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CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

It Is All

All that is written in these pages is part of a complete whole. None of the ideas presented here are new to us, since we had all thought of
them at one time or another in our personal lives. For this reason each individual thought is recognizable by most people. By the time of
Aristotle these ideas were already with us when he wrote: On Man In The Universe. By Western Europe's Renaissance, philosophical
pioneers like Giordano Bruno and Francis Bacon had already wrestled these ideas away from their clerics and classical thinkers and
crystalized them into a more recognizable modern form. I believe that nothing new was said in these pages. I like Will Durant's
description of philosophy as a synthesis of its diverse and sometimes irreconcilable parts, in effect, an interrelationship of ideas. And that
is what I wished to do in all these chapters, to bring together separate and identifiable ideas into an interrelated whole. If this whole then
approximates the reality we live in, then something will happen, and I have succeeded. If not, then I hope that I have at least added
another small stepping stone to the sum total of human understanding of the cosmos we inhabit. Yet, even if the ideas presented are right
on target, they will remain but one more small fragment of a still greater play of understanding to be synthesized by future generations. It
is all an ongoing process, and we are all but players in the unfolding drama in each other's plays.

These chapters were written in such a way that each one holds a complete thought. These thoughts are then woven such that they will
complete a whole of understanding. That is the part I felt was missing in so many current philosophies. I wanted the reader to be able to
assemble these thoughts at his or her own pace, read them in any sequence desired, and come to a conclusion that will be greater than
the one I had presented. In this way, each mind becomes a philosopher, and his or her philosophy becomes their own. This thinking
appealed to me very much, and that was how I had planned this book. I found in my readings a similar cohesion in Karl Marx, but the
premise was wrong and its conclusions ended in anger and destruction rather than its intended goal of a paradise on Earth. Class struggle
was not what the universe was made of. So I was careful not to fall in that directions. I also tried not to fall too deeply into the religious
side of philosophical traditions, since I was afraid that they would become misinterpreted. To touch people's beliefs is an act of divine
trespass, it is their connection with God, and I tried to avoid this as much as possible with the purest respect for all the world's religions.
My only avenue open was to synthesize the ideas of Habeas Mentem and go to the root core of what it was made of, tedious that it may
be, and describe the mechanics of how interrelationship works. This I had not found in abundance in any of my research and readings,
except in fleeting moments in Bruno or Bergson, Spinoza, or Emerson, or Alan Watts; or maybe even Thich Nhat Hanh.
Interrelationship as presented here, to the best of my knowledge, is a new idea, one which I hope will have contributed to all those ideas
we already know, to bring them together into an organic whole. If I succeeded in this, then Habeas Mentem is an intelligible work for us,
all of us, even me.

I do not mean this in jest, but in fact, some of the time I had no idea of what I was writing about. I remember taking long walks in the
woods of New England, or jogging along its beaches, and asking over and over again either in my own head or out loud: "I don't
understand! Tell me again. I can't get it." Then every once in a while, I would get a moment of clarity, and it would all come together, if
sometimes only years later. In total, this work took about thirty years from its inception as an inkling of an infinity spanned by
interrelationship to now, and twenty years to write. I wanted to be in time for the Millennium, only because it appealed to me in some
personal vanity. But I also wanted to write it in such a way that it is complete, understandable, and applicable to our everyday life. Yet, if
I had to sit down and start all over again, I probably could not do it. It was a living process as much as a mental dissertation, and each
day of that process had to be lived as much as it was thought out. All in all, it was a very serious business which, though I still functioned
in the world more or less as a normal human being, took up very much of my mind.

I hope that I have also done justice to the words I selected to express these ideas. Language is an art, an organic and beautiful creation of
the human spirit. But the same words can have different meanings and nuances to different people, even more so in different languages.
I tried to choose words that would be easily translatable in a universal way so they would serve their purpose as communicators of a
complete whole. Sometimes I used repetition as a tool to drive home a point, though this may not have always been the best choice.
Nevertheless, I felt I could not go back and undo what was written without being true to the moment those words were put down, so as
much as possible I left them as they were. If I had failed in any way to convey my true meaning, then I am the only one to blame, and
readers may judge me harshly if they wish. I too evolved with these pages, as no doubt this will be obvious to some. Hopefully, the same
will be true for the reader as he or she progresses through the pages. That is my intent, to take it from the simple to more complex, but
then to make the most complex as simple as when it first started. If at some point in the text the reader's mind finds a moment of clarity
and it all makes sense, "Ah, ha! So that's it!", then the words will have done their job.

If the basic premise of this book is correct, then the rest will follow. As a human species, if we are truly the bringers of mind and soul
into the world, then the world will change with us. I hope this change will be in a positive way. In the end, I am but a humble servant
placing myself at the disposal of the planet's people. If the hypothesis of Habeas Mentem is true, then through our reading of it, the
human beings of this world will gradually see a change in the course of civilization in a gentler and more beautiful direction. We are the
bringers of more than merely reason. We are also bringers of our spiritual energy. And if so, then in time the planetary level of
consciousness will rise dramatically. This is a planetary event, and Earth is a beautiful world for which I can only offer humbly my
faltering work. But if this work is worthy, then I hope the people will share in my love for our world. I have had the opportunity to see
much of it and this has made me very happy. I hope that this happiness and love found its way into the pages I offered in return. We
have suffered much, and learned much, and done much. Now we deserve the best for our own future as well as that of future
generations. As we approach the new Millennium, I think it is time to indulge ourselves with a new and beautiful future. If we are the
Children of God, the rest will follow.

So nothing really new was presented here. All the things mentioned were already known to us, at some level. Now if we can but organize
them into a meaningful whole, into one that works with us, we will have achieved our purpose, and something great. And if it is all true,
then it will be the most exciting thing of all. We have traveled far, suffered much, and prayed deeply. Now it is time for us to rise and
take our rightful place in the universe. Exciting, isn't it? Look at all those beautiful smiles.

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