Pyramids

 
When the phraoahs of Egypt ordered the building of the pyramids, what did they think they were doing?

If megalomania is not just a modern trait, then we can surmise that they thought they were doing something important. Archaeological evidence over the years suggest no more than that they were large tombs. The habit of building elaborate tombs exist in every society and even as Christianity rose from Roman Empire in ruins and martyrdom promoted the idea of charity and piety, Popes, the heirs of St. Peter throughout the ages ensured that their remains rested surrounded by the pillars of grandeur.

It could be inferred then that, the elaborate tomb is in effect a symbol of santification. Its builders enter into a belief that certain human figures are imbued with divine powers and so have been ordained to rule and that their decisions are inspired by divine authority. The pomp and circumstance surrounding their presence are designed to confirm the divine nomination. We might think that in our own epoch, leaders must be elected by the people, but wait a minute, do we still, somewhere in our sophisticated conscience, retain this archaic belief in the innate superiority of certain beings? For example whole economies are constructed on satisfying the unending needs of the rich and famous. I mean, someone builds those huge luxurious yachts so that wealthy men and women with nothing better to do can sail the oceans to wherever suits their fancy but hopefully they realise how much work has gone into creating these man-made vessels just so they can have some fun. Of course when they land they expect to be met by a limousine with refrigerators that contain bottles of champagne or indeed seats that turn into beds by pressing a button.

We are told we shouldn't envy the wealthy and this is right. They are often the most miserable of people who don't really know how to relate to life other than through making purchases of material things. So what is there to envy? Just things. Yet through their spending power and incessant desires, they do influence what lesser beings spend their lives doing. Evidently the pharoahs of ancient Egypt engaged hundreds of thousands of slaves and put them to the massive task of moving the huge blocks of stone that make up the pyramids. They may well have been glad to have some employment whereby they could eat. We will never know how the Egyptian social security system worked in those days; whether people received pensions after so many years of service, etc. but it is evident that much of the work they must have done, in the end, proved futile. It's hard to call the pyramids futile in its historical context because they have come to be considered as marvels - a testament to both human folly and human intelligence. Modern Egypt would certainly appreciate the international tourism that they attract but do they remember the slavery and the suffering and what this kind of human endeavour might teach humanity of today.

They say we have moved into the technological age but in essence to do what? To keep on inventing, making, selling and buying objects we don't really need? The need is now created by the methodologies of the markets themselves. As I write, in nine days a huge proton accelerator constructed at enormous cost under the ground in Geneva is about to be set off in order to test what some scientists believe to be a replica of the physical conditions that set off the big bang. Some other scientists whether inspired by concern or perhaps by jealousy has put a case that the test will create a black hole into which the earth will be sucked in. If only we were that smart, but how can this experiment help us in understanding the Universe better?

Already science is so abstract and mathematical that only an elite group of physicists have any clue at all as to what's being talked about. Why don't they, before wasting huge sums of public money, first of all explain to the world what the big bang actually might have been in real terms and also explain their reasoning for coming to the conclusion that the Universe was created in this way? In any case what was there before? Just as the modern mind wanted to believe in the theory of evolution without having a clue as to how it might actually manifest, it also wants to believe that it actually understands the scientific explanation about the laws of the Universe. From what I get told, I cannot fathom any logical reality whatsoever. Quantum physics, the bootstrap theory and all the funny names don't convince me about anything particularly concrete and I'm not sure that these bods really know either. All that came of all these theorising was how to split the atom to create nuclear energy and it seems given the availability of the right chemical mixes derived from certain naturally existing minerals, an atom bomb is relatively easy to make.

I do not believe the accelerator experiment will work and I have a certain faith that the world will not get sucked in. The sheer effort gone into realising something grandiose like this over such a small matter seems to me like an intellectual version of the pyramid (if we see it as a symbol of human folly). Call me mad but what if the mathematical model replicates only the obviously visible aspects of the Universe but cannot see into its very soul?