Transcript

We know only a little bit about what we think we know, or we pretend that we know something when we know nothing. It is like that to a certain extent with gravity - there are gravity waves which are ripples in SpaceTime; that much we know - but we know nothing about Consciousness. Yes, we know a lot about the brain as an organ and you can relate mental processes to brain activity . But you're looking at brain activity; you're not looking at mental processes themselves, let alone the soul - or whatever you wish to call it. Scientists are making no progress here.

The scientist who was ‘arguing with God’ said something interesting; he said; ‘I'm an anti-theist and I'm against God but I'm having a debate with God’, which I think is a very creative position to take. ( I had a comment printed in the New York Times after he died in about 2009 to the effect that ‘now he is in in heaven arguing with God and I'm looking forward to the book and that that summarizes his position!’)

A short story by George Louie Boras (sic) reflects my own thinking. It’s called ‘The Great Universal Library’ or ‘The Universal Library’. The theme behind it is that we are the Librarians so that we preserve the library, and we can index the books and do the librarian side of it- but we are not able to read the books. Anybody who thinks that they are able to read the books is a fanatic. They have corrupted the books. The religious fanatic thinks ‘I've got The Book! This is the book!’ Maybe after you've read all these different books… Maybe part of the point is that we can't fathom the books, but for some reason, which we have to accept, we have a purpose which is the preservation of the library. The preservation of this ….burden…is our mission.