- Yesterday, I received a review copy of Michael Cremo's
massive "Human Devolution: A Vedic Alternative to Darwin's Theory."
With Richard Thompson, Cremo authored the underground classic "Forbidden
Archeology," a 900-page encyclopedia of "impossible" --
but scientifically verified -- archaeological finds that point to a human
presence on Earth lasting millions of years.
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- As I read the introduction to "Human Devolution"
last night, I realized I had read "Alien Identities," one of
Thompson's independent works, without realizing his affiliation with Cremo.
"Alien Identities" is an impressive cultural study that seeks
parallels between the modern UFO phenomenon and ancient Indian Vedic texts.
Both Cremo and Thompson are consummate scholars. Cremo, in particular,
has some impeccable "mainstream" scientific publications to his
credit. So it was disconcerting -- and terrifically exciting -- to find
that not only is he essentially a loner in a field governed by a crippling,
monolithic paradigm, but an adherent to the philosophy of A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada.
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- I promptly started reading "Quest for Enlightenment,"
a hardcover compilation of Bhaktivedanta's teachings, to learn what Cremo's
"Vedic alternative" might be. As the title of his new book makes
clear, Cremo thinks Darwinian evolution is flawed. This isn't an easy claim
to support in today's academic and scientific climate. But given the wealth
of archaeological anomalies described in his former work, it's clear that
some explanation is in order, even if it merely compliments natural selection,
as opposed to toppling it. As a fan of Darwin and evolutionists such as
Richard Dawkins, I can appreciate the magnitude of what Cremo is trying
to achieve.
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- The main reason I'm sympathetic to Cremo is because he's
willing to introduce entirely new disciplines that deal with such "abstract"
concepts as consciousness. Krishna cosmology views physical reality as
a devolved plane of existence which we can occasionally break through via
out-of-body experiences and "psychic" phenomena. Rather than
subscribing to a "nuts and bolts" universe composed of matter,
advocates of "Krishna Consciousness" believe that reality is
fundamentally "spiritual" (whatever that word means; I honestly
don't think humans have a proper syntax for nonconventional states of being,
let alone a practical understanding).
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- If my preview of "Human Devolution" is accurate,
then Cremo thinks that we can transform ourselves into an entirely new,
enlightened order of beings. (Shades of the people in "The Matrix"
shedding their subservience to enforced virtual reality; Vedic literature
warns us that the world we think we inhabit is a flawless illusion composed
of maya.)
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- Will Cremo succeed in dethroning Darwinism? I don't know,
although I will concede that he's already made a dent. It's disturbing
-- no, terryifing -- to consider that we really might not know who we are
and that our "rational" questions, while well-intentioned, have
been somehow perverted by the fact that our consciousness, acting on a
physical level, lacks the prerequisite dexterity.
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- What does all of this have to do with possible artificial
features on Mars? Simply, both Cremo's research and the work of Mars anomalists
threaten to undermine human heritage as we know it. If the Face on Mars
is human, then our evolutionary history will likely beg revision. If our
genetic origin is indeed linked with Mars, then a skeptical yet open-minded
approach to outre theories such as Cremo's may turn out to be intellectually
invaluable. Some cosmologists, notably Frank Tipler, argue that our mere
existence is an inexplicable anomaly unless the universe (or multiverse)
was specifically constructed to enable our presence. In light of such incendiary
existential questions, we owe it to ourselves to examine all possibilities.
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- http://www.mactonnies.com/cydonia.html (page 41)
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