101. The positive wisdom of truth/joy; the positive cleverness of beauty/love; the positive stupidity of strength/pride; the positive folly of goodness/pleasure. Conversely, we can speak of the negative wisdom of sorrow/falsity; the negative cleverness of hate/ugliness; the negative stupidity of humiliation/weakness; the negative folly of pain/evil. Consequently we have a distinction between alpha and omega manifestations of idealism, naturalism, materialism, and realism.

102. Private enterprise inevitably leads to the perpetuation of divisions between rich and poor, since those who are capable of or disposed to amassing private wealth through the success of their enterprise will continue to do so. Fundamentally, it makes no difference whether or not they are taxed more stringently since, even after higher taxation, they remain rich in relation to those whom they exploit, and accordingly a worldly society remains in place. Only on either the Transcendental Socialist basis of State ownership or on the Social Transcendentalist basis (as propounded by me) of Centre trusteeship ... can such worldly divisions be transcended. For public ownership and/or trusteeship permits of a more even distribution of wealth (from the centre) and can therefore maintain an absolute society which is neither rich nor poor but either Communist or Transcendentalist, depending on the emphasis of that distribution, i.e. whether social and bureaucratic, as in the case of State ownership, or religious and meritocratic, as should transpire in the case of Centre trusteeship. Such post-worldly absolute societies would be 'beyond good and evil' in the worldly sense of relative class divisions between the poor and the rich, being, by contrast, either beautiful or true.

103. Just as mineral formations precede plant life in the overall evolution or, rather, devolution of life (from the alpha absolute) on this planet, so we should allow for the possibility of a life form or stage of life antithetical to minerals, which would precede transcendence and, hence, the attainment of electron-electron attractions to the transcendental Beyond. Such a stage of life would emerge, I contend, from suprabeing new-brain collectivizations as the final phase of their development, a phase in all probability pending transcendence, or the possibility thereof, when Suprabeings would assume an intensely luminous appearance in consequence of sustained hypermeditation, becoming what we may term Ultrabeings. This luminosity, indicative of spiritual expansion, would suggest an antithetical equivalent to the luminous quality or capacity of certain mineral deposits, such as diamonds, and it would be in the interests of those responsible, as technicians, leaders, etc., for the servicing of these new-brain collectivizations to have them boosted into space within the context of space centres, in order to avoid the potentially disastrous consequences of radioactive contamination both during and following the transcendental process.

104. Thus to extend my previous theories, one should allow for three stages of post-human life, with Ultrabeings constituting the third - a life form effectively antithetical to mineral deposits. With three stages of cosmic devolution ... from the central star of any particular galaxy to planets via stars in general (including the sun), it seems only logical to allow for three stages of natural devolution ... from minerals to animals via plants. Likewise, we should have three stages of supernatural evolution, beginning with Superbeings (brain collectivizations) and progressing via Suprabeings to Ultrabeings, as well as three succeeding stages of supercosmic evolution, beginning with planetary spiritual globes and progressing via galactic spiritual globes to a grand culmination in the universal spiritual globe, viz. the Omega Point. Hence six stages of devolution beneath man and six stages of evolution beyond him, with human life itself divisible into three basic stages, viz. pagan, Christian, and transcendental, each of which is subdivisible into two phases, beginning, in paganism, with stoicism and hedonism, continuing, in Christianity, with Catholicism and Protestantism, and culminating, in transcendentalism, with contemplation (of artificially-induced visionary experience) and meditation. Perhaps the fact that Christ had twelve apostles is not without some metaphysical significance in light of these theories?

105. Liberal cinema film; Socialist television film; Communist video film; Transcendentalist trip. Four ascending stages of artificial visionary experience, corresponding to realism, materialism, naturalism, and idealism?

106. It seems to me that the threefold division of meals which generally obtains in the West, viz. breakfast, dinner, and tea, corresponds to the Holy Trinity, with breakfast correlating with the Father, dinner with the Son, and tea (or supper) with the Holy Spirit, so that the average open-society type of person will be equally disposed to all three meals, the hard-line Christian type of person be more disposed to dinner, while those whose religious bias is for one or other of the extremes will tend to place greater store by the corresponding meal, be it breakfast or tea. I, myself, have consistently eschewed breakfast for many years, have eaten only a comparatively small dinner, but never failed to have both tea and supper, which, given my bias for the Holy Spirit, may not be without some ideological significance. Indeed, I have known people who eat only one meal a day ... in the evening, and such people were more transcendental than Christian. By contrast, an aunt of mine with a distinctly alpha-stemming disposition regards breakfast as the most important meal of the day, which only goes to prove that there is probably more to our eating habits than at first meets the eye! A person who eschewed breakfast on ideological grounds would be more enlightened, it seems to me, than one who insisted on its importance. It would be a closed-society attitude commensurate with an antithesis to the Father, which is to say God as Creator.

107. Hands out of pockets and by one's side when walking along the pavement is an alpha-stemming autocratic parallel. Hands in trouser or jean pockets when out walking is a worldly democratic parallel. Hands in short zipper-jacket pockets when out walking is an omega-oriented theocratic parallel. A man can be judged according to where his hands are when walking along the pavement. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost options. A child can be trained accordingly.

108. The countryside is an autocratic environment par excellence. Everywhere one sees the horizontally centrifugal tendency of nature, which sharply contrasts with the urban tendency towards the vertically centripetal. It is only too inevitable that bungalow-type dwellings will be found in abundance in rural or provincial areas. For such dwellings betray, in their horizontal structures, a centrifugal orientation which accords with country life - at any rate, as far as nature in the raw is concerned. Bungalows and cottages (their historical precursors) are not only the lowest types of dwellings physically; they are the lowest types ideologically - inferior to both two-storey houses and multi-storey flats. It is as though one proceeds from the autocratic countryside to the theocratic city via the democratic town; for with environmental distinctions of this kind come corresponding ideological distinctions, even when such distinctions are not consciously registered or publicly proclaimed. No-one who is at home in the big city, with its towering buildings, could possibly be complacent about or happy in the country. They are antithetical worlds, incommensurable and irreconcilable. Alpha and omega of earthly life.

109. I believe shoulder bags can be ideologically distinguished, one from another, according to whether they are rectilinear, curvilinear, or a sort of amalgam of the two, and it is my view that whereas the rectilinear variety are Socialist and the curvilinear variety Transcendentalist, the variety which suggests an amalgamation of the two are Communist, since a combination of both democratic (rectilinear) and theocratic (curvilinear) elements, as befitting a naturalistic equivalent. As to duffel bags, which are curvilinear but open at the top, we have, it seems to me, a Nazi parallel, since their idealism, unlike that of curvilinear shoulder bags, is rather more centrifugal than centripetal, and thus somewhat neo-alpha in character.

110. Just as we have distinguished between Socialist, Communist, and Transcendentalist types of shoulder bag on the basis of rectilinear and curvilinear designs, so similar tripartite distinctions can be drawn in regard to T-shirts as Socialist, muscle shirts as Communist, and vests as Transcendentalist, with an ascending ideological importance as we proceed from the rectilinear to the curvilinear via a sort of cross between the two. Strictly speaking, a conventional T-shirt should only be worn by those whose ideological persuasion is Socialist (in the bodily democratic sense), whereas a muscle shirt, which in its sleeveless design is closer to a vest, should only be worn by those of Communist persuasion (in the soulfully theocratic sense), and a string vest by Transcendentalists (or people whose ideological persuasion is theocratic in the ultimate spiritual sense). A strict correlation between each of these People's shirts and/or vests and the equivalent type of shoulder bag should also be established; for ideological togetherness is perfection, whether your perfection is bodily, soulful, or spiritual.

111. Centrifugal and centripetal: extrovert and introvert; selfless and selfish. Since we are distinguishing between alpha-stemming and omega-oriented tendencies, it should be possible to maintain that whereas the alpha-stemming person will display centrifugal tendencies, including extroversion and selflessness, his omega-oriented counterpart, by contrast, will display centripetal tendencies, including introversion and selfishness. Indeed, whereas the former will be fundamentally autocratic, the latter will be essentially theocratic and therefore quite antithetical, in every respect, to the alpha-stemming person. Of course, there are people - perhaps in Western societies the great majority - who are more balanced between alpha and omega, autocracy and theocracy, than lopsided either way, and they would accordingly be democratic, which is to say, neither particularly centrifugal nor centripetal, but an approximately equal combination of each. Such people are also a more-or-less balanced combination of extroversion and introversion, selflessness and selfishness. For extroversion and selflessness are, of course, centrifugal tendencies, whereas introversion and selfishness are alike centripetal. The former pair are aligned with the proton component of the atom, the latter pair with its electron component, and while there is nothing unusual, least of all in a worldly society, about dualistic combinations in an atomic framework, it should not be forgotten that extremes are also possible, both before and after the strictly atomic middle-ground, of which extroversion and selflessness are expressions of the former, but introversion and selfishness expressions of the latter. Paradoxical though it may seem, a selfish person, i.e. one who is regarded as being predominantly selfish, rather than either predominantly selfless or balanced between the two poles, is likely to be more evolved than an ordinarily half-selfish/half-selfless person, given the correlation between selfishness and the centripetal.

112. However, there are degrees and kinds of selfishness, corresponding to the four spectra I have described elsewhere, and while selfishness on a realistic, or bodily, basis may (understandably) appear low to a person accustomed to a more elevated kind of selflessness - say, adherence, through autocratic idealism, to some primitive Godhead, it nevertheless has to be said that even 'low' selfishness is preferable to 'low' selflessness, such as would be expressed by bodily adherence to autocratic realism. For the omega aspect of things is always preferable, from an evolutionary standpoint, to their alpha aspect - at any rate, in regard to antitheses which accrue to the same spectrum. Inevitably, selflessness of an idealistic order will be eclipsed, following the Resurrection (through Social Transcendentalism), by idealistic selfishness ... in Holy Spirit, and it is very doubtful that people or peoples who wallow in realistic selfishness would ever be qualified to embrace the idealistic variety, through meditation, in due course. The fact is that, ethnically speaking, progression along a given spectrum is more the general norm within stable societies than a stepwise ascent or descent between disparate and, in the main, irreconcilable spectra.

113. Since life embraces both devolution and evolution, we should speak of devolution from the One to the Many in regard to alpha-stemming antiquity, but of evolution from the Many to the One in regard to omega-oriented futurity (modernity would be an understatement). Indeed, just as we find a devolutionary regression from autocratic theocracy to democratic autocracy via theocratic autocracy and autocratic autocracy, so there is (and must increasingly be) an evolutionary progression from autocratic democracy to democratic theocracy via democratic democracy and theocratic democracy, and in both cases the divine apex is One and the worldly nadir Many. Theocracy is concerned with the One, whether that be the Father, the Holy Spirit, or even Christ, whereas democracy and, to a lesser extent, autocracy is a reflection of the Many. Democratic autocracies and autocratic democracies are phenomena of the Many. But whereas the former is the nadir of alpha-stemming devolution, the latter is the inception of omega-oriented evolution, which should lead, via democratic democracies and theocratic democracies, to the apex of theocratic unity in the democratic theocracy of the Social Transcendentalist Centre, as far removed from the Oneness of autocratic theocracy as it is possible for any theocratic Oneness to be. Alpha and omega - beginning and end of the One. Therefore to distinguish between a convergence from the Many to the One, as from the democratic superworld to the theocratic superheaven (via intermediate stages of ideological evolution), and a divergence from the One to the Many, as from the theocratic Creator (central star of the Galaxy) to the autocratic world (via intermediate stages of ideological devolution).

114. It is not being selfish that is wrong but how you are selfish, i.e. whether on a bodily or a spiritual plane or on some intermediate intellectual or soulful one. Similarly, selflessness is not necessarily right or moral just because it is selfless. There are bodily and intellectual types of selflessness which, judged from a soulful or a spiritual standpoint, are less than wholly desirable. Yet, regarded objectively, being spiritually selfless (through worship) is inferior to being spiritually selfish (through self-realization) - that is to say, inferior to the extent that it signifies an alpha-stemming idealism in contrast to the more evolved, and distinctly more desirable, omega-oriented idealism of the Holy Spirit. Just as the spiritually selfless stand on a higher level than the soulfully selfless, so the spiritually selfish stand on a higher level than the soulfully selfish, and the soulfully selfish on a higher level than the intellectually selfish, who in turn stand above the bodily selfish. For just as body (will) is inferior to brain (intellect), so soul (emotion) is inferior to spirit (consciousness), the former pair appertaining to the world and to purgatory, the latter pair appertaining to hell and to heaven, whether on an alpha or an omega basis, with regard to protons or to electrons, negativity or positivity. As I have elsewhere argued, there is a cosmic precedent for each spectrum, with which such religious terms may be identified - at any rate, in relation to alpha-stemming heaven, hell, purgatory, and worldliness. For the omega-oriented positive parallels are rather more evolved than devolved, and for that reason I have usually attached the prefix 'super' to each of them, beginning with superworld and progressing, via superpurgatory and superhell, to superheaven - the ultimate selfishness of transcendental self-realization.

115. I sometimes wonder whether distinctions between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost don't simply boil down, in common Christian usage, to parallel distinctions between the male sexual organ, the heart, and the conscious mind, so that the Father is really quite different from and inferior to the Creator-God (Jehovah) extrapolated from the central star of the Galaxy, since merely extrapolated from the penis. As to the Virgin Mary, whose name (like the Father's) speaks for itself, a parallel with the female sexual organ can obviously be inferred, since the emphasis is on her virginity. Thus an ascension from the Father/Virgin Mary to the Holy Ghost via Christ, which is to say, from the sex organs, male and female, to the conscious mind via the heart - pagan, Christian, and transcendental distinctions, both concurrently and successively. But if the Father is different from and less radically theocratic than, say, Jehovah (conceived as Creator-God in the true cosmic sense of that term), then the Holy Ghost must likewise be different from and less radically theocratic than, say, the Omega Point ... of transcendent futurity. In other words, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost would have to be seen in a purely Western and, in particular, Germanic light, which must needs fall short, at each pole, of true theocratic absolutism, not just in the strictly Christian middle-ground of the Son, where 'God' assumes a quintessentially worldly status flanked - dare I say it? - by subworldly and superworldly 'gods'.

116. Undoubtedly the hardness, or desired hardness, of men (particularly in the West) derives from the phallic roots of life in the erection, whereas the softness, or desired softness, of women no-less undoubtedly derives from the vaginal roots of life in sexual submission. Thus as a penis must be hard in order to penetrate a vagina, so, correlatively, men should be hard and women soft - at any rate, while sexual commerce is a societal norm. For we are heading towards an age and civilization when hardness will be no less inapplicable to men than softness to women, and largely because, in transcending traditional sexual customs, men and women will blend into a post-sexist superhuman identity wherein distinctions of 'hard' and 'soft' would be equally irrelevant because equally false. The future superperson will be neither hard nor soft but either soft-hard (males) or hard-soft (females), and the lion will accordingly have lain down with the lamb in a transcendent synthesis.

117. It seems to me that whereas paperback publications approximate, when original, to a Socialist equivalent or ideological parallel, the joint publication of paperbacks and tapes in plastic cases suggests a Communist equivalent, whereas independent tape publications approximate to a Transcendentalist equivalent by dint of their curvilinear standing in relation to (rectilinear) books. Thus whereas paperbacks, being rectilinear, parallel conventional T-shirts, it would seem that tapes, being curvilinear, parallel vests, the coming together into joint formats of tapes and paperbacks paralleling muscle shirts, with, as in previous instances, socialist, communist, and transcendentalist distinctions.

118. Unlike a bottle of beer, a can of beer is rather akin to a frameless work of art, whereas a can of cola is more akin to a poster or even to a photograph, both of which are no less beyond the pale of oil paintings than cola is beyond the pale of alcoholic drinks. Which is another way of saying that whereas frameless paintings and canned alcohol are petty-bourgeois norms, posters and/or photos and cola are alike proletarian norms.

119. Heavenly spirit from the awareness subconscious to the awareness superconscious. Hellish soul from the emotional subconscious to the emotional superconscious. Purgatorial intellect from the old brain to the new brain. Worldly will from the blood/bone body to the flesh/muscle body. Thus spirit, soul, intellect, and will are not only separate, they are eternally co-existent in man, though not always to the same extent or with equal force or on identical terms, since, in relation to the latter point, we must distinguish between alpha and omega, negative and positive, with regard to both the age and the type of individual. Yet whether alpha-stemming negativity or omega-oriented positivity is uppermost in any given individual, all men are fourfold composites of spirit, soul, intellect, and will, and so they must remain until man is transcended in the Superbeing and a wholly post-human life form comes to pass. Just as the highest men are those in whom spirit is uppermost, so the lowest are those in whom will predominates. The soulful and the intellectual types come in-between, like hell and purgatory vis-à-vis heaven on the one hand and the world on the other hand.

120i. Whether your heaven be alpha or omega, you are one for whom a wavicle bias preponderates over both particle and atomic biases.

ii. Whether your hell be alpha or omega, you are one for whom a particle bias preponderates over both wavicle and atomic biases.

iii. Whether your purgatory be alpha or omega, you are one for whom an absolute atomic bias preponderates over both wavicle and particle biases.

iv. Whether your world be alpha or omega, you are one for whom a relative atomic bias preponderates over both wavicle and particle biases.

121i. Thus the proton-wavicle bias of alpha heaven, but the electron-wavicle bias of omega heaven.

ii. Thus the proton-particle bias of alpha hell, but the electron-particle bias of omega hell.

iii. Thus the atomic-proton bias of alpha purgatory, but the atomic-electron bias of omega purgatory.

iv. Thus the proton-atomic bias of alpha worldliness, but the electron-atomic bias of omega worldliness.

122i. The essence of negative spirit is sadness, whereas the essence of positive spirit is joy.

ii. The essence of negative soul is hatred, whereas the essence of positive soul is love.

iii. The essence of negative intellect is humiliation, whereas the essence of positive intellect is pride.

iv. The essence of negative will is pain, whereas the essence of positive will is pleasure.

123i. The appearance of negative spirit is illusion, whereas the appearance of positive spirit is truth.

ii. The appearance of negative soul is ugliness, whereas the appearance of positive soul is beauty.

iii. The appearance of negative intellect is weakness, whereas the appearance of positive intellect is strength.

iv. The appearance of negative will is evil, whereas the appearance of positive will is goodness.

124. One could argue that where the 'apparent' corresponds to the phenomenal, the 'essential' corresponds to the noumenal.

125. With the alpha of things, the noumenal precedes the phenomenal, whereas with the omega, by contrast, the phenomenal precedes the noumenal. The phenomenal corresponds to an atomic middle-ground in between subatomic (noumenal) and supra-atomic (noumenal) extremes. Hence Christ is a phenomenal divinity (atomic man) in between the noumenal Creator (wavicle proton-proton reactions) and the noumenal ultimate Creation (wavicle electron-electron attractions); a relativity (of the 'Three in One') in between two absolutes.

126. Only the absolute is strictly divine, though the omega absolute will be more truly divine than the alpha absolute because a divinity of bliss as opposed to a divinity of great sorrow - all the difference, in effect, between the envisaged supra-atomic electron-electron attractions of the ultimate absolute and the subatomic proton-proton reactions of the primal absolute, which corresponds to the central star of the Galaxy (a wavicle star in contrast to the particle stars which revolve around it), as, indeed, to the central stars of galaxies in general.

127i. Truth is apparent, like air or, rather, the sky, but the essential realization of truth leads to joy, which is a corresponding light. No joy without truth, since the one is a precondition of the other and they form two sides of the same coin - the coin of omega heaven.

ii. Beauty is apparent, like fire, but the essential realization of beauty leads to love, which is a corresponding heat. No love without beauty, since the one is a precondition of the other and they form two sides of the same coin - the coin of omega hell.

iii. Strength is apparent, like water, but the essential realization of strength leads to pride, which is a corresponding coldness. No pride without strength, since the one is a precondition of the other and they form two sides of the same coin - the coin of omega purgatory.

iv. Goodness is apparent, like earth, but the essential realization of goodness leads to pleasure, which is a corresponding darkness. No pleasure without goodness, since the one is a precondition of the other and they form two sides of the same coin - the coin of omega world.

128. Since goodness, strength, beauty, and truth signify an ascending order of (phenomenal) ideals effectively germane to four different omega-oriented civilizations, so pleasure, pride, love, and joy likewise signify an ascending order of (noumenal) ideals germane to their aforementioned counterparts.

129i. The lowest or worldly omega-oriented civilization (realist) will place a moral emphasis on goodness and its reward - pleasure.

ii. The second lowest or purgatorial omega-oriented civilization (materialist) will place a moral emphasis on strength and its reward - pride.

iii. The second highest or hellish omega-oriented civilization (naturalist) will place a moral emphasis on beauty and its reward - love.

iv. The highest or heavenly omega-oriented civilization (idealist) will place a moral emphasis on truth and its reward - joy.

130. Since man is a composite of all four moral spectra, so likewise is each civilization, except that, like individual men, they will have a particular bias for one or another of the moral alternatives. Strictly speaking, only the highest civilization is or can be truly moral. For, judged from the standpoint of truth and joy, both beauty and love are comparatively immoral, as are strength and pride, while goodness and pleasure are amoral, since neither hellish nor purgatorial but worldly, and hence relative. Returning to elemental distinctions on these omega (positive) levels, we find that truth and joy correspond to an electron-wavicle absolute, beauty and love to an electron-particle absolute, strength and pride to an atomic-electron 'absolute', and, finally, goodness and pleasure to an electron-atomic relativity.

131i. Air/light, fire/heat, water/coldness, and earth/darkness. Thus in relation to the elements and their (noumenal) concomitants, truth is akin to air and joy to light, beauty is akin to fire and love to heat, strength is akin to water and pride to coldness, goodness is akin to earth and pleasure to darkness.

ii. Just as air and earth form a phenomenal antithesis, with light and darkness their respective noumenal concomitants, so truth and goodness form a phenomenal antithesis, with joy and pleasure their respective noumenal concomitants.

iii. Now just as fire and water form a phenomenal antithesis, with heat and coldness their respective noumenal concomitants, so beauty and strength form a phenomenal antithesis, with love and pride their respective noumenal concomitants.

iv. Air/light idealism standing above fire/heat naturalism; fire/heat naturalism standing above water/coldness materialism; water/coldness materialism standing above goodness/pleasure realism. Heaven - hell - purgatory - world ... at the omega poles of their respective spectra.

132i. The omega-oriented writer who goes to life (will) for his inspiration is a realist, and corresponds to the earth/darkness, goodness/pleasure worldly spectrum.

ii. The omega-oriented writer who goes to books (intellect) for his inspiration is a materialist, and corresponds to the water/coldness, strength/pride purgatorial spectrum.

iii. The omega-oriented writer who goes to emotions (soul) for his inspiration is a naturalist, and corresponds to the fire/heat, beauty/love diabolic spectrum.

iv. The omega-oriented writer who goes to awareness (spirit) for his inspiration is an idealist, and corresponds to the air/light, truth/joy divine spectrum.

133. Of course, no writer is ever entirely one thing, but all writers can be evaluated according to a bias for one or another of the above spectra. And such spectra indicate a hierarchy of writers, beginning, at the bottom, with realism, and proceeding, via materialism and naturalism, to an idealistic peak. Strictly speaking, it is from this idealistic peak of Truth-seeking spirit that all first-rate writing stems. By comparison to the idealistic writer, the naturalistic writer is second-rate, the materialistic writer third-rate, and the realistic writer fourth-rate. And what applies to the omega pole of each spectrum applies no less to its alpha antithesis, where negative quantities and qualities obtain, as well as to any middle-ground (bourgeois) cross between the antithetical poles. In my opinion, the omega-oriented idealistic (truth/joy) writer is as superior, from a truly divine standpoint, to the alpha-stemming idealistic (illusion/sadness) writer as ... the Holy Spirit to the Creator. And what applies to the divine spectrum applies just as much to each of the lesser spectra, where alpha/omega distinctions can also be found.

134i. Where evil, and hence pain, is the alpha worldly norm, goodness, and hence pleasure, is the omega worldly norm.

ii. Where weakness, and hence humiliation, is the alpha purgatorial norm, strength, and hence pride, is the omega purgatorial norm.

iii. Where ugliness, and hence hatred, is the alpha diabolic norm, beauty, and hence love, is the omega diabolic norm.

iv. Where illusion, and hence sadness, is the alpha divine norm, truth, and hence joy, is the omega divine norm.

135. Will - intellect - soul - spirit; body - brain - emotional mind - conscious mind; world - purgatory - hell - heaven, on both alpha and omega terms. Earth - water - fire - air; darkness - coldness - heat - light; world - purgatory - hell - heaven, on both alpha and omega terms.

136. Just as air and earth form a major diametrical antithesis in relation to fire and water, which I have elsewhere described as minor, so wisdom and folly form such an antithesis, with cleverness and stupidity taking the minor position in between. Wisdom and folly are not antithetical in the manner of illusion and truth, which is to say, as poles of the same spectrum; for there is negative wisdom and positive wisdom, the former pertaining to illusion and the latter to its polar antithesis, truth. Likewise, there is negative folly and positive folly, and while the former pertains to evil, with particular reference to pain, the latter pertains to goodness and its (noumenal) concomitance, pleasure. Thus whereas the divine spectrum of illusion-to-truth has to do with wisdom, both negative and positive, the worldly spectrum of evil-to-good has to do with folly, both negative and positive. Consequently we may speak of the negative (painful) folly of evil, but the positive (pleasurable) folly of good; the negative (sad) wisdom of illusion, but the positive (joyful) wisdom of truth.

137. Similarly, in regard to the minor antithesis between fire and water, or hell and purgatory, we shall find that cleverness and stupidity are the relevant terms of reference, with negative cleverness accruing to ugliness (the negative diabolic pole) and positive cleverness accruing to beauty (the positive diabolic pole); with negative stupidity accruing to weakness (the negative purgatorial pole) and positive stupidity accruing to strength (the positive purgatorial pole), so that cleverness and stupidity are no less diametrical, in their less radical way, than wisdom and folly. Therefore we can speak of the negative (humble) stupidity of weakness, but the positive (proud) stupidity of strength; the negative (hateful) cleverness of ugliness, but the positive (loving) cleverness of beauty. One could even say, at the risk of seeming unduly metaphorical, that whereas earth is foolish (dark) and air wise (light), fire is clever (hot) and water stupid (cold). But we have to distinguish between negative and positive earth, air, water, and fire, bearing in mind the alpha/omega distinctions between the natural and the artificial, the old and the new, theocratic/autocratic and democratic/theocratic, which removes us from the metaphorical to the historical plane.

138. Hence the negative folly of alpha realism (democratic autocracy) in contrast to the positive folly of omega realism (autocratic democracy); the negative stupidity of alpha materialism (autocratic autocracy) in contrast to the positive stupidity of omega materialism (democratic democracy); the negative cleverness of alpha naturalism (theocratic autocracy) in contrast to the positive cleverness of omega naturalism (theocratic democracy); the negative wisdom of alpha idealism (autocratic theocracy) in contract to the positive wisdom of omega idealism (democratic theocracy).

139i. From the painfully foolish (the evil) to the pleasurably foolish (the good).

ii. From the humbly stupid (the weak) to the proudly stupid (the strong).

iii. From the hatefully clever (the ugly) to the lovingly clever (the beautiful).

iv. From the sadly wise (the false) to the joyfully wise (the true).

140. Alpha and omega positions in an ascending hierarchy of elemental spectra, viz. realism (earth), materialism (water), naturalism (fire), idealism (air).

141. Broadly speaking, the fulcrum of British society is along the realistic axis of a painfully foolish (Lords autocratic)/pleasurably foolish (Commons democratic) divide. The fulcrum of American society is along the materialistic axis of a humbly stupid (Quakerish)/proudly stupid (Republican) divide. The fulcrum of Russian society is along the naturalistic axis of a hatefully clever (Czarist autocratic)/lovingly clever (Socialist bureaucratic) divide. The fulcrum of Irish society is - or, as far as the omega option applies, hopefully will be - along the idealistic axis of a sadly wise (Roman Catholic)/joyfully wise (Social Transcendentalist) divide. For each kind of society, be it realist, materialist, naturalist, or idealist, must have a representative axis if it is to retain a specific cultural and/or ideological integrity and not become a mishmash of conflicting and mutually destructive elements - a situation which, judged from an historical point of view, may be for the better or worse, depending on the type of society in question.

142. In relations between the sexes, it is traditionally the male who loves the more passionately and the female who, by contrast, derives the greater pleasure from sex. This is because, as a rule, men are more of the head than of the body, whereas women are more of the body than of the head, and the sexes accordingly relate to each other in terms of a kind of diabolic/worldly divide, which is nothing less than the love/pleasure distinctions described above. In relation to propagation, copulation is a comparatively centripetal activity, by which I mean that the penis is inserted into the vagina, where it functions on an inward-tending basis towards its goal of orgasmic discharge into the womb. It is the male who inserts himself into the female while, with pregnancy, the female must be delivered of her baby, which accordingly slides out of her in due centrifugal fashion. Thus whereas the one sex puts something in, the other gives something out, and this is relative to the atomic natures of the respective sexes - men generally of an electron bias and therefore centripetal, women generally of a proton bias and therefore centrifugal. A man is in luck when he has a woman sexually, whereas a woman is in luck not when she is being sexually had by a man but, on the contrary, when she gives her baby to the world - at any rate, this is how it has traditionally been between the sexes and, in a majority of cases, continues so to be to this day. Men take but women give, the former being omega orientated and the latter alpha stemming; centripetal and centrifugal, after the manner of electrons and protons in feminine and masculine distinctions. In fact, what I have just said explains why, as Schopenhauer well-remarked, the average woman would die of shame from being caught in the act of being made love to by another man, whereas she will carry her pregnancy with pride - the pride of prospective motherhood. For as Schopenhauer also remarked, copulation is a man's business, propagation a woman's - centripetal and centrifugal, male and female respectively.

143. Reading stands to writing as thought to speech - indeed, as a kind of artificial thought vis-à-vis a kind of artificial speech, and if thought and speech are noumenal, and therefore relatively alpha stemming, then reading and writing are comparatively phenomenal, and thus of an omega-oriented status - at any rate, as relative to a worldly, or Christian, integrity. For the phenomenal is still to a degree naturalistic, not wholly artificial, and therefore more the omega pole of a naturalistic spectrum than of an artificial one, which, by contrast, must begin in superphenomenal artificiality and progress towards a supernoumenal culmination in due course. Thus if thinking and reading are alpha and omega of an essential naturalistic spectrum, the nature of which is internal, and hence of a wavicle bias, but speaking and writing are alpha and omega of an apparent naturalistic spectrum, the nature of which is external, and hence of a particle bias, it should follow that whereas thinking and speaking are noumenal, reading and writing are phenomenal - the former pair largely preceding the latter in historical time.

144. Yet if, as I teach, the superphenomenal precedes the supernoumenal in the ensuing historical period of artificial spectra, then we must begin with an artificial type of reading in the one case and with an artificial type of writing in the other, thereafter progressing from each of the superphenomenal poles to supernoumenal poles of, on the one hand, an artificial type of thinking and, on the other hand, an artificial type of speaking, both of which will stand to the former as superomega to superalpha. Clearly, artificial writing and reading will pertain to typewriters, printing presses, etc., and to printed material (as opposed to hand-written material), including books, magazines, newspapers, etc., whereas artificial thinking and speaking will pertain to computers, especially to those which can be programmed to compute both internally, as 'thinking machines', and externally, as 'speaking machines' - the former a precondition of the latter (just as we must first be able to think before we can speak). Indeed, artificial writing, via typewriters, printing presses, etc., is as much a precondition of artificial reading, or the reading of artificial print, as natural writing is a precondition of natural reading, or the reading of hand-written material like letters; for the apparent (writing) precedes the essential (reading) when we are dealing with the phenomenal, whereas the essential (thought) precedes the apparent (speech) when we are dealing with the noumenal, and what applies to the naturalistic spectra (both wavicle and particle) applies no less to the artificial spectra which follow, so to speak, in historical time. Thus before there can be superphenomenal reading (of books, magazines, etc.), there must firstly be superphenomenal writing (through typewriters, printing presses, etc.); and before there can be supernoumenal speaking (through an artificial voice), there must firstly be supernoumenal thinking (by computation) - the apparent preceding the essential in the one case but succeeding it in the other, the former a 'rise' and the latter a 'fall'.

145. Yet, within the same spectrum, we see a progression from essential to essential or apparent to apparent, as the case may be, since reading and thinking, whether natural or artificial, are alike essential, whereas writing and speaking, whether natural or artificial, are alike apparent - the former pair having a wavicle bias and the latter pair a particle bias. However, we are not dealing with two completely separate spectra here, so much as with two sides or aspects of the same spectrum, that being intellectual and therefore of a materialistic atomic integrity, whether in regard to alpha-stemming intellect (atomic-proton materialism) or, conversely, in regard to omega-oriented intellect (atomic-electron materialism), the one naturalistic and the other artificial, as relative to an old-brain/new-brain distinction. We are dealing here with a sort of purgatorial rather than hellish or heavenly spectrum, and that is why neither emotions nor visions are the experiences at stake, but solely words and the way they are handled, combined, analysed, etc. As discussed elsewhere, visions are of the spiritual spectrum, which is idealistic, whether we are referring to natural or to artificial visionary experience, whilst emotions are of the soulful spectrum, which is naturalistic (in the ideological rather than historical sense), whether we are referring to alpha-stemming natural emotions or to omega-oriented artificial (civilized) emotions. That is why neither television nor radio is applicable to the intellectual spectrum under discussion, since its omega unfolding is a computer, and whether that computer thinks or speaks will determine which side of the spectrum in question is being utilized, and for what purposes.

146. Obviously, essential intellect (thought) is closer to spiritual idealism (visions) than would be the apparent intellect (speech). But it is nevertheless quite distinct from such idealism, as is apparent intellect from the soulful naturalism (emotion) which flanks it below, irrespective of overlappings in practice between each of the three spectra. Since, in artificial omega terms, radio is the medium par excellence of emotions and television, by contrast, the medium par excellence of awareness, this means that the medium par excellence of artificial intelligence, namely the computer, will be closer to radio when apparent (speaking) but to television when essential (thinking); for radio, despite appearances to the contrary, is an inherently soulful medium, especially suited to music, and therefore one which is of a particle bias, whether for good or bad, positively or negatively; whereas television, despite appearances to the contrary, is an inherently spiritual medium, especially suited to art, and therefore one which is of a wavicle bias, whether for good or bad, positively or negatively. Emotional and visionary media flanking, on a particle/wavicle basis, the intellectual medium of computers - just as hell and heaven may be said to flank purgatory.

147. Philosophical awareness, poetical emotion, fictional description, and theatrical action, with spiritual, soulful, intellectual, and wilful distinctions respectively, corresponding to idealism (air), naturalism (fire), materialism (water), and realism (earth), or, as one could alternatively put it, to heaven, hell, purgatory, and the world. Thus from philosophy at the top, which is par excellence a discipline of the mind, to drama at the bottom, which is inherently a discipline of the will, we have a descending hierarchy of disciplines which should, if properly pursued, differ from one another as much as, say, the elements, with air corresponding to philosophy, which is nothing less than the pursuit of joy through truth; fire corresponding to poetry, which is nothing more than the pursuit of love through beauty; water corresponding to fiction, which is nothing more than the pursuit of pride through strength (generally measured in terms of the length of any given novel); and earth corresponding to drama, which is nothing less than the pursuit of pleasure through goodness or, rather, the good act.... Unless, however, we are primarily concerned with negative and hence alpha-stemming philosophy, poetry, fiction, and drama, in which case the pursuit of illusion through sadness; the pursuit of ugliness through hate; the pursuit of weakness through humiliation; and last and least the pursuit of evil through pain. This is perhaps the main distinction between the ancients and the moderns (allowing for exceptions), bearing in mind that whereas the phenomenal precedes the noumenal within an omega orientation, it is the noumenal which precedes the phenomenal within an alpha orientation, whether on naturalistic or artificial terms.

148. It is not altogether surprising that the English regard Shakespeare as their finest writer; for, as a realistic people, it is only to be expected that they should hold a mere playwright in such high regard. Yet theatre, being naturalistic in terms of its recourse to actual physical presences on stage, is more autocratic than democratic, a bodily realism which contrasts, rather like the Lords vis-à-vis the Commons, with the more sublimated and artificial realism of television plays - the democratic realism par excellence of an omega-oriented worldliness, of which Dennis Potter is perhaps the best-known and most widely-acclaimed exponent, a sort of democratic Shakespeare and yet, for all his considerable dramatic ability, still no more, when considered in relation to literature, poetry, and philosophy (in that ascending order), than a fourth-rate writer, like Shakespeare. Certainly I would regard Bacon as his writerly peer - by no less than three rates!

149. Concerning philosophy, it should be noted that while the alpha-stemming naturalistic philosophers like Socrates, Plato, etc., were more likely to be found lecturing in the open air or (later) in a lecture theatre, their latter-day artificial counterparts will prefer, as a rule, to be found lecturing in a television studio on the benefits of a more evolved philosophy, such as may well portend a genuine omega orientation.

150. Hitherto I have broadly spoken of alpha-stemming (naturalistic) and omega-oriented (artificial) distinctions between those - be they philosophers, poets, novelists, or playwrights - at opposite poles of their respective spectra. But, from a more correct standpoint, the fact nevertheless remains that the naturalistic and artificial parts or divisions of each spectrum are both alpha stemming and omega orientated, which is to say, negative and positive. Thus there is the strongly alpha-stemming (Fatheristic) negativity of sadness (noumenal) in relation to falsity (phenomenal) within the naturalistic part of the divine (idealistic) spectrum, in contrast to the comparatively omega-oriented (Christic) positivity of truth (phenomenal) in relation to joy (noumenal) also within the naturalistic part of the same spectrum. Similarly, with the artificial part of the divine spectrum, the supersadness (supernoumenal) preceding superfalsity (superphenomenal) is, in its negativity, comparatively alpha stemming or, more correctly, superalpha stemming, in relation to the strongly omega-oriented (Superchristic) positivity of supertruth (superphenomenal) as a precondition of superjoy (supernoumenal). For the negative (noumenal-to-phenomenal) correlations are always alpha stemming in relation to the positive (phenomenal-to-noumenal) correlations of omega-oriented attributes, whether we are alluding to those on the heavenly, hellish, purgatorial, or worldly spectra, as corresponding to idealism, naturalism, materialism, and realism at both 'naturalistic' and 'artificial' poles. Thus an alpha-omega naturalism superseded by a superalpha-superomega artificiality or, as one could alternatively term it, supernaturalism.