Is Donald Trump the Anti-Christ?

In Chapter 16 of my book "the Coming of the Quantum Christ: The Shroud of Turin and the Apocalypse of Selfishness (Quantum Christ) I wrote:

Among the hymns sung Christmas is the French hymn Canitque Noel (O Holy Night). It captures the mystery of the night and its enduring message of Jesus birth in these words:

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘til he appeared, and the soul felt its worth.”

Chapter 15 identified the soul with the reflective consciousness described by Teilhard de Chardin. It also identifies “original sin” as selfishness, one of the driving forces of evolution. Before humanity evolved with a reflective consciousness, there was no sin. Metaphorically, the first sin was Cain’s murder of Abel, an angry selfish response to God bestowing favor on his younger brother, an honor that Cain thought should have been his.

The “sin and error” that the caused the world to pine were the bitter fruits of selfishness which, like the paths of glory, lead but to the grave. In Chapter 16, "The Triumph of Love," I opined that Christ was crucified because he preached unselfish love that the devotees of selfishness could not tolerate. In Chapter 17, I wrote that humanity faced possible extinction through an Apocalypse of Selfishness.
If the Apocalypse is upon us, and Christ is coming again, where you might ask is the Anti-Christ? Have we not heard his voice although some of you of conservative bent may object loudly. All I ask is that you choose your words carefully. There is so much at stake.

In Chapter 17, I specifically identified two Apostles of Selfishness. One was Friedrich Nietzsche, the other was Ayn Rand. One of the individuals who worshiped Ayn Rand was Alan Greenspan whose catering to the interest of Wall Street as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board was among the causes of the collapse of the economy circa 2007- 2008. Still, Greenspan is unrepentant about his opposition to regulation of the financial derivatives markets.

In his campaign for President, Donald Trump has exhibited narcissism that borders on the psychotic. He knows more about ISIS than the Generals. He believes he can deal on equal footing with the most despicable tyrants of our CURRENT time in North Korea and Russia. He would abrogate the agreement which is denying nuclear weapons to Iran. He would tear-up the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and would encourage Japan to arm itself with nuclear weapons. His tax plan if you read the fine print would in fact reduce taxes on the top 1% while gutting programs to aid the poor. Can anyone who finds God, in Christ, Moses or Bhudda actually applaud the already executed reductions of food stamps?

Trump is like the Pharisee who stood at the alter thanking God he was not like a tax collector who was in the back of the synagogue begging forgiveness because he was a sinner.
In my recent research I have dealt with the levels of existence. No matter how many ways you slice it, either way it begins and ends with what the scientists call a singularity which is a mathematical equation of infinite value. The easiest way to realize such an equation is one I learned in my high school Algebra class: divide one by zero. You can try it on your computer. Window has calculator that can handle it as much as it can be handled.

Some scientists limn a future Utopia where artificial intelligence surpasses human capacity. Perhaps that is ultimate selfishness. For I foresee that future not as utopian by dystopian. To understand what that means I reference two movies: Blade Runner and The Matrix.

Whatever your religious preference, be it Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or atheistic humanist, the way to Utopia is not selfishness but unselfishness. When you listen to Trump, you will not hear the voice of Isaiah which defines the Utopian vision for all humanity upon the Second Coming:
And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not liftup sword against nation, And never again will they study  war.

Pope Francis has called upon the world to shed its selfish exploitation of the poor and the environment. He is a Pope of All Humanity; Trump's campaign is grounded in selfishness and will lead only to the grave.

Sometime years ago, while riding the subway from Riverdale to Manhattan, I can across an article in the N.Y. Times speculating on gravity and other scientific problems. It appeared that contrary to the standard model, light could vary in speed.

I composed a little couplet, one line too long for a haiku:
Space being curved,
Time varying in speed,
Whom do we heed?
Him.

 As for me: "I ain't gonna study war no more."
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RESOURCES:
I believe but I am not be totally sure that NY Times piece that "inspired" my couplet is this one: "New Directions in Physics: Back in Time," NY Times, August 21, 1990.

I was a consultant on a new video by David Rolfe, producer of the 1978 BAFTA award winning movie about the Shroud of Turin, Silent Witness. The new video is: A Grave Injustice: An investigation into The First Selfie. http://www.shroudenigma.com/ " It's free.

If you are interested in  Quantum Christ, you can read reviews and order a copy (Either E-Book, Kindle or four color hard copy at http://johnklotz.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html

The most extensive Internet resource which is https://www.shroud.com/
Its editor Barrie Schwortz was documenting photographer of the 1978 Shroud of Turin Research Project. If you have interest in the Shroud of Turin, it's the best place to start.

Reflections on Mourning: Coping with the Ultimate "Event Horizon."

On April 7, 2007, my son Michael Arthur Klotz, age 34, died in Milwaukee after a long, courageous battle with kidney disease. On Tuesday, October 23rd, he would have been 35. The process of mourning the death of a loved one involves reflection. These are my reflections on my mourning and I share them with you for what they are worth.

In a televised interview with Mike Wallace, nearly 50 years ago, Tennessee Williams said that the most important moments of life are those when we break out of our own selfish shell and really sense the presence of another person.

I believed then and, in the years that have passed since, continue to believe, that Williams had touched a profound truth. He had defined, as well as anyone can, the process we call love: moving from a sense of self (self love) to a sense of others (“neighborly love”). I also have reached a conclusion that the process of love affects the psyche of both the lover and loved so that in some corner of their own individual psyche, resides a joint part of their psyche that is a doorway to different dimension of existence beyond space and time.

I use the word Greek word psyche as a shorthand for personhood: the “me” that “is.” It encompasses the conscious, the subconscious and the X element or elements, that through the millennia philosophers and now science have added to the mix to define the personality apart from an individual’s mere physical presence. It is, or would include, what the religious would call the soul. To those who give credence to concepts such as the noosphere or the ”collective conscious” it would include those elements of the human personality that somehow connect, or interact, with those hypothetical constructions.

In physics, an “event horizon” is a barrier that prevents observation of the object it cloaks. Most easily understood is the phenomenon of the “black hole” ‑ a super dense collapsed star of such overwhelming gravity that even light can not escape its grasp. Objects that come within its influence are sucked into the hole and at a point disappear from view as their light yields to the inexorable force the black hole’s gravity. The point at which observation of the object ends, is called the “event horizon.”

Death is the ultimate “event horizon,” a point beyond (or within) which, we may not observe. It does not mean that there is nothing there; it means, that we can not observe what is there, if anything. While Mike has moved through his event horizon, the love he shared with so many has not been erased by his death. He, and his love, remain in our psyche.

As a child, Mike reveled in role playing games in which characters are created by the players who develop the characters’ personalities and thought processes. The winner is most often the one who best simulates the artificial reality of the character the player created. As a student and then as an adult, Mike was current on the numerous examinations of the impact of the computer on human development. One of his interests was “virtual reality” where the enormous power of the computer is used to create simulations of reality including individuals and complex social organizations. It is in one sense, grown-up role-playing games. He argued that the prevalence of role playing games in the United States gave us a leg-up in our competition with the outside world. Role-playing skills - a form of virtual reality - lay at the heart of modern science and commerce.

In 2006, Mike received a joint Master of Science Degree in Bioinformatics from the Wisconsin Medical College and Marquette University. His goal was to create computer simulations of biological processes and structures of the body which could, among other things, simulate the progress of disease and treatments in the body and/or be used as the first step in drug testing.

Is not the residuum of Mike’s love, which resides in psyche of those who shared love with him, a simulation of Mike himself, a “virtual reality” Mike? To the extent we have exchanged love with Mike, he resides within us as a virtual reality. That reality is as complex and detailed as the love we shared with him. The deeper the love, the more complex our simulation.

We all are familiar with the cliché of funerals and memorials: “He would have liked it that way.” (Or even the religious inquiry: “What would Jesus do?”) That is an attempt to emulate the conduct or ideas of a departed by searching our psyche to simulate the departed’s choice of action as if he were still alive.

Shortly before Mike’s final collapse, I talked with Mike on the telephone. He said to me: “You have to start a blog. You have said to me things, I have never heard or seen anywhere else.” It was the last conversation of any length that we had, for what followed in the next few weeks were a series of abbreviated ones. He was in continuous pain, and increasing sedation with the final onslaught of his disease. The family traveled to Milwaukee twice. The first time, he seemed to rally. We left, but returned the next week, after he relapsed. With him on the night he passed, were his wife Sara, his mother Rene and myself, his brother Dan and his wife Meg and their daughter C.J., his sister Lisa, a favorite aunt and uncle (Rene’s brother Ken and his wife Kay), his cousins Keri, Kathy & Kirby and his best friend Noah Ravitz, who had also flown in from New York.

I no longer talk to myself, but to the Mike that lies within. I can seek that Mike’s advice. The validity of that consultation is related directly to the detail and complexity of my relationship with Mike himself. As much as I long for the his physical presence, I do not feel abandoned. I can consult with the virtual Mike of my psyche and even draw him near. In “Play It Again Sam,” Woody Allen consulted with the ghost of Humphrey Bogart – sometimes accepting, other times rejecting, the advice he received. Mike understood that. He is no ghost, but he was a Casablanca fan.

But what of our mutual love that resided in Mike’s psyche as he crossed his event horizon? What lies beyond that horizon has challenged and puzzled humanity from the dawn of its reflective powers. That ability to reflect on, and challenge, that horizon, is among those things that marks the human psyche as exceptional. Is my virtual reality Mike merely a reflection of my thought processes? Is it simply an echo of the past? Or, is there something more?

Mike’s passing was not my first experience with mourning. I have lost three older brothers to cancer, and, in the natural course of things, both my parents and my wife Rene’s parents. My mother died in 1980 at age 80. The last forty years of her life had been filled with pain. She was overweight and suffered from arthritis, particularly in her back. Nonetheless, she had been an active member of the community, a fixture in local Onondaga County (Syracuse) Democratic Women’s Club and a Vice-Chair of the N.Y. State March of Dimes.

Standing by her casket at her wake, I was startled, not by grief, but by an overwhelming sense of transcendent peace and serenity. I had an impulse of guilt. How could I feel this way at my mother’s wake?

At the time, I had a client in Manhattan named Marilyn. Marilyn believed herself a psychic and was a professional astrologer. I had helped save her apartment after her husband's death. I shared with Marilyn my confusion about my feelings at my mother’s wake. She noted that I had been close to my mother and perhaps I was feeling what she was feeling.

In Mike’s journey to his event horizon, Mike was surrounded by, and immersed in, love. He, and the love that resided in him, are, for now, beyond our gaze. My solace is from the words of Paul to the Corinthians:

“Love never fails. …For now we see in a mirror, darkly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”

The serenity returns.

Copyright 2007, John C. Klotz, New York, New York