'Somebody's turned up the gravity again!' - that was the thought as my feet hit the floor this morning. It's my usual greeting for the day. Of course, it's not actually true. As yet nobody in my primitive little world has got gravity under that sort of control. It's just the effect of a bad night and chronic personal entropy.
Apparently I share a disease with the late Arthur C. Clarke. 'Post-Polio Syndrome' or 'The Late Effects of Polio' is what it's called; PPS or LEP for short. I was amused to notice in the relevant interview, that he seemed somewhat miffed that the doctors had invented a buzz-word for his condition. That from a man who is responsible, at least in part, for the invention of all sorts of buzz-words. You know, modern everyday things like 'Communications Satellite,' 'Geo-stationery Orbit' and 'Video-phone.'
Well I suppose I have to blame Arthur for more than that. Seeing the original Cinerama version of '2001' was a turning point in my imaginative life. Until then, I'd only been into Dan Dare, Superman and Batman, great stuff for a future-minded kid, but comic-book stuff, nonetheless. '2001' was different; it was believable. A seminal moment that showed me our small planet's science-future was not all science-fiction, but much of it had a fair chance of becoming reality. For me that film was the monolith on the far side of the Moon. Now, after forty years or so, during which time I've been out-bound for Neptune, imaginatively, that is, I suppose I must be approaching the next seminal moment, or maybe it’s the one before the one after that.
For me, that's what life's all about, chasing those moments of enlightenment. Discoveries such as realising that most so-called professionals are hopelessly inadequate, business-men are mostly self-centred and often a paper-cut away from being crooks, organising a religion is the most deadly sin and if god exists, it's no friend of mine, or the world for that matter. It would be nice to catch up with some good news, but that's an experience I've rarely enjoyed.
We are in the middle of a multi-millennial war. The Battle of the Big Brain, the human brain, the evolutionary triumph that I’m sure evolution never envisaged. A mad war made more terrible by pure creative thought.
The combatants in this war, of which there are two, can best be described in terms of gender, despite the Political-Incorrectness of the concept: The Earth-Mother versus the Celestial-Father or if you prefer it the Earth-Father and the Celestial-Mother - but, whatever viewpoint you like to take, the wrong one is always winning.
To appreciate my point, you may have to chuck away any current concept or belief in religion; there lies true fiction. EM, the Earth-Mother, represents the forces of nature and natural selection - She is unthinking, but anthropomorphically as real as you or I. CF, the Celestial-Father, represents applied philosophy - a virtual god of thought alone. What confuses the issue is that current popular belief applies these concept-characters to the wrong sides of the argument. It is the earthy deity who is the true scientist but the celestial one who is blamed for it.
This is a depressing discovery. It would be wonderfully comforting if we could rely on EM for all the nice sweet painless pleasures, a primrose-path to eternity following nature's ways. But nature's ways are harsh - success against all odds, at whatever cost to the loser, that is EM's way. Her contributions to what we humans call civilisation include conflict, greed, envy, war and crime; anything which gives one creature or species an edge over another. EM's only goal is the dominance and spread of some part of herself; one creature from her multitude that will succeed against all odds. There are no bounds to her territorial ambitions, except those of the Universe itself. CF is both her audience and opposition, He appreciates her beauties and tries to steer her towards the creation of more of them. CF is a true Utopian.
We humans are stuck in the middle. Our big brains have evolved both the ability to see EM's beauty and the ability to take advantage of her. The first of these talents created CF - for he is totally artificial, and the second portends his ultimate failure. EM is on a roll, I fear she can't be stopped, which is why CF is on the run.
Amusingly, it is those who proclaim to be followers of EM, that are CF's greatest warriors: the environmentalists, the fighters of famine, the seekers of cold justice (as opposed to emotional vengeance) and those who would apply science to the health of humanity. For EM this is simply some temporary attempt at subversion, unless, that is, it incidentally promotes Her purpose!
The 'Meaning of Life' is that we are each here to breed and multiply, whatever the consequences. That is EM's prime battle strategy. Total war between all species, even when that means the destruction of other species or the elimination of one's own. For EM, extinctions are irrelevant, there's always another evolutionary adaptation coming up behind. CF represents the unnatural concept that a species can preserve the status-quo for the purpose of beauty, and beauty alone.
The Answer is not Douglas Adams' ironic "42" - It's that we are here to do EM's bidding, fulfil her strategy. But 'The Great Question,' is simple. I suppose it can best be put as, 'Tell me Pilgrim, whose side are you on?'