A Reasonable Mystic

I am a mathematician at heart. I say this for a number of reasons.

When I was in secondary school mathematics was one of my worst subjects. Until 5th year that is. Then I had the best maths teacher I have ever encountered. In one year he transformed my struggle with maths into a delight. I went on to do a bachelors’s degree in mathematics, not because it offered good job prospects (it didn’t). Rather I did it because I wanted to be an electronic engineer. For many years I had been a licensed radio amateur, and found that I easily learned about electronics and radio, but the maths was a deterent. So, the obvious solution, to me, was to study maths. On the strength of these studies I eventually became a university lecturer in electrical and electronic engineering, and did a Master of Engineering by research into artificial intelligence and computer speech recognition and understanding.

As an aside, this reminds me of a post I just made to Mal’s Meanderings about the great effects small unselfish acts have in the lives of other people. I doubt that Charlie Green (the maths teacher) knew what he was getting me into.

Back to the subject in hand. On other reason I like mathematics is undoubtedly explained by my Myers-Briggs personality profile – INTP. On the first test I did, many years ago, I was high up the corner of the Analyser quadrant – not quite Mr Spock from Star Trek, but getting there! I’ve moved a long way towards the centre since then, but I still enjoy knowing about things and seeing how different areas of knowledge relate to each other.

But, what is the main reason I like maths?

There’s something mystical about mathematics – the way it can describe nature using symbols, and then those symbols be manipulated to predict things that are not yet known. These things are almost invariably found to exist when we go looking for them. Good examples are the prediction, and eventual confirmation of the existence of black holes, electromagnetic waves, trans-uranic elements, gravitational lensing, entangled electrons, etc.

I love being able to look at the sky and see in the cloud patterns a map of the weather. Then, looking at an actual weather map and seeing in the highs and lows, the poles and zeros, the same mathematical equations that I would to design a feedback control system, or an electronic filter for a radio receiver.

The natural world is so wonderfully interconnected, with an economy of use and reuse of concepts, that one can not go past the idea of it being designed by an infinite mind that also loves mathematics, even more than I do.

Mathematics is a descriptive and predictive language that has no physical existence of its own – it is simply an organizing principle, a completely abstract human construct. Except, it has a perfection which makes me sure that it is not simply human, but comes first from the mind of God.

There is much more to be said about this, another day.

We finished Part 1 by saying that the human mind already has a faculty that appears to fulfill all of the functions needed for spirit to spirit communication. It is called the imagination.

For some kinds of communication, e.g. thoughts, words and visions, the imagination is already able to place the information into the mind, with one of the only difficulties being for the mind to know where the thought, etc. came from. For things like physical or emotional feelings, the imagination needs to affect the body. However, such an ability is already well established, as evidenced by the abreaction of the body when a past trauma is remembered, or the rising up of fear, hatred or love when we learn of something happening to someone else, even in a fictional context such as a novel or a movie. We can even conjure up in our imagination details of something that never happened and feel what would be appropriate emotions or sensations as if it was a real event. Psychosomatic illness and many phobias are cases in point.

So, the human imagination provides all of the faculties that are needed for spirit to spirit communication, and I am convinced that this is an important function of the imagination, perhaps even its primary purpose. Yes, it is the faculty by which we create original ideas, but that is not surprising if creativity is actually a function of the human spirit, not the mind alone.

If humans are created in the image of God, who is infinitely creative (in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth with a word), and given that God, by definition, is a Spirit, then it surely follows that spirits create!

In one sense, spirit to spirit communication could be considered as a creative process, whereby one spiritual being creates a “message” directly in the imagination of another spiritual being.

Those of us who believe we have heard God’s voice, who have prophesied, seen a vision or “picture”, or received words of knowledge or wisdom, know that it just appears in the mind out of nowhere, and it takes experience to discern that we did not just imagine it or ‘make it up”.

So, when someone says, “You didn’t really hear God (or see an angel or demon, or have a vision), you just imagined it,” then they are partly right. You did imagine it, but that does not mean it didn’t really happen. It is extremely difficult for someone steeped in a tradition of intellectualism to grasp the possibility that the mind is not supreme.

If the role of imagination is as I have described above, then many otherwise esoteric subjects lose some of their mystique. In particular, consider prayer. True prayer is revealed to be an intimate, two-way communication between two persons, rather than the hit or miss, impersonal, ritualistic uttering of formulaic words so often practiced in and out of the church. Spiritual gifts such as prophecy, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, and interpretation of tongues become a natural outworking of the ability of the human spirit to listen to the Spirit of God. You can learn more about the practicalities of this at Listening2God.com where you will find a complete course on hearing God’s voice, prayer, intercession, spiritual gifts, and more.

Even some human to human interactions become easier to understand, such as the bond of love between husband and wife, and the knowledge we often have on first meeting someone that they are, or are not, a person with whom we wish to have a relationship.

Given all of the above, we can see how important it is to develop and nurture our imaginative and creative abilities. Is it any wonder that children, until they become burdened with the knowledge and responsibilities of adult life, are so much more spiritually in tune with God and creation. This is especially so if they have not yet been told that they should put aside their childish fantasies and “grow up”.

We will have more to say about all of this.

Those with an interest in exploring and understanding how the human brain operates, and the relationship between brain and mind, generally operate with an overriding assumption – that the human mind is alone, isolated from all other minds except for communication processes relying on the five physical senses – sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste, and the ability to speak, write, draw, gesticulate, etcetra.

Some enthusiasts also posit extra-sensory perceptions, human to human, human to animal, and sometimes human to other entities. Such investigations are not held in high regard by the general scientific and medical community, I believe largely because of their assumptions that other entities do not exist, and that all processes are determined entirely by operation of the physical brain.

Leaving out, for now, speculative ideas like ESP, five physical senses would be enough for simple communication and interaction. However, this neglects the possibility that a considerable amount of human interaction is of a much more direct, though largely unconscious nature. Such neglect is one result of another common assumption – that human beings do not have a spirit that is not merely a function of the mind or the brain.

Let us put all of that aside for now and examine a hypothetical scenario. Just suppose that:

1. humans have a spirit,
2. there exist other entities that have, or are, spirits, and
3. spirit can communicate directly to spirits.

The question I now want to ask is: what type of faculty within a human being would be needed for such spirit to spirit communication to take place?

Because a spirit does not have a physical form, the physical senses are not likely to be of much use. Rather, I suspect that some form of direct transfer of information would be more likely. In other words, what one entity “sends” to the other would simply “appear” within the receiving entity’s mind.

Note, I am not talking about what is usually called ESP. Most of the explanations that I have seen for ESP ability assume some form of brain to brain transfer, perhaps by means of electromagnetic waves. This is analogous to normal human thinking being enhanced by some form of radio system controlled by the mind, allowing the thoughts to be transmitted to another person. What I am considering here is a more basic ability, but it might also provide a better explanation for what has been thought to be ESP phenomena as well.

Most understandings of the nature of spirit allow it to be unconstrained in some degree by time and space, so a physical transmission medium would not be essential. Rather, two spirits might simultaneously occupy a single conceptual space for the duration of their interaction. Again, here “space” is not necessarily physical relativistic space. If it is actually physical space then an alternative possibility is that spirits might have access to relativistic dimensions apart from the normal Einsteinian space, such as are commonly drawn on in current attempts by physicists to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. This is a subject I will write more about another time.

Let us now go back to our question of the nature of the faculty the human mind would need to support spirit to spirit communication and to provide a spirit/mind/brain interface. From the perspective of a person receiving such a communication, the “message” would simply appear in the mind as a thought, picture, memory or emotion, or by the impression of a sound, smell or physical sensation as the body responds to the information.

Similarly, transmission would occur by simply thinking, visualizing, feeling, etcetera, the content to be communicated. Interestingly, visualization has become a popular technique among some New Age and humanist groups in the attempt to try to change reality. Such use and abuse of visualization is something else I will write more about later, but suffice it to say that even in its misuse the principles remain the same, only the motive or the intended recipient has changed.

The human mind already has a faculty that appears to fulfill all of the functions described above. It is called the imagination.

In Imagine That! – Part 2 we will explore further the role of the human imagination in perceiving the spiritual realm.

The movement of my career from DCA Design Draftsman to CSIRO Technical Officer, and then to University Lecturer was most definitely orchestrated by God.

Shortly before my 13 years with DCA ended I was becoming bored and in need of a new challenge. I had worked on some interesting projects, such as the Public Flight Information System still in use today, and Interscan, the world’s first automatic aircraft landing system. But it was time for a change. I looked with little enthusiasm at a couple of job advertisements, but someone showed me an advertisement for a Technical Officer at a new Division of Manufacturing Technology being established by CSIRO. In particular, the Integrated Engineering and Manufacture Group needed someone to handle the installation of electronic systems for two robots, a computer vision system and a numerically controlled milling machine. I had no experience with any of these. In fact I had little practical experience with any electronic hardware – I was a draftsman with a ham licence and half a maths degree!

I was short-listed (I have a suspicion that it might have been a VERY short list – perhaps one entry!) and interviewed. At the interview with the head of the division, the personel officer, and two research scientists, I sat and listened while they outlined all of their ambitious hopes and plans for the new group. It sounded like science fiction. Then I was asked two questions. The first was “Did I like the sound of what they were doing?” I said, “Yes, it sounds very exciting.” Then they asked whether I understood the employment conditions and was happy with them. Again I said “Yes.” I got the job! This has to be God!

My introduction to life at a lab was interesting. On my first day I walked into the staff tea room to find a crowd there and one of the younger scientists standing in the middle of the conference table with his hands out and exclaiming, “What, what, what, what, what!”. Well there can only be one response to that so I said, “Only five whats. You’re not very bright are you?” He immediately went into raptures and shouted, “At last! At last!” Another Goon Show fan had arrived. Everyone else was standing around completely mystified about what had just transpired, but I knew I had at least one friend for life!

The learning curve was pretty steep – not least because soon I discovered that I was completely on my own as far as the electronics was concerned. The whole group consisted of a senior research scientist from Bell Labs who had experience in microprocessors, a research scientist trained in mechanical systems, a production engineer, a mechanical technical officer and myself. Later we were joined by a metallurgist whom I will mention again further down. We had a ball! This was the time when Dr. Barry Jones was Minister for Science and Technology. He was talking about the ‘Knowledge Country’, and the ‘Sunrise Industries’. Well, the Sunrise Industries he was referring to consisted of we five enthusiasts at CSIRO Man. Tech. We had plenty of money, and the world was watching.

Apart from wiring up Australia’s first flexible manufacturing cell, I was handed the task of learning how automatic vision systems worked, and then programming one to control the robots interacting with the milling machine. It had to be able to recognise parts, check if they were faulty, and instruct a robot to place them in appropriate bins. And in its spare time between these actions it controlled another small robot that the other Tech and I had renovated and taught to play the drums and write its name on a piece of paper. When we demonstrated the whole system to the politicians and the press the noise was horrendous. There were only two of these very $300,000 Automatix vision systems in Australia. I had one and a guy at Kodak Research labs had the other. We were able to help each other out on occasion. Almost no-one else had robots at the time – this was quarter of a century ago. The IBM PC had not even been invented yet. Lot’s of fun! And I got paid as well!

Scientific research is not always serious. On the day before we were to open the first flexible manufacturing cell I had to wire up a small box with a button. The then minister, John Button, would hold the box while he made his speech and then press the button to start the robots. The only suitable box I could find at short notice was a plastic jiffy box. It looked fine, but was so light that it didn’t have enough ‘presence’ to be given such an important role. So I wrapped a large ring bolt in foam plastic and placed it in the almost empty box. The minister was suitably impressed as he hefted this solid piece of ‘technology’ that was to herald a new age of technical innovation into Australian industry.

I was priveleged to work on some exciting projects, such as banknote recognition for the Reserve Bank of Australia, and construction of some computerised test equitpment for the Cochlea Bionic Ear project. But the one that gives me the most satisfaction began one day when a scientist from another group stopped me in the tea room and asked me what a NAND gate was. Miles apparently knew nothing about electronics – his PhD was in metallurgy. I explained how the logic functions used to construct the building blocks of computers worked. He then went away and read the standard microcircuit text of the time by Mead and Conway, Introduction to VLSI Systems, and before I knew it he was in Adelaide working on a chip to carry out vision processing. He eventually developed a single chip that replaced my quarter ton vision system – TV signal in one end and a description of the scene out the other! One of these was used in the Hubble Space Telescope. This process, from tea room conversation to finished chip took about a year – he was one smart cookie! But there is also a part of me out there in space, and that was only the first time, as I will relate later.

As I try to understand more about the spiritual world I am learning that it is not as separate from the natural world as is commonly believed. In particular, I find that the Lord has been working to win me throughout my past life, using the most ordinary of experiences to reveal himself to me, and even often protecting me from danger so that I would arrive at the place I have reached today.

This means that one aspect of my investigations must be the exploration of my own history, in order to identify his hand there. This is why I have decided to begin this chronicle of my life, and will write down anything the Spirit brings back to mind as I do so, assuming that if he reminds me of something then it must be significant, even if its importance is not obvious to me at the time of writing. I will attempt to write chronologically, but make no guarantees. So, let’s begin.

I was born in 1949, to wonderful parents who gave me a great start in life, with enormous advantages, despite having almost no money. The few memories I have of early childhood are memories of love, security and happiness. There were undoubtedly moments, as in anyone’s life, that were best forgotten, and I seem to have generally done just that.

When I discovered, half a century later, that I am a baby-boomer, it meant little to me. Everyone else might be labeled as ‘this’ or ‘that’, but I am just ‘me’ – normal of course (‘normality’ being, by definition, what I am, with everyone else deviating to a greater or lesser degree from that). I sometimes hear people talking about a person’s IQ as ‘only average’, as if this means they are somehow deficient in intelligence. But most people are average, with an IQ of about 100. That is what average means – it is what most people are. Similarly, I am normal – though my IQ is certainly not average, as I was to discover during the 1970s when I had a brief fascination with such things as empirical psychology and IQ tests.

My father had great persistence, could turn his hand to almost anything, and could improvise with remarkable creativity. All of the houses we lived in were either built or extensively modified by him. He did this at low cost. I remember trips to Wheelan the Wreckers where he would spend what seemed like hours sorting through second-hand windows and doors, and structural timber. I once saw him arrive home on his bicycle with several lengths of spouting 30 foot long balanced on his shoulder. You could get away with such things in those days. I have either inherited or learned from him this love of improvisation, along with the less admirable hoarding streak that goes with it.

Dad is a deeply spiritual man, with a thirst for knowledge and understanding that made him a habituee of numerous second-hand Christian book shops. I have that same love of reading and learning, and also am addicted to books. I once said to him that if he left me nothing else, I would like his books – the thought of them going to some of the other ’scroungers’ in the family was horrific. And as for them being thrown out – blasphemy! Well, by the grace of God Dad is still with us, but he has already given me the books for safe-keeping.

Another passion I inherited from Dad is a love of aeroplanes. Unfortunately, apart from a brief excursion into flying light-planes and sailplanes, and a lot of fun designing, building and flying model planes, my eyesight precluded thoughts of a serious career in aviation. I did begin a mechanical engineering degree, but an interest in all things electronic, sparked by my uncle Jim, who was either an electrician or electrical engineer, my brother-in-law Bill who owned one of Melbourne’s first transistor radio repair businesses, and a relatively unsuccessful excursion into early radio control of model aircraft, I switched to Electrical Engineering. I have a suspicion that Dad enrolled me in Mech. Eng. as part of fulfilling his own dream. His own studies were interrupted by World War Two and he spent the war and the few following years as an aircraft engineer.

I did not do well at my initial degree studies, not from lack of ability, but quite the reverse. I had found secondary school studies at Williamstown Technical School so easy that I never learned how to work. When I bombed out, Dad encouraged me to try for one of the new traineeships with the Department of Civil Aviation. I was successful and spent four years of day release study at Collinwood Technical College obtaining an Electrical Design Drafting Higher Technician Certificate (what they now call an Associate Diploma), and 13 happy years with D.C.A. helping to build and then maintain the electrical, communications and navigations systems of Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport. It was as close to a career in aviation as I was to come.

Before this I had obtained an Amateur Radio licence. During one Christmas holiday our family spent at a rented house at Milgrove, on the Yarra River near Warburton, I read through the Radio Communication Handbook, published by the Radio Society of Great Britain, Teach Yourself Electronics and Teach Yourself Computers. I then sat the Theory and Regulations sections of the Australian Post Office exams and obtained more than the 70% pass mark required for a licence. I became, and still am VK3ZDD. I took to electronics like breathing.

While working at Tullamarine I took advantage of the generous Australian Public Service study provisions and commenced a degree in mathematics at RMIT. I applied to do degrees in Maths and in Physics, and was accepted for both. My choice of mathematics was not because I was particullarly interested in the subject. I really wanted to study Electronics and Communications, but found these subjects fairly easy to learn on my own. However, I had always struggled with maths; at least until fifth form when I was given a marvelous teacher in Charlie Green, who managed to spark a latent interest. I knew that to do electronics really well I would need maths so I decided to tackle the problem head-on and do a whole degree in it. I loved it, and spent seven years of part-time study learning how to think clearly, reason accurately, and wonder at what God has made. I received a Diploma of Mathematics in 1983 and a Batchelor of Applied Science in 1984. By the time I received the degree I had left DCA and was working in robotics and vision systems with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). That’s in the next part of my story.