******
Time magazine, 7-13-70:
"Millions of Americans in 1970 are gripped by an anxiety that is not caused by war, inflation, or recession-important as those issues are. Across the U.S. the universal fear of violent crime and vicious strangers, armed robbers, packs of muggers, addict burglars ready to trade a life for heroin is a constant companion of the populace. It is the cold fear of dying at random in a brief spasm of senseless violence for a few pennies, for nothing. "And yet, Americans are several times more likely to. be hurt in auto accidents or household mishaps than to be raped, robbed or murdered. Only about 10% of robbery victims are badly injured, fewer than 1% are killed. The nation's well-being is far more insidiously undermined by embezzlers, price-fixers [micro politicians] and organized racketeers than by muggers or car thieves.
"Roughly half of all serious crimes are never reported, often because numbed victims expect no, help from overburdened police. Between 70% and 80% of police effort is spent, not on crime, but on hushing blaring radios, rescuing cats, and administering first aid. Countless additional police hours are wasted on crimes without true victims, e.g., drunkenness, gambling, pornography, illicit sexual activities. Even the best police work is undone by clogged courts and punitive prisons that breed more crime."
I looked at Carol and said, "What can I say except that the world of the '70s was divided, not united, and, couldn't cooperate enough to resolve its major social problems."
"Your society," Carol said, "functioned in the only way it could, based on its micro perspective of life. People can only behave in terms of how they perceive themselves and the world about them. And these perceptions are completely determined by one's beliefs or philosophy of life, which were, prior to the 21st century, generally unconscious."
"Okay," I admitted. "We needed a broader perspective so we could see the larger picture. We needed a Macro perspective-a perspective large enough so that we could see that the Golden Rule and the Sermon on the Mount provided the best of all practical advice."
Carol smiled and quoted, " 'For whatever measure you deal out to others will be dealt back to you.' "
"Yes," I responded, "but that doesn't make sense in everyday human affairs unless the individual is aware of this macrocosmic oneness."
"In the 1970s," Carol added, "you lived in a world in which at least one out of every three people lived in abject crippling poverty, and you people, in your proud United States – united indeed! Hmmm, but that's another story you people had a welfare system so politically corrupt and inadequate that it not only ignored the worst cases of human neglect and poverty but actually perpetuated poverty and ignorance from one generation to the next.
"At the same time," she continued, "you dedicated your major national energies and resources to war and paranoid preparations for war. If, in the 1960s and '70s, you had devoted the same amount of money and national effort to solving your social problems that you did to waging your nation-dividing Vietnam War, you could have ended the poverty cycle forever in your country and gone a long way toward resolving many of your nation's other social problems."
"I know," I said, "but our political leaders were ignorant, if not corrupt."
Carol shook her head. "Every nation deserves its leaders," she said. "You're trying to avoid your own responsibility by placing the blame on others. Please, Jon, don't think I am sitting in righteous judgment of you or your micro society. I don't blame or condemn micro man for acting like micro man. It is the only way he can act, because it is the only way he has learned to act. But I must help you see this broader perspective."
"But," I objected, "how can you not condemn human beings for selfish, cruel, and even vicious behavior toward others? Especially since that behavior became so selfish and shortsighted that it almost wiped out our whole planet?"
"It was the only way," Carol answered, "that man could learn the consequences of his own actions. Mistakes are absolutely essential in the learning process. Besides, Jon, it's only terrible from the short-term micro point of view. From the Macro view it's all perfect. Everything has a purpose and a happy ending because everything is evolving toward perfect Macro awareness."
"I know," I said "that from your Macro view we are all responsible for our every experience. But tell that to someone who is suffering from poverty or disease, or some other kind of human injustice."
Carol smiled and said, "I don't speak to children about things they're not ready to understand. But I don't forget that in time every child becomes an adult and everyone eventually will understand everything."
I decided that we had gone as far as I felt I was ready to go on this subject, so I asked Carol when I would meet the other Alpha members. She immediately asked C.I. to contact her, or should I now say "our," Alphar. In about fifteen seconds we heard the voice of our Alpha leader who informed Carol that the rest of our Alpha would be back in about two hours.
After Carol had thanked him for this information she terminated their contact and told me how C.I. can contact any Macro society member by using the communications cell contained in the bracelet which each of them wore. She showed me what she called her mib (for Macro identity bracelet). It contained a timepiece, a communications cell, a bionic monitor, and a nutrition compartment. I was fascinated by the fact that the bracelets supplied C.I. with the heart and brain patterns for everyone in the Macro society. Any danger was immediately relayed, via C.I., to those closest and best able to offer help even if the person in trouble was unconscious and, thus, unable to call for help.
Carol told me that I would soon receive my own mib. Then she asked me if I would like to see pictures of our other Alpha members. Of course I did, so she asked C.I. to present them.
Suddenly I was looking at a picture of our leader, Alan, whose voice I had just heard. At the same time C.I. was telling me about him.
"Your Alpha leader, Alan, is 20.6 years old, six feet five inches tall (this, along with his weight, was given in metric equivalents, then translated for My benefit), 240 pounds, and is presently residing in the student Gamma of Delta 927."
Carol interrupted C.I. at this point to tell me that we could listen for days to the accumulated information that C.I. had on every individual member of our Alpha. This information, she said, even included data on past lives. However, she felt that I probably was not ready for too much information on each member yet.
It was here that she pointed out that all information on every person in the Macro society was available to everyone. There was no such thing as secret, hidden, or confidential information.
I commented that my government in 1976 could not possibly function without massive secrecy. Then I looked at a video tape of Alan leading a discussion group, running, walking, swimming, playing games, and sleeping. He looked tremendously vital and intelligent. When I commented on this, Carol said he was a Six, as if that explained it all.
We next saw pictures of Bonnie, who was Alan's Alpha mate. She was six feet two and weighed 160 pounds. Next was six-foot-seven Adam with Nancy who was six feet three. They were followed by Diane and David who were six feet one and six feet five respectively. Then came the tallest man of all, Steve, at six feet nine, and his Alpha mate, Joyce, who was six feet three. Finally C.I. presented pictures of Carol and Jon, and I realized the pictures of me had been taken while I was in the library and walking with Lea.
I was impressed with the sheer physical size and beauty of my fellow Alpha members. I was also surprised at the lack of hair. Of the five males my hair was the longest, and it was short by 1976 standards. Even among the girls the longest hair was Carol's, which was no more than four inches at most.
When I asked Carol about this she informed me that they did not value hair because they were not vain about their appearances. It was simpler, she assured me, to keep their hair short.
"Tell me, Carol," I asked "are there any fat or ugly people in the Macro society?"
She laughed and said, "How could there be, when we control the compl
ete genetic, physical, and mental development of all our children?"
"All right, but why, then, do you have your different levels of awareness? How come everyone isn't level ten?"
"Because," Carol answered, "we can not change the learning experiences of past lives. However, no soul can incarnate into the Macro society who has not evolved to Macro potential."
"Even me?"
Carol smiled. "Oh, Jon. Even our wisest ones could not have succeeded in helping Lea bring you here if you didn't have the Macro potential."
"Let me try to understand these levels of awareness," I said. "I'm level one because I'm a beginner at Macro awareness."
"That's right, Jon. You're well on your way back toward applied awareness of your oneness with all that is, all that was, and all that ever will be."
"And Adam and Nancy have demonstrated second level awareness," I continued. "You are at the third level along with Steve, while Bonnie and Joyce are level four. Then we have Diane and David at level five and Alan, our leader, at the sixth level. Now, tell me, what's the difference between these levels?"
"I'll let C.I. answer that," Carol said. "And while you are getting your questions answered, I will go back and pick up your mib from the administration building."
I had a mental picture of the map which C.I. had shown me of the Delta and I suddenly realized Carol was talking about a ten-mile round trip. "You mean you are going to walk ten miles?" I asked.
She said, "Oh, I could have it sent by underground pneumatic tube. right here to our Alpha, but since I missed our exercise period today I'll run the distance. I'll be back in less than an hour."
"Ten miles in less than an hour?" I asked incredulously.
"Don't worry, Jon. Our Macro powers help us run lighter, faster, longer, and more joyously than would ever be possible for micro man."
"Don't you have any kind of local transportation?" I asked incredulously.
"Unless it's a great emergency," Carol replied, "we walk or run everywhere in the Delta and sometimes even between Deltas. Sure, we have transairs that will take us very quickly anywhere we want to go on this planet, but we believe in a balanced life free from the neurotic rushing of your micro society. We believe in exercising the body, the mind, and the spirit equally so they can remain in balance."
With those last words she blew me a kiss and literally ran out of the room. Not because she was in a hurry, but from sheer joy of exercising a magnificent healthy and vital body. I was pleased that she shared my joy in running, and I understood better why no one would become fat in this energetic society.
Turning back to the video screen, I began asking my questions about levels of awareness and found that C.I. kept an almost total record on every person in the Macro society from birth to death. This was done by means of the Macro identity bracelet and the yearly evaluation performed by C.I.
One's level of awareness was indicated by the color of his tunic. The tunic, I learned, was a perfectly accurate reflection of one's aura, which was an unfailingly accurate indicator of one's state of being, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
Level one was predominantly gray: two was lemony orange for energy; three was pink for control of that energy; four was purple for empathy and leadership; five was violet for joyous acceptance of what is; six was yellow for love in its most total sense; seven was green for healing; eight was blue for balanced use of the intellect; nine was aquamarine for wisdom; and ten was white for leadership, the perfectly balanced blend of all other levels.
According to C.I. there were currently only one hundred and twenty-seven persons in the Macro family who were evaluated as having demonstrated ten degrees of Macro awareness. This was out of a current Macro family population of 300 million.
These degrees of awareness were based on the extent to which a person demonstrated the three Macro qualities: love, wisdom, and leadership, in that order of importance, and the seven Macro powers: clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition, retro cognition, psycho kinesis, telekinesis, and astral projection. [See C.I. Excerpts].
As C.I. presented more and more information about the highly complex process of developing degrees of awareness I found myself becoming very drowsy and having difficulty keeping my eyes open. Finally I gave in to my desire to rest, closed my eyes, and was soon asleep.
CHAPTER 5: The Test of Reality
I awakened, Saturday the 17th, to another cold, dreary January morning and remembered what C.I. had told me about the controlled climate of 2150. Things were just too good to be true, I thought.
How could all those incredible social and scientific changes have taken place in only 174 years? Of course, I had to admit that going back in time 174 years from 1976 would have 'taken me to 1802, a time when the world of 1976 would certainly have been considered a completely impossible dream.
I thought about some of the predictions for the future made by 20th-century prophets such as Huxley and Orwell. They had viewed the future of man with great skepticism. Of course, they were writing about micro man who, according to C.I., was even now in the process of doing away with himself. I wondered how it would have affected the writings of Orwell and Huxley if they had had a larger, broader perspective which would have enabled them to envision Macro man.
Then I remembered that I, in fact, had no concrete proof whatsoever that the world of 2150 was anything more than a product of my own imagination.
I suddenly felt a strong need to be concrete, to check out and reaffirm my present state of existence, to touch something, to talk to someone, to hear a voice.
I looked across our apartment room and saw that Karl's bed was neatly made, as usual, and my journal was lying there on his pillow.
I got out of bed and, losing my balance, almost fell on the floor. I had forgotten to strap on my artificial leg. That was confirmation enough of my present state of existence. I was here, fully awake, in 1976-minus one leg.
I hobbled over to Karl's bed, retrieved my journal and saw the note saying, "We'll talk at noon," signed Karl.
According to my watch it was almost 9 a.m., so I had slept late again. I wanted to write down all I could remember of my most recent experiences in 2150 or my dream world, whichever it was-before Karl came back at noon. I hurriedly dressed, had a quick breakfast and was soon writing furiously in my journal.
When Karl came in at 12:15 p.m. I was almost finished, so I pulled out the pages I had completed and handed them to him so he could get caught up on my latest dream experiences while I finished writing.
Karl finished about the same time I did and for a few seconds we just looked at each other. Then Karl broke the silence.
"Hey, man," he grinned, "you've got to be the all-time super dreamer. You aren't content with one beautiful superwoman in love with you-no, you got to have two of 'em, one blonde and one brunette, even if they do wear it short."
"All right," I said. "Any other comments? Aren't you at all impressed with the continuity? The fact that the dream picked up right where it ended before? And how about the continuing wealth of detailed information about the society of the future?"
Karl's face became serious and he frowned. "Yes, Jon," he said, "I am impressed with it. I honestly don't know what to think except that if we take it seriously, we are both candidates for the loony bin. Think of that, Jon. Just imagine the headline, 'Two aspiring young psychologists, just one year from that big degree, break under load of studies and are admitted to State Mental Hospital.' "
It was amusing, but uncomfortably possible. "Okay, okay, I'll be careful, Karl, I promise."
"I'm not sure that even keeping it secret will end our problems, Jon. This dream has become an obsession with you."
I thought about this and had to admit that he was right. "I guess you're right, Karl. I've never experienced anything so satisfying, so completely and irresistibly engaging in my entire life.
"I'm still a bit skeptical of its reality," I added. "What I plan to do is test it out, like any other hypothesis.
The ultimate test will be whether I can learn to liberate myself from this micro existence, as Lea suggested, and live in the Macro world of 2150 permanently."
"Good God, Jon!" Karl came to the edge of his chair, his voice harsh with alarm. "Do you know what you're saying? If this dream is a mental aberration, an escape from unpleasant reality, then you'll end up like a vegetable-permanently off in your dream world while cooped up in some hospital and fed intravenously in the real world of 1976. Just one more catatonic schizophrenic!"
Karl got up and began pacing about the room. He didn't say anything. The silence grew as I seriously considered the possibility that I might be becoming psychotic. Would I eventually deteriorate into the vegetable existence of the catatonic schizophrenic? What would happen to my body here in 1976 if I managed to stay permanently in the world of 2150? Would it become a vegetable? Would it just disappear? Would it die?
These were questions I couldn't answer, and I found myself wishing I could ask Central Information.
"I've got it, Karl," I said. "I'll ask C.I. when I get back what will happen to my body here in 1976 if I stay permanently in 2150."
"Oh, that's just great," Karl answered in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "Now let's solve the problem by asking Satan to help us stop sinning!"
"But, Karl, I-"
"Listen to me, Jon," he interrupted. "You've got to realize that a society, even a real one, that would let itself be run by some giant computer has got to be sick! Sick! SICK!"
"Now wait a minute, Karl," I replied. "Let's be fair. Let's be pragmatic. Let's compare the results."
"Our micro society of 1976 is dedicated to selfish exploitation of others in the interest of short-term material pleasures. This selfish behavior is performed and perpetuated in the name of our freedom, our family, our city, our state, our nation, our religion, or in the name of communism, socialism, capitalism, of some other damn ism, and it has produced inconceivable amounts of human misery.
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