Daily Theosophy

People and peoples also generally understood that the real paradise was not to be found on earth, or on a particular place, but was a state of consciousness which one could make for oneself and was the result of positive and altruistic thinking and right philosophical thinking, and not the accumulation of personal objects.

(156)

(mustafa’s young years)

The desert of the Northern part of the axis of the country around the cities had completely disappeared and had been turned into fertile agricultural land, necessary to feed all the millions of people. But some 150 km’s North of the village where Mustafa now lived, agriculture had stopped, apart from a narrow strip along the river, and there was the desert, the same as it had been since all human memory.

The modern cities had been built according to a design plan. The natural circumstances such as the river and its seasonal cycles and the climate were very reliable and predictable. All designs were different, but also related. They mostly consisted of very high buildings in which most units were apartments, but also shops and businesses. There were many working places or factories where things were made by hand with simple tools by artists and artisans. The idea of mass production had mostly been left behind, except for daily household instruments, cars, airplanes etc. There were so many people nowadays that millions could find work in more ensouled activities than standing behind machines and typing data into computers. Almost none of such boring activities were done by humans anymore, because there were self-working machines for everything. Thus thought activity, intelligence, creativity, individual independence in expression of the mind and feelings and dedication to one’s work had considerably increased among the people compared to earlier times and in general had made people happier (though over all not much better of heart – criminality was still rampant, though less than a century before but wherever some types of people got the opportunity they would enrich themselves at the cost of others, or society).

The high buildings were all built within one great city plan, and their average height was usually between 120 and 140 meters, but some almost a thousand feet. The total city with all its buildings, parks, water parties and groves were harmoniously attuned to plans. Beauty was the first prerequisite, in this country at least – not everywhere. All buildings were connected horizontally at different levels by strong and resilient materials, based on hi-tech knowledge of such materials, so that the whole city was like a gigantic earthquake save rack. The horizontal connections supported highways and railways on many levels, and in this way traffic jams on ground level belonged to the far past – now these were merely a subject of fun-movies about the former century. The cars moving through this system were all connected to the central computer system (and a few back-up systems), so that one merely had to type or speak one’s destination into a microphone, and all traffic moved smoothly and efficiently with high speed to its destination. The system was programmed in such a way that if one wanted to make a stop at the next restaurant or natural relaxation place, one just had to put the right name button, or ‘next’. Outside the network one could make one’s own detours and side-trips, partly preprogrammed, partly free as in the old days. Still there were old-fashioned roads for those who preferred to ride their own motorbike or bicycle. Air pollution by the use of fossil fuels belonged to the past. An efficient system of boiling, evaporating and condensing sea water by sunlight and the night’s coolness, without using photo-electric cells, had greatly solved the world’s energy problems as well as fear for sweet water shortage. Even lakes and swimming pools were abundant in what once was mere desert.

There was also a gigantic subway-superway system within the structure, and the train-units moved horizontally as well as diagonally and vertically so that main destinations in the city were directly connected without having to change trains and having to take elevators. From the main destinations networks many other secondary sub/superway-lines radiated. On every station at every arriving train were helpers for elderly people, or attendants with trolleys to help with heavy luggage. Traveling in and between cities was not tiring anymore, even for old and handicapped people, and always a quite joyful event, because there were many things to see during the trip, either inside or between the high buildings. As far as one could see the cities were surrounded by beautifully designed agricultural landscapes, almost like gigantic gardens and parks, with patches of forest and in season the bright green of the wet rice fields, golden brown before harvest, or a sunny yellow thanks to extensive mustard fields. Other colors were caused by large fields of flowering leguminous plants – which were used for recovering the nitrogen content of the soil after a few crop cycles. Money in the sense of bills and coins belonged to the past, and practically every citizen of the world had a universal debit card (and partly credit-card) to be used for a thousand different purposes world-wide. The backside of the card was a card reader so that everyone could transfer money to everyone by just holding the two cards together. Every card had a fingerprint as well as iris reader or a memorized code connected to a subcutaneous chip could be touch-screened. Theft and fraud were practically impossible. It made no sense for a thief to steal a card; but thousands of electronic gadgets were still worth going for from the point of view of a thief.

The social system had been made in such a way that any citizen from birth to death received a basic guaranteed (age-dependent) income on his or her account, and shops which delivered daily needs like grain, bread, potatoes, major vegetables and fruits of the seasons were free for all. The farmers and bakers etc. worked for fixed salaries on natural and very reasonable time schedules – about 30 hours per week varying with circumstances, just as officials. Besides one could earn extra privately or do other work or business or play one’s hobbies in the non-working hours. The generally agreed tax system took care of maintenance of such shops as well as roads and other common properties and the social system for everyone, and also so for half-yearly medical check-ups for every citizen and basic medical care, so that a lot of diseases were prevented by dietary advices, natural medicine to restore balances before they found expression as pain and diseases. The intelligent use of natural medicine to answer to ailments in an early stage had become habitual, and allopathic medicine and surgery etc. were applied when no better and cheaper means were available. Thus the total costs of healthcare of the society were but a fraction of what it had been in the earlier part of the twenty-first century. All this was possible because the factor of greed had been taken out of the pharmaceutical and medical industry and that basic social care and healthcare and a material basis for independent self-development were worldwide regarded as practical compassion and fundamental human rights. All activities outside basic human welfare care were based on free enterprise.

It had been understood that human selfishness, however regrettable to have to admit it, was largely the driving force behind human activity in our age, and by neglecting this fact a system would not work. The forces of unselfishness and the idealisms of minorities were as yet not sufficient to carry the whole world society. This always remained the prospect for the future – but innumerable generations would be needed to reach that state. Many were already striving in that direction. But for now (‘now’ means probably ‘millennia’) the system had to be based on rules and regulations, and kind and flexible but firm maintenance of the socially agreed order. Everyone felt more free in mind and heart now than in the former century.

One great good that had been reached as a positive response to globalization was the abandoning of visas. Everyone could go and live anywhere, provided local circumstances and rules allowed. Some places were just too full to admit more people, and then there might be waiting lists. But one could be on as many waiting lists worldwide as one wanted. Airports, train ports and seaports and larger road clusters still needed watertight security systems, but no more personality checks. Personal checks were regarded as buronation (derived from bureaucratic discrimination) and as inhumane and humiliating. Virtually everyone had a subcutaneous gps chip, only to be supervised by the international medical sector networks, and with permission of them and according to strictly programed rules, by the worldwide police network called Geopol.

Modern technology, simply making use of the sun and the property of water to evaporate when it warms up – in other words distillation of sea water and a refined system of water tunnels and tubes to every agricultural unit – took care of a guaranteed sufficient supply of water for food production and individual and industrial use. It was easy to calculate how much desert surface was needed to produce the needed foods and other products.

One might think that a city like that would be very monotonous and radiate little inspiration, because the basic structure was uniform, all was the same. But that was not at all the case. On many levels were green gardens with brooks and ponds below them, flowers, trees, shops, cinema’s, cafes, all professionally maintained and even many social meeting places which were intentionally not professionally maintained (because biologists argued that the best professional gardener was Nature herself). On other levels were playgrounds for children, discos, theaters, cafes for social computer gaming etc. etc. On every fifth floor (and the tenth and so on) their was a prayer house, temple, or community house for the main religion of that country – and, depending on the number of followers, there were such places for all other religions – some combined in one building if they had few devotees. Most of these were really jewels of architecture and decorative elegance, and the pride of the community.

At several places the transport system would move through virtual three-dimensional magic laser-landscapes and these routes were especially popular with children. Every time one went there the views were different, and represented various tastes and interests, especially those of very young people, but always of such a nature that it would arouse the better feelings and intelligent thought in those who went through the magic landscapes. Non were violent, nor sensual, but always quite exciting (like geographical landscapes in which the minerals were moving and had consciousness; or ecological landscapes, living spacescapes, or imaginations of paradise and dreams of architects and artists which in coarse material could never be realized – and people who behaved like they would actually wish to be).

Outside, seen from an airplane, the whole city and its satellites were either build according to a beautiful geometrical pattern, or inspired by a natural phenomenon like a flower or a branch with flowers. Skyscape designing had become a fundamental aspect of architecture, especially large scale city architecture. The facades of the building were decorated with tiles in various colors, mainly green and blue, but also deep red and orange brown, according to the tastes of the designing architects and artists. As much attention was given to the roofs which could only be seen from the sky. Architecture as a whole had adopted a three-dimensional esthetic.

From the cities went hi-speed railroads towards other countries, through the lands and the deserts, over rivers and through and over mountains, and from space they looked like a worldwide network of silk threads.