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The following first appeared in the private email list IVy-subscribers,
which is available to all those who subscribe to the
printed magazine, International Viewpoints.
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Why I am Not a Christian
by Phil Spickler
10 Sep 2000

Well, how about this?  The reality of Nature -- is that somehow
different from the nature of Reality?  I don't know; perhaps you do.

        I was going to entitle this "The Power of the Shower."  As it may be
remembered, Descartes was confined to his bed with an illness.  As he lay in
bed, his attention was attracted to a multitude of cracks in the plaster of
the ceiling and the walls, and each day he became more and more fascinated
with them.  His fascination led to the creation of analytical geometry.

        And then of course there was that noble Greek, Archimedes, whose
bathtub experiences assisted him in conceiving a whole bunch of things having
to do with buoyancy and the displacement of water.

        And finally Einstein, working in the patent office in Switzerland,
where of course many if not all of the patents he was examining had to do
with clockworks or time.  Thus he became fascinated with the nature of time,
since in those days, around 1900, there was the conception that there was one
time for the entire universe.  Einstein, in his famous thought-experiments,
conceived of relativity theory and blew to pieces the notion that there was
one time in all places throughout the universe.

        Well, of course, we're not all geniuses, and when lying in bed or
getting in and out of bathtubs or looking at timepieces we don't necessarily
make such great discoveries.  On the other hand, one of our list members
recently, whilst in the shower, had, if I read him rightly, some fairly
significant revelations.  I'm speaking of none other than the one known as
Edward (AKA Ed Dawson), who whilst in the shower, and later when drying off,
came up with the thoughts expressed in his posting entitled "A clear view of
case."

         After reading what Mr. Dawson had to say about case, I determined
that if I were going to truly and honestly duplicate what he had to say, my
first step in this procedure would be to take a shower, something I rarely do
when I'm in residence at the South Pole of planet Earth.  But nonetheless, I
did take a shower in hopes that, since I had my mind on the things that Ed
was writing about, I too might have a moment of revelation and insight that
is often difficult for me to attain even in the best-written description of
another person's experiences.

         Well, regarding the results of the shower and the drying-off
procedure, I can only report that others who have been in close confinement
with me at latitude 90 degrees south report that I now smell like a rose, and
I can report that a shower is a darn pleasant thing to take, especially if
the water's hot.

       But to strike a serious chord for a moment, I would like to say this
about Ed's posting "A clear view of case:" firstly, my main interest in it is
to try to determine if the words and the meanings that are assigned to these
words bear any resemblance to my own and various understandings of these same
words; and in this area, I claim no certainty.

         Secondly, I wish there were some way for me to know if the map that
he's describing of case is subjective to that which he thinks of as his case,
or whether it's a map that covers territory common to a larger dynamic than
self.

      Thirdly, my interest is in the area of the pragmatic, which is to say,
from his research and its understandings, is there or can there be a
technology that is broadly applicable and workable to other humans?

        Now Ed had suggested that there would be resistance to his posting and
his findings.  I'm a lot more worried that there may be indifference, an
indifference that may be connected to the chain running through Dianetics and
Scientology when Ron came up with something and then gave us to believe that
this really and truly and once and for all WAS the map that described the
territory of the mind, and if you followed the route you could count on
coming out the other end as something wonderful and amazing and incredible
and even stable.

         Here I'm not taking a pot-shot at Mr. Hubbard, because many of his
breakthroughs really did produce some pretty incredible results for us Homo
sapiens to be, even if they didn't totally and infinitely live up to their
promise.  One of the minor cognitions that I had along the way, and I'm not
just sure where or when I was when this cognition came through -- it could
have been looking at my bank balance after 100 hours of NOTS, or it could
have been at ASHO here in the USA after doing 10 hours of auditing on an
internship, quite exhausted as I finished writing up the last of the admin
for the day's sessions and so spaced-out that my thinking mind was
temporarily out of the circuit --  anyway, the cognition goes something like
this: when you get on the trail of attempting to map the mind, the reactive
mind, case, whatever, no matter how much of it you map, no matter how much of
it you successfully reconnoiter, there will always be more that requires
further mapping, and because of the nature of what one is trying to do, which
is to say create the final perfect map that really does cover the true and
complete and entire territory, it can't be done -- world without end -- mind
without end.

        You run into this, of course, whenever you try to map that which is
not finite; and I think that's a very good thing.  But whether the perfect
map can be drawn or not in the area of case, it's still a heck of a lot of
fun, and rewarding, to improve, whenever possible, on previous mapping
efforts.  Some of the best mappping of our world has occurred by being able
to get off the world and look at it from a distance.  This may have something
to do with making the best possible map of that which we call "case."

       I'll close this piece by saying I'm not sure that I can confidently
read Ed's map and know for sure what I'm reading, but I'm looking forward to
the possibility that he will eventually simplify this map to such a great
extent that even dunderheads like myself will be able to appreciate it at a
glance.  If that's not possible, that's OK too; the main thing is that he
shall continue to be motivated to find out more of the truth for himself and
perhaps others.

        It's quite dark here at latitude 90 degrees south, and so it's back to
the long sleep until day dawns.

         Best regards,
          Phil

P.S.  Oh yes -- as to why I'm not a Christian.  That particular map seems to
cover a territory that I haven't been able to find. --P