With the knowledge of how progress is possible and how it is tied to having a goal, we can now step back and put our collective history into perspective. By viewing the Human Family as engaged in a communal endeavor to map Creation onto the Quintentium, events which previously seem unrelated can now be seen to be deeply connected. This is because we are not individuals locked into a singular computationally bounded window. We are members of a family, which is working together and cooperating to develop and expand a unified view of the world.
This shared communal window is the result of two broad efforts. On one hand, we are trying to develop systems and structures which facilitate our ability to work together within our window. The more effectively we can work together, the more progress we will make. Our language and communication determine how efficiently we can partner with those alive today. Pattern recognition allows us to build on the efforts of our ancestors and to more effectively pass on our own progress to our children. These are both the goals of civilization.
By establishing a common language, and then using that to build on patterns which everyone takes for granted, civilizations provide the foundation for continuous progress across time. This progress is dependent upon a unified and shared view of the world. If that view of the world is lost, then so is the progress; which is why we can no longer build pyramids. The patterns which all Egyptians took for granted, have been lost. Even though we can now decode their language, that does not reconnect us with their way of understanding and conceptualizing the world.
Our second effort is to explore the boundaries and expand our window. While simultaneously trying to develop civilization, we are seeking the limits of what can be known. As we establish the boundaries of our window, we can then coordinate our efforts at mapping it more effectively. This happens on many levels, but significantly, is tied to our exploration of physical space. From this perspective, we can divide Humanity into two broad groups: the developers and the explorers. The developers are trying to develop civilization within our window in an effort to maintain it. The explorers are trying to explore the borders of our window in an effort to expand it.
Both of these endeavors are of equal value and both started around 300,000 years ago. The developers took 295,000 years before they could establish the first civilization. The 5,000 years since Mesopotamia, account for only 1.7% of the time it took to actually put this first civilization together. The explorers only managed to map out the borders of the world in 1340 AD, when New Zealand was finally settled. Compared to the 299,320 years it took for Humanity to do this, the 680 years since it was accomplished, up to today, account for only 0.2% of the time.
If we view ourselves as members of one Human Family, which is progressing towards a goal, it is obvious that we are living at an exceptional time. The fact that our family has spent more than 98% of its time just trying to lay the foundation for progress, should make us grateful for the opportunity to build upon it. Escaping the darkness of ignorance was by far the most difficult part of this journey. This helps me understand something I was always confused by, which is the Bible’s claim that Christ came at the “end of the ages”, and would be returning “soon”. If I only look at the period between Christ and I, then this seems contradictory, but with the perspective of the entire Human Family, it makes total sense.
With this broader perspective now in place, let’s put our timeline all together. Around 3,000 BC Abraham was called out of Mesopotamia. In 516 BC the Jews returned from exile and rebuilt the temple. In 509 BC the Roman Republic was founded. In 27 BC the Roman Republic was transformed into the Roman Empire. Around year zero Christ is born, he would then go on to transform Judaism into Christianity. 40 years after this transformation the Roman Empire destroys the temple and puts an end to Israel’s ability to practice Yom Kippur. In 380 AD this empire became a Christian empire and established Western Civilization through the unification of a tradition of religious development from the Jews, and a tradition of governance development from the Romans.
With the hindsight of history, doesn’t it seem odd that these two civilizations, originally completely detached from one another, would develop so closely in tandem? Not only at their founding, but also in their transformations. That each would then become so instrumental in the others' later developments is shocking to me. Christ was crucified on a Roman cross. The Jewish temple was pulled down by Roman soldiers. Then just a few hundred years later the Roman Empire becomes a Christian Empire? What is going on?
In order to make sense of this we will need to understand the distinction between religious and governance development. As we discussed in detail with regards to the development of the temple worship in Israel, the primary goal of Religion is to establish the proper way for individuals to interact with God. Religion seeks to provide an effective and robust system which will allow for individuals to connect to and understand what lies beyond the Quintentium. This system must be able to function across time and space. If it cannot maintain its shared window in a new time or place then it will eventually collapse.
The primary goal of Government is to establish the proper way for individuals to interact with each other. This pursuit seeks to provide a community with an effective and robust system for organizing themselves within the Quintentium. In order to be truly effective this system must be capable of functioning across time and space as well. Citizens must have a way to maintain peace into the future and to expand their community into new lands. If their system of Government is unable to do so, then it will eventually collapse.
The Jews and the Romans developed these two separate systems in parallel. Once Judaism progressed to the point that it could be accepted by the whole world as Christianity, the Romans destroyed the possibility of its temple worship from being practiced. Christianity then provided individuals with such a robust system of belief that not even the Roman Empire could stamp it out. Christians then combined their Religious ideals with the Roman Empire. The practical administration of the Roman state could then implement them in the physical world.
This is why Western Civilization is so robust and successful. In it, the ideals of Religion have been united with the practical functioning of Government. Because these ideals are real, and they are being effectively implemented, the Human Family can prosper and flourish. Our ancestors had no idea this is what was happening. It wasn’t as if the Roman Emperor greeted the Christians with a smile and welcomed them in, saying “I see you have a much better way of structuring our relationship with God, please supplant me for the good of the people”.
It happened because it was the necessary next step in order for the Human Family to continue on the road towards our goal. The Quintentium is structured in such a way that it had to eventually happen. There was no guarantee exactly when, but our own immature desires made it inevitable.
Western Civilization continued to advance and mature all while the rest of the world was yet to be settled. Around 1340 AD, New Zealand, the last remaining major land mass, was settled by humans. The explorers had accomplished their goal of discovering the borders of the world. Shortly after, in 1492 AD, Christopher Columbus, a citizen of Western Civilization, set sail from Europe and connected this ancient civilization to the Americas, which had been disconnected from them for at least 13,000 years. The developers and the explorers had finally been reunited!
Again, how odd. Let’s set the 300,000 years of Human history aside. We can instead be more precise and use the 13,000 years since the land bridge between Asia and the Americas was submerged. From this point onwards the Human Family was broken up and completely cut off from one another. On that time scale, the 150 years between the settling of New Zealand and the sailing of Columbus, account for only 1% of the time our family was so dramatically divided. It is as if we were waiting for the explorers to finish their task, before our most accomplished developers set out to reconnect with them.
This discovery of our borders, and the reunification of our family within physical space, can show us how connected the world of ideas is to our collective progress. Just 51 years after Columbus stumbled upon the Americas and reunited the explorers and developers, Copernicus expanded our window. In 1543 AD he presented the map which, to this day, defines the limit of our physical exploration. Our current understanding of the speed of light and the vastness of space means we possess no reasonable way to explore outside of the solar system he presented.
The ignorance of Copernicus to New Zealand didn’t stop him from making this breakthrough. He was a part of a collective window which had been upgraded. His steps along the path of progress were as ignorant as the Christian takeover of the Roman administrative state. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church was as welcoming and immature in its response to this advancement as the Roman Emperor was to that of the Christians. On this side of our time machine we have only taken one small step in exploring our solar system. Imagine what we might unlock if we establish a presence throughout it!
In 1642 AD, Westerners landed in New Zealand and the process of reuniting the dispersed Human Family was completed. We were once again reconnected, as we had not been since the Tower of Babel. This reunification of the Human Family was a cataclysmic event. The development of Western Civilization ensured their absolute dominance over the explorers they encountered. This disparity in power was inevitably and immaturely abused. It’s easy to stand on our side of history and condemn the actions of the Westerners, but we only have a more developed and mature perspective because of the progress that was made possible by this reunification. Without it, our metamodern perspective could never have arisen.
In 1776 AD this reunification of the Human Family provided the opportunity for an entirely new form of government to be established with the founding of The United States of America. This new system of government inherited and was built upon the progress of Western Civilization. By maintaining this shared perspective, in a new land, they were able to create the potential for possibilities which could never before have been imagined. This was possible because their horizons had been broadened both physically and conceptually. Not only did the USA begin on different soil. It began on a planet which was no longer the center of the universe.
In less than 200 years this new nation was a part of a global community in which the 8 billion members of the Human Family can nearly all recognize the same artists, athletes and leaders. The standard of living which was previously reserved for Kings and Queens is now surpassed by over 1 billion people. We still behave immaturely and foolishly, but the progress we have made is undeniable.
Well, my boy, we’ve reached the present day and thus the end of our story. This story gives us an answer to our deepest, most fundamental questions. Why does anything exist at all? Because God wanted to give expression to his Love, so he chose to manifest it as Life in Creation. Who are we? We are the pinnacle of Creation, the perfect embodiment of his Love, capable of returning that Love to The Father.
Where do we come from? We come from countless generations of people who have sought to make sense of the world around us. Our ancestors were not perfect, just as you and I are not perfect. They were immature and submerged in the darkness of ignorance, yet they sought to build a better world, as best they could. We receive an inheritance from them which is beyond measure. They have empowered us to discover where we are. We are within the Quintentium.
Our ancestors made such haphazard attempts at improving the world because they were prevented from knowing what the world was actually like. Reality has been reduced down to such a tiny droplet that it bears no resemblance to the whole. So we have had to struggle and experiment in order to discover Truth. Our access to Creation has been limited in such a way because our ancestors proved themselves unable to handle the responsibility that comes with our power as the pinnacle of Creation.
In order to protect us, as well as Creation, from our childish tantrums, God cooperated with the story Adam and Eve were telling themselves and created the Quintentium. God then cooperated with Noah to expand the Quintentium after Humanity’s continued unwillingness to embrace maturity. At the Tower of Babel, he sowed the seeds of Humanity’s diversity which caused us to be dispersed throughout the world. This kept us safer, for longer, and sped up our exploration and development of the Quintentium.
Slowly and painstakingly, our ancestors developed an understanding of reality and discovered the limits of our world. Israel and Rome developed the most effective systems of Religion and Government and in 380 AD they united to form the civilization that you and I are a part of today. Over 1,000 years later the exploration of the world was finally accomplished. After which it was only 300 years before our entire Human Family was reconnected as it had not been since the dispersal at the Tower of Babel, when Western Civilization landed on the shores of New Zealand.
This connected world has seen our Human Family grow and flourish to a previously unimaginable degree. Our immaturity and childish ways have not gone away though. They still cause an incredible amount of pain and suffering, but we now have the understanding we need in order to begin moving intentionally towards what our ancestors were only able to stumble into. Where are we going? We are going towards Eternity, and therefore we must remove the Quintentium.
How do we get there?