What a splendid journey it's been. Ch#2, Early Years.

Given the turmoil of getting legal papers and leaving Germany, the long transatlantic cruise, the storms and waves, the course diversion, processing though US immigrations - the train ride out from New York to Chicago must have flashed by in a sleepy blur.

Arriving in Chicago, we were met by Aunt Elsie and Uncle Julius who rolled out the red carpet for us at their small Chicago apartment.  Much later I came to realize it was so small because they were also buying a Florida vacation home and another on Beverly Shores, Indiana.  They always did seem to have their priorities straight.     

I heard we twins were a big hit.  Yes, I'd be the one grabbing for the flowers.  After the celebrating and some rest, our family moved into another cramped apartment above a shop, on a busy thoroughfare. 

My dad got established at Altman’s Camera Store off Lincoln Avenue, joined the Chicago Musicians Union, and worked his butt off.  Then, he found a nice ground-level apartment to raise kids in.  It wasn’t far from Altman’s on the western edge of the Lakeview district, 3307 N. Bell.  Located two houses down from a T-intersection, which meant little through traffic.

What a splendid journey it's been. Ch#1, Escape.

 Introduction 

With only a few months to go, it's looking like I’m going to make it to my 70th birthday. Considering the metaphorical knife’s edge I’ve danced along my entire life, I’m astonished to be here. Hell, I remember celebrating my unlikely entry into the Half Century Club—recalling some friends and acquaintances who didn’t make it. Not to mention my own close calls.

Yet here I am. Even more amazing for me is all the people who have become part of my life along the way—especially in the pulse of babies turned toddlers and beyond these past six years. Their parents are full-time professionals, and I was privileged to be the most active member of our three-grandparent baby care support team during their first couple of years, since I had more available time than my working wife. The physical beings of these active grandchildren quite literally instructed my body to reinvigorate itself, which it did.

Those repeated days and weeks together created deep bonds through shared adventures and memories - memories that will fade as they grow but still leave lasting imprints that I feel good about. This past year, a baby girl from a new clutch joined us, nor have I forgotten my original two grandchildren, now in their twenties, busy building their own lives.

I include this upfront because it explains why I feel I’ve earned the legitimacy to tackle our deeper questions.  Writing this story will allow me to reflect on how my experiences helped weave themselves into my particular perspective - the relationship between myself and the knowledge I possess.  

What's it all about, in 169 words.

 

 

Who Am I?

I am an evolved biological sensing creature, a filament in the pageant of Earth’s evolution.

I am the product of nearly half a billion years of Earth’s uninterrupted generations of research and development and reproduction.

My Body/Brain is the cumulative product of Earth’s evolutionary processes; 

My Mind is the cumulative product of my Body/Brain interacting with my world (interior & exterior);

My God(s) along with all of my other thoughts are the product of my Mind.

I appreciate and respect the Physical Reality ~ Human Mind divide(with its many cascading implications) and believe it’s about the most fundamental observation we can make regarding our human condition and it is worth ruminating on since all else proceeds from there.

I respect and appreciate serious science as our best chance to understand ourselves and the Earth that sustains us. I also believe that the science of our Earth/biology/evolution and deep time offer opportunities for spiritual revelations, challenges and resolutions well beyond what our self-created ego-driven religions can offer. 

 

 Peter Miesler

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How did I come up with this?

I myself found that there’s plenty of mystery, wonder, and spiritual footing to be found within a deep sober science-based understanding of this miracle planet Earth’s evolution, and especially how that Pageant of Evolution is reiterated and reflected within my own body.

The story of how my body evolved and got to be the master piece we inhabit is fantastic. Utterly mind blowing and with room for meta-physical overtones which are beautiful, part of the living mystery - but we shouldn't take ourselves too seriously.

I’ve “touched the All” it was sublime, moving, and it subtly changed me, even as I knew it was the product of my own mind interacting with the environment (and others).  

So, please don’t tell me God is up there reaching down for a personal relationship with me or you.  That conviction isn't about respecting some super natural creator entity, it is nothing less than human Ego gone berserk.  

I don’t need it.  Because I understand I was created out of this Earth’s processes and I’m surrounded by other Earthlings of every variety, all of whom also have lives and value, and that I owe them some consideration.  After all, they are part of my family!

To every thing, turn, turn. Who am I?

After more than six years of chewing on it, I’m looking forward to demoting my “Who Am I?” project to the way back burner and starting in on another one who's time has come. 

This Stephen Gould’s Missing Key, morphed into Is Belief In God Rational?, morphed into Who Am I? project was edifying and humbling, and yeah, I’m afraid disappointing.  I’m a born and bred child of the intellectual enlightenment, with engaged discussion in my DNA.  Seems that I may belong in a different world and time and with goals that make no sense to the current implosion into that MAGA, me, me, me, dog eat dog reality making the rounds.  

Thing is, I grew up in a home with table talk, and magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, National Geographic, two encyclopedia sets, the big Webster Dictionary that needed it’s own stand, plus …, all that in a narrow ground level Chicago apartment with eclectic parents who were curious about the world, plus my two sisters, an older brother with an engineer’s mind, turned jet engine mechanic and ultimately retiring as 737 pilot.  But, I digress.  

After my latest frustrating round with the philosophy club, I’m sharing an email I sent to an eminent neuroscientist that I swapped some emails with a few years back.  I’m sharing his response followed by some more explanatory notes.  

Muthukrishna - Theory of Everyone vs. Physical Reality

A CFI member recommended that I listen to this interview of Michael Muthukrishna. I’ve listened to it twice and enjoyed the interview, especially the first 50 minutes about how we got here. Some fine observations that sync with my understanding. I made plenty of notes and will save them incase someone shows an interest in discussing the talk.  What I want to discuss happened 51 minutes into the discussion. 

Sean Carroll's MIndscape Podcast #255

Michael Muthukrishna on Developing a Theory of Everyone

Can we even imagine a “Theory of Everyone,” providing basic organizing principles for society?

Michael Muthukrishna (Ph.D. in psychology) believes we can, and indeed that we can see the outlines of such a theory emerging, based on the relationships of people to each other and to the physical resources available.

Michael Muthukrishna received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of British Columbia. He is currently Associate Professor of Economic Psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. … His new book is A Theory of Everyone: The New Science of Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going.       podbean.com   Video Link

“Phase transition in mental ability” - an interesting key concept, I like it. Are human’s capable of such a thing? I ask because reality challenged the entire human race in the 1960s to ‘70s.  It came as a realization and warning that humanity and Earth had entered dangerous unchartered existential territory.

Thanks to science we were increasingly taking on Godly powers and our population had entered an exponential population explosion, while Earth's natural systems and landscapes had limits who's crossing would start increasingly damaging those complex systems that support human society, and if we were really careless, we could even trigger events leading to our extinction.

The choice was simple, slow down a little, use a little forethought and wisdom before rushing into the unknown.  To recognize and learn from our mistakes.  Learn more about Earth’s processes.  Strive to work with those processes.  Instead the powers-that-be decided citizens should hold nature and Earth's needs in contempt.

A Democratic Party online Forum. To help inform and build community. It is worth a try.

Democratic Party leaders how will you start reconnecting with alienated voters whose budgets won’t allow for constant political donations?

Oh if wishes were horses and I had tons of money, then someone at Democratic headquarters would listen to this suggestion.  We could talk it around until a big wig decides to take the idea for themself and make it happen. Politics at its best.
Now it’s the proverbial, … never mind.  Now, if you think it's a good idea, pass it along.

DNC’s never ending assault of political donation demands have become counter productive. We need ideas and community and encouragement.

What’s worse is the melodrama, rarely do those Democrat texts communicate any constructive information or reason to engage.

We need substantive helpful information. We need something with teeth that engages.

One suggestion, why not a private Democratic online discussion forum.  The DNC could communicate directly with interested voters; create a platform to inform, engage, motivate and help us network directly with likeminded.

Give us something to help build a little tangible feelings of solidarity.

"I Am, Therefore I Think" - A scientific reality. What does it means? (a dialogue)

 

I received the following constructive response to some of my thoughts and have decided to share this latest effort to clarify my Earth Centrist perspective. 

Hi, Peter,

Many theists believe in evolution, viewing it as god’s means of creating humans, so evolution is a bit of a red herring in this debate.  We do have the concept of god in our minds, but that tells us nothing about whether there is a god or not.  We have the concepts of trees and unicorns; the former exist, the latter don’t.  We need further argumentation to make a case for or against god’s existence.

Regards,

Thank you for responding and engaging with my ideas.  

Your note invites some clarification.

This isn’t about lip service to evolution.

This is about our relationship with the thoughts we possess.

This is about taking Descartes' (pre-scientific) reduction of what we can known about the human condition, which he boiled down to: "I Think, Therefore I Am” - to a modern scientifically informed reduction of our actual human condition: "I Am, Therefore I Think."

We are evolved biological sensing creatures, product of a half billion years of Earth’s evolution - what that tells us is that our mind is produced by our body/brain interacting with the world.  (Solms, Damasio, Sapolsky, etc.)

This brings us to a realization that it isn't a question of whether Gods are real or not. 

It is about appreciating that God's are the product of our own human thoughts.

Meta-physical figments within our minds - outside the realm of physical world.

You write: "We do have the concept of god in our minds" - but that is exactly what begs the question: "How does an assumption of God become a Being of God?"