Transhumanism, a term coined by Aldous Huxley's brother, expresses mankind’s urge to go beyond his present limiting conditions by means of his sciences and technology which hopefully will give him an ageless body, transcendent experiences, and a super mind.
However, in the final analysis, transhumanism adds up to a kind of utopianism. It may well turn out that the outcome of the transhumanist project will turn into a dystopian world where everything is as bad as it can get—the best-laid plans of mice and men go awry, in other words.
Behind this is a dark alchemy. It is, let us mess with nature, rather than be her student and listen to her most subtle whispers living far from the madding crowd. She still has much to teach us and we have much to learn from her. Also behind transhumanism is a deep fear of death in addition to our difficulty with facing the vicissitudes of human living.
Neither did I want to put all my faith into transhumanism nor run from death. This takes me back to the time, when still a teenager, I did a lot of existential questioning which, by the way, I contend is a normal part of growing up.
This questioning led me to the temple of Zen Buddhism—a most wondrous moment in my life; where a small light came into by room of darkness. I soon gained a new faith that within me was some profound truth I was missing; that in order to commune with it I had to settle this young, restless body down. It had to be disciplined for the difficult work ahead.
But now looking at the present I see that mankind still seems as blind as ever using his science and technology to expand his arrogance, blindness and cruelty in the name of a new utopia which is transhumanism. At the same there is a small light at the end of this dark tunnel. It is coming from NDEs (Near Death Experiences) which confirm rebirth, among other things, and that life is much bigger and more beautiful than we could have ever imagined.
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