The Beginnings of Man -Part 6

In this final 6th part of the series ‘The Beginnings of Man’ I question the truth behind the writings of Enoch and propose a creation story that suggests Man is not wholly of Earthern origins!

In part 5  of ‘The Beginnings of Man’, I suggested based on biblical texts and creation stories around the world that Gods rather than one all-powerful God were responsible for the birth, or as some would argue, the fall of Man. Good and Evil are theologically defined powers, whereas the sciences will talk in terms of opposites; negative and positive forms of energy. However, science, religion and most philosophic and metaphysical tomes do agree on one ‘truth’, that Man has a hierarchical form of consciousness, albeit they have different ways of defining it. Simply stated in means Man thinks of himself as created uniquely by the unknowable and all his experience is purposed to achieve oneness with the unknowable. Consciousness begins with the (unknown) demand to achieve oneness, which develops multi levels of consciousness, that purpose the self to unify and achieve the goal of oneness.

In Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain cosmology, for example, they see the process of creation as an extremely long cosmic period (an aeon) called a Kalpa —often described as a “day of Brahma” lasting 4.32 billion years, which ends in an equally long period of dissolution called Pralaya. In Christianity and Islam one omnipotent power begins and ends all and in the process define how we progress to oneness by the guidance of good over evil understanding. Whatever creation process you subscribe too, or not, we objectively understand our belief or non-belief in a hierarchical expression, which ultimately defines a oneness achieved by understanding the purpose ‘God’ intended of us.

And we do this at all levels of conscious awareness. At a prosaic level we function to process, be it an action, a memory, or an idea in the same way. It’s better if we resolve the need, or worse if we don’t. Either one or other  ‘ending’ is predicated to improve understanding.

In all post flood theological writings we are told that beginning of everything is unknowable, i.e. God which equates to zero and all endings are attributable to God, which again equates to zero.

Now let us look at the hierarchical process of understanding in the case of Adam.

The story told in Genisis, is believed to be written about 1440–1400 BC during Moses’ lifetime, thought some scholars argue it reached its final form much later, around the 6th–5th century BC. As the story is written it suggests that Adam and Eve are single persons. Adam, as I’ve already indicated would have been a population not a single entity, and Eve likewise.

The key points of the story in Genisis are, in Chapter 1 ‘God’ creates Man in His own image on the 5th day when He also creates all other forms of Earth life and gives Man the power over all life on Earth. In Chapter 2, God creates Man from the dust of the ground and the Garden of Eden and enables Man(who is named Adam) to eat freely all except from the Tree of Knowledge. Seeing Adam needs a mate (all the animals etc. have mates) He creates Eve. In Chapter 3 the Serpent tells Eve that eating from the Knowledge Tree will give her the powers of a God. Eve ‘eats’ and causes Adam to ‘eat’. They become aware of their nakedness (of their Earth origin). God curses them above all forms of vertebrae life for as long as they live and casts them out of the Garden of Eden. Adam describes Eve as the mother of all living.

God refers to Himself as ‘us’, So that suggests He was ‘many’. He creates Man on the 5th day along with all other forms of life but doesn’t initially give him (or other forms of life) physical presence. Only when the Garden of Eden physically created does he physically create Man as Adam who has dominion over all forms of life. Eve is created out of Adam who gains awareness of the forbidden knowledge which gives her a god-like status, shares it with Adam who likewise becomes aware of his god-like nature. God (the many) curses them and throws them out of the Garden.

According to this story told in Genisis, Man must repent his wickedness and hope that God will eventually forgive and restore his original well-being; a beginning, which it must be said was God-like in no need of a mate. A spiritual journey that goes on beyond physical death. All well and good, but Enoch appears to suggest God was many!

The Book of Enoch predates Genisis and has a chequered history. Authorship is traditionally attributed to Enoch, the great‑grandfather of Noah, although scholars agree the text is a composite work, compiled over time We now know it was preserved in part in the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran written more than 2,200 years ago in Aramaic, other scholarly sources suggest it was written in the 2nd century BC. Given it refers to pre and post flood global events the source is much earlier, and we suspect that some parts are missing and some parts have been authored by Jewish scribes. The work is widely regarded as a mythology and an Antichrist dialogue by Christianity, but given it predates Genisis (chapter 6  ‘sons of God’ and ‘giants), we should seriously examine what it has to say about the birth of Man.

Enoch refers to God as the ‘Most Holy’ and he does suggest they are many. He refers to the Watchers as having watched the Earth for a long time. He also makes it clear the rebellious angels are Watchers and sons of god and the Holy Ones are also Watchers and are those angels who did not incarnate to the Earth, Less the religious symbolism It reads like this….

An intelligent race of Beings who have been observing the life forming on Earth for some time decide, in part, to migrate and incarnate some of their selves to the Earth’s atmosphere. They are highly evolved and their bodily forms are not composed of common matter. The bodies they do have are largely composed of Dark Matter but also other forms of Matter which we know must exist but as yet don’t know about. As their forms adapt to the energetic nature of the Earth’s atmosphere they are gravitationally drawn toward the Earth’s surface attracted to an evolving form of ape we know as the Hominid species, which according to our fossil records were present on Earth 7 million years ago. And I suggest this correlates with the Genisis text where God created Man on the 5th day of creation, but -and it’s an important but -had yet to create him physically in the Garden of Eden.

This causes an evolutionary change in the Hominid family which gives rise to Homo heidelbergensis (700’000 years ago) and ongoing developing into Homo Sapiens, 300’000 years ago. The physical migration of these ‘intelligent beings’ that Enoch calls the ‘Watchers’ cause the birth of Adam and Eve and the subsequent ‘conflict’, in which the Earth born ‘serpent’ nature created male and female expressions of the ‘Watchers’ Self. Neither Genisis or Enoch approximate a dateline when Adam and Ever were created. What we can be assured of is the existence of civilisations prior to the great flood which likely evolved over thousands of years. I suggest the incarnation of these intelligent beings (that Enoch calls the rebellious angels) evolved gradually, not as religious texts imply as immediate.

The incarnated ‘intelligence’ must ingest common matter to maintain their Self natured body. Now driven by their incarnation to unite and achieve the stability of Self they alternatively seek to harmonise male and female but the process of doing this causes births of ‘lesser selves’. Ultimately their migrating Self influences the development of Homo Sapiens whose brain capacity exponentially grew bigger. Initially (for some thousands of years) some human forms of birth are very large -anywhere between 9 and 15 ft. tall with corresponding girths and possessed of great strength.

Before proceeding further it’s important to understand the Watchers advised by Enoch as Sons of God were prior to incarnating as physical (Light) matter beings, were an embodied Dark Matter variant. In other words they were observing human development unseen. Dark Matter customises itself to the regular matter it interreacts with. Whilst scientists have been able to identify clumping of dark matter in light matter galactic formations, they have yet to understand how or why this gravitational pull (attraction) to regular matter occurs.

Neither does physics yet know the structural nature of Dark Matter. What they do know is Dark Matter represents 85% or all Matter.  The driving force of Dark Matter is Dark Energy. Scientists know it is the primal driving force in the universe, but they have no knowledge (at present) of its composition, how or why it occurs. They do know when the formation of regular matter changes its Black Matter counterpart changes too, insofar it is still present whatever the ongoing formation of regular matter changes into. What they don’t realise or can in any way accept is when living organisms die their Black Matter counterparts continue to evolve!

Dark Energy has gravitational pulling power which positively affects the growth of life forms. Dark Matter is said to interact extremely weakly with ordinary matter and does not emit, absorb, or reflect light, but over time it has a positive changing effect on regular matter. Which does suggest Dark Matter vibrates at speeds greater than the speed of light.

The creation of the ‘Eve’ population was clearly a variant on the initial ‘Adam’ migration with much closer alignment with Earth’s energies that ultimately caused them to take on ‘human’ forms. Their changed hybrid forms now required, in addition to their cosmic nature, Earth born energies to sustain their form of consciousness. Giants( advised by Enock as the Nephilim)  were born and their hybrid nature varied -some needing more Earth bearing energies than others and intent on evolving differently conflicted with other forms of ‘Man’ evolving I suggest from the Homo heidelbergensis varient of Man.

The larger part of Enoch’s writing describes how the ‘Holy Ones’ on witnessing mayhem of Earth punished these ‘rebellious angels’ in such ways that suggests the Earth itself would suffer cataclysmic upheavals. The text goes on to describe how he (Enoch) was taken up into the Seventh Heaven and shown how and why the ‘Holy Ones’ were both judge and jury and given the task of informing the rebellious angels what would happen to them on Earth. all this suggests Enoch had unlimiting powers, himself a migrated ‘Watcher’ in human form later transformed into the angel Metatron, given a throne, crown, and titles such as “Prince of the Presence” and “Lesser YHWH.”

Enoch not only names the rebellious leaders; Shemyaza, who was the overall leader, Urakiba, Ramshel, Kokabel, Tamiel, Ratsamel, Daniel, Ezeqiel, Barakel, Azazel, Armaros, Batriel, Ananel, Zakiel, Shemshiel, Shahariel, Toniel, Turiel, Yamiel, and Zahariel, he further states there were 200 angels and cryptically “and of all the others with them”. He names some of these Angels taught men hidden knowledge, particularly focussing on Azazel who “taught men to make swords, and daggers, and shields, and breastplates. And he showed them the metals of the earth, and the art of working them, and gold and silver bracelets and ornaments, and the art of making up the eyes with antimony and eye-paint, and of beautifying the face, and the most precious and choice stones, and all kinds of coloured dyes”.

He goes on to say the leader of the leaders, Shemyaza, “taught spells against the mind, and the use of cut roots of plants, and Armaros magical skills and the release of spells, and Barakel taught astrologers, and Kokabel portents of the stars, and Tamiel taught portents of the weather, and Shahariel taught the path of the Moon. And they all began to reveal these mysteries to their wives and their children”.

Enoch initially names the Holy Ones; Michael, Uriel, Raphael and Gabriel (and later more…), saying that MEN petitioned them to prevail upon the ‘Most High great and Holy One’ to prevent the destruction of the Earth. Clearly, Michael, Uriel, Raphael and Gabriel were Archangels having dominion over the development of human life on Earth. He goes on to say; Shemyaza and Azazel were given authority by the Archangels to reveal the ‘secrets of heaven’, which is kind of saying that the Archangels were responsible for the destruction that was taking place on Earth!

In chapter 12 Enoch tells us “the Watchers called to me, Enoch the scribe, and said to me: Enoch, scribe of righteousness, go and inform the Watchers of Heaven, who have left the High Heaven and the sanctuary of the Eternal Covenant, and have corrupted themselves with the women, and have done as the sons of men do, and have taken wives for themselves, and have become completely corrupt on the Earth. They will have on Earth, neither peace, nor forgiveness of sin, for they will not rejoice in their sons. The slaughter of their beloved ones they will see; and over the destruction of their sons they will lament and petition for ever. But they will have neither mercy nor peace.”

The Watchers in Heaven are ‘Angels’ who did not incarnate and are distancing themselves from those who did incarnate. In chapter 13 Enoch now goes to Azazel (note.. not the leader of the rebellious angels Shemyaza) to say, ““You will not have peace.  A severe sentence has come out against you: That you should be bound. And, you will have neither rest, nor mercy, nor the granting of any petitions, because of the wrong which you have taught, and because of all the works of blasphemy, and wrong, and sin, which you have shown to the sons of men. And then, I went and spoke to them, all together, and they were all afraid; fear and trembling seized them.”

Despite the admonition the rebellious angels still make a petition!

“And they asked me to write out, for them, the record of a petition, so that they might receive forgiveness, and to take a record of their petition up to the Lord in Heaven. For they were not able, from then on, to speak, and they did not raise their eyes to Heaven, out of shame for the sins for which they had been condemned. And then I wrote out the record of their petition, and their supplication, in regard to themselves, and the deeds of each one of them, and in regard to what they asked; that they should obtain absolution and length of days.”

Then in chapter 15, the ‘Holy Ones’ who are the Watchers in Heaven instruct Enoch “go say, to the Watchers of Heaven, who sent you to petition on their behalf: You ought to petition on behalf of men, not men on behalf of you!”, which is a bit confusing, to say the least, but it can only mean the giants as sired by the ‘Adam and Eve’ incarnations were petitioning the ‘Holy Ones’ to excuse their actions which caused ‘normal’ men to suffer.

Some giants maintained the cosmic order of consciousness and attempted to create harmony between the various forms that had evolved and ultimately the changing nature of the Earth’s atmosphere and surface life caused upheavals in the Earth which resulted in a changed landscape and great floods. Many perished. Some, however, survived the Great Flood.

The conclusion must be when accounting for the ‘evidence’ of religious texts and the physical evidence of Anthropology, and physics, and it must be said the so-called mythical evidence of civilisations prior the Great Flood, the beginnings of Man took place over many thousands of years, and his uniqueness was created by the interaction of an ‘alien’ intelligence.

In summary of this six-part series ‘The Beginnings of Man …..

I began this series of writings by acknowledging the nature of Man has evolved over millions of  years. The evidence given by palaeontology dates the beginnings of Man to around 6–7 million years ago with the emergence of early hominins in Africa.  Homo erectus (“upright man”) appeared around 1.9 million years ago and persisted until at least 110,000 years. The earliest homo sapiens (according to Anthropology) were hunter-gatherers, and around 13,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution introduced agriculture and permanent settlements -and that is the beginning of the Flood period that ended approximately 9’000 years BCE.

Today there is still more unknown than known of the purpose and action of DNA in Man. Our self-interested view of other species assumes they either don’t have  self-awareness, or in the case of vertebrates it’s limited, and that is now knowing Dark Matter is 85% of all Matter! Our DNA knowledge cannot tell us the nature of Man’s consciousness. I suspect it could, if only  we were able to read the DNA’s Dark Matter composition!

Myths and Folklore posit the existence of human civilisations in Lemuria, Atlantis, Hyperborea, and Adamos in the pre and post Deluvian period which approximates to the ending of the Younger Dryas age 13’000 to12’000 BCE. Around 15 to10,000 years ago, the planet was emerging from the Pleistocene Ice Age into the Holocene, a period of more stable and warmer climate. Massive ice sheets, such as the Laurentide Ice Sheet in North America and the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in Europe, were rapidly retreating, releasing vast amounts of meltwater into the oceans causing global sea levels to rise, submerging low-lying coastal areas and reshaping continental coastlines and the disappearance of major land bridges that had connected continents. Physical evidence of ancient civilisations would have been lost in this major upheaval of earth masses.

Stories of a Great Flood appear in many cultures. In all these myths evolved Beings taught the Homo Sapiens survivors how to reclaim good soil, domesticate plants and trees, learn building techniques, mathematics, astronomy, and the ability to record their actions in symbolic forms of writing. And the earliest form of recorded history speaks of Gods interacting with humans, and in some accounts birthing gigantic forms of Man with powers able to harness and control the elemental order of the cosmological Earth. The Popol Vuh creation story is adamant that the Gods experimented, made mistakes!

Humans were flawed by Design!

Man’s ego mediates between the conscious and unconscious and guided by two concepts which often war with each other, namely a need to understand rights and wrongs and the belief in their self-creation; I am what I am. It is evident from recorded history the ego of Man is intent on self-creation. However, because the ancestral nature of Man is elemental in origin it means that the id -source of all his instinctual expressions can never be fully rationalised. In practise Man’s rational mind is constantly attempting to balance the promotion of his superego with the instinctual irrational impulses that are generated by his ancestral heritage. He is continually in conflict with himself, which is why history keeps repeating itself, or as some would say he never learns….

                His inability to consistently and truthfully channel instinctual awareness is entirely due to the development of his rational mind which restricts the id of his consciousness the ability to express awareness of his ancestral memory, implicit to his DNA. This points to a fundamental difference between himself and other forms of Earth Life. All forms of reflective consciousness, whatever the species, is a form of mind that interacts between the id and the superego. We can confidently say the behavioural responses of vertebrates bar Man are predictable. Man’s human brain is said to be three times larger than our nearest Hominid ancestor, but that does not explain why we operates differently! 

Man so-called mythical and theological writings refer to a union between god-like beings and ‘Men’. The acceptance of God(s) creating Man is fundamental to the concept of all major religions, but they cannot tell you why God(s) chose to do so. For example in the book of Genisis it states the sons of God saw the daughters of Man were attractive, producing offspring described as “mighty men of old, men of renown”; giants who are also recorded in  Deuteronomy and Numbers. The concept of gods mating with men is a common theme in various mythologies and religions, for example, in Greek, Indian, and Islamic Mythology.

In simple terms the bible is telling us God created Man to live harmoniously in the Garden of Eden. Initially all was hunky dory until God decide Adam needs a mate and creates Eve who ‘misbehaves’. Adam doesn’t do anything to stop Eve.  God is furious and causes Adam to seed her with his sperm causing Eve to ever after to suffer the pangs of childbirth and banishes them both from the Garden. It looks like the omnipotent God wasn’t in control of His creation!

The writings of Enoch (banned from the bible) clearly predate the writing of Genisis, Deuteronomy and Numbers and clearly talk of an interaction between Gods and Men before and after the Great Flood. Modern commentators interpret his dire end of existence warnings as referring to Man in today’s world, but NO! These writings refer to actions between Gods and Men before the great flood 9’000 years BCE. Enoch identifies Watchers who have been observing Man’s development for a long period of time. He describes them as Sons of God at three levels; the Holy of Holy’s, the Holy Ones, and the Fallen Ones.

The Fallen Ones, rebellious Angels of God, mate with Man and create giants offsprings he calls the Nephilim, some supporting Man’s development, others intent on their destruction. Enoch’s ‘Garden’ is not a utopian paradise. The Holy Ones, Archangels are clearly complicit in causing the arrival on Earth of the fallen Ones and it takes the Holy of Holy’s guidance to ensure the Holy Ones reject the petition from the Fallen Angels who want ‘absolution of their sins’ and cause their destruction by all manners of earthly upheavals, which would be in the period of time we recognise as the Pleistocene Ice Age merging into the Holocene period which approximates to 9’000 years BCE.

Enoch not only identifies the Holy Ones and the Fallen Ones by name and the genealogy of ‘Jewish’ names prior to great flood it is clear from other Jewish writings they continued after the flood. The rebellious angels taught Man skills (eternal truths) he hitherto did not have; Astrology, Astronomy, climatology, knowledge to utilise Earth energies, weapons to make war and how to defend against it, and civilised men to build communities and ‘beatify’ themselves. And he appears to be saying this was after they mated with men and their offsprings all spoke the same language.

With these skills the Nephilim and their offsprings attempted to unify an order of ‘humanity’ that would unite with the ‘Holy of Holy’s’ but as recorded in Genisis the ‘Tower of Babel’ was destroyed, and a multitude of languages became apparent in Man on Earth.

These are the kind of skills which folklore says were possessed by the inhabitants of Lemuria, Atlantis and other pre-Deluvian civilisations.  And after the great flood we see the same skills gradually emerging again. And, by the way, we also see the continued existence of giants, the most famous being Goliath, said to 10ft tall, who wielded a spear whose head weighed over 15 pounds! Not just in the Middle East. There is evidence to show they were present in Mesopotamia, North and South America where likewise men were being taught by evolved beings the skills as shown in Enoch.

Whilst Enoch advises ‘Kings’ who lived for hundreds of years, the Sumerian pre-flood writings refer to ‘Kings’ who lived for many thousands of years. And what does all this mean less the religious symbolism the stories are presented as?

An intelligent race of Beings incarnate into the form of Man with mixed results. Unable to undo what they have done, warring between different kinds of their offsprings and the changing nature of the physical earth ultimately creating a form of Man who survives the Great Flood, but he is unable knowledgably to know of his origins.

It is clear these originating Beings were not composed of Light Matter and during the incarnation cycle, over thousands of years, Light Matter dominated the Dark Matter composition of the emergence of Man and created a form of consciousness that is self-destructive.

The causal change to the human race, as I have described, is present in Man today, but the order of our consciousness is bent on self-destruction. What needs to change if we are to survive as a species?

I intend to address this question in my next series of writings entitled ‘Back to the Future’.

The Beginnings of Man -Part 4

God is credited with knowing everything before it happens, but it is clear from what God is said to have done He made a mistake.! And then with the help of the Archangels, He punishes the ‘fallen Watchers’.

If you haven’t read Part 1 -here it is The Beginnings of Man -Part 1 – Mine Quick Voice of Aquarius and part 2 is here The Beginnings of Man -Part 2 – Mine Quick Voice of Aquarius and part 3 is here The Beginnings of Man -Part 3 – Mine Quick Voice of Aquarius

Some will describe Adam’ fall from grace after eating the apple as a loss of innocence. Innocence as the dictionary defines it means someone who is not guilty of a crime. A person not having much experience of life and not knowing about the bad things that can happen. It can also describe someone who is righteous, who is free from fault, it can even be used to describe a simpleton or idiot. According to the OED the word innocence is occurring only 7 times in modern written English, or to put it another way, is saying almost never does our consciousness consider its meaning as important or relevant.

I am focussing on the meaning of innocence because neither Adam nor Eve were aware of the consequences from eating the apple. That is saying their psyche prior to eating the apple did not include  the animal nature. They are described in Jewish literature as the first Man and Woman -and conceived by ‘God’, and as I have already given reason ‘the sons of God’ in fact was the ‘Watchers’ as named by Enoch, and they are shown to have produced sons, which initially was the Nephilim and then after the fall of Adam and Eve the patriarchal line of Men succeeded and that includes Enoch.

The names of men given in Jewish Literature prior the great flood are singular but are they? They are more likely names of populations. The cycle of time from Adam, Cain, Abel, and Seth is recorded in hundreds of years, but given these are names of populations, more like thousands of years.

The Garden of Eden as created by God for Adam appears to be a utopian paradise but on closer examination suggests otherwise. Animals lived there and they are subject to life and death, as indeed are all other forms of life, so the garden couldn’t be called a paradise. Adam is created immortal to live in this so-called Eden and given ability to name the animals and care for the animal’s well-being. At this point in the story God has created a world which is subject to change -conflict that includes all other forms of life supporting the existence of animals.

God then highlights to Adam two trees; the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. Clearly He doesn’t mean physical trees. Symbolically trees represent a life-giving entity connecting earth to the heavens. Adam was directly related to the tree of life and warned not to connect with the tree of knowledge. The tree of knowledge was the enablement of the tree of life; its function was God’s business alone. Provided Adam didn’t question his immortality by knowing of the tree of life the Garden would continue to be his abode.

The story blames the serpent for causing Eve to eat the apple and beginning the fall of Man, but NO the action of the serpent is the action of the id force in the body otherwise called the kundalini force and was caused by eating the apple; the knowledge of how the tree of life functioned in vertebrates. The introduction of Eve in the story is describing the juncture of change that brought about the separation of the male and female forces, that in turn destroyed the harmony which had been established initially by offsprings of the Watchers.

As advised in Part 3, Adam must have been some kind of androgynous conception, not unknown in the early development of life of Earth.  Many other earth-life forms exhibit androgynous traits through sequential sex changes, including fish, mollusc’s, amphibians, and invertebrates.

Science emphasises the androgyne functions of its male and female nature in humans are by choice and for all other forms of life instinctually driven by the need to survive as a species.

Before proceeding further we should recognise that the writing of Genisis and the Book of Enoch is still subject to scholarly debate. Genisis is thought to have been composed during the lifetime of Moses, between the 15th and 13th centuries BCE, others suggest the 5th century BCE, whilst others say even later, influenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls 2nd century BCE. And the Book of Enoch between 300- and 100-years BCE. All scholars agree input to either would have been created by orally informed information. Which, to put it mildly, means we don’t know the source nature of these writings.

Given we now look at the creation of man story in Genisis through the words of Enoch 1 (as translated by Andy McCraken in 2023 ) which is based on the Ethiopian text and including some corrections from the surviving fragment found in Aramaic and Greek, a different story emerges.

Enoch begins by saying his words are a blessing to the chosen and righteous who must be present on the Day of Distress, which is appointed for the removal of all wicked and impious. What Enoch means by the Day of Distress is a final reckoning at which the righteous will be saved and the wicked will be destroyed in a distant generation to come. He then goes on to say, “And all will be afraid, and the Watchers will shake, and fear and great trembling will seize them, unto the ends of the Earth”. He is not saying they will be destroyed.

After advising the destruction of the Earth and how the righteous will be saved, in chapter 6 he says, “And it came to pass, when the sons of men had increased, that in those days there were born to them fair and beautiful daughters”. And then goes on to say, “And the Angels, the sons of Heaven, saw them and desired them. And they said to one another: “Come, let us choose for ourselves wives, from the children of men, and let us beget, for ourselves, children.” He clearly means the Angels are the Watchers and the sons of Man are an evolution of Homo Erectus. Enoch specifies 20 Watchers by name and their leader is Shemyaza. Each named Watcher leads nine others, and there are more Watchers, but he doesn’t quantify how many or give them names.

At this point in his narrative the Watchers are able to interact with the physical world as he further describes the knowledge and skills they taught Man. From sexual union with the daughters of men there were born giants, describing them as 3’000 cubits tall that’s as tall as a mountain! As they obviously couldn’t be, he is either saying the number of giants, or he referring to their powers to control nature.  They were certainly controlling as they ‘devoured’ men and all other forms of life and are further described as the ‘lawless ones’.

In chapter 8 we are told that Azazel, one of the named Watchers, “taught men to make swords, and daggers, and shields, and breastplates. And he showed them the metals of the earth, and the art of working them, and gold and silver bracelets and ornaments, and the art of making up the eyes with antimony and eye-paint, and of beautifying the face, and the most precious and choice stones, and all kinds of coloured dyes. And the world was forever changed”. (my italics).

He goes on to say. There was great impiety and much fornication, and as if Azazel hadn’t done enough, “their leader, Shemyaza, taught spells against the mind, and the use of cut roots of plants, and Armaros magical skills and the release of spells, and Barakel taught astrologers, and Kokabel portents of the stars, and Tamiel taught portents of the weather, and Shahariel taught the path of the Moon. And they all began to reveal these mysteries to their wives and their children. And, at the destruction on the Earth, men cried out, and their voices reached Heaven”.

At this point let me summarise what Enoch is saying.

He begins by saying there will be a final reckoning when the Earth will change dramatically because the rebellious sons of God (the Watchers) will bring about destruction because they have caused their offsprings, the giants to teach men eternal truths. And the world is forever changed because of their ‘destructive’ actions. Thereafter some men who are not in league with the Watchers and their Giant offsprings complain to ‘God on High’ (my italics).

In chapter 9 we are introduced to Archangels Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabrial. Michael is chief, protector of humanity, and appointed to bind the ‘fallen Watchers’. Uriel is humanities guide warning Enoch to instruct Noah of the impending flood. And Gabrial is the divine judge who will condemn the ‘fallen Watchers’ and enforce heavenly order on Earth.

We should now remind ourselves that the first five chapters of Genisis records how got made the Earth, created Man on the fifth day and concludes by telling us that Man was expelled from the Garden of Eden because he ate the ‘apple’ of the Knowledge Tree. Then in chapter 6 to 11 we are told the Sons of God took women to become their wives, birthed a race of giants who behaved badly, despite describing them as heroes and men of renown, where everyone spoke the same language.

What Enoch and Genisis is telling us is the creation of Man begins with a sexual union between women and ‘Angels’ which turned out badly and a higher form of angels, namely Archangels put matters right by destroying all that went before by causing a great flood. As it is stated in Enoch chapter 9, “Shemyaza has made known spells, he to whom You gave authority to rule over those who are with him”. YOU can only mean “Lord of Lords, God of Gods, King of Kings!”.

God is credited with knowing everything before it happens, but it is clear from what He goes on to say, with the help of the Archangels, He made a mistake and the ‘fallen Watchers’ will be punished. Note Enoch is now using the term fallen Watchers which implies not all Watchers behaved badly!

Enoch underlines this division of Watchers in chapter 12 where he states the Watchers called and said to him, “Enoch, scribe of righteousness, go and inform the Watchers of Heaven, who have left the High Heaven and the sanctuary of the Eternal Covenant, and have corrupted themselves with the women, and have done as the sons of men do, and have taken wives for themselves, and have become completely corrupt on the Earth. They will have on Earth, neither peace, nor forgiveness of sin, for they will not rejoice in their sons. The slaughter of their beloved ones they will see; and over the destruction of their sons they will lament and petition for ever.  But they will have neither mercy nor peace.”

Where did it go wrong?

We need to answer that question and by doing so look at other creation myths to understand how compatible they are with the biblical narrative. Why for example was Cain the first son of Adam condemned to wander for ever? Birthing the concept of what we call the Wandering Jew?

The Fragrant Airs of Heaven

This poem was inspired by the opening lines of Max Ehrmann’s poem Desiderata. “Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.” Desiderata is Latin meaning ‘things desired’.

Idyllic loves’ creation is

imagined lilac groves. Air

enchanting havens of

scented flowers lifting to

the Harvest moon.

This world we may not enter

‘til this sweet and bitter

earthen road is ended.

Yet, we may store good efforts seed

do right as God’s creators

unbending onward to the Light.

Holding to heart loves first vow

that we unseasoned Spirit’s shall

by all intentions be

tried and tested and found well.

Do not forget amid the noise

such innocence as brought you here.

Times ravages are illusion now

look you to the candle’s constant flame

an eternal invocation to your name;

gateway to the Lilac groves

where the budding seeds of earthly toil

meet the fragrant airs of Heaven.

Song of the Sea

Man is not only a physical form of life. From his beginnings his soul nature is rooted in a higher Self. This Villanelle questions our ability to understand and accept our true nature.

Beyond the Stone Man lives a psychic sea
wherein thespian arts are founded
on the whisperings of immortality.

Earth genius, maker of machinery
hear before claiming, my invocation
beyond the Stone Man lives a psychic sea,

thesaurus more precious than history,
an interlocking alien kingdom:
the whisperings of immortality.

Stone Man, creator of insanity
repeat after me this incantation,
beyond the Stone Man lives a psychic sea

where sceptres and crowns were facsimile
long before Archimedes heard in song
the whisperings of immortality.

Knights and Bishops, guardians of the Tree,
Knowledge, and Faith; have you now forgotten
beyond the Stone Man lives a psychic sea?

Of mistakes made in your liturgy
by making your God of wisdom, to wrong
the whisperings of immortality?

I wait the last act of this tragedy

powerless to prevent consummation.

Beyond the Stone Man lives a psychic sea

the whisperings of immortality.

The Beginnings of Man -Part 1

The nature of Man has evolved over millions of years, changed by environmental conditions, by the response of his instinctual nature and by the actions of his ego. Man’s inner characteristics are altogether different from the ancestral root which governs other species. Why then is he so different?

The nature of Man has evolved over millions of years, changed by environmental conditions, by the response of his instinctual nature and by the actions of his ego. The DNA of all earthly forms of life, Amniotes, Synapsids, Mammals and  Primates are present in Man, which is clear proof that the birth of Man was earthly by nature.

Man describes himself as more evolved than any other form of earthly life, and that is an assumption based on having 20 times more DNA than a chimpanzee, able to express his consciousness self-aware, and knows his rational nature is not shared in any superior way with our nearest primate ancestors. It is an assumption because after you allow the knowledge we have acquired in researching our DNA and the genomes of other species, there is still more unknown than known of the purpose and action of DNA in Man. Our self-interested view of other species assumes Amniotes, Synapsids and some mammals don’t know themselves because they have (as we say) no self-awareness.

                Physics only began to accept in the 20th century the root nature of energy is not physically based. The huge spatial state in the atom between physically identifiable neutrons, protons, and electrons, previously described as ‘space’ manifests Black Matter influenced by an unknowable force now called Dark Energy, both of which influence the functional nature of Light Matter. Whilst Astrophysics and Particle Physics can provide evidence of Black Matter and point to the existence of Dark Energy their true nature continues to elude definitive understanding.

Understood or not it throws into question the evolutionary nature of all forms of life, not least being Man. Man is undoubtedly different and able to control the development and action of other species in the Light Matter world of Earth but is he truly aware of his own design and purpose? The physical nature of Man has evolved from the branch of primates known as Haplorhini that subsequently split, separating the New-World monkeys and apes from the Old-World monkeys and apes 30 – 40 million years ago. The distinctive features of the Catarrhini apes and monkeys with downward pointing nostrils found in Africa and Asia clearly indicate they were the ancestors of Hominoidea linage of apes that were evolving 25 to 30 million years ago who are more directly our ancestral lineage.

Early man’s existence is evidenced by discoveries in the Middle East that date from 17 million years ago, and onward into the Neanderthal and Denisovan periods between 430’000 and 25’000 years ago. Cataclysmic changes that altered land masses and seas and long periods of extreme temperatures causing the demise of dinosaurs and many other primates would have destroyed some forms of early Man. The environment was a major influence determining that only the fittest survived, but was that due their intelligence as well as physical hardiness? Whilst we can be reasonably sure with DNA evidence how a hybrid form of Man become the Modern Man, science cannot read from physical remains how their minds behaved.

Evidence from early forms of human recorded communications (albeit these are described as Myths and Folklore) posit the existence of human civilisations in Lemuria, Atlantis, Hyperborea (north polar region), and Adamos (south polar region) in the pre and post Deluvian period which approximates to the ending of the Younger Dryas age 13’000 to12’000 BCE.

This ‘evidence’ which has mainly survived in myths, folklore, symbolic writings, and physical building remains, in the post-diluvian epoch clearly advises a difference of evolution between their inherited societies and the hunter gatherer communities of men who lived in the same and subsequent periods of history. This dichotomy cannot be resolved by tracing alternate routes of human evolution from the known history of Earth life development.

Scientifically we cannot confirm the existence of these ancient civilisations, but neither can we cannot entirely debunk the mass of archaeological evidence of intelligent human societies that predate recorded history and show the existence of intelligent beings on Earth prior to the cataclysmic floods that occurred following the end of the last major glacial period known as the Last Glacial Maximum 20’000 years ago.  As Earth’s climate gradually warmed, the glaciers in the north of North America, Europe and Asia began to melt. Vast quantities of water flowed back into the oceans. Over thousands of years, sea levels rose steadily. Between 15’000 and 8’000 years ago sea levels rose rapidly enough to flood huge areas of land across the globe.

Stories of the flood appear in many cultures, such as the ancient Mesopotamian epic known as the Epic of Gilgamesh, the biblical account of Noah’s family and of animals saved from the flood, the story of Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, who survive a world-destroying flood sent by the gods. In Hindu tradition, a similar story describes Manu being warned by a divine fish that a great flood will soon destroy humanity. Flood narratives are also in the  folklore of the indigenous cultures of South and North America, Australia, Africa and Asia.

In all these stories and myths evolved Beings were (a) aware of the floods before they happened, and (b) they taught the Homo Sapiens survivors how to reclaim good soil, domesticate plants and trees, learn building techniques, mathematics, astronomy, and the ability to record their actions in symbolic forms of writing. It is following the great floods that Man as we know him today began to evolve. The intelligent Beings of these myths are recorded as human-shaped Beings with God-like powers, and it was their foresight that saved Modern Man from destruction by appointing emissaries such as Noah in the Bible and Utnapishtim in the Mesopotamian myth how to survive the flood.

The earliest form of recorded history speaks of Gods interacting with humans, and in some accounts birthing gigantic forms of Man with powers able to harness and control the elemental order of the cosmological Earth. The only anthropologic evidence of giants is of primates who lived in subtropical Asia from about 2 million years ago until roughly 330,000 years ago. Upwards of 10 feet tall the (Gigantopithecus blacki) such palaeontological evidence we have indicates they were of the genus of Ape.   However, what we do know is Homo Erectus lived in the same period and they may have physically mated. But we have no evidence to suggest their evolution or a hybrid form continued to the Younger Dryas period, the era when the ancient civilisations referred to are said to have occupied large land masses prior to the great flood, however giant men are recorded to have lived both prior and post the great flood.

Man can be said to have become Man when his conception became individualised by the form of ego he has, making him different in consciousness to all other species of Earth life. The consciousness of the individual forms of mammals, Invertebrates, Amphibians, Reptiles, Fish, and Birds are all instinctually  developed, the expression of their conscious nature and the awareness of their light form self is governed by the inner characteristics of their species. What one could call their group nature.

Man’s inner characteristics are altogether different from the ancestral root which governs other species. Why then is he so different?

Part two continues to seek answers to this question…

The Key

Are you the voice in this poem, if not who would you expect it to be?

In the dawn light

On a black beach

waiting the white

of the eye of the Sun,

I seek the sparse

sprawl of the tundra;

mind of my multiple Self.

Waiting for the hand over hand

Thought of their wanting

Cease

And the chains stop a jingling.

What of them?

They still the seed of Cain

A-sweeping the road away

from Damascus?

The people’s sleeping minds

stretch to my throat and mouth

All as one seeking to imbue me

With the stuff of darkness.

Our Father – their pitying cry

Would communise I

Comes crooning to me

From land

Out of the sea.

But I have the Key

It lies in the bank

of the physical state

‘Neath the lesser

More hallowed emotions

commencing their God.

Lies ugly cripple

Disguised

by the welter of silk bright parable

Magnet of adoration.

Yet I listen

They remind me

the stretch of my hand

Is radii sweeping

Both Earth and the Aether

Our Father

and the androgynous Sons of Light.

The Royal Train

I conceived this poem over 50 years ago. Dissatisfied with the initial draft I did no more but over the years one or two key lines continued to haunt me. Early in June 2024, I managed to fall out of a tree I was pruning. My injuries included my left broken arm, hand, and wrenched neck.  As a left-handed person that put a stop to many activities, including writing. Trolling through a listing of unfinished poetry the old draft came back in view. Unable to do much else without help, with one unsteady right-handed finger I began to rewrite it.

The Royal Train is now finished. There are two words in the poem you may not be familiar with, they are Djinn and Yama. Djinn is an Arabic plural noun meaning elemental earth-bound spirits hidden from sight. Yama is the Hindu God of death and justice, son of the Sun God Surya, who judges the souls of the dead and depending upon their deeds, assigns them to the realm of the Pitris, (their soul heritage) or to Naraka, (Hell) or to be reborn on Earth.

Humming gently, whistle muted                      

The Royal Train arrives,                           

Auto enabled                                              

and expectant of deaths                                                   

it screeches driverless to halt                

at Rebirth Platform number one.                     

Doors open.                                                

Into the darkened interior                      

you float                                          

light as a feather, half asleep,                

jostling to get a window seat.                

Dreaming, so you believe                                    

The tangled web you often weave.                              

You’ll not hear the whistle keening      

the train restart                                         

Or know its full and wide within                       

But you will hear, and feel                         

the pulsing coupled driving wheels      

relentlessly rhyming        

      abba du by abba du by   

       abba du by abba du by                                 

Cyclical sounds dispelling time              

unfolding memories, child-like              

motivating youthful desires.

Easily thoughts become creative          

Manifesting a desirous world                

pulsating independent forms,               

life needy forms that gratify,                 

satiate, and has you wake                                               

and expostulate                             

to the rhyming wheels                             

♫ do what you will, do what you will♫

Is this dying you ask of me                      

travelling free able to see,                      

testifying                                         

life doesn’t end?                                                    

To begin it’s all picture postcard           

Dolby Sound and technicolour              

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.            

You, righteously urging the Self             

undo, make up, inwardly heal.  

Elemental forces enter in;                       

purpose forms and whispers Djinn.     

Unreasoned giving thoughts arise,      

happiness spreads like blood within.   

Onward and-upward you spiral                                     

the ego cries unwise!                               

Fear of God enters in:                              

knowledge dissipates.

♫ Hinder me not, hinder me not            

Hinder me not, hinder me not ♫            

Hallelujah, God is Great! 

Here you reign between the points     

of destination and departure                 

coerced to play the part of king            

to this extension of your mind:             

pieces and pawns, two of a kind                                               

aboard the Summerland express,         

resolved to undo, clean the slate,         

begin anew:                                    

entrained upon the ever long                

                                                never-ending                                                                                                                                   pointed track.                                              Yama the Jailer God.

Where will it end?                         

You ask yourself.                            

No sooner said                                           

the melody of chiming wheels              

cease their singing.                                                                                   

Doors slide back,                           

the Station Master speaks                      

”rebirth platform number two!”

A dream of people disembark.              

No such place but it feels like home    

But why you ask, and where am I?       

Here unknown smiley people sing       

and have you fear the child within.                              

No walls here and no pearly gate.        

The old and young in ragged trews      

torn uniforms and winding sheets       

or dressed like you, in Sunday best      

congregate and await their fate.                                               

Loved ones you believed were dead    

appear glowing with health, saying     

do what you will, you’re free, enjoy!   

Youthfully love, rest from the world    

time-out, reinvent and explore.                                    

Your thoughts cease to justify need,   

love bearing energies bond with                      

outpourings of the giving self.               

Harmony prevails,                         

the Way becomes known.             Hallelujah, God is Great!     

Seeds of union germinate,                     

love unfettered starts to grow,              

your mind enjoins to many lives.          

Reason no longer governs form            

upward as mustard seeds you flow                             

all and everything                         

in a spiral flow.                                           

Doing better                                               

more of what was done before.            

The Way becomes your inner state      

Divine reason commands the soul.                              

Karmically you accept your fate.                       

How can I suggest you differ?                

Little do you know, its checkmate        

another game must now begin. Hallelujah, God is Great!             

And then behold the train appears      

gleaming blue royal gold and red.        

And there you are                         

on platform three                          

crowned royally,                            

purposed yet again to steal                    

the apple from the knowledge tree.                            

Driverless it stops with open doors      

and into the lighted carriage                  

you float                                          

light as a feather, soul elite,                   

jostling to get a window seat.                

Knowing how you now believe                                      

why the tangled web deceives.                                     

You’ll not hear the whistle keening      

the train begin,                                          

but you will know                          

why its wide within.                                 

Omnipresent is your soul                        

purposed to achieve its goal.                                         

As expected you can hear                       

the pulsing coupled driving wheels                              

relentlessly rhyming.                               

Clock ticking cyclical sounds                   

Birthing memories                        

motivating earthly thriving.                                            

♫ Abba du by abba du by ♫                   

                        ♫ du by du by abba du by ♫                   

                                                                        ♫ Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve ♫       

♫ Abba du by abba du by ♫

♫ du by du by abba du by ♫

The trains’ jingling rhyme           

Is birthing the earthly mind.                  

Conscience conflicts with           

needy newborn voices, that                   

proclaim their immortality.

And in their chatter promise dies

has you fear the child within                  

will depart                                       

and hollow out your heart.

Another self is looking on:                      

Singular and base.                         

You query why it doesn’t speak            

wrapped up, curled in sleep.                                          

Elemental forces enter in, and              

your single purposed soul divides        

further from the source you ride.         

Every now and then                                  

the whistle blows,                         

wheels hiss and grind.                             

Coaches shudder.                          

Train doors open to a void.                     

The station master’s voice                      

is indistinct.                                    

You cannot tell when or where.            

Bemused, benumbed, and apathetic, 

coerced to play the Chess of Life.                                 

Be you Bishop, or be you Rook             

be you Knight or be you Queen.                                   

Be you foolish, or be you wise,              

believe or not                                             

you will survive.                                         

The Royal Train will call again.   

Here you reign between the points     

of destination and departure.               

Once a prince of past endeavour,         

bodies forming whispering Djinn          

Are serving you, the absent king.                               

Now conscious of the daylight              

weaving anew the tangled web.                       

Predestined to rhyme in miles forecast

ever purposed to the pointed track

the never-ending pointed track.

Yuma the Jailer God.

Tony Ashenden 2026

A Remarkable Man

I was as you proverbially say at a loose end, walking the high street, gazing absent mindedly into shop windows and people passing. Thinking, or rather over thinking my place in the world, questioning my purpose. The smell of coffee paused my stride and banished my thoughts. I entered the café. It was busy all tables occupied. Turning to go out I noticed one table only occupied by a big, bearded man who sat motionless with his eyes closed. The plate before him was empty.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” I asked, smiling to myself.

“Be my guest”, came the immediate reply.

Somewhat disconcerted, as he didn’t open his eyes to look at me, I sat down to await service expecting him to leave. He didn’t move or speak again. Eyes stayed closed. For all intents and purpose, I wasn’t there.  He wore a fur lined jacket over a mottled coloured tea shirt and jeans. Hair and beard were well trimmed, suggesting a recent visit to a barber. Appearing not to breathe he sat motionless. As I began to be concerned some kind of health issue was in progress, the waitress tapped me on the shoulder.

“What would you like?”

“Latte please, and…. Would you like a drink?” I said loudly. The man opened his eyes and inclined his head and smiled. “Very kind of you -yes please I’ll have a Mocha”.

Surprisingly for a big man his voice was higher toned than expected. Feeling a bit sheepish, I placed the order. She smiled laughingly at me. “You’re the third one this afternoon.”

I wrinkled my brow, “What?”

She shrugged her shoulders and smiling walked away.

In askance I looked at him. “She’s referring to the man and woman who have shared their company with me.” He said.

“Oh… so you’ve been here a while then?”

“A couple of hours maybe… not in any hurry. And thank you again for the coffee, much appreciated.”

I looked at him with interest. Unlike many I know he clearly enunciated his words, and the deliberate way he spoke conveyed the impression of an intelligent educated person. I’d say he was in his sixties. His dark hair and beard were lined with grey, yet his face was strong, and he looked fit.

“Do you come here often?”

He chuckled. “First time for a long time. And yourself?”

“No. The other side of town is my usual stamping ground.

“So, what made you change your habits?”.

“Oh, I don’t know, change is as good as a rest.”

“At a loose end, are you?”

“Not exactly”, I lied

“Do you work?”

“I teach. Don’t have any classes this afternoon.”

“And what may I ask do you teach?”

“Digital and Social media courses.”

“Very much a modern man then… do you find that rewarding?”

I looked at him curiously, his question touched a soft spot. “Yes and no. I come from a computing background, so this is something like a second career. The digital world of today is outpacing me. I often find my pupils have an intuitive grasp of applications and with aspirations to engage with AI, which is not something I feel particularly comfortable about.”

“A subject of much debate from what I read, which I find amusing.”

“Amusing, how so?”

“It’s championed as new age invention, but in essence it’s as old as the hills”

“How do you make that out? Digital technology and AI is a modern invention.”

“In machine terms -yes, but what in essence does digital technology enable? It simulates human intelligence for the purposes of doing tasks and giving directions. Do you agree?”

“Simplistically speaking, yes, I can’t argue with that”.

“A task which say takes me one hour to complete, involving decision from a host of variables can be digitally programmed to achieve the same result in a matter of seconds. Even more AI can predict outcomes from inputs that would take you or me many exhausting hours to assess and produce the most advantageous results in real time. Would you say?

“Yes I would, and that gives rise to ethical outcomes as well, which is one reason why I think such development is problematical.”

“I guess concern or care depends on which side your bread is buttered on”, he said with a laugh. “For example, as no doubt you know, many investors who earn in the stock markets do so on trading platforms which use AI to determine the intrinsic value of stocks and currency and advise accordingly. If I were to use such earned money charitably, would you agree the use of AI is for the betterment of others?”

“I guess so.”

“And if only to line my own pockets?”

His line of questioning was making me think. Was he trying to catch me out?

At length I replied. “Obviously some people make money to personally advance themselves, but if the money earned was from ethically sourced shares, surely that is a more acceptable way of earning?”

He sighed and shook his head. “Money is an outcome which gets dressed up to suit the purpose of its use. When I said digital technology and AI is not new, I was referring to its function. The ways in which man’s mind works to increase fortune, care for and better themselves in today’s world is essentially no different to the man of the past. Now we program machines to think for us. Some do it to benefit others, and some do it to benefit themselves. Whether the purpose is laudable or not, someone loses what another gains.”

“True. But I don’t see how you contend that AI is not new. Surely you are not saying our ancestors exhibited a similar form of intelligence to AI?”

“Oh, but I am!”

At this point our coffee’s arrived and for a moment or two the conversation gave way to tasting our drinks. I took this opportunity to introduce myself and ask his name. 

“When you must just call me Joe. Allow me to explain John. Digital technology and AI is all about making something happen quickly and by the same token being able to do many things at the same time. Ancient man’s psyche is no different from ours, he also wanted to do things quickly and get the best results. And strange as it may seem his method to get intelligence to direct and advise solutions advantageous to himself is a practise still prevalent today.

Having no idea what he could be referring to, I just stared.

He continued. “Do you know what a Jinn is?”

“Some kind of devil?”

“You can be forgiven for thinking that. There are views in the Islamic world which agree, however in pre-Islamic times the Arabians believed they were intelligent, morally responsible beings in the afterlife they were able to commune with. Throughout history in all parts of our world there have been beliefs and communication practises with the afterlife. In our present world where migrations of peoples have occurred on a large scale, you only need to look at this country to see the practise of many beliefs, and in respect of what I’m talking about those who accept an afterlife as a reality. 

I can see by your expression you are wondering why on earth I am talking about spirits and people who commune with them. Let me continue before you make judgement. Man has often found himself in situations where he is at loss to understand what the outcome should be. That could be the need for a practical solution, or a requirement to solve a mental problem, and yet again it might be, more high-mindedly, the need to be guided on a moral or ethical issue.

The oracles in the Hellenic world were not only providers of spiritual guidance. People wanted to know outcomes which would support their ambitions, or cures for illness. The Shaman of Eurasia and those of South America, Medicine Men in the North and in Canada were not simply spiritual guides to their communities, they provided practical help on request. People of power often consulted such people. Saladin who is mostly remembered for his conquests to unite Muslim territories in the Middle East and the capture of Jerusalem in the 12th century was first and foremost a religious man who took advice and guidance from Sufi exponents. And of course, not all guidance and predictions were heeded. A case in question is Saul, the first king of Israel. Despite his own edict to banish sorcerers from his kingdom, he consulted a woman of Endor on the eve of an important battle against the Philistines (disguised of course) and asked her to make contact with Samuel who informed him if he went into battle not only himself, but his three sons would die.

Whether Saul thought he was invincible, or didn’t believe what the woman had told him, we will never know. The outcome of course was as the woman predicted.”

I listened with interest. He spoke quietly with authority, but nonetheless I was not entirely convinced of the view he was projecting.”

“If I understand you right, you are saying some people, who I would call psychics, have the ability to forecast the future?”

“That depends on what you mean by future. I think the poet T.S. Eliot should be remembered for best saying this about that. “Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future, and time future contained in time past.”

“So, are you saying psychics, or by whatever name they go by, don’t predict!”

“I waited while Joe savoured another draft of Mocha. Carefully replacing the cup back in its saucer, he looked me straight in they eye, and said. “Of course they do, though bear in mind some do by reading body language and the mental character of their clients. And Astrologers interpret the signs in the heavens. A few and only a few will hear from their jinn, their familiars, their afterlife inspirers.”

“I’m confused. If I’ve got this right you are, as you quote from Eliot, not believing in a future, yet you say psychics can predict it. I thought you were arguing the practise of consulting psychics is essentially no different to the functions of AI and digital technology in general.

“That’s right. Eliot goes on to say, ‘if all time is eternally present, all time is unredeemable. What might have been is an abstraction, remaining a perpetual possibility only in a world of speculation.’ If you look very carefully at what digital technology and its AI offspring is doing all outcomes are based on present knowledge. When it predicts a solution, which for arguments sake, is forward in time, it is conducting specific actions based entirely upon present knowledge. When you use that intelligence to action a need in time hence, you are doing so in present time.

A psychic able to channel higher frequency communications advising events does so in present time and the source of such communications are also present. Futures, as we conceive them, and as AI determines, are present minded speculations. When a program is written to perform certain functions accurately 100% of the time, as for example for computer hardware and their applications it can be said to function predictably, and that as I’m sure you can agree is a present process.”

Joe looked at his watch. “I have to be off John. It’s been a pleasure talking with you. I’ve no doubt we could have gone on talking for much longer. I can only  hope something of what I’ve said has meaning to you. When you next order something on the internet, like me and everyone else, you’ll make decisions from the first page of suppliers shown you. And we are aided in making our decisions by the algorithmic functions which propose best buys -and it even accounts for where you live!

And before I could respond he stood up, shook my hand, and swiftly left the café.

What a remarkable man!

The Rose that beggars Fantasy

Listen as you read!

My love what cheerless world asleep
in towered keeps and half-lit streets,
waking dream on sullen skies ridged grey;
Lay waste land and cause the grey weird sea
chill the heart of you and me?

What world awoken from dreams
of meadows, water mills, and painter’s scenes,
would tolerate the angered sky, the leaf shorn tree;
the frost that blights the first-born bud, above
the half-closed mist born eye of love?

Oath of God would life not be worth living
were love not rooted deep in giving?
Selfish worlds are drunk, dreaming fantasy;
such men are never found in sight
crossing borders of the Christos Light.

Soft rose whose petal fusing heart will give
attiring the sweetest heart to ever live,
deliverance in the dawning day will come
refusing the permanence of death, and arise
to prove the cause of all the living never dies.

©TonyAshenden