On Our Efforts for Immortality

     The physical universe(1) consists of four elements - matter, energy space and time.

     According to nuclear physics, matter is composed of energy such as electrons(2) and protons.(3) And the energy and the matter exist in space and time. All this is actually very simple. And even then we need not go very far into it to understand that the universe in which we live is composed of simple things arranged and rearranged to make many forms and manifestations.(4)

     The concrete sidewalk, the air, ice cream sodas, paychecks, cats, kings and coal heavers are basically composed of matter, energy space and time. And where they are alive they contain another ingredient-life.

     Life is an energy of a very special kind, obeying certain laws different from what we normally consider energy such as electricity But life is an energy and it has some peculiar properties.

     Life is able to collect and organize matter and energy in space and time and animate(5) it. Life takes some matter and energy and makes an organism such as monocell(6) a tree, a polar bear or a man. Then this organism, still animated by the energy called life, further acts upon matter and energy in space and time and further organizes and animates matter and energy into new objects and shapes.

     Life could be said to be engaged upon a conquest of the physical universe. The primary urge of life has been said to be survival. In order to accomplish survival, life has to continue and win in its conquest of the physical universe.

     When life or a life form ceases to continue that conquest, it ceases to survive and succumbs.

     Here we have a gigantic action. The energy of life versus(7) matter, energy, space and time.

     Life versus the physical universe.

     Here is an enormous struggle. The chaotic, disorganized physical universe, capable only of force, resisting the conquest of life, organizing and persistent, capable of reason.

     Life learns the laws of the physical universe matter, energy, space and time and then turns those laws against the physical universe to further its conquest.

     Man has spent much time learning what he could of the physical universe as in the sciences of physics(8) and chemistry(9) but, more important even, of the daily battle of life against the universe. Do not think that a monocell does not manifest a knowledge of life's working rules, for it does. What cunning(10) it takes to organize some chemicals and sunlight into a living unit! The biologist(11) stands in awe of the expertness of management of the smallest living cells. He gazes at these intricate and careful entities, these microscopic units of life forms, and even he cannot believe that it is all an accident.

     There is life, then, a vital energy, not quite like physical universe energy. And then there are life forms. The life form or the organism, such as a living human body, consists of life plus physical universe matter, energy, space and time. A dead body consists of physical universe matter, energy, space and time minus life energy. Life has been there, has organized and has then withdrawn from the organism, an operation we know as the cycle of conception, birth, growth, decay and death.

     Although there are answer as to where life goes when it withdraws and what it then does, we need not examine that now. The important thing to a living organism is the fact that it is seeking to survive, in obedience to the whole effort of all life, and that in order to do so it must succeed in its conquest of the physical universe.

     Stated simply, life must first accumulate enough matter and energy to make up an organism - such as the human body - and must then ally(12) the organism with friendly and cooperative organisms - such as other people - and must continue to procure additional matter and energy for food, clothing and shelter in order to support itself Additionally in order to survive, it must do two specific things which, beyond the necessity of allies, food, clothing and shelter, are basically important.

     Life must procure pleasure.(13)

     Life must avoid pain.

     Life has an active thrust away from pain, which is non-survival, destructive and which is death itself Pain is a warning of nonsurvival or potential death.

     Life has an active thrust toward pleasure. Pleasure can be defined as the action toward obtaining or the procurement of survival. The ultimate pleasure is an infinity of survival or immortality a goal unobtainable for the physical organism itself (but not its life), but toward which the organism strives.

     Happiness then could be defined as the overcoming of obstacles toward a desirable goal. Any desirable goal, if closely inspected, will be found to be a survival goal.

     Too much pain obstructs the organism toward survival.

     Too many obstructions between the organism and survival mean nonsurvival.

     Thus one finds the mind(14) engaged in computing or imagining ways and means to avoid pain and reach pleasure and putting the solutions into action. And this is all that the mind does: it perceives, poses(15) and resolves problems(16) relating to the survival of the organism, the future generations, the group, life and the physical universe and puts the solutions into action. If it solves the majority of the problems presented, the organism thus achieves a high level of survival. If the organism's mind fails to resolve a majority of problems, then the organism fails.

     The mind, then, has a definite relationship to survival. And one means here the whole mind, not just the brain. The brain is a structure. The mind can be considered to be the whole being, mortal and immortal, the definite personality of the organism and all its attributes.

     Hence, if one's mind is working well, if it is resolving the problems it should resolve and if it is putting those solutions into proper action, the survival of the organism is well assured. If the mind is not working well, the survival of the organism is thrown into question and doubt.

     One's mind, then, must be in excellent condition if he is to best guarantee the survival of himself, his family, future generations, his group and life.

     The mind seeks to guarantee and direct survival actions. It seeks survival not only for the organism (self) but seeks it for the family, children, future generations and all life. Thus it can be selectively blunted.(17)

     A mind can be blunted concerning the survival of self and yet be alive to the survival of future generations. It can be blunted concerning groups and yet be very alive to its responsibility for the organism (self). In order to function well the mind must not be blunted in any direction.

     To function well the mind must conceive itself able to handle the physical universe of matter, energy, space and time within the necessities of the organism, the family, future generations arid groups as well as life.

     The mind must be able to avoid pain for and discover pleasure for the self, future generations, the family and the group as well as life itself.

     As the mind fails to avoid pain and discover pleasure, so fails the organism, the family, future generations, the group and life.

     The failure of one organism in a group to properly resolve survival problems is a failure, in part, for the whole group. Hence, "Do not send to find for whom the bell tolls;(18) it tolls for thee!"

     Life is an interdependent,(19) cooperative effort. Each and every living organism has a part to play in the survival of other organisms.

     When it comes to a thinking mind such as man's, the organism must be able to act independently for its own survival and the survival of others. In order to accomplish these survivals, however, a mind has to be able to realize solutions which are optimum not only for self but for all other things concerned in its survival.

     Thus the mind of one organism must reach agreements with the minds of other organisms in order that all may survive to the highest possible level.

     When a mind becomes dulled and blunted, it begins to compute its solutions poorly It begins to get confused about its goals. It is not sure what it really means to do. And it will involve and inhibit the survival of other organisms. It may begin, for instance, to compute that it must survive as self and that only self is important and so neglect the survival of others. This is nonsurvival activity It is highly aberrated.

     A mind which begins to "survive" only for self and begins to diminish and control with force other organisms around is already better than hallway toward its own death. It is a mind which is less than half alive. It has less than half its actual potential. Its perception of the physical universe is poor. It does not realize that it is dependent for survival upon cooperation with others. It has lost its survival mission. This mind is already outward bound toward death, has passed its peak and will. actually take personal actions which lead to its own death.

     Life, the large overall life, has a use for organism death. When an organism can no longer continue well, the plan of life is to kill it and invest anew in a new organism.

     Death is life's operation of disposing of an outmoded(20) and unwanted organism so that new organisms can be born and can flourish.

     Life itself does not die. Only the physical organism dies. Not even a personality,(21) apparently, dies. Death then, in truth, is a limited concept of the death of the physical part of the organism. Life and the personality, apparently, go on. The physical part of the organism ceases to function. And that is death.

     When an organism reaches a point where it is only half conscious, where it is only perceiving half as well as it should, where it is functioning only half as well as it should, death begins. The organism, thereafter, will take actions to hasten death. It does this "unconsciously" But, in its aberrated state, such a mind will also bring death to other organisms. Thus a half conscious organism is a menace to others.

     Here is the accident prone, the fascist,(22) the person who seeks to dominate, the selfish and self-seeking person. Here is an organism outward bound.

     When an organism reaches a point where it is only a third alive, a third conscious, it is perceiving only a third of what it might, life even further hastens the death of this organism and those around it. Here is the suicide, here is the person who is continually ill, who refuses to eat.

     Organisms which are outward bound toward death sometimes require years and years to die. For the organism experiences resurgences(23) and still has some small desire to go on living. And other organisms help it to live. It is carried along by the tide of life even though its individual direction is toward death-death for others and death for self and death for the physical universe around it.

     Society, the bulk of which is bent upon survival, fails or refuses to recognize death or the urge of organisms toward it. Society passes laws against murder and suicide. Society provides hospitals. Society carries such people upon its back. And society will not hear of euthanasia or "mercy killing."

     Organisms which have passed the halfway point will take extraordinary measures and means to bring about death for others and for things and for self. Here we have the Hitlers, the criminals, the destructively neurotic.(24)

     Give a person who has passed this point a car to drive and the car may become involved in an accident. Give him money and the money will go to purchase nonsurvival things.

     But we must not emphasize the dramatic and forget the important like the newspapers do. The action and urge toward death becomes noticeable only when it is very dramatic. It is most dangerous however in its undramatic forms.

     A person who has passed the halfway point brings death to things and people on a small scale at all times. A house left dirty appointments not kept, clothing not cared for, vicious gossip, carping(25) criticisms of others "for their own good": these are all enturbulences which bring failure and too many failures bring death.

     And it should be not supposed that by halfway point one means halfway through life. It means half conscious, half alive, half or less perceiving and thinking. A child may be suppressed(26) to this level by his parents and school. And indeed children quite ordinarily drop below the halfway point, so defeated do they become in their environment and in their contest with life. Age is no criterion.(27) But physical health is.

     The surest manifestation that someone has passed the halfway point is his physical condition. The chronically ill have passed it.

     If one is to have a secure society then, if one is to rid a society of its death factors, one must have some means of either destroying the people who bring death to it, the Hitlers, the insane, the criminals, or he must have some means of salvaging these people and bringing them back into a state of full consciousness.

     Full consciousness would mean full recognition of one's responsibilities, his relationship with others, his care of himself and of society

     How can such a thing be achieved? If you could achieve it, you could raise a social order to hitherto(28) unattainable heights. You could empty the prisons and insane asylums. You could make a world too sane for war. And people could be made well who have never had the means of it before. And people could be happy who have never truly known what happiness was. You could raise the good will and efficiency of all men and all social orders if you could restore the vitality of these people.

     In order to know how it can be restored, one has to know how the consciousness, the vitality, the will to live become reduced.