira, 1987 (R): An animated film about a post-apocalyptic Tokyo where the government is developing psychic children to be used as weapons.  Some of the children are immensely powerful and quickly escape the bounds of their program wrecking havoc in the city.  Akira also largely brought Japanese anime to the US in the ’90s.

Kiyoko: “The future is not a straight line. It is filled with many crossroads. There must be a future that we can choose for ourselves.”

6. Primer, 2004 (PG-13): A scientifically sound and very complex movie that was released in only a few theaters but is definitely one to catch on DVD.  It involves two part time inventors who invent a time machine that allows them to travel back in time six hours repeating a part of each day.

Aaron: “You got anything to eat? I haven’t eaten anything since later this afternoon.”

5. Forbidden Planet, 1956: The oldest on my list and a true classic.  Based partly on Shakespeare’s The Tempest this groundbreaking film takes place on an alien world with Robby the robot, a human crew in a flying saucer, and a real monster from the Id.

Commander John J. Adams: Alta, about a million years from now the human race will have crawled up to where the Krell stood in their great moment of triumph and tragedy. And your father’s name will shine again like a beacon in the galaxy. It’s true, it will remind us that we are, after all, not God.

4. Gattaca, 1997 (PG-13): A man classified as flawed due to his genetic makeup fights the system and tries to make more of himself than people expect from him.  There is no gene for the human spirit.

Vincent: You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton: I never saved anything for the swim back.

Vincent: For someone who was never meant for this world, I must confess I’m suddenly having a hard time leaving it. Of course, they say every atom in our bodies was once part of a star. Maybe I’m not leaving… maybe I’m going home.

3. Blade Runner, 1982 (R): Deckard, a blade runner, must hunt down 6 violent replicants (androids) in this thought provoking sci-fi thriller loosely based on a Philip K. Dick short story and directed by Ridley Scott.  Blade Runner was truly groundbreaking combining cyberpunk with film noir and many other influences.  Besides its significance to the genre and to the history of film in general it is also a great movie in its own right exploring artificial life and the nature of what it means to be human.

Deckard: “She doesn’t know.”
Tyrell: “She’s beginning to suspect, I think.”
Deckard: “Suspect? How can it not know what it is?”

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968 (G): Mankind finds a mysterious, obviously artificial, artifact buried on the moon and, with the intelligent computer HAL, sets off on a quest to find their destiny.

Dave Bowman: “Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL?”
HAL: “Affirmative, Dave. I read you.”
Dave Bowman: “Open the pod bay doors, HAL.”
HAL: “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Dave Bowman: “What’s the problem?”
HAL: “I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.”

1. The Matrix, 1999 (R): I still remember the shock when I realized what the Matrix truly was.  This movie has great action, writing, and special effects and it delves into many deep ideas touching on many aspects of our lives.  In many ways the essential question of the matrix is the question that we must answer every day:  Do we take the blue pill and stay in a false world, or do we take the red pill and see just how deep the rabbit hole goes?

Morpheus: “The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work… when you go to church… when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.”

Neo:”What truth?”

Morpheus: “That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.”

From Hawking’s perspective it seems that the entire validity of God and thousands of years of religious belief rest on whether our current scientific understanding of the creation of the universe has any room, or rather, any need for God.  Ignoring for now the obvious scientific problem of trying to understand a transcendent God ultimately outside of space and time Hawking also relegates God to the unknown parts of our universe as if our further understanding pushes God away instead of revealing his handiwork in all its grandeur and beauty.  This understanding ultimately casts God solely in the role of a watchmaker creating the universe and then letting it run on its own.

In his new book Hawking has come to the conclusion, based on new theories and equations that describe the first moments of the universe, that the universe no longer needs a creator to have been created.  Hawking writes, “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.”  I cannot hope nor do I wish to challenge Hawking’s mastery of physics and mathematics, but I do challenge his interpretation of his findings.  He may be able to explain through physics how our universe may have come into being, but he has not answered why we are here.  Science is fundamentally blind to the moment before creation.  From our current understanding of the moment of creation anything before it would have existed outside of our perspective of space and time and is pure conjecture based not on science but on faith.

The other main point that Hawking uses to challenge the existence of God is that because planets orbiting other stars have been discovered the Earth and humanity are far less special on a cosmic scale than we previously thought.  Here Hawking seems to be operating under the belief that since the Copernican Model of our solar system, which correctly placed the sun at the center of our stellar system, was published in 1543 the ignorance of living in God and faith has been slowly whittled away by fact and reason.  However, this is also a matter of belief and interpretation.  While some Atheists, and unfortunately some Christians too, believe that scientific discoveries about our world are victories for reason and defeats for religion I have never understood this view.

While we must always be careful of the few scientists out there who are actively trying to interpret their findings to disprove God, they are I believe not the majority of scientists, and science at its core is a tool to understand our universe and our place in it.  It is a twisted faith that can be eroded away simply because true science brings us closer to understanding our universe and the laws that govern its workings.   It is not fundamental to Christianity that the Earth be the center of the universe, nor does Christianity hinge on the size or age of the universe.  Frankly, to an infinite God any size universe is small in comparison.  It is short sited to reject observation and true science and to confuse true revelation and belief in God with an incorrect understanding of the world.  For instance, Georges Lemaître, an astronomer and catholic priest, first proposed what became known as the big bang theory.  Before this theory many physicists rejected the idea of the universe having a beginning in time, but now this theory is very widely excepted by most scientists and believers.  Contrary to popular belief the Catholic Church and many other denominations and religious institutions were quick to accept the big bang theory based on both the scientific evidence and their faith.

Throughout his work Hawking explores and then counters the Rare Earth theory, which fundamentally says that since we seem to be on a planet that is perfect for us therefore God must have created it for us.  Everything from the laws of physics to the age of the universe to our physical location in our universe, galaxy, and solar system is imperative to our ability to live here.  This is an interesting argument for God and is very attractive just because of the incredible odds of our universe being able to sustain life.  For instance, if even one of the fundamental forces were tweaked just the smallest fraction in their relative power our universe would be completely inhospitable to our kind of life.  However, this is ultimately a dangerous theological argument as a foundation to faith because as Hawking shows it can be partially explained away by showing other Earth-like planets.

Furthermore, Hawking goes even deeper and posits that our life bearing universe was inevitable anyway due to the multiverse theory, which predicts an infinite number of parallel universes.  In most of these universes life would never develop due to differing laws of physics which would create, among many other variations, a universe that would be too spread out so that carbon atoms would never be created or gathered together for us as the basic foundation of all physical life.  However, even though an astronomical number of universes would remain eternally dead, in some universes life would be certain and therefore our being here is inevitable.  All of this circular reasoning really doesn’t get us anywhere and I don’t think it will change too many minds about the existence of God.

I believe that the existence of other earth-like planets and stars similar to ours makes perfect sense in a God created universe.  While I do not pretend to understand the numerous potential reasons for such a large universe I do know that in order for us to exist we need at least a 10 billion year history of stars creating carbon in their cores and depositing stardust, the very essence of physical life, across the universe.  Now because this process takes billions of years across intergalactic distances planets and earth-like stars must crop up in many other places other than right here.  It would be a strange and chaotic universe if all of the heavier elements created in the supernovas of our past were exclusively brought here for our use.  Now as I said I do not plan to speculate here on possible alien life or planets with earth-like environments, (we’ll save that for another time) but the apparent fact that there are other earth-like planets in the universe makes sense to me as both a part of God’s design and the workings of the fundamental forces of nature.

Here is the central reason why Hawking’s creatorless creation doesn’t ring true to me:  For me religion at its heart is a leap of faith.  Pure reason cannot arrive at an answer concerning God.  In my mind all of nature and our place in it suggests the existence of God, but obviously that is only my perspective of nature.  Many scientists and rational thinkers now and in the past have looked at the same evidence and arrived at an atheistic solution.  When it comes down to it we must look within ourselves and at our world with our hearts.  We must avoid the many distractions of the modern world and seek silence to find our God who Nathan Mitchell describes in Worship as, “elusive yet explosive, hidden yet revealed, absent yet accessible.”  No matter how hard we look if we don’t believe, or more accurately won’t believe, we will never find God under a microscope or in a starry night.  But if we take that small yet giant leap of faith then we will begin to see God all around us and within us.

The answer to faith is not science, rather the opposite is true: the answer to science is faith.  In a reenactment of a famous debate, between G.K. Chesterton and Clarence Darrow, Chesterton is quoted as saying: “All thinking begins with assumptions that cannot be proved.  In logic we call these axioms.  The real skeptic has nowhere to begin because he must doubt everything and so he sinks through floor after floor of a bottomless universe.  Reason can only be built on faith and that faith is the foundation of our civilization.”  I choose not to live in a bottomless universe and I make the choice every day to found my reason and experience of the world on faith.

In closing I do not mean to attack Hawking in this article and I respect him both as an individual and as a scientist.  I simply wish to point out the incongruity in a scientist “disproving” the existence of the transcendent infinite God that we worship simply by observing and understanding the laws of the universe.  The beauty of the universe and God’s continuing work should be understood through physics and math not destroyed by them.  I hope and pray for a time when faith and science are again correctly viewed as harmonious and not opposing methods of viewing the world.

Kevin

P.S. Numerous other articles about Hawking’s new book can be found on the Internet.  The articles I quoted from are here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100902/lf_nm_life/us_britain_hawking

http://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2010/09/06/the-elusive-presence-of-god/

Having just reviewed A Canticle for Leibowitz, I now have the unfortunate task of reviewing its belated sequel Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman.  Written 38 years after Canticle, and after Miller left the Church, Horsewoman has a much different feel than its classic predecessor.

I will make this brief–the novel does not merit a lengthy review.  First of all, Miller was in the process of writing this novel when he gave in to his despair and killed himself in 1997.  Terry Bisson (an atheist) completed the novel and it was published, advertised as the long-awaited sequel to Canticle.  I could focus on many things in this short review, especially the horrible writing of the novel, but I will focus on Miller’s treatment of religion in the novel.

In short, Horsewoman takes the negative tendencies of Canticle (that I discussed in its review below) to the complete exclusion of any positive characteristics at all.  Te setting of the novel is about 75 years after part II from Canticle–the modern world is being phased in, replacing the medieval one.

Horsewoman is essentially a political novel about the rise of the Hannegan dynasty and the conquest of a continent.  EVERY Christian character in this novel is presented as an opportunistic Machiavelli who lies, cheats, and steals his way to achieving his political and sexual desires.  And mind you–not some of the Christian characters…ALL of them (and there are a lot).  Strangely, although Christianity seems to be a by-word for a politically savage pervert, there is one religion in the novel that actually functions the way one would expect a religion to:  the followers of the White Goddess, i.e., the Wild Horse Woman.

Although there was no hint of this in Canticle, in Horsewoman the religion of the Triple Moon Goddess is very popular among the people and mutants of the American plains.  The Goddess makes several miraculous appearances in the novel, and communicates her will to her followers and enemies alike during the course of the lengthy novel.  In the end, the protagonists of the novel are thwarted in their attempts to take over New Rome and destroy all goodness because they crossed the White Goddess.  Hmmmm…kinda weird.  This novel makes it pretty clear that not only did Miller leave the Church….he hates it!  He hates it, very, very intensely!  And unfortunately, as his suicide evinces, he was not able to find a suitable replacement in his life to give him hope.  Too bad for Miller, the White Goddess is a goddess of death.

Well–this is not much of a review, but it is late (after midnight) and the novel is completely forgettable.  I only mention it to show the outcome of Miller’s thought process.  Unfortunately, I believe the seeds for the mentality of Horsewoman were present in Canticle.

I want to be clear also…the reason to dislike this book is not just because it is anti-Christian in the extreme, but because in addition to this it is very poorly written.  I am just focusing on its treatment of religion for this review.  It seems that the goddess served Miller poorly as a muse.

Walter Miller’s case is certainly a very sad one….so much potential as an artist, and to be so close to the Truth….

I hope his story serves as a sobering warning to us all:  a woman on a horse makes a poor substitute for the transcendant and Triune God.

(ecce horso?)

–pio

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller appears on just about every list of top ten s.f. novels there is.  Although written in 1959 and dealing with a post-apocalyptic future, it still reads convincingly today.

There are a small handful of s.f. novels that also serve as messengers of important sociological truths; these novels issue warnings which elaborate on the dangerous implications of our contemporary political and social realities:  Brave New World, 1984, Lord of the World, No Other Man, and A Canticle for Leibowitz would be in this elite group of novels.

A Canticle for Leibowitz is divided into three sections of equal length…each one is set approximately 600 years after the previous one, and the first one begins 600 years in our future.  In our very near future, humanity engages in a destructive nuclear war that obliterates much of our civilization, technology, and population.  The survivors adopt an “anti-science/anti-technology” attitude and end up destroying the technology and science that survives the war.  Humanity enters a new dark age.

The novel begins 600 years after the war and its subsequent “simplification.”  The action of the novel takes place in what had been the United States.  The first section called “Fiat Homo” [Let there be man] centers on a dark age community of Catholic monks living in what had been New Mexico.  The reader learns that one of the chief occupations of the monks over the last 600 years had been to secretly preserve knowledge and technical data from being destroyed by the fearful and ignorant simplifiers after the war.  Miller intends for us to understand that these dark age monks are similar to the dark age monks of Europe circa 500–900 A.D. during the barbarian (Norman, Germanic, and Muslim) invasions of and assimilation into Europe.  ”Fiat Homo” centers on the character of Brother Francis and the aftermath of his discovery of relics of Isaac Leibowitz a scientist/monk who had been martyred by the simplifiers after the war ended as he tried to preserve notes and objects of a scientific and technical nature.  Leibowitz is being considered for canonization, and the finding of these relics and their implication for both science and his canonization make up the main part of the plot in “Fiat Homo.”  Brother Francis is a realistically created character who resonates very sympathetically with the reader.   This part of the novel concludes with Brother Francis making the dangerous journey to present the relics to the Bishop of Rome, who lives in New Rome in what once was Illinois.  The journey is all the more dangerous because many of the barbarians are not just barbarians, they are mutated radioactive barbarians!

The second part is called “Fiat Lux” [Let there be light] and it is my personal favorite part of the novel.  600 years after the dark age sequence, we are now in a new transitional period between medieval and modern times.  The monks of the monastery of Saint Leibowitz and the knowledge they preserved are helping to usher in a new acceptance of science and technology.  Forests are becoming farmland again, and villages are becoming towns again.  The central conflict in this part of the novel is between the new empire of the Hannegan (centered near the old location of St. Louis) and the Abby.  It is essentially a question of how will the rising civilization move forward and develop?  Will the Church be made to serve the state or will the state be made to yield to God and His laws?  Some of the dialogue is amazingly prescient for what America has undergone since Miller’s time–which is, of course, what the West has undergone since A.D. 1500.  This section of the novel asks the important and difficult questions, and it asks them very artfully.

The third section of the novel is called “Fiat Voluntas Tua” [let thy will be done].  It takes place after humanity has achieved (again) most of the technology that it had in the 20th century.  In some areas (such as space travel) the level of technology surpasses what had previously existed.  The Church, prepare yourself for a surprise, lost its battle with secularism–again–and the world of the 39th century appears as secular as the world of the 20th and 21st centuries.  And, with humanity being what it is, the threat of nuclear annihilation looms large in the background again.  The Hannegan Empire has taken over most of North America and it is in opposition to a newly risen state on the Indian subcontinent.  The novel ends, on a note that is at once hopeful and despairing, as the war begins.  Although this third part has some powerfully written sections about the importance and dignity of life, I found it to be the weakest section of the novel.  Miller incorporates some bizarre symbolism into this section that has a negative affect on the enjoyment and understanding of the novel…I am thinking of the two-headed person here….we are in strange waters here!

A Canticle for Leibowitz is justly famous as a science fiction novel in the apocalyptic tradition.  Its vision of the future is more realistic and hopeful than most novels of this sub-genre (On the Beach, Alas Babylon, and The Road for example).  Every fan of science fiction should read this classic novel.  The novel is an artfully written one that makes many subtle connections between the three time periods.

My chief complaint about the novel is how the Christian Church and Christian characters are presented, per se.  I remember thinking as I read the novel that none of the Christian characters (they are monks remember) behaved in a way I thought they should.  Times where characters could have prayed, they didn’t…times where a miracle or mystical experience would have been cool, none happened.  What I noticed is that the characters went through the motions of being Christian, but they never seemed to be shown “thinking” in a Christian manner.  Almost as if they were only external Christians.  All their thoughts, that we were shown, were matter-of-fact secular thoughts…the characters never seemed to “feel” or experience Christianity in any particular internal way as they do in other novels I read about Christian Characters.

This caused me to notice how the Church is presented in the novel.  It is depicted almost as a character in the novel–a character that survives human weakness and helps to ensure that the human race rises again, but it is not shown as transmitting God’s Grace to humanity in any particular way.  I don’t mind if the Church is shown helping rebuild civilization while delivering the sacraments, teaching about God, and doing works of charity; but I don’t think it should rebuild civilization instead of those things.  The voice and perspective of the novel seems, to me, to be distant from the heart of Christ.

Upon reading more about Miller, I realized what must have happened.  Miller converted to Christianity after WWII.  He served in Italy and witnessed the wanton destruction of the ancient beacons of faith and civilization.  I think he perceived the power of the Christian Church to preserve civilization (as it had done in Europe), and Miller became Christian as a way of partaking in civilization and the fullness of human life opposed to war, decay, and destruction.

I suspect that explains the structure of A Canticle for Leibowitz–the Church as builder, the Church as humanizer, and the Church as civilization.  I think this is a good starting place for many in their understanding of the Church, but I do not think that is a very solid foundation as a permanent Christian existence.  Christ and His Church must be, above anything else, the means for human beings to achieve Communion with God and with each other.  In a certain sense, if the Church is only viewed as a builder and civilizer….then one really has just as secular a view of the Church as the Hannegan empire in the novel.

Indeed, in the 1980s, Miller ceased being a Christian–he left the Church that had so impressed him in his younger days.  And tragically, in 1997, Miller, in a state of extreme depression and despair, committed suicide.  It is a very sad loss for both the s.f. community and the world at large.

For Miller’s power as a writer of prose, I praise Canticle as a great, popular, and classic s.f. novel, but, for the reasons stated above, I caution readers who view it as a solid explication or display of Christianity.  It is a great novel that has the Church as a character, but it is, alas, a  character displayed from a distance and from the outside; never intimately as Christ desires.

–pio

Reviewed by Kevin May

The Watch Below is a tale of isolation and survival across multiple generations.  Two very different groups find themselves in remarkably similar circumstances across time and space.  One, a group of humans, is caught up in a shipwreck in the early years of WWII and is forced to find a way to survive under the surface of the sea.  Through ingenuity and a lot of luck they manage to survive and even raise children in their dark underwater home.

The other group is a race of aquatic aliens whose home star became too hot for them.  They fled their system in a cobbled together fleet, which was designed to carry the population of the alien world in suspended animation across the void of space.  Unfortunately an unforeseen malfunction occurred and some of the aliens had to stay awake passing their specialized skills down the generations.

**Minor Spoiler Alert**

Without giving away too many spoilers both groups must find a way to surmount impossible odds to ensure that their progeny will live on.  After the first few chapters the years and generations begin to slip by and we are witnesses to the development of entirely new societies under desperate conditions.  Overall, these stories of survival told back and forth across time and space are wonderfully written and work off each other very well.

By the end of the book both isolated groups of survivors became paramount to the future of our planet.  That is one of the central tenets that I find important in this work.  A small group of people (or even a single person) who for some reason are able to see (to know) the universe differently can have a huge impact on the planet and all of humanity.  As Galadriel says in the film adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring, “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”  In this work it is the small seemingly insignificant people forgotten by history who have a powerful role in the future of the world.

James White does an excellent job of showing societies evolving under pressure and across huge spans of time.  Each isolated group begins with just a few individuals but they both expand their numbers and then correspondingly struggle over the limited resources.  In many ways this reminds me of an old Twilight Zone episode that showed an entire society developing under a microscope in a laboratory.  It is a fascinating study of how simple societies adapt and change over time.  It also explores what ideals they hold sacred and what they abandon as they shape their new culture.

One convention that the human survivors develop to keep boredom and eventual insanity at bay is what they call “the Game.”  “The Game” is basically a memorization and recall activity that encourages new memorization of shared and created stories, but also full and complete recall of stories and facts from their pasts.  By developing “the Game” and spending most of their free time working on it the first generation of human survivors are able to pass down nearly all of their culture, memories, and skills to the next generation.

I found this a fascinating development and certainly within the story it is essential so that the descendants of the first survivors know who they are and why they are there.  I also think that this skill is fully possible for most people if we developed our memories earlier in life instead of watching television and using wikipedia as our external long term memory.  To me this highlights a striking deficiency in our current society.  The human mind is full of potential and can leap forward if it were not distracted all the time.  White shows that humanity is very adaptable and wants to survive above all else.  Part of that survival is not just food, water, and shelter, but also companionship and mental engagement, which the group incorporates through “the Game.”

While it is debatable whether in near perfect isolation and darkness the human mind would be in its peak form stress can do funny things and all literature requires a certain amount of disbelief.  This goes along with the crew initially surviving the wreck and living off of bean plants and canned goods for generations.  Despite how impossible it sounds I believe that White makes it work.  After the first few chapters it is easy to suspend your disbelief.  Part of the reason that it works is because White is very good at showing us the wreckage and the depths of the oceans as well as the void of outer space and the shipways of the alien fleet.

The only other flaw in the work that I found was that the character development did not hold up across the generations bouncing back and forth between Earth’s oceans and the interstellar void not to mention across numerous generations.  Many of the characters, especially the female ones just seemed to be total background characters even when they were a substantial part of the surviving crew. I realize that the individual characters were not as much of a focus for the author as he was primarily focused on the long term societies, but for me well developed individual characters are important in every book.  In this book characters came and went a little bit too quickly for my taste.

All that being said I did enjoy the descriptions of raw survival in the plot and there were several discussions focused on beliefs, morals, and religion.  Overall, The Watch Below is a very enjoyable read that juxtaposes alien and man in very different roles.  Neither has the clear upper hand in the end, and both are important for the survival of the other.  It’s quite refreshing from the predictable war of the worlds scenario.

For those of you who like numbers here’s how I see it:

Story/Plot – 4/5

A refreshing twist on an alien invasion story told in a unique way.  The end was a little predictable and some of the transitions were a bit unsettling, but overall a well structured and well planned story.

Character – 2/5

The characters were not overly developed or unique.  In each generation there were certain roles that were filled by seemingly the same type of person/character.  While this is the weakest part of the book it is not overly distracting because of the focus of the overall story.

Writing Style – 3/5

An excellent and inventive style.  Enjoyable to read for its great descriptions and the alien environments that both groups must find a way to survive in.

Theme/Ideas – 4/5

This was one of the strongest points of the book.  As with most sci-fi the circumstances of the world allow the author to explore our beliefs and our identities.  I also enjoyed the symmetry of the book and thought that only bolstered the theme.

Overall – 3.25/5

A good and fast read.  Especially enjoyable if you like to see small groups of people (and aliens) under immense pressure to adapt over many generations.  It’s a unique kind of people watching to see how social and cultural norms may change under certain circumstances.

Kevin

“The Beauty supreme, the absolute and the primal, fashions its lovers to Beauty and makes them also worthy of love…If the eye that adventures the vision be dimmed by vice, impure or weak, then it sees nothing.  To any vision must be brought an eye adapted to what is to be seen, and having some likeness to it.  Never did the eye see that sun unless it had first become sunlike, and never can the soul have a vision of the first Beauty unless itself be beautiful.”

Mark Adams, the last man on Earth, contemplates the above passage from Plotinus as he looks at the abandoned world and at the state of his soul.

Alfred Noyes wrote the novel No Other Man in 1940, just after World War II began.  In this prophetic novel, Noyes posits a future where Man’s technology, greed, and blood lust have led to the creation of many advanced methods for killing off millions or billions of people at a time.  And in this future world, when humanity is yet again fighting another of its “Wars to End All Wars,” humanity manages to kill itself on a scale previously unimaginable.  In fact, after the fighting ends, Mark Adams, a 29-year-old doctor from England, finds himself to be the last man on Earth.  This fact is revealed on page 1 of the novel.  The rest of the novel consists of  Mark’s journey…his journey over the landscape of ruined humanity, but also of his journey home:  his soul’s journey toward the eternal.

As Mark wanders over the quiet Earth, his mind is free to ponder the state of the late humanity’s existence.  What was it about modern Man that allowed for this war and this frenzy of death to occur?  What is it about Man that caused all of the attempts at peace and harmony to fail so miserably?  As Mark moves from London to France and finally to Rome, his soul also moves from one of agnosticism to one of fatih…yes faith–even in the presence of so much death, Mark finds cause for hope and inner peace.

I will avoid specific spoilers, but Mark, it turns out, is not the lone survivor from the war….the life that Mark finds allows for even more meditation on human nature and human potential.

No Other Man is a thinking man’s novel.  To be sure, it contains elements of suspense and adventure, but primarily it is a novel of thought–a novel of ideas, or you might say it’s a novel of one idea:  Man, his true nature and his true destiny.  Noyes analyzes the virtues and vices of Man.  He helps us to see how, in this future world, the vices were able so effectively to mask our virtues.  And of course, this future world is not so very different from our own.

This review is vague, but I can’t be more specific without either writing a 20 page review or giving away more of the plot than I would wish to.  Suffice it to say that No Other Man touches on all aspects of humanity:  our politics, our art, our philosophy, our poetry, our theology, our love.  More  than any other novel I have ever read I found a sense of Recognition in reading this novel.  The thoughts and dreams of Mark Adams are my thoughts and my dreams…only I had half forgotten them.  Perhaps I found them to be impossible and quietly walked away–but Alfred Noyes has reminded me that these “impossible” dreams are more real than the so-called reality we force ourselves to live in.

What else can I say?  Read this novel!  It is a crime that it is out of print, a crime that reflects much of the spiritual sickness in our modern times.

–pio

I have found true joy!  I am almost done reading No Other Man (1940), a science fiction novel by Alfred Noyes.  It is an amazing meditation on theology, poetry, science, and politics:  how often do all these concepts get combined in one novel?  It depresses me that it is out of print.  Each line of the novel is beautifully wrought, and on every page there is the echo of recognition to Truth.  I will have a review ready soon, but until then–here is another brilliant and beautiful poem from Alfred Noyes.

“The Elfin Artist”

In a glade of an elfin forest
     When Sussex was Eden-new,
I came on an elvish painter
     And watched as his picture grew.
A harebell nodded beside him.
     He dipt his brush in the dew.

And it might be the wild thyme round him
     That shone in that dark strange ring;
But his brushes were bees’ antennae,
     His knife was a wasp’s blue sting;
And his gorgeous exquisite palette
     Was a butterfly’s fan-shaped wing.

And he mingled its powdery colours
     And he painted the lights that pass,
On a delicate cobweb canvas
     That gleamed like a magic glass,
And bloomed like a banner of elf-land,
     Between two stalks of grass;

Till it shone like an angel’s feather
     With sky-born opal and rose,
And gold from the foot of the rainbow,
     And colours that no man knows;
And I laughed in the sweet May weather,
     Because of the themes he chose.

For he painted the things that matter,
     The tints that we all pass by,
Like the little blue wreaths of incense
     That the wild thyme breathes to the sky;
Or the first white bud of the hawthorn,
     And the light in a blackbird’s eye;

And the shadows on soft white cloud-peaks
     That carolling skylarks throw,
Dark dots on the slumbering splendours
     That under the wild wings flow,
Wee shadows like violets trembling
     On the unseen breasts of snow;

With petals too lovely for colour
     That shake to the rapturous wings,
And grow as the bird draws near them,
     And die as he mounts and sings; –
Ah, only those exquisite brushes
     Could paint these marvellous things.

By Alfred Noyes

–pio

I am reading the most amazing s.f. novel right now.  It is No Other Man by the great poet Alfred Noyes.  I will have a review up by this weekend.  The novel is one of the greatest I have ever read, but I will say more when it is reviewed–until then….here is a poem by Alfred Noyes:

“The Loom of Years”

In the light of the silent stars that shine on the struggling sea,
In the weary cry of the wind and the whisper of flower and tree,
Under the breath of laughter, deep in the tide of tears,
I hear the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.
 
The leaves of the winter wither and sink in the forest mould
To colour the flowers of April with purple and white and gold:
Light and scent and music die and are born again
In the heart of a grey-haired woman who wakes in a world of pain.
 
The hound, the fawn, and the hawk, and the doves that croon and coo,
We are all one woof of the weaving and the one warp threads us through,
One flying cloud on the shuttle that carries our hopes and fears
As it goes thro’ the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.
 
The green uncrumpling fern and the rustling dewdrenched rose
Pass with our hearts to the Silence where the wings of music close,
Pass and pass to the Timeless that never a moment mars,
Pass and pass to the Darkness that made the suns and stars.
 
Has the soul gone out in the Darkness? Is the dust sealed from sight?
Ah, hush, for the woof of the ages returns thro’ the warp of the night!
Never that shuttle loses one thread of our hopes and fears,
As it comes thro’ the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.
 
O, woven in one wide Loom thro’ the throbbing weft of the whole,
One in spirit and flesh, one in body and soul,
Tho’ the leaf were alone in its falling, the bird in its hour to die,
The heart in its muffled anguish, the sea in its mournful cry,
 
One with the flower of a day, one with the withered moon
One with the granite mountains that melt into the noon
One with the dream that triumphs beyond the light of the spheres,
We come from the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years. 

By Alfred Noyes

–pio

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.”

Without doubt one of the most influential literary creations of the Western mind is the Allegory of the Cave written by Plato in his philosophical/political masterpiece The Republic.  Plato describes how humans experience Truth and appearances by positing a cave where some people spend there lives looking at shadows on the walls.  What happens when some people get out of the cave and are able to perceive the real substances and not just their shadows?  Well Western philosophy is born, among other things. 

Click here for my complete analysis of the importance of Plato’s cave to science fiction:  http://thelovethatmovesthestars.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/the-enduring-allegory-of-the-mind-platos-cave/ 

There have been many modern versions of Plato’s story over the years–from “The Little Mermaid” to Wall*E.  But one of the more ingenious retellings of this central Western myth is the 1962 novel Dark Universe by Robert Galouye.  It is worth noting the Dark Universe was nominated for a Hugo Award and lost to Stranger in a Strange Land.  In my opinion, the better novel lost.  Stranger in a Strange Land is about a playboy alien, who begins his own cult, which, of course, is a grotesque caricature of Christianity–specifically, 1950s style American Evangelicalism .  It struck me upon reading SiaSL that it was more fantasy than science fiction…more parady than allegory.  A subtitle of SiaSL might be:  “Where are all the Martians”?

Dark Universe, however, is actually based in the real (scientific) universe that we all know.  The premise is: what would happen to human beings if they were forced to retreat deep within the earth away from all light?  How would humans live after several generations…what changes would humans have to make to survive in total darkness?  In the novel, humans have, for generations, lived deep within the earth away from any light source.  The reasons for this forced subterranean existence are not fully explained until the novel’s end.

First of all, it should be noted that Galouye’s descriptions of a human society based on only four senses are very realistic.  In the absence of sight, hearing becomes the dominant human sense, and humans have developed tools that can essentially allow them to echo-locate objects by bouncing sound waves off them.  The novel is replete with descriptions of how things “sound.”  Galouye pulls this difficult task off and the reader comes away from the novel thinking that humans might well survive in a world without light.

If one takes the novel the be an adventure story about the subterranean human community led by Jared, then one will walk away pretty fulfilled from the story.  Jared is a typical young action hero who has to grow and mature as he faces the challenges to his community.  The novel also has several mysteries that need to be solved as well.  The mysteries revolve around new creatures (monsters) who are descending into the underground world from above, as well as the differences that are appearing in human biology as people live longer and longer underground.

What I found to be thought-provoking about the novel is its allegorical take on reality.  Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is a powerful story about Truth, reality, and illusion.  Plato’s cave serves as a place where humans catch a glimpse a higher truth–an eternal truth.  Galouye’s cave seems to be just this, especially at the beginning of the novel.  Humans live underground and have lost the “light” that they used to dwell in.  They know (through oral tradition) that they used to live in light and that it was good, but that they now live in darkness.  The problem for them is that no one knows what light and darkness are.  Since they are completely surrounded by darkness they can no longer even perceive it.  Darkness is equated with sin and evil, and light is equated with goodness and virtue, but they cannot “see” that light and darkness are physical and independent in existence of human actions.  Galouye makes it pretty clear that virtue and vice are related to light and darkness,  so the characters are correct in this understanding–they just don’t have the complete understanding of the independent reality of light and darkness. 

This is a brilliant beginning.  As a result of a disaster on the surface–which is implied to have been nuclear–Jared and his people are forced to live underground; they have eyes, but these eyes cannot function in the total darkness of the subterranean world.  They have eyes, but they cannot see…they cannot even perceive the total darkness they live in.

What is striking here is this is an almost exact allegory for what Christianity teaches about our human condition.  Humans, as a result of our actions in the past, have been cut off from direct communion with God.  Our main “sense” organ that allows us to perceive God and spiritual truth, the Nous, has been darkened and cannot function properly in humans.  So much so, in fact, that most humans are not even aware that there is such an organ as a Nous–just as in Dark Universe, many people gave no thought to their eyes anymore.  Our world has been darkened due to ancestral sin, and our spiritual sense organ does not function properly–in Galouye’s story, the world has been darkened due to man’s sin (nuclear war) and the sight sense organ does not function properly.  In both cases, humans are no longer able to perceive Light.  And in both cases humans mistake a real substance for an action:  in Dark Universe, light and darkness are understood merely as a person’s acting in a good or bad way.  In our universe, spiritual light and darkness are understood merely as a person’s acting in a good or bad way, or perhaps in believing the right or wrong things.  We fail to perceive (because we do not use our noetic sense) the actual reality of God’s light–of His Grace.  Most of us do not use the many spiritual tools, which Christ gave us, to ”see” the transforming light of God:  the transforming light that Peter, James, and John witnessed on Mount Tabor.

The ending of Dark Universe (which I will not go into in depth because I do not like spoilers) is a little ambiguous however.  I got the sense of a conclusion very similar in spirit to the ending of Lord of the Flies.  There is salvation from the depths for some humans, but what lies beyond….    But the novel is worth the price of admission because it helps us to see our own blind areas, and because the dark universe the novel describes it so compellingly realistic and interesting.

–pio