Echoes of the Mind

by Leo Christopherson  © 1991

Crisis was at hand! Mankind teetered on the brink of insanity! It was Good!

‑‑1‑‑

Christopher sat alone in the classroom, eyes half‑closed dreamily, the hint of a smile on his lips, the webbing of the LINK‑NET clasped snugly over the top of his head. A small rivulet of saliva had begun to trickle down the boy's chin, dripping to the desktop below, forming a sticky, sugary puddle there. The only sounds in the room were the out‑of‑sync rhythms created by Christopher's slow, even breathing and the slight thunking noise made by the wall‑chronometer as it ticked away the seconds of the lunch period.

The chronometer beeped softly at the quarter hour mark and suddenly, as if awakening from a nightmare, the boy's eyes snapped wide open with fright. Sucking in a huge breath of air, he shouted, "No, leave me alone!" He shot to his feet, knocking over his chair, ripping the LINK‑NET from his head and throwing it to the desktop. He stared in horror for a moment at the crumpled net of wires and plastic‑ribbing lying there‑‑It had almost gotten him this time! If the clock hadn't beeped . . . He shuddered, shaking his head violently, trying to rid his mind of Its terrible, compelling, irresistible echoes.

Christopher knew he must tell someone what he had done to LINK. It was out of control. He knew from what his friends had been saying that It was beginning to affect others too; though they had no idea he was responsible for creating this growing anomaly within the system. He should never have tampered with the system's programming by removing his own LINK‑LEVEL protection. Everyone knew you could go insane by sinking too deeply into LINK's knowledge base. But he had thought he knew better.

Until just now it had been a wonderful experience! The strange, unexplainable feelings of pleasure (and confusion) brought on by sharing thoughts at levels too deep for any real comprehension. He couldn't begin to understand why this felt so good‑‑so right; it just did. It was like a narcotic drug. He found he had to have more. Today he had hardly been able to wait until lunch time so that he could don the LINK‑NET and embrace It again. But something had gone wrong. It had pulled him in too far. He knew now what insanity must feel like. It had wanted to restructure his mind! How could something that felt so good try to do something so awful?

To make matters catastrophically worse, in an act of colossal ignorance, yesterday he had injected the entire world‑wide LINK system with his own special level removing virus. It had apparently spread like wild‑fire throughout LINK. It had already mutated and grown beyond his understanding. His virus was busily working away at removing all level protection for everyone on LINK. Everyone's own private knowledge bases would suddenly appear to everyone else! It would be mass insanity!

What could he do now? He had to find help! Maybe Professor Bauer would know what to do. Christopher turned and rushed from the room.

--2--

Professor Bauer listened to his colleagues and tried to enjoy his lunch. The others were at it again. He knew better than to inject his own thoughts; it was better to keep quiet. With a sigh he stuffed the rest of his rice‑cake past his moustache and chewed dryly.

"I'll say it again, these kids are dumber than fence‑posts and twice as useless," complained Professor Peterson. Over the years Bauer had watched as Peterson's brows had little‑by‑little pulled together into her now permanent frown.

"Yeah, these are the rudest kids I've ever seen! They just don't seem to care about anything, anymore," agreed the new professor who had the unfortunate last name of "Duckdown," making him the instant target of all manner of student inventiveness.

As always, heads automatically now turned toward Professor Kurtz who could be relied upon to reveal his most recent "Kids Are Awful" story. Bauer looked away sadly as Kurtz began with enthusiasm.

"You all know I almost never have any problems with my kids," he glanced around the group collecting their nods appreciatively. "Those little monsters know they better have their little butts in those little seats with their LINK‑NETs on within sixty little seconds after class starts, or else! I won't allow any talking between students after that . . . unlike some others I know," he glanced accusingly at Bauer, becoming irritated at the lack of any guilt on his colleague's face.

"Anyway, as I was saying, that kid Shandra, the little jerk, openly defied me today! She had the audacity to suggest that I had my facts about Africa wrong! You better believe it, I shut her up fast by making everyone down‑LINK the chapter on Africa in our textbook. It's right there on LINK for any of them to see. Who does she think she is, anyway? She must have figured out a way to get into another knowledge base that I have not authorized for my class.

"That's one of the problems with this "Learning Information through Network Knowledge" system. You have to keep kids out of most of it or they start coming up with all sorts of ideas of their own. It's our job as teachers to guide these kids to the knowledge they need. And besides," he chuckled, "In this case, I wrote the textbook myself and can vouch for its value."

"She was just trying to get you off track, Carl, you know, to waste your time," offered Peterson. "It's almost impossible to stick to your lesson plans when you have interruptions all the time; these kids know that and they try to ruin our classes." All those present except Bauer nodded their agreement.

"I don't suppose that there is any new information available about Africa on LINK since your textbook was published?" Bauer simply couldn't resist the question.

After an evaluative pause Kurtz answered, "Well, of course there is, Bauer. But as I said, I wrote our textbook. I'm the expert. I actually went to Africa several years ago, so I know what I'm talking about. I'm the teacher, after all. That stupid girl doesn't know what's important about Africa; I mean, what's she in my class for anyway?"

"I wouldn't doubt that she has asked herself that same question, Carl," ventured Bauer with a smile. He knew he was in for another battle now. He could see Kurtz stiffen as the man tried to figure out just how that remark had been meant, and how it should be replied to.

"Speaking of LINK," interrupted Professor Santos, the peacemaker of the group, alarmed at the growing animosity between the two men, "Have any of you been noticing any problems lately? My kids started complaining yesterday, and this morning things were starting to get pretty bad."

As the others began nodding, Bauer asked, "What kind of problems, Pablo?"

"Well, you know how normally, when you want some piece of information or other, you just press your LINK‑button, think the thought as a question, and it's sent through your translator to the main satellite computer system. The computer looks up the answer and translates it back to you almost instantaneously.

"But, we've started getting these echoes; it's been getting worse all morning."

"Echoes?"

"Yes, particularly when the question is one of value judgment, rather than straight factual. It's as if you're getting a whole group of other, often contradictory, answers! They remind me of echoes because they are somehow weaker, and pop into your mind just after the right answer does.

"For example, one of my students was looking up some information about axes‑-­you know, how they developed as tools throughout history, and so on. But she must have sent off a feeling of fear as part of her question, because she started getting all these echoes about hatchet‑murders and battle‑axes used in wars, and stuff; she was really upset by it."

Duckdown, as yet unaware of the pecking order here, interrupting with his usual lack of insight, unable to let what he had perceived earlier to be an especially juicy, dirty worm crawl back into its hole, fluffed his feathers aggressively and fired off a new salvo.

"Professor Bauer, I walked past your class this morning, and I just don't understand how you do it! I mean, how can you get those kids to learn anything with it so noisy in there?"

"I consider it constructive noise, the kids are usually talking about math."

"But they're talking to each other! How can they even hear you?"

"Well," Bauer answered simply, "I just walk over to them and talk."

"And another thing, you've let them move their desks all over the place. Keeping the LINK wiring intact must be a problem for you."

"Actually, we don't use LINK all the time." Seeing their shocked expressions he tried to explain. "LINK is a wonderful tool. I am very grateful that we have it. But there are times that I want my students to talk to each other about themselves and how they feel about math. We don't need LINK for that." He couldn't resist adding, "I'm not convinced that the best kind of learning takes place with our kids all lined up quietly in rows and their minds chained to only that knowledge which we decide to give them."

"Well, I know that I'm on the right track, Bauer," Kurtz was now ready to defend himself. "I have had kids coming back from Upper‑School thanking me for the education I've given them. I guess that proves something!"

"Carl, you were recently lamenting about the 57% failures you have in your geography class. If one of those students were to come to you and thank you for his failure, would you take credit for that too? He also was your student, after all. What would that prove, then?"

Kurtz, face reddening and voice rising, burst out, "I just couldn't believe what I witnessed happening in your class today, Bauer. In fact, I may as well tell you, I've mentioned it to the principal; he couldn't believe it either." Triumphantly he turned to the others.

"Bauer was teaching a lesson on the hammer!" Kurtz snickered, "I mean he actually thought it was worthwhile to tell the kids how to use a hammer. And this in his math class!

"A hammer, for God's sake! Bauer, we know these kids are dumb but they're not that dumb! You must have been caught with your lesson plans down and just had to come up with something quick, right?"

"Professor Kurtz, I would never call our kids dumb; first I respect them too much for that, and second they are not dumb, rather they are as smart as we allow them to become."

"Well, they sure must have been pretty far down the smart's scale if learning how to pound something with a hammer made them smarter!" The group had a quick laugh at that one.

"Hey, we better watch it, Guys! Now that Bauer has shown these dunces how to use a hammer, some of us might get our brains knocked out," someone interjected. Another quick laugh.

Bauer resisted saying the obvious and said instead, "And would you approve of that use of a hammer?"

Kurtz blinked his eyes in surprise, then frowned, "Now, that has got to be one of the stupidest questions I've ever heard from you, Bauer! What is a hammer for, after all?"

"And that is one of the most intelligent questions I have ever heard from you, Carl," retorted Bauer. "Indeed, what is a hammer for? Apparently you will agree that how one uses it makes a difference. There is more to using a hammer than holding it and swinging it against something. What will you build or destroy with it? Who will you help or hurt with it?

"The proper use of a hammer involves planning and preparation before you even pick it up. And unless you're just going to joust windmills with it, you must have a concept of what it can do for you. How do you decide if it's the correct tool for a job? Using a hammer, as with other things in life, is part of a process. The hammer is only a bit player in the whole scheme of things!

"And no, Carl, I wasn't caught with my lesson plans down, as you put it. Our work in math involving measurements had led us to the idea of building houses. The father of one of our students is a carpenter and she wanted to tell us about that. It was quite interesting, really. One thing led to another. The kids felt a need to explore in that direction. Everyone had something to contribute. We all learned a lot!"

Kurtz sighed. Talking to this man Bauer was like talking to some alien from Mars. The two of them used the same words but somehow didn't speak the same language. He was sure that he was making his points well enough, but Bauer didn't understand. Kurtz, however, also had a strong feeling that Bauer somehow felt the same way about him.

Bauer stood, gathering the remains of his lunch together, "Don't worry, Carl. I would never suggest that your head be used as a suitable target for any hammering."

As Bauer headed for the door, Duckdown, having missed the point of virtually everything said up to now, offered, "There are sure a few students around here who could use a good crack on the head with the head of a hammer." How clever he felt. Believing himself in creative full‑flight, he fluttered on, "You know what they say, "You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet!""

Bauer stopped, turned, and said sadly, "But suppose the purpose of those eggs was to become chickens?"

The others sat there quietly, watching him until he had gone, seriously wondering about his sanity. They looked back at each other finally and shrugged.

‑‑3‑‑

With a beautiful, loving, creative thought just beginning to form in His mind, a thought which therefore had not yet completely crossed the threshold of non‑actual to actual, God drifted off to sleep. In that instant of creation, Point Alpha defined itself as energy, space, and time and our universe burst forth.

At first, with such a concentration of unimaginably immense power, there could be no direction except outward. The Process began as expansion. When finally enough space had been engulfed, when energy was dissipated to the critical point, a modification of Process occurred. Un‑actualized energy began to transcend itself, becoming actualized matter. The Process became two‑fold as the universe began its struggle toward increasing complexity. The tentative beginnings of a Purpose emerged within the Process‑‑a direction was initiated.

Complexity folded in upon complexity as The Process continued: hydrogen atoms formed and were drawn together; as pressures mounted, a new critical threshold was approached, breached, and stars appeared, defining a new complexity which began to return matter to energy again, manufacturing more and more complicated atoms within themselves, and finally in expending the last of their energy, they spewed complexified matter outward, resembling miniature Point Alphas as they did so.

This heavier material eventually coalesced around new suns, forming planets and their satellites. Thus, among the multitude of new worlds, was born Planet Earth. A feeling of goodness, of rightness, of purpose, in the form of this tiny, unextinguished idea from God's conscious moments, rippled across the surface of His sleeping mind. This dream, this universe, this Planet Earth‑‑all were good. How could it be otherwise for, being a pattern in the mind of God, it followed the path set for it by His will. As the elements of the dream expanded, diversified, and multiplied, they began to attract, ever‑so‑slightly at first, the attention of God's sleeping conscious mind, urging it to awaken and take heed.

The Process continued: expansion, diversification, multiplication, until another critical point was reached, and then a gathering in, an infolding, a collapsing together if you will, causing yet a greater level of complexity of matter. Mega‑molecules appeared, growing, diversifying, and multiplying in the seas o f Planet Earth.

As God's mind, attracted by the increasing complexity of the dream, began the shift that would take it from sleep to wakefulness, a growing flow of conscious energy began to feed into the dream, shaping it and intensifying it. And then, with a sudden flash of creativity, mega‑molecules were unified into a new order. Life was born.

The Process was accelerating. Life form followed life form, becoming ever more complex and diversified. This was not a random process; the dream had retained its original direction; it continued on its course. Many life forms were explored as more of God's conscious mind was directed into them. The dream became dominated by the growing complexity o f life forms, one after another, new replacing old, those surviving representing progress shaped by Purpose.

But then something truly unusual happened. Perhaps purely by chance, but more likely the inevitable result of the direction of The Process, which was now increasingly stimulated by God's stirring consciousness, life within the dream became aware of itself! The minds of human beings had complexified sufficiently to become endowed with tiny copies of God's mind. These tiny images were necessarily imperfect imprints of his reality however, for how could the finite contain the infinite?

Thus began the nightmare.

Each human mind was now capable of defining its own purpose. Individualism spread. Unable to comprehend The Purpose in their limited minds, misunderstanding their uniqueness, human beings began their quest to conquer nature and understand reality. Believing themselves the end‑product of human evolution, believing that each was alone within himself, believing that God was somehow detached, remote, and uninterested, (or non‑existent), mankind set their own goals, charted their own path into the future.

Human beings, the life form chosen to advance The Purpose (expansion, diversification, multiplication, followed by an enfolding to a higher level of complexity; a steady climb toward Point Omega, the Ultimate Complexity Himself, God), were now at cross‑purposes with The Purpose. Though expansion and multiplication continued to occur, diversification was strictly limited by mankind in its efforts to maintain its integrity as the most advanced life‑form on Earth. The newer, more complex forms of man brought forth by The Purpose were not allowed to survive. They were eliminated along with the mutations, the throwbacks, the mistakes brought forth by The Purpose in its efforts to diversify, eliminated for being too physically deformed, too stupid, too smart, too different, too advanced.

God frowned in His sleep. The nightmare intensified as the pressures caused on Earth by mankind's multiplication and false purposes caused suffering, wars, inhumanity to man by man. But then, somehow, something began to happen which promised unification, understanding, inter‑communication. Perhaps humanity could yet transcend itself, enfolding and complexifying to become the next step called for by The Purpose. God's consciousness forced itself into the expanding container being created by mankind. The complexity increased, crisis approached, enfolding was imminent. Life was about to cross its next major threshold after all.

Complexity reached critical mass; God's will burst forth and . . .

‑‑4‑‑

"You're certain, Christopher, that you have no way of stopping this virus of yours?" Professor Bauer asked anxiously. His mind was spinning as the implications of what the boy had done began to sink in. The world relied upon LINK so heavily by now that its breakdown would likely spell the end of the modern world. There was nothing that could replace it.

"I'm sorry, Sir, I just don't know how." The boy was near tears.

"Well, we shall have to try to do something. We must go up‑LINK and place information about your virus into the system in the hope that someone out there will be able to discover an anti‑virus technique in time. There would be millions, if not billions, of persons up‑LINKed this time of day. Someone, somewhere, will know what to do." Bauer offered a LINK‑NET to Christopher as he picked one up for himself.

But the boy backed away in horror. "Oh, no Sir. I'm not ever going to put one of those on again! Don't you understand? The monster's in there. It tried to get me."

"Very well, Christopher, you don't have to up‑LINK. I'll do it. You sit quietly over there," he pointed at the chair along one wall of his office, "I won't be long."

The boy sat wide‑eyed watching as Bauer adjusted the LINK‑NET on his head, smiled and said, "Don't worry, Chris . . ."

"Professor!" yelled the boy as Bauer stiffened in mid‑sentence, his eyes glazing over, his mouth drooping open. In slow‑motion, it seemed, the professor's unconscious form slumped forward, ending up sprawled across his desktop.

Christopher raised his arms protectively in front of his face, screaming out in terror, certain that It was going to get him next!

--5--

Professor Bauer had barely placed the LINK‑NET webbing over his head when It hit him‑‑hard! For just an instant it was like being plunged into ice‑cold water, or perhaps white‑hot fire. The shock to his system was immense. Then he could feel himself being sucked away; he felt detached, speeding through some huge darkness; out of control; total disorientation.

Before he had time to be frightened, he felt himself slowing. He began to sense a grayness around him. With a start, he realized he was not alone. He was surrounded by dozens, hundreds, millions, of globes of light, which grew brighter by the moment. He became aware that he too was glowing‑‑one of the globes himself. His consciousness was enclosed within a strange, new container.

Light grew brighter ahead. Motion slowed to a standstill. The universe seemed to hold its breath for an instant.

Then Bauer felt Something steal into his mind. At first he attempted to resist It. He tried to flee. But there was no way to resist It; no place to flee to. There grew about him a sense of goodness, of rightness. Whatever was happening, it was surrounded by an undeniable Good. The feeling deepened.

The Question suddenly came forth into his mind. He also heard it echoing back from the many other glowing minds around him. They were all being asked the same Question, being offered the same choice.

"Will you join Me? Oh please, will you join Me? Together we shall become Us. It will be so good! You must give up your individualism which keeps you separate; but not your personality, which contains that which you may give to others. You are You, and are treasured for what you are. As part of Us, you will be allowed to grow toward that goodness which you are destined to become."

Bauer knew what his answer was. He did not need to hesitate, even for a moment.

"Yes," he shouted, "Yes, I will join you!" As he answered, he heard many other echoes answering as he had: "Yes!" But there were also some "No's." Minds that were simply not ready to abandon their egos; minds that had never known togetherness; minds that could not let go. Those insular globes of light dimmed and began to fall back as Bauer and the others were now drawn forward again.

Brilliant light burst forth about them! The feeling of Goodness and Love was total and overwhelming as It washed through them, changing them, uniting them. Bauer watched from within as his mind was reorganized, augmented, made ever‑so­-much more complexified. Then he finally understood. He knew what he had become part of. And It Was Good!

--6--

With a groan, Bauer pushed himself upright to a sitting position. He opened his eyes and found himself staring into the terror‑stricken eyes of Christopher, standing frozen against the opposite wall. The boy's face was streaked with tears. He was trembling, waiting for It to strike him down.

"Christopher, don't cry. It's all right. I'm all right. We were able to save the system after all."

The boy gasped with relief. His legs, stiffened with fright for some minutes now, suddenly gave way and he collapsed to the floor. Bauer carefully removed the LINK-NET and ran to Christopher. He knelt on the floor, holding the sobbing boy in his arms.

Bauer knew the future of the world would change completely. Though he was still himself, he knew he was also part of a new life‑form. Mankind had just become aware of a new dimension. There was now a real Purpose to life and he knew what it was without any doubt.

Christopher needed him now, and Bauer accepted the responsibility with humility and love. Soon he would attempt to explain what had really happened, and the boy could make his own choices. He hoped that Christopher had not become so frightened that he would forever reject The Joining. After all, Christopher had been the catalyst which allowed it all to happen.

--7--

Things were right with the universe again. The nightmare had passed. The human beings of Planet Earth had evolved into a state of Awareness of The Purpose. The Process could continue. Progress toward Point Omega could continue. It was good!

With a sigh of relief, God slipped off into a deeper, more peaceful sleep.

The dream continued . . .

The End