Bold War 2020

by Redemption

  'I've often thought, deep down, there's something in that, there must be possibilities for this sort of thing.' Or 'There's much sense and value in it. It's so obvious. There's always been a need for a better way.' Or 'If somebody could lead - show me the way - I'd like to do something positive and useful for myself - and society.' Or 'I'd support this, in fact I'd like to have a go at it.'

  "One can summarise Smiles as having ten main components - some call them the 'teeth' of Smiles, others the Ten Voluntaries (as distinct from the Ten Commandments - choice rather than compulsion). They list the ways by which people can develop the Ten Qualities needed for our advanced society."

  ~

  "Not another list," exclaims Andrew in mock horror.

  "Afraid so," responds Christiana. "You know one of the problems of your generation? You were so listless, nothing happened!"

  In spite of his efforts to the contrary Andrew broke into a smile.

  ~

  TEN VOLUNTARIES (10V) of Smiles

  V 1 Your individual potential - develop it and use it. Upgrade PP2. This is the key overall aim of Smiles and so includes what follows, but as it is fundamental it takes its place at the top of the list.

  V2 Learning skills. Rapid reading, memory training, time management and other study skills are learned and then used to help learn anything else quickly, easily and thoroughly - subjects in schooling or in life. Learning how to learn.

  V3 Attitudinal skills. Positive thinking, handling stress, managing change, visualisation and affirmations are taught and put into practice. Learning how to achieve.

  V4 Internalised gratification. Happiness in giving, self-worth, service, reduced materialism.

  V5 Deferred gratification. Work now to achieve goals later. Face adversity with courage and dignity. What you get out relates to what you put in. Strive towards ideals.

  V6 Action. Participate. Do things. Achieve desirable results. Be effective, practical.

  V7 Diet and exercise. A healthy body maximises your performance. You feel better and live longer. Full energy, mental alertness.

  V8 Mind / body balance. Practise a discipline such as meditation, yoga or tai-chi.

  V9 Manage the above. Implement them in your life and take control.

  V10 Others and society. Co-operate and contribute to the common good. A 'fair go' for all.

  ~

  Christiana: "So there it is - the whole mouthful. I told you there would be something to get your teeth into. Listing the headings doesn't give you the detail but indicates the gist. There are further associated new concepts and practices that are significant - they will follow. Would you concede that if people could take on board and assimilate the 10V, that would lead to a workable Smiles and they would be well on their way to 10Q and a vastly improved PP2? And from there the 10R becomes feasible?"

  Andrew: "You're rushing me. I still haven't come to terms with, for example, the implications of PP2."

  Christiana: "Then let me expand a little on PP2 for you."

  V

  D: Partnerships (B):

  Christiana: "It's not a perfect analogy, but imagine a motor car travelling along a highway or through city streets. This is another example of a partnership, a Car Partnership, as it were. On the one hand is the car (CP1). As long as it is supplied with petrol, oil and water, and maintained sensibly, it will provide transport - far more powerful and effective than our legs. But it cannot operate by itself. It needs a driver (CP2). The driver makes all the external decisions: start, stop, turn left here, keep to the right side of the road, etc… The arrangement works well as long as both partners maintain their responsibilities.

  "If CP2 puts oil in the petrol tank, water in the sump, or drives down the wrong side of the road, the partnership is doomed to failure. However CP2 generally knows the potential and limitations of CP1 and has learned to act responsibly, otherwise CP1 will stop, or they will both be caught for speeding, and so on.

  "By comparison, most people in your time neither realised (understood) the value of PP1 nor realised (achieved) the potential of PP2. Because they were unaware, PP2's were like CP2's not taking driving lessons, not learning road rules, driving in first gear, leaving the handbrake on, not caring which fuel to feed CP1, or expecting it to drive over paddocks and through streams - and being angry when it didn't perform. Sometimes you were more discerning about your cars than your bodies, even though CP1's are replaceable and PP1's are not."

  =

  Reluctantly, Andrew moves closer to agreement - cautiously. "I can sense your direction; I presume you're going to call it, the 10V, Rung 'C' are you? Can you show it symbolically?"

  "Andrew, I'm glad you asked." She touches a key and a diagram appears on screen:

  She reiterates: "The Ten Voluntaries are the components of Smiles which when followed can lead to the 10Q that produce the 10R."

  "My understanding is beginning to fall into place, despite my mental confusion and physical incapacity. But there's still a large unfilled gap, and that's what makes my agreement conditional. Just because there's a thing called Smiles which could do marvellous things, how are you going to make it happen? There's a yawning chasm between theory and practice - a phrase you use with me - and you'll have to overcome (to use one of your expressions) Sed to bridge it."

  ~

  Ed appeared on screen. "So much for the content of Smiles. The next big question was: How were we to convey this to people? How to transfer the knowledge and train them, or even get them interested in the first place?" (Yes, yes, Andrew agreed, willing him on.)

  "We planned the basic presentation format as an intensive seminar, like my Pals but more extensive. It would be conducted in conjunction with education authorities, or independently if necessary. It would be available for students, industry and the public. Importantly, it would be experiential during the course and necessarily practised afterwards - to obtain desired results and to reinforce the Smiles process.

  "We didn't fully appreciate at that stage the barriers we had to overcome, and how difficult it was going to be to get started, to get 'customers', to counter entrenched inertia and Sed, and the diversity and magnitude of opposition we were to experience."

  ~

  "Yes, I should think so," Andrew comments knowingly. "What a major undertaking. Never done before, and never ever likely to happen in my estimation without a minor miracle. It's like genetic engineering - playing around with people and their lives."

  "I can understand why you might think that," Christiana responds. "But you've seen the end results. Don't you think they were worth it?"

  'Maybe, depending how much pain to get the gain."

  "What if I told you the net pain was negative?"

  "Utter bloody nonsense. And I return to my perennial question. There is such a vast distance between their plans and implementing them, bringing them to fruition. You're drawing this out like a monster mystery. It's still only theoretical thus far - textbook stuff."

  "My, how the academic is changing. But to continue; it wasn't rapid, although in retrospect many say it was straight-forward and should have been achieved more quickly (and implemented earlier)." Christiana slows her delivery, making sure he will understand clearly. "It required a lot of effort, inspiration, courage and determination. Even trickery and deception. In fact it was nothing less than a war. Yes - war," in response to his look of surprise. "Although not like any war before. So different, and, you will find this hard to believe, even more significant than either of the two World Wars, or the Cold War, or all of them put together. You can make your own judgement on that in due course. But that's for another day. Time for both of us to sleep."

  Springing to attention, she gives a mock salute. "To war," she says, and bends to kiss him. She leaves him tired and happy, if at a loss to know how the intricate jig-saw could possibly come together to build the splendid diorama of the present age.

  V

  D: Dream N2:

  That night he finds himself in the Negcom Co
urt again. The judge is stern - and forbidding. Tittering seeps from the body of the court. Even the jury is smirking.

  "You say you have tried to make amends for your omissions of the past?" asks the judge coldly.

  "Yes, your honour, but people don't seem to want to listen. Everything seems to be stuck in first gear."

  "Well your world certainly was. Getting nowhere fast. Sometimes in reverse. Before I ask the jury for their verdict, what is the magnitude of the points after the defendant's efforts?" the judge asks.

  Information appears on a screen, to an outburst of laughter.

  Neg points 6215

  Gen points 3

  The Neg points were portrayed graphically as a mountain. Gen points were being transported in a toy wheelbarrow.

  "Order in the court. What is your verdict, Jury?"

  The foreperson stands up, trying to keep a straight face. "This is so obvious, like all the rest, and so… pitiful. We find him terribly guilty of negligence. (And it serves him right.)"

  "Your honour, my client requests time before you pass sentence to demonstrate that he can rectify the situation."

  "At that rate?" grumbles the judge. "It will take him another thirty years to reach even 1000 Gen points - if indeed he doesn't manage to fall into another of those comas. (More laughter) For heaven's sake tell him about multipoints. In the circumstances, and since in his case the sentence is likely to be severe - a person in his position definitely ought to have known better - permission is granted. Court adjourned for three weeks."

  With the sound of the gavel echoing in his ears Andrew grasps his attorney urgently. "Multipoints??"

  "Let me explain," the attorney starts to elaborate, in a condescending and impatient way as if his client is bereft of even common sense, not understanding such basic matters. "If someone is hungry and you give him an apple, that's a point. He will soon be hungry again and need more. At a second level if you show him how to find where wild apples grow he will be able to feed himself over a longer period. The clue to a third level: you can count the seeds in an apple but you can't count the apples in a seed. If you show him how to plant seeds and grow trees he can feed many people.

  "The value of multipoints increases with level:

  Give apple: One Gen point.

  Pick apples: 10 Gen points = One Leverage point (Lgen)

  Grow apples: 100 Gen points = One Seminal point (Sgen)

  "Similarly a first level would be to give a fish, second level to show how to catch fish, third level to teach how to set up a fish farm.

  "Or first level is to have an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff to pick up people who jump or fall and take them to hospital. Second level is to build a fence at the top of the cliff. That stops people falling off, but restricts their view, then patrol it to stop others who want to climb and jump. Third level is to inform people as to the danger, how to be careful, and eliminate the desire to jump. Fewer human problems and drama, and everybody appreciates and enjoys the view.

  "Charities and do-gooders used to operate at level one. Commendable intent and effort but constant input required for limited and short-term results. Most of the problems of the world in your time were approached this way - treating the symptom rather than the cause. (And I hate to say it, the legal fraternity and their medical cousins were no different, they operated largely on the symptoms - and weren't averse to creating client dependency as well).

  "Education should have been a higher level approach, and it was to a limited extent. Unfortunately it rarely rose above level two because it ignored, unbelievably, the development of people's inner abilities - as well as Stage 4 learning which you might hear about one day. The number of points foregone, lost, was enormous. Negcom was full of so-called educators.

  "No wonder your world, only a generation ago, found it hard to progress. Your feeble efforts were largely wasted by not knowing about or appreciating Multipoints. After all, you have to admit, it is a simple concept, is it not?"

  Andrew looks for a VC to find a definition of 'Stage 4', but there is none in sight. He is forlorn but excited, confused yet hopeful, guilty and repentant, all at the same time. And then he wakes from the dream.

  =

  CHAPTER 23 Declaration

  'The Emperor is Stupid!' is inscribed on a yellow button Christiana wears on her blouse next morning. At the angle she sits to the light it reflects into his eyes when her chest expands as she breathes. He sees alternating images: Reflected light / The Emperor is Stupid / reflected light / Emperor Stupid / light / Stupid / etc…

  She makes no reference to it and, in light of his second Negcom dream, neither does he. Is she trying to provoke him, or be provocative in the other sense, or both? He can guess what the message means - a variation on the 'no clothes' story, tied up with people not seeing, or not wanting to see the obvious.

  He settled for "'War' sounds a touch melodramatic. You're not pulling either of my gammy legs are you? That would be unfair as I wouldn't feel it.".

  "Of course not Andrew. You know me by now. We are approaching the crunch, what you have been asking for. The 'how' it was actually brought about, put into action, implemented."

  "And not before time," he says testily. "I find this so difficult to handle. So much change, so quickly. And physically nothing seems to have progressed in the last three days - I'm still a wreck."

  "Physically you look great Andrew," she says, resting on the edge of the bed close to him. "A strapping forty-year-old. Better than some men I know half your age. Quite attractive. And you're much less dispassionate than the males of our time. More… earthy?"

  Andrew's stirring emotions are interrupted by Cameron Dench bustling into the room. "Morning Andy - how are we today?"

  "We are no better than yesterday - or the day before," he answers abruptly. "There is no progress. What are you doing about it?"

  "Patience," admonishes Cameron. "All in good time; it's not that simple. Your achievement in getting to this stage has been phenomenal. We are working on ways to expedite the last relatively small bit."

  "It may be small for you Cam, but for me it's a hell of a long way from this bed to the door."

  "I'm sure they're doing all they can," is Christiana's offering when they are alone. She begins massaging his shoulders. He cannot feel her hands, only occasional minute electrical twinges, erratic at best, fighting their way through massive resistance of static nerveless flesh, but it is enough to stimulate him physically and mentally.

  As she finishes she adds "I'll do a little bit of my own investigating later to see if there might be a way to speed things up."

  He smiles his thanks as she starts the film. "To war!" she says again.

  ~

  The group at the rambling white house in the Hebrides, minus Xena, is settling down in the lounge.

  KBVO: "I was proud of my group. They had worked well with each other and made good progress. Some thought we were nearly at our destination when in fact we had a long way to go. Up till then it had been like a productive picnic, skipping happily over virgin fields of social discourse. Though there were weeds and nettles, and barriers of a sort to overcome, and we were surrounded by a fog of ignorance and disbelief, the group assumed there were higher pastures, better weather around the corner. They thought it was just a matter of time and application before we broke through, but I knew we had serious business ahead. I had to galvanise them to a higher level of determination and effort."

  To the group he said: "Well done warriors. You have exceeded my expectations with your creativity and energy in generating the content of Smiles. Now we are embarking on a new and even more difficult phase - how to implement our brainchild within society.

  "Why am I calling you warriors? Because we are now entering a war zone. We need to redouble our efforts and overcome enormous obstacles to achieve our goals. There are enemies to be defeated - let's call them the enemies of society - and battles to be won. And inevitably there will be casualties. I want you all to understan
d the seriousness and magnitude of our task and then re-confirm the necessary commitment.

  "So far we have concentrated on positives. I have asked Xena to put forward some of the negatives, what we are up against, to be a kind of devil's advocate. I should warn you she has been known to flaunt her amateur theatrics on occasions."

  V

  The lights were extinguished and they waited in darkness like a theatre crowd. An overhead spotlight lit up. Into its concentrated beam leapt Xena in a tight black costume with Satan mask and a tail that rose and waved its pointed tip provocatively as she moved about. In hissing tones and with dramatic gestures she spoke.

  "You all think you are so smart. But you're infantile and deluded. And puny. Your feeble attempts to be little do-gooders against the might of the armies of darkness make me laugh."

  From around them came a low blood-curdling demonic cackle that sent shivers up more than one spine.

  "I am firmly entrenched in humanity and you are not going to oust me. On my side I have formidable weapons. Take greed for instance. You might as well, because sooner or later it's going to take you. (Demonic laughter). Billions of inconsequential people scurrying around trying to squirrel things for themselves. They might help each other occasionally, but when it comes to the crunch - they all look after number one.

  "Why? Because of my other prime weapon - fear. Fear of pain, hunger, loneliness, going without, being wrong. Hundreds of fears, big and small. Often subliminal, always there.

  "Then there's widespread ignorance and apathy. What's the difference between ignorance and apathy you might ask?" poking Mario in the chest. "You don't know and I don't care!" Louder cackling laughter drowned the few nervous murmurs from the group.

  "Variations on the above. Laziness, ennui, even paralysis. Leading to 'social entropy' - a great ally. But now you have a word for it. That's a worry. But Sed is seductive and sedating and seditious. Makes you sedentary. Turns you into sediment. Debilitates you to the level of the pessimists, sceptics, cynics and malingerers. They're going to cause you a lot of problems. Let alone the other fear - fear of change - universal and one of my greatest assets.