The Fifth Hundred

SOMETIMES REFERRED TO as “Wesley’s 500”, The Book of Wesley enters the last discovered 103 points. The existence of points 501-503 indicates that Wesley had intended to continue, but either lost interest or became unable to go on. This may have coincided with his “rescue” from the dimensional trap in which he had been held for twenty years. He must have had a sort of Rip Van Winkle experience as he re-entered contemporary society. His concluding point, therefore, becomes a touchstone for the hundred that lead up to it. “#503: The simpler the truth, the less bigots will understand it.” Wesley spends a great deal of his time in this final hundred contemplating love in all its varieties.

Nathan Everett, editor

August 11, 1986

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401. All things are forever temporary.

402. There can be no healing where there is no injury.

403. Many believe that falling is the penalty for breaking the law of gravity. Actually, falling is the penalty for obeying the law of gravity. When you break the law of gravity, you do not fall.

404. Many of our laws extract a more severe penalty for obedience than for disobedience.

405.While it may be noble to maintain a respect for prophecy, no matter what the faith, we are all endangered when we place in authority a person who believes in the imminent destruction of the world or the promised rescue of a savior.

406. Prophecy itself is frequently the cause of its own fulfillment.

407. Violence is a byproduct of assuming the infinite.

408. Humanity has always assumed the possibility of escape: over the mountain, across the ocean, to the moon, to the stars.

409. This ability to go elsewhere inevitably leads to a cavalier attitude toward the treatment of the present environment.

410. The religious notion of a hereafter reinforces the temporal nature of the present. Even nihilists assume they will escape from the present.

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411. A complete destruction of the hope for escape—from our world, our solar system, our time, or our bodies—would result in a new pacifism. Energy would be directed toward co-existence rather than co-extermination. It is not only the hope of an afterlife, but the promise of death that drives our consumptive inhumanity.

412. The difficulty with treaties (234; 297) is that the treators seek constantly to create a document which exempts themselves from compliance while binding the other parties to a subordinate and inevitably vulnerable position.

413. Therefore, it is only to illiterate peoples (to whom the spoken word is binding to the intent of the agreement) that treaties with any true meaning can be negotiated. Advanced literary societies with complex legal systems cannot be expected to ever reach agreement.

414. To fully define the term in context with the world today: A treaty is a document in which the greater power subjects the lesser power to its will.

415. The most primitive artistic expressions of humanity’s relationship to the cosmos are geometric patterns.

416. If a viewer is deeply moved by a work of art—is impelled into an emotional awareness of the artwork—it is likely that the viewer is experiencing a residual of the exact same emotional impetus that went into the creation of the work in the first place. (141-143)

417. The chemical geometry of humanity is essentially the same from person to person. If this were not true, the concept of blood transfusion or organ transplant would be impossible. A significant difference in the chemical geometry might differentiate a mammal from a reptile, but not blue eyes from brown eyes.

418. From the moment of conception, our existence is defined in terms of three dimensions—the length, breadth, and height of the womb and the body that contains us. If one professes to live in a world of four or more dimensions or to have nth-dimensional experience, how can that experience be communicated in three-dimensional terms of reference? How can we transcend our own definitions of reality?

419. It is the chemical geometry we share that allows us to create art that transcends three-dimensional terms of reference to communicate nth-dimensional experience directly to the hearts of viewers. The viewer becomes a participant with the artist in the emotion of the work.

420. In artwork, this communication from artist to audience may transcend millennia as the viewer of a Grecian urn may still experience the emotion of the creator.

Editor’s Note: Wesley hits three themes in this section that, at first, look unrelated. But when combined, all three focus on communicating something that transcends the bounds of language. One can surmise that Wesley might return to the subject by suggesting that treaties be captured in artwork and music rather than words.

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421. Artists typically deal in nth dimensional concepts in a world whose terms of reference are (n-1)th dimensional or less.

422. Agreeing to play football implies an agreement to play by the rules of football. (195)

423. A body in motion tends to eat at every available opportunity.

424. Food is frequently substituted for deficiencies in a variety of areas, i.e. affection, success, security, honor, sex.

425. The key ingredient to thinking irrationally, or in attempting to explain irrationality, is that nothing makes sense.

426. Opportunity is never convenient. If it were, no one would pass it up.

427. Love is a generic term which is used as a catch-all for a great many concepts. The ambiguity of its definition is one basis for emotional trauma. If I assign to one word a multitude of meanings, I increase the likelihood that I will be misconstrued when I use the word.

428. The Greeks used three words to describe different kinds of love in their ancient language: erotic, filial, and agape; to which Christian philosophers mis-assigned the overall meanings of animal, human, and god. They, then, composed a hierarchy of love. One’s goal should always be the highest.

429. The unChristianized Greek concept was actually only a little better, describing the dichotomy of the individual rather than humanity’s relation to the gods. Greek gods did not behave much differently than Greeks, after all.

430. This dichotomy would separate the individual into three parts: the physical, the emotional, and the mental or spiritual. Here again, church philosophers have split the mental and spiritual from the single Greek word, psyche. It seems that it has always been considered wrong to apply mental processes to spiritual concepts.

Editor’s Note: Wesley seems to have had a number of short quips to get off his chest before he started redefining what everyone believes about love. The diatribe on love will continue for another couple of sections before he exhausts himself on this one.

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431. There are many English words that may be classified as definitions of love; therefore, I propose the following taxonomy. Disclaimer: There is no hierarchy in this list, nor is any intended. Religious philosophers of a future generation can have at it.

432. Luvus accompanada: Common attraction. This type of love is identified by the simple pleasure of being in another person’s company. It is sparked by the immediacy of the person’s presence. It explains why people sit or stand where they do in groups. It must be carefully distinguished from Luvus attracta.

433. Luvus attracta: The desire to be in another person’s company. The distinguishing mark of this type of love is its internal motivation, not being dependent on a direct stimuli as the former. Subtypes A and B of Luvus attracta are differentiated only by whether or not the desire is directed toward a specific individual or is simply a desire to be accompanied in general.

434. Luvus affecta: Commonly called affection. This type of love is distinguished by the impulse to fawn, pet, or otherwise come in contact with its objective. This is equally as valid when the object of affection is a dog as it is when it is a person, therefore, Luvus affecta is not a purely sexual desire.

435. Luvus philea: Yes, this is brotherly or sibling love. This type of love is obligatory. It defines a socially acceptable mode of behavior attached to the relationship of the individuals. It is externally motivated and provides a framework for civil relations in the most unloving relationships. Luvus philea is love based on the accident of birth.

436. Luvus cynthia: To the objective eye this may appear the same as Luvus philea as it also describes a sibling love that complies with social standards. Its difference is that it is internally motivated regardless of any apparent external pressures or prescribed behavior. Thus Luvus Cynthia may properly be described as a hybrid of 433 and/or 434 with 435.

437. Luvus sexus: This is the object love generally felt at or near the moment of sexual fulfillment for any person or object facilitating it. Luvus sexus does not distinguish the facilitators from each other, cannot differentiate between the animate and inanimate, and does not grade for quality.

438. Luvus romantic: This is an environmental type of love, frequently brought about by appropriate lighting, looks, soft words, and music. It has the ability to affect a person’s judgment abilities and should may be closely related to Luvus seductia.

439. Luvus erotica: This type of love is a stimulus response. It acts on the central nervous system by way of neural centers located near the surface of the body. At this stimulus, the remainder of the body seems to respond involuntarily, marked by increased heart rate, engorged sexual organs, and rapid breathing.

440. Luvus parenta: Only a parent can love a child and thus this species describes the unique bond that exists between parent and child. Unlike many types of love, Luvus parenta describes a two-way flow of emotion and therefore may mutate into other forms if that flow is disrupted.

Editor’s Note: Wesley continues in the next section with three more types of love and then professes this to be only a partial list.

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441. Luvus chattelia: This is the love of a possession, or more appropriately of possessing. It is an emotion attached to an object simply because it is owned and like Luvus sexus, makes no distinction between animate and inanimate, though a case may be made for defining Luvus chattelia as referring only to animate subjects and Luvus objecta as referring specifically to inanimate objects, as in ‘I love my house,’ or ‘I love my car’ as opposed to ‘I love my dog,’ or ‘I love my wife.’

442. Luvus dominatus: Sometimes confused with Luvus chattelia and frequently accompanied by it, Luvus dominatus is the type of love that describes a ruler’s relationship to the subject Where Luvus chattelia is objective, Luvus dominatus is subjective. Both of these two are straight-line loves that describe a superior’s relationship to an inferior. ‘The King loves his country.’

443. Luvus seductia: The conquest. Contrary to common opinion, coitus is not normally the ultimate goal of Luvus seductia. Coitus happens merely as a means of keeping score. What counts in the seduction, or the conquest, is winning. Fair object of heart’s desire is overcome, submits to the conqueror. Like a good sting operation, the good seduction leaves its object at least satisfied with if not proud of its part and ending state. The subjects ending state may be described as Luvus worshipa. Many other types of love may be defined before we can hope to have a complete taxonomy.

444. Einstein’s theory of relativity (242, 285) implies a state within the universe or a point in complete stasis. At that point or in that state, a meter is a meter and time is constant. When placed in motion (when velocity is introduced) the measuring stick shortens and is less than a meter. The clock slows and time is dilated.

445. The earth, traveling at 30 kilometers per second is already in an insignificant time dilation of .99999995, Approximately 3.145 seconds per year.

446. If one travels away from the earth and back at the same speed as the earth, time remains relatively real. The same amount of time will be created by the earth’s velocity as by the traveler’s velocity.

447. If one traveled from the nearest star (approximately 4.5 light years) to the earth at the same speed as the earth, it would take several thousand years to make the journey. But the same time frame would have passed for both traveler and earth.

448. Proposition: As the traveler from this star increases velocity, it is not time for the traveler that slows down, but rather time on the earth that speeds up. So, the traveler is stalemated. It will take that traveler just as long to reach the earth as the earth time that passes.

449. The Lorenz Transformation would indicate that traveling from that star at 90% of the speed of light would take the traveler five years but on earth, 21 years and ten months would have passed. Conversely, if the traveler reached earth in five years of earth time, the traveler would have been in transit only one year and two months, negating the speed traveled. The paradox of the timeframes would result in both the traveler and earth having the same amount of time pass.

450. This is completely consistent with the Einstein theory and with the constancy of the speed of light in a vacuum. In fact, it is this that would indicate that instead of light going faster or slower when you approach its source at an increasing velocity, it changes color.

Editor’s Note: The editor wishes to return to the taxonomy of love, which was at least partially understandable.

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451. Let’s try the whole concept of the speed of light and time over again in a different light, so to speak. As a child in school, I was told to imagine myself on the surface of the imaginary planet Alpha, orbiting the North Star. On Alpha, I am equipped with an extremely powerful telescope—so powerful, in fact, that I can actually see events happening on the mysterious planet, Earth.

452. Today, as I look through my telescope, I see Columbus landing in America. I see this, even though in “reality” the people on earth are preparing to land a man on the moon. The reason? It has taken 450 years for the light to travel from the earth to Alpha.

453. If you have difficulty picturing reflected light, imagine that Earth is a gigantic movie projector facing Alpha. The movie started hundreds of years ago, and on Alpha, you are watching it as the projected images reach you—450 years after they have occurred.

454. As far advanced as Alpha is, you now have a space ship that will travel near the speed of light. You load your incredible telescope in the spaceship and blast off toward Earth, following the direction of the projected movie. Consistent with the theory that an object must pass through all intervening points in order to travel between two points, you will intercept all the projected images from Earth that have been sent from the one you were seeing at blast-off (Columbus) to the one being projected when you land.