“god is dead.” friedrich nietzsche “nietzsche is dead.” god ppenelope blinked her eyes and pulled back. “what in the world do i have to do with the fourth awakening?” a sly smile covered michael walker’s face. “we’ll get to that in a few minutes. right now we need to get you up to speed on the current awakening. this will be right down your alley with lots of who, what, where and when’s. you want to speculate on why we have so much information about the most recent awakening?” “i have no idea.” “come on. humor me. there are always huge changes after a new awakening. what do you think was one of the big ones between the second and third awakenings? i’ll give you a hint, it’s your bread and butter.” penelope drew in a breath and stared out the window of the bronco at the west virginia countryside as it whizzed by. suddenly her eyes fl ew wide open. “oh my god!” 144 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin “i thought you could get there all by yourself.” “written language! you’re right, that is a huge change.” “precisely,” walker answered, beaming. “unfortunately it also created some new problems.” “what kind of problems?” “after the sumerians began to write on clay tablets, the dominant cultures of the time saw an opportunity.” “what kind of opportunity?” “the chinese and the egyptian were neck and neck in developing the first written language but the folks in power intentionally made this new media diffi cult to learn.” “why?” “by limiting literacy to the ruling classes it helped protect their status. we’ve seen this type of thing repeated in different ways time and time again throughout history.” “so you’re saying that there are people who will exploit an awakening for personal gain?” “absolutely. the egyptian scribe class was incredibly powerful and secretive; which is unfortunate since they didn’t leave any directions on how to translate all those hieroglyphics they created. that has been driving egyptologists crazy for centuries. in china there are still over 47,000 characters in their alphabet with 4,000 in regular use. all of this was clearly designed to protect those already in power. fortunately for the rest of us the suppression of emerging knowledge by ruling elites never works for very long.” “what does that mean?” “around 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, right at the beginning of the th ird awakening, it became clear a more universally understood written language that wasn’t controlled by the elites was needed. this is when we saw the emergence of various semitic languages, primarily aramaic. th ey lead to the greek alphabet and the rest is, as they say, history.” “that’s interesting,” penelope said as she mulled over walker’s latest epiphany. “so the genie was out of the bottle and there was no way for the ruling classes to keep it to themselves forever.” “precisely,” walker answered with a nod. “that would be one of those rough edges of an awakening that can sometimes take a while to smooth off. even after a written language became available, because of the high 145 the fourth awakening cost of producing the manuscripts it was still limited to the wealthy, religious and well educated classes. this didn’t start to change until around 600 years ago…” “gutenberg’s bible,” penelope interrupted. “precisely,” walker answered as he nodded his approval. “that is also a perfect example of the time it can take for an awakening to smooth itself out. it took us 2,500 years to go from alphabetic words to movable type printing presses.” “hmm,” penelope muttered under her breath as she pondered this latest nugget of wisdom from michael walker. some of his theories were too fantastic to take seriously while others had an implicit logic that was difficult to deny. this was going to be a challenging story to write. as if reading her mind, walker gave her a moment to process this new information. when he saw her shoulders relax, he continued. “another big issue that arose with the written word is that it requires the use of mutually agreed upon symbolic language. this means the language and the descriptions they produce are subject to interpretation and are run through the filter of each individual’s experiences and prejudices.” “sounds like the deconstruction theory that was rampant when i was in college,” penelope said. “exactly,” walker said with a nod of appreciation. “suppose an ancient egyptian scribe drew a hieroglyph he wanted to represent a tree. someone else may see it as “shade” and another person as “fruit” and a third may see it as a symbol of summer. symbolic language is subject to individual interpretation. communication can be like the old game of “telephone” we used to play as kids. you tell someone something and they pass it on then they pass it on. after the fourth or fi fth telling it sounds nothing like the original.” “like two different people can read the same poem and come away with completely diff erent messages.” “or no message at all. it comes down to the way the individual interprets the symbolic language and how receptive they are to the idea. if you think about it for a moment, all of your thoughts revolve around symbols. while the changes a new awakening brings are always easier to see in hindsight; it appears we may be heading to a new era where a non-symbolic understanding becomes the standard.” “you’re making words up again, aren’t you?” 146 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin walker laughed. “of course i am but that doesn’t make it any less valid. besides, people do it all the time. globalization, e-mail, aerobicized, pop tarts, spam. the list is nearly endless. ” penelope chuckled and shook her head. she hadn’t enjoyed a conversation this much in years. walker had the ability to challenge her intellectually with a good natured calmness she found comfortable. “if you had to write the definition for non-symbolic for webster’s, how would it read?” “you really can’t, because that would require symbols. but, people have been trying their best to write about and explain non-symbolic understanding for thousands of years. the concept is probably most familiar to you as enlightenment.” “enlightenment? you’re kidding. are you trying to tell me that the next phase of humanity will involve all of us becoming enlightened?” walker shrugged but didn’t answer. “you’re on a roll now. you want to take a shot at figuring out the key elements of the th ird awakening?” “sure.” penelope curled up in the seat with her feet under her like a cat. “how many key elements am i looking for?” “two.” “just two? that’s hardly your style.” “think big picture here. another hint. we’re still in the adjustment period for the th ird awakening.” “what does that mean?” “they are still the two most important things shaping our world today.” “that dramatically limits the field.” penelope drew in a deep breath through her nose and allowed it to slowly escape between her lips. “considering your disdain for washington i am going to guess politics is not one of them.” “different forms of government come and go and politicians always think they are more important than they really are.” “okay. not politics.” penelope rubbed her chin as she thought out loud. “economic systems aren’t important enough.” “right.” “what’s been around for the past 3,000 years?” penelope’s eyes fl ew open. “is it that simple?” “yup.” 147 the fourth awakening “oh my!” penelope’s eyes danced as she pondered the possibilities. “nothing conflicts with your revered who, what, when, where, and why?” penelope’s mind continued to race as she mentally thumbed through every book and article she had ever read before she absently shook her head. “not yet.” “excellent. now if we can just get you over the final hump of realizing we are all connected through thought…” “slow down, skippy,” penelope said as her eyes focused back on walker. “while i will grant that you have an interesting theory here; i wouldn’t start fitting me for my choir robes just yet. i have a few more questions.” “okay.” “first off, i’m not even sure we’re talking about the same stuff . what do you think are the two most important elements of the th ird awakening?” “you fi rst.” a heavy silence settled over the bronco as penelope folded her arms across her chest and glared at walker. “why do i have to go fi rst?” walker shrugged. “we are on the cusp of…” “stop. stop! you win.” penelope shook her head in resignation. “th e two key elements of the third awakening are religion and science.” “give the lady from charleston full marks. in the last 3,000 years we have seen the decline of the ancient faiths and rituals and the emergence of every major modern religion. also, as the grip of religion has waned, the power of science has grown at an amazing rate. these twin pillars are, for better or worse, what hold up modern society.” “none of this supports your core argument that we are all connected through thought,” penelope said with a sigh. “did you know that between 800 bc and 400 bc, all around the world there was a religious explosion? this is when the key events in the old testament occurred, from which emerged judeo/christian beliefs. at the same time taoism was being followed by confucianism in china. the same was happening with shintoism in japan, and hinduism and buddhism in india, and later islam.” “your point being?” “if we are not connected by thought, how did all of these simultaneous religious explosions happen?” “surely you can see the logical fallacy,” penelope said with a dismissive 148 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin wave of her hand. “you’re starting from a false premise that we are all connected through thought then using that to draw a conclusion.” “what’s false about it?” “your job is to convince me that you are right. it’s not my job to convince you that you are wrong.” “fair enough,” walker answered. “let’s try another one. let’s go back to art.” penelope nodded her agreement. “in the early days of greek art they made some spectacular vases.” “okay.” “at precisely the same moment the jomon culture in japan and the people on the korean peninsula were creating nearly identical work.” “sorry,” penelope answered. “we’re running in circles here, michael. without some sort of concrete proof i’m more inclined to go with coincidence, unknown trade channels, or some other logical argument over your psychic connection theory.” “i didn’t expect this to be easy,” walker said with a smile. “your pigheadedness is a refreshing change.” “what does that mean?” penelope demanded. “usually i have this type of conversation with someone who is sitting on the edge of their chair hanging on my every word. these are people who want to believe me; sometimes are desperate to believe me.” “sorry,” penelope said with a substantially less than sincere laugh. “i guess i’m just not one of your awakening groupies.” “no, you’re not. that’s why you’re perfect.” “perfect?” penelope said as she pulled further away from walker. “th at’s a bit of a reach.” “what i meant,” walker said with his usual calmness. “is that you are the perfect person for me to be talking to right now. if i can fi gure out how to reach you and make you understand; then together we’ll be able to reach the world.” “you are a very odd man,” penelope said while shaking her head. “th anks.” penelope didn’t bother to correct him; she was lost too deeply in thought. for about five minutes they rode in silence as she mentally poked and jabbed at everything walker had told her. she had to admit a lot of it made sense, but that’s the way con men hook you. they bury a lie within a kernel of truth. she glanced over and studied his profi le; he 149 the fourth awakening certainly didn’t look or act like a nut job. he had a coolness about him that was so sincere it was almost jarring. penelope rubbed her chin and cleared her throat. “let me be sure i’ve got all of this.” walker nodded but did not answer. “200,000 years ago homo sapiens emerged from the primordial goo. that’s the first awakening.” “right.” “over the next 150,000 years they start to slowly develop into something resembling us today.” “right.” “50,000 years ago there was a second awakening where people started to become self-aware and realize they are mortal with all the baggage that entails.” walker nods his agreement. “they begin forming larger social groupings and started looking for spiritual answers through myths and rituals.” “right.” “around 14,000 years ago, in the later stages of the second awakening, there is a change in the global climate and this process of self-discovery accelerates.” “and continues to accelerate through the present day.” “3,000 years ago is the third awakening which is basically the double edged sword of science and religion.” “religion had been around for a lot longer in a variety of forms. science was the new comer to the game.” “you’re pretty confident the fourth awakening is about to happen.” “it has already started.” “really,” penelope said deadpan. “my invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.” “received, signed for and opened.” “here we go again,” penelope said while shaking her head. “th is is going to be another one of those things i’m not ready to understand yet. right?” “right.” “i give up. tell me something to make me believe the fourth awakening has started.” “the breakdown of relations between science and religion is a good one.” “what are you talking about now?” “the relationship has always been a bit strained but it broke into the 150 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin open when galileo and the pope had their little dust up.” “that was 400 years ago!” penelope protested. walker just smiled. “you really need to be thinking in longer time lines. for a universe that is who knows how old and a planet that is over four billion years old, 400 years is the blink of an eye.” penelope shook her head and sighed. “amazing,” she muttered under her breath. “what?” “nothing. please continue.” “for the past 500 or so years the political power of the church has waned while the power of science has flourished. with a few exceptions most of the people today live in societies with secular governments.” “so? what does any of this prove?” “nothing,” walker said flatly. “and everything.” penelope closed her eyes, scratched her forehead and then motioned for walker to continue. “for many scientists knowledge hit a tipping point about 150 years ago. universities began to switch from being religious institutions to being based on the german research model. leading scientists were declaring that soon they would have no new major discoveries to make. while skeptical of religion, before that time all of the great minds were looking to science to prove there was a god, not to disprove it.” “i suppose you have a theory of why they suddenly turned their back on god in the 19th century?” “would you be surprised if i didn’t?” “frankly, yes. and i’m betting it will be a doozy.” “dinosaurs.” “dinosaurs?” “yes.” “i can’t wait to hear this one.” “in the early 19th century, when western scientists figured out those old bones they had been digging up for centuries were not dragons or animals that had perished in noah’s biblical flood but animals that had roamed the planet millions of years earlier, it pretty much shot down the theory of earth being built in six days. to many this was as startling as copernicus disproving the long held belief that the earth was the center of the universe. at that point, science pretty much gave up on religion as 151 the fourth awakening superstition and myth.” “let me get this straight. you’re claiming that the current skepticism about religion got its start because of the discovery of dinosaur bones?” “no. they’ve been at each other’s throats for thousands of years; that was just the proverbial last straw.” “that moves the bar, even by your standards.” “thanks.” he held up his hand and stopped her before she could reply. “i know.” “don’t let me slow you down. please continue.” “recently we’ve seen a reversal where a large number of truly gift ed scientists have returned to the spiritual and the mystical for answers to the big questions science can’t answer.” “big questions?” “why are we here, and how did we get here? how was the universe formed, and who or what formed it?” walker continued, “th e advance in human knowledge during this period has been astounding and appears to be accelerating. in the 20th century we went from the fi rst motorized flight to walking on the moon in less than 70 years. cures for diseases were discovered and life expectancies doubled, then doubled again. th e industries that dominated modern society at the end of the 20th century—air travel, automobiles, computers, instant mass communication, motion pictures, television, the internet—none of these even existed a hundred years earlier.” “are you ever going to get to the point?” “the point is our current organized religions are not filling our needs and science is so tied up in symbolic thought it can no longer support its own weight.” “i have no idea what that means,” penelope said while shaking her head. “basically it all goes back to how each of us tries to avoid the ending of our existence. religion offered one solution, often in the form of things that could be done to ensure survival of our consciousness aft er physical death. science offers another path; immortality though the knowledge you create outliving you.” “so the idea is that death is the big motivator.” “the possibility of non-existence it brings, actually. there’s a long line of schemes for this that probably started not long after we realized the possibility. “such as?” 152 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin “well, virtually all culture relates to this. it gives us the opportunity to perpetuate something larger than ourselves that we’re tied to and will out live us. making contributions to one or more of our cultural institutions serves the same purpose. for millennia this was about the best you could hope for, aside from religion. the problem is that it doesn’t take a genius to see that contributions made to sumerian culture didn’t last forever. rather than knowledge relating to a culture, science off ers the opportunity to create universally relevant knowledge and thus a higher form of immortality so, practical benefits aside, it’s not hard to see why it caught on. “go on.” spence said rubbing her chin. “the basic underpinning of science is universally understood truth. as they have piled more and more on, it is starting to buckle.” walker smiled. “when the big ideas from the previous awakening start to collapse then a new awakening is on the horizon.” “that’s your proof ? “i’m guessing that means you are not buying any of it.” “no…no…no,” penelope said shaking her head. “i buy a great deal of it. in fact much of it is hard to argue with. it’s just two small parts are giving me trouble.” “namely?” “i don’t see any great collapse in science or any proof of us being connected through thought.” penelope pursed her lips and shook her head. “sorry.” as usual, michael walker appeared unmoved. if he was disappointed or hurt, nothing in his body language or facial expression showed it. “are you willing to listen to more arguments?” “of course,” penelope answered quickly. “but please don’t take this to mean i can’t still write your story for you… ” walker cut her off by patting her gently on the knee. penelope looked down as she felt a jolt of energy similar to a static electricity shock only more powerful. she froze when her peripheral vision caught sight of a bright violet glow surrounding michael walker. it instantly vanished as she gasped and turned her head to look directly at him. “what?” “i thought i saw something.” “what did you see?” 153 the fourth awakening “it was nothing, really.” “penelope. considering all the seemingly outrageous things i’ve told you in the past few hours, do you really think anything you could say would surprise me?” she chuckled. “good point. i thought i saw you surrounded by a fi eld of light.” “excellent!” “why did i just know you were going to say that?” “what color was it?” “color?” “yes, what color?” “i don’t know. deep blue.” “purple, maybe?’ “more like violet.” he patted her on the leg again. “th at’s excellent!” “what does it mean?” “it means you’re getting close to believing me. right now your energy fi eld is yellow, which is the color of inspiration, intellect and shared action.” “you can see my energy field?” penelope thought for a moment then added, “i have an energy fi eld?” “everyone has one,” walker answered as if surprised by the question. “plus, everyone has the ability to see them but few realize it.” “i was only able to catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye, but when i looked at you directly it went away.” “that’s common at first. you mentioned earlier that you don’t have an instructor or teacher.” “no, i go down to a local yoga class occasionally.” “what did you learn there?” “not much; mostly just some stretches and breathing exercises. th ey seemed more interested in selling outfits and mats.” “they didn’t teach you any meditation techniques?” “not really.” penelope was a bit embarrassed. “when i was a teenager i had a book on vipassana meditation. i just started meditating the way i remember doing it then.” “so,” walker said calmly. “you reached this level of spiritual development basically on your own?” “spiritual development? please.” 154 rod pennington & jeffery a. martin walker laughed again. “carl is going to eat you up with a spoon.” “carl?” “dr. altman.” penelope nodded that no further explanation was required. “if we can just get you past your pigheadedness…” “i prefer steadfast.” “i’m sure you do,” walker said with a chuckle that caused the corners of penelope’s mouth to curve into a smile. a cheshire cat smile covered walker’s face. “how long have you been doing this?” “doing what?” “yoga. meditating.” “off and on forever. seriously for about a year.” “hmm.” “what?” penelope asked. “there are buddhist monks who spend a lifetime in a monastery and never reach your level of development.” “really?” “don’t get too full of yourself. there are also uneducated peasants who wake up one morning in a state of enlightened bliss with no idea that anything has even changed.” “so someone can have this handed to them without even knowing they’re receiving it, while a monk can spend a lifetime seeking it and never fi nd it?” “the universe has a great sense of humor.” “you have to admit this entire awakening concept is a bit hard to swallow in a single sitting.” “i know. unfortunately we’re on a tight schedule, but at the rate you’re progressing i’m sure it will make more sense to you soon.” “what does that mean?” “your alarm clock has already gone off and the fourth awakening has already started, which is the problem.” “what problem? “so far we’ve only talked about the benefits of an awakening. th ere is a dark side.”