Chapter 8

I tried all day Sunday to reach Maria. Monday morning I went to her office at the World Trade Center. Her assistant said she was out of town and wouldn’t be back in the office until Tuesday. However, she was at Ben’s Monday evening for the discussion.
    Everyone else was there when I arrived with Rob and Preacher John—Michael; Elaine; Ben’s guest, Indira Chowdury, chair of the World Studies Department at the university; and three of her students, Jennifer, Margaret, and Elizabeth.
    After introductions, and while everyone was getting acquainted, I had an opportunity to take Maria aside. Ben saw us talking from across the room. I knew I didn’t have much time.
    “I signed the divorce agreement on Friday. Now, we can see each other.” Ben started toward us.
    Maria said, “Paul, you still haven’t told me what happened to make you quit writing.”
    Ben interrupted. “Is Maria telling you her life story, pal? No? She hasn’t told you how she took over her father’s business after he had a heart attack?
    Maria touched Ben’s arm. “Don’t.”
    “Maria told her father, yes, but only on the condition he make her a full partner. And, she gave him one day to decide. Daddy ignored the deadline. Big mistake. He tried to manage on his own but could not, so he gave in. Except Maria raised the stakes, pal. Daddy now had to agree to retire.”
    Maria took Ben’s hand in hers. “Paul, doesn’t want to hear this.”
    Ben continued, “So, Paul, if Maria ever gives you a deadline…”
    Maria let go of Ben’s hand. “Stop now, Ben.”
    This time Ben took the hint. He looked at his watch and got the group’s attention. “Show time, folks. Paul was going to discuss his new novel this evening. I offered to call off the discussion when he decided to quit writing, but he wanted to meet anyway. So it’s pot luck tonight. Whatever we discuss will be as much a surprise to me as it is to you.”
    I let the anticipation build for a moment. What I had to do was get Preacher John involved. If I talked about the importance of point of view, I should be able to induce John to jump in with his idea that only God’s point of view was valid. From there, it was a short step to how Jesus would privilege God’s view at the Last Judgment. Once I got to that point, it should be easy to get John to talk about the call experience. I began with a concrete example of Ben’s post-reality.
    “Our meeting tonight would not be possible if, ten billion years ago, a single electron had taken a one-quarter spin to the left rather than to the right.”
    Rob challenged me. “Dad, are you saying that electron caused us to meet?”
    “More that that, Rob. Not only did that slight turn cause us to meet, but our meeting caused that electron to take the spin it did.”
    Rob wasn’t buying it. “C’mon, Dad, the present can’t cause the past.”
    Maria said, “It can, Rob, if everything is connected.”
    Elaine said, “That’s right, Rob. In physics, we call that a non-local connection. Think of it this way: the apple falls on Newton's head and causes
his head to hurt. That’s a local effect. A non-local effect would work both ways. The apple would cause Newton’s head to hurt, but Newton would cause the apple to fall.”
    Rob rapped the top of his head with his knuckles. “Ouch! If effects are non-local, you could say Newton hurt his own head. But that’s just make believe, right, Dad?”
    Elaine said, “No, Rob. We get non-local effects like that in quantum mechanics, the most successful scientific theory ever.”
    Jennifer said, “That’s one of the things we’re studying in Indira’s—I mean, Professor Chowdury’s—seminar. It’s an ancient problem. Is the world one? It would have to be one, if things were connected non-locally. Or is it many? The world would have to be many, if it is non-connected separate things.”
    Rob said, “Which is correct?”
    Indira said, “Appearances are illusion.”
    Ben said, “When we view everything at once, we see nothing. When we view things sequentially, we see only a part of the whole, but at least we see something. Both viewpoints are legitimate. Neither can be privileged.”
    Beautiful. Ben used the code word, privilege, and John jumped at the opportunity to preach. “At the Last Judgment, Jesus will privilege seeing all things as one so that viewing separate things will no longer be possible.”
    Jennifer asked John, “Are you saying time is an illusion?”
    “Time is an effect of viewing things separately. When Jesus reveals how all events happen simultaneously, the time effect will disappear.”
    Rob said, “Does that mean there is no time if we see all things as one?”
    John said, “Correct, Rob. Time will end when we change from Adam’s to God’s point of view.”
    Jennifer said, “If everything is one, and if each event causes all other events, then everything is set, and we cannot have free will.”
    At this point, Michael objected. “The whole point of the Bible, particularly the story of the Fall, is that we are free to choose. Otherwise, we would not be morally responsible for our actions, and could not be held accountable. The whole idea of the Last Judgment would be a mockery.”
    Elaine said, “How can that be just, John?”
    “Jesus will explain divine justice when he returns.”
    Michael said, “If Preacher John is right, the Bible is wrong in its most fundamental proposition, and we are nothing but puppets who dance at the end of God’s string.”
    Maria said, “John, Michael has a good point. It sounds like you’re saying that God, by allowing us to think we are free, is playing a joke on us.”
    “No, in the Garden of Eden, all creatures beheld the beatific vision, that is, all things as one. Adam’s view of things as many was the original sin. We play the joke on ourselves.”
    Maria said, “You mean we don’t count for anything?”

Chapter 8 continued