THE INTEGRITY PAPERS UIU Group ceptualinstitute.com The wisdom of
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Two fascinating stories about Robert Oppenheimer, considered the innovator behind the creation of the A-Bomb, show us just what perceptions and language and ideas are all about. His vision of phenomena was remarkable. When asked some years after viewing the first atomic bomb explosion, he recalled that as he "saw" the billowing glowing atomic cloud of radiation he was in fact seeing the second and third derivatives (factors of mathematical Calculus equations) vanish infinitesimally. His physical eyes were looking at one reality while his mind was appreciating another perception just as conceptually real. Oppenheimer's remark points up the vitality that words and symbols have on their own, separate yet still connected via the realm of physical experience. Symbols may stand in for physical reality but they are experienced on their own and carry as much weight and importance as material things; especially when we accept and enact the involved associations.
In an interview shortly before his death in 1967 Oppenheimer spoke with philosophic melancholy of his first gut reaction to the atomic bomb. Besides the science, the math imagery, and satisfaction that the 1945 device had really worked as his team of scientists and military liaisons had struggled so long for, Oppenheimer also recalled the words of the Hindu god Vishnu as that god was trying to compel an earthly leader to follow his dictates. To intimidate the human,Vishnu re-formed himself into the visage of a huge multi-armed writhing figure, enormously immense beyond the scale of simple human proportions. "Now I am become Death", he told the human, "destroyer of worlds.".
Oppenheimer was experiencing the foresight and knowledge of what his creation was going to mean to the world - to this frail fragile planet - if we foolishly toy with the incredible powers residing in dormant hibernation inside the atoms of our own existence. This weapon was not just another device that injured or dismantled the ability of an enemy to pursue violence. This explosive weapon unleashed the ongoing radiative destruction of things, far beyond any human ability to control that destruction. Dogs of war that could never be called back from the first simple task they were shortsightedly created for. The world would have to live with - and could very assuredly die from - the results of hasty judgements, made and acted on in the heat of competition and conflict. With an eventual price that would far surpass the one originally and naively imagined.
If there was ever a time to set aside delusionary vain-glory - now is the right time in our history. If there was ever a time in history to become better than we were before, to truly recognize who we are and become what we are capable of becoming in healthy positive ways - now is the moment.
We must consciously create ourselves as we re-create an open benevolent world around us.
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Post-script's "Integrity Paradigm" is a perception of existing that calls on us to live having the same plural-awarenesses that Robert Oppenheimer did, but applied to what we're each involved with in our own lives. The deep parts of Ceptual Philosophy which underscore Integrity ideas may start with notions about the basics of the universe, but the excellent quality is that those 'basics' are more like seeds than un-related building blocks. They contain qualities that blossom and compound. And since those qualities stay present, expressed in one level of things, while other levels of things and relations come into being on larger scales, the world becomes a holistic presence of all these relations and behaviors, all at once and all together.
They are meaningful individually and they are especially meaningful to one another.
Its a kind of infinity mixed with infinity .. something that humanity is capable of knowing about and existing as. You, as a person, have the powerful ability to perceive all the relationships of life and not be overwhelmed by them. You gather notions in ceptually and integrate everything. You assign values, make decisions, and act. Balancing the integrities of your person, your family, your involvements, your communities locally, your community globally, your choices for work and for entertainment; your friends and your yet-to-be-friends. Every moment is a moment to learn and use what you learn. You are a designer and a companion. Exploring the best potential in a world that co-supports every part of it. And builds things as fantastic as .. your positive imagination.
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