Chapter 5: The Spirit

Behold! thy Lord said
To the angels: "I am about
To create man, from sounding clay
From mud molded into shape;
When I have fashioned him
(In due proportion) and breathed
Into him of My spirit,
Fall ye down in obeisance
Unto him."
- The Qur'an: Sura XV : 28-29

IT IS WELL KNOWN that Bushmen and other indigenous peoples like the Aborigines in Australia and the Indians of the rainforests, believe sincerely in the spirits of their forefathers and in the existence of many others, good or evil. Civilized people of course, don't concern themselves with things like that, nor with black cats, horoscopes, vampires or holy water. Teecha had already mentioned N!odima, the spirit of life. At last I thought he would tell me a little about Bushmen superstitions and other beliefs. Eager to get him started, I asked:

"Teecha, do you believe in spirits?"

By then I should have known it - I didn't quite get the answer expected.

"Ace, we cannot do otherwise than to accept that all things around us exist. Apart from what we easily perceive, there are other forces and energies, maybe unexplained, but real. Rene Descartes, a 17th century French mathematician and scientist is remembered for his famous maxim 'I think, therefore I am'. You can't be thinking or listening to me right now if you don't exist and if I don't exist. It follows then, that we all accept the existence of other thinking entities: 'We think, therefore we are'. Not only is this logical, but emotionally necessary. No human can bear being alone. Like ants, you need to physically touch other living beings almost on a daily basis, or you could end up insane. Think how many times you touch other people almost every day of your life. Why do pets like to be stroked by their masters? Prisoners in solitary confinement often go mad, and loneliness drives people to suicide. Locking or chaining somebody up in such a way that he cannot touch another living being for a couple of weeks has been used as a very effective method of torture, which eventually forces such a person to part with secrets or to succumb to his captors."

I interrupted impatiently. "Yes, that's all true Teecha, but you're talking about physical beings; I asked if you believe in spirits."

He stared at me with a funny expression. When he uttered that strange 'Tchi.. tchi..' sound and I sensed a shade of irritation. He continued:

"In recent tests, it was proved that seedlings grow stronger and faster if they are touched and stroked by humans every day. You probably did those experiments because you wouldn't believe the writings of a very old book, The Royal Path of Life, in which is said: 'Everybody knows that if you gently shake a young tree daily, it grows much faster'. But to answer your question Ace, let's call other thinking entities simply more I's. Now look around you... How many I's do you see, hear or sense?"

The night was quiet yet when I listened carefully, it wasn't. The sounds of many different insects, the scurrying of small mice, the soft rustling of dry leaves and the far-off cry of a bush baby all blended together like a kind of 'white noise'. If one didn't consciously listen, there was only silence. An unfortunate moth dive-bombed into the fire and was cremated. There were indeed many thinking entities, but I had my doubts with the moth.

Teecha broke the silence. "And what about the umbrella thorn?... Anyway, should you deny there are many other I's around you, then you have to deny your own existence, as none of you can exist alone - not even a plant. To accept the existence of I's you can perceive is easy. It is difficult though to accept that there are I's which you cannot perceive with your normal senses - those senses that you were taught you have. Going back to Descartes' dictum, you can change the words around to make it say: 'I am, therefore I think'. If you are, you think, which implies at least some ability to reason, therefore you exist."

Those last few days had given me enough reasons to worry about my reasoning ability and whether I really 'was' but Teecha didn't give me much time to think it over.

"A little more reason Ace, is all you require to show that I's do not all exist at the same level of consciousness, intelligence or morality. Certainly you yourself, your own I, exists on a different level than that of your dog or cat? In anthropology the zoological term for modern man is Homo sapiens, which means 'wise man'. You would be totally foolish though, to believe that mankind are the only wise beings, considering that Earth is an insignificant little planet in a remote corner between billions of stars in your own galaxy."

I had science on my side here. I replied: "That may be so, but it was calculated using our modern computers that the probability of life on another planet like Earth is 1 against 10 to the power of 30. That leaves just about no chance for any other intelligent beings like man."

Teecha scratched his head while doing his 'Tchi.. tchi..' thing. I felt as if I had made a good move in chess.

"Ace, if you accept that, you limit Gao!na, not so?"

I had just lost my queen and with that the game, as he continued:

"Even with your clever computer's calculations, it leaves an infinite number of possibilities for life anywhere else: Compare that probability to eternity, which is infinity, and you'll find there are infinite chances for life as you know it, rather than no chance."

He was right of course. To refresh my memory, I scratched a simple mathematical formula for calculating probabilities on the sand. My clever move turned out to be silly. At least I felt like saying: "Now I'm getting it."

Teecha continued: "Beings of much higher intelligence and planes of consciousness certainly exist. In the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15:40 it is written: 'There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.'

"'Extraterrestrials' as you call them in science fiction, are not fiction. You all talk about gods, angels, devils and the like. Your minds, your histories, myths and scriptures are full of them. Most of your religions are based on the existence of a Supreme Being or beings who control everything. The truth is these super beings, 'Ultraterrestials' or 'Infinite Intelligence', simply exist as other I's. It may be inconceivable, but that is the case. Consider another extract from the Bible, Genesis 6 verse 4: 'The Nephilim (giants) were on the earth in those days - and also afterwards - when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown'..." Teecha paused. I had become used to his way of getting me to think so I said: "Makes one think, doesn't it?"

He nodded. "OK Ace, replace 'I' with the word 'Spirit'. This will mean that many spirits exist on different levels of intelligence or consciousness. The Ultimate- or Supreme Spirit or Energy Force will then be what most of you perceive as God or by whatever other name man chooses to refer to it. Let's stick to the names 'Ultimate Spirit' or God.

"By now you know that there was no beginning and that there will never be an end. This means that the Ultimate Spirit has always been and will always be. Just as matter simply exists and could never be destroyed, so the Ultimate Spirit exists, could never be destroyed and will never change. There is no need for a 'chicken and egg' discussion, as the one simply cannot exist without the other. If ever there was only nothing, then God Himself didn't exist - 'no-thing' means exactly that."

I started to counter. "Yes, but... ahh... OK, never mind..." I couldn't argue against that and realized that Teecha was slowly laying bare my deepest beliefs, my own self. He was opening up long forgotten memory files, which contained confusion and many unanswered questions. It was truly frightening but at the same time exciting, and he was obviously aware of my concerns.

"If the Ultimate Spirit could exist with nothing else around, it means that 'some-thing', God Himself, already existed and thus everything else, because 'everything else' IS God! The following is said in your Bible, Exodus 3 verse 14: "I AM THAT I AM". According to the script, that was the answer Moses received when he asked about God's name. If you think that Descartes' saying makes some sense, even when taken to mean no more than 'Thought Is', then you needn't worry anymore about the Ultimate Spirit's existence."

Once again he stunned me into deep thought but I knew he wasn't finished - there were many more unanswered questions and unsolved mysteries in my mind. Teecha himself was the latest.

"Yesterday Ace, we discussed the fact that creation is an ongoing process that could never stop. The following is written in the Qur'an, Sura X verse 4: 'It is He who beginneth the process of creation, and repeateth it...'

"Consider the fact that the Orion nebula or star-cloud contains enough matter for something in the order of 10,000 stars. It is like a maternity home where stars will be born or created - yet it is a drop in the ocean compared to the rest of the universe. The word 'creation' should not be used for a beginning of something which never was, but for something which is eternally happening, right now, all the time, and, the Ultimate Spirit and everything else exist within and as a part of this never-ending process."

He continued his explanation: "Just as matter exists in all forms, shapes and sizes imaginable, likewise the Ultimate Spirit exists in any conceivable form and we're part of it all, hence the term 'created in the image of God'... This is something that humans, as spirits on a reasonably high level of awareness, instinctively know. Not all of you will agree, as your perception of God and being-ness differs drastically. However, you all have instincts and you all have knowledge and skills that were not necessarily acquired through learning. Some of you have a natural inclination for understanding mathematics, while others have no difficulty playing musical instruments or creating beautiful art."

I understood this and found it a perplexing question. "Teecha, that's something I accepted in my own life but still I don't understand it. Why is it so?"

He answered obliquely. "For many years bats were seen as creatures from the devil, because man didn't understand how it was possible that they could fly and hunt for food in total darkness. Today you know that they have a 'super-sense' of echo sounding which is similar to radar. Homing pigeons have something similar insofar as using the magnetic waves of the earth to guide them back to a loft. The common goldfish can see far more of the light spectrum than most other beings. Dogs have super-senses, bloodhounds have a famous sense of smell and most dogs hear things you'll never do. Some humans have unusual knowledge or extraordinary senses, which you call 'Extra Sensory Perception' or ESP.

"This quote from the Qur'an, Sura II verse 31, may indicate how you acquired your deeper knowledge: 'And He (God) taught Adam the nature of all things; then he placed them before the Angels, and said: Tell Me the nature of these if ye are right.'" He explained: "From the Arabic text, commentators translate that man (the name Adam means man, therefore the reference to 'them') was taught the inner nature and qualities of all things, 'things' include feelings and emotions. Man was thus able to understand and appreciate things like love, and to plan and initiate, as God made him the vice-regent of Earth. So far he made a lousy job of it!

"The crux of the matter Ace, is that man has knowledge, instincts and emotions. This is the reason why you as spirits rather than physical beings further your pursuit of knowledge and experience, why you question your existence and why you communicate. However, there's more to it. Firstly, spirits don't exist in known material forms, but as energy forces or something the like. Any spirit (or ghost for that matter) has to exist as something - it cannot be nothing. As your scientists have a good time christening particles with fancy names, how about a 'spiriton' for the stuff spirits are made of?"

He had a secretive smile as he reached for his bag and took out the Se!warra'warra, which he put down next to him, carefully, as if it was a very expensive instrument. Whenever he played it, it looked as if he was smoking a pipe, producing no smoke but sound like a bagpipe, so I decided to call it his 'pipe'. I had trouble in pronouncing the click-clack word anyway.

Teecha continued: "Anyway Ace, in that particular form, such a spirit merely exists and is unable to experience physical feelings and emotions which are required for growth to higher planes of existence. A spirit has to materialize, in other words, to use or control some form of matter to express and experience its existence. As such, any spirit has a basic urge to attach itself to a form of matter for a certain period or time. This attaching of a spirit to matter is the wonder of what we call 'life' - indeed, the greatest wonder. Now, depending on the level of consciousness of any spirit and what it wants and needs to grow to or experience, its choice of a life form could be anything, anywhere: large or small, beautiful or ugly, stately or comical, perfect or deformed, happy or miserable, good or evil..." I interjected. "Life is a wonderful thing, Teecha, and from what you've told me it is obvious that you believe in spirits - in fact, I'm starting to do so myself with you around... But anyway, what makes you so sure that a spirit is an entity which attaches itself to a life form? Isn't an organism all there is to it - it thinks, sleeps, eats and drinks which means 'it is' and it lives - why do you talk about a spirit as something which is divorced from life?"

I thought my question was rather clever but he made that sound again. "Tchi... tchi... No spirit, no life - take those words any which way you choose. All life forms have a basic building block, the DNA molecule or Deoxyribonucleic Acid. This is, of course, just another arrangement of matter. DNA molecules contain the blueprint of what the basic or lowest form of life, a single cell, is to become. The information stored in this DNA molecule, which by the way makes a joke of your biggest computers, determines whether that cell will stay a single cell, like the amoeba, or divide and grow into a collection of cells which then become an organism."

I interrupted: "Teecha, our latest computers are extremely powerful, capable of executing millions of instructions per second - in my mind that's no joke but a fantastic technological achievement!"

He replied patiently: "Ace, should you instruct all of earth's most powerful computers to formulate only one type of DNA molecule capable of creating life, by finding the right combination given all the possibilities of four complex molecules called nucleotides, each consisting of more than 30 atoms linked in a particular way, you're going to wait an awful long time. The odds of any computer coming up with just one such a DNA molecule could be likened to a 6 coming up every time in 140 throws of a dice. The probability against this is in the order of 10 to the power of approximately 110. If those were gambling odds, the devil would have no business.

"Given all the time since Earth's creation and allowing for the fact that your computers do execute millions of instructions per second, none of them would have had enough time to find the right structure for one DNA molecule."

Mathematically he was right once more: Life didn't happen by chance. "Hang on," I said and scratched in the sand. "Incredible stuff Teecha. Every living organism is a miracle - more so when I think that each of us have our own character. But your attaching spirit story is ..."

"Something you find difficult to believe?" he finished my sentence for me.

I smiled. "Eheh."

He grinned. "Ace, an organism could be very primitive, for lack of better words, such as lichen, or highly intelligent such as man. Each and every organism has its own special arrangement of DNA within its cells. However, no matter how sophisticated such an organism is and how wonderful the process of growing from a single cell may be, the organism itself consists of nothing but matter: Without an 'I' or spirit, it is as dead as a doornail."

He was more than serious. "Only when a spirit attaches itself to such an organism does the organism live, can it move around, use its senses, reproduce more organisms, and most importantly, experience and pursue its own needs. A spirit uses an organism as a vehicle to achieve its objectives, and once those have been achieved, the organism itself, in whatever form it existed, is of no more use to the spirit. It will simply detach itself from that organism which will then 'die' or disintegrate. But there's a bit more to it:

"Time, in the context of eternity, doesn't exist - there is no such thing. How can there be time if there is no beginning and no end? Only because of the existence of matter and space and the fact that all matter is in constant motion, time becomes relative. It can then be measured on some scale to determine nothing else than the interval between one event and the next. You call the interval between regular events of the sun rising 24 hours or one day, the interval between one summer and the next a year, and what is required for light to travel 12 inches a nanosecond. Man is known to live for 'three score years and ten', while some plants like the welwitchia mirabilis found in the Namib desert, or the giant redwood trees of California, live for up to 2,500 years.

"Now you want to know what's the meaning of all this, right?"

I gave a nod and so did Teecha, confirming what he knew anyway.

"Let me repeat that a spirit attaches itself to an organism. This is the start of an event for that particular spirit, for which only a specific interval of time is required in which to experience what it needs at its level of consciousness at that instant. At human level, most of you still lack the ability to spiritually control matter. Higher life forms are capable of doing so, for instance by disintegrating at some place and reappearing at another, and in any particular form they want to. There are many recorded cases of such appearances. One example is the Bible, in Acts 1 verse 10: 'They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them...'

"However, at lower levels of consciousness a spirit will do everything possible to remain attached to its organism for the full duration of that life-event. This is to ensure that it will achieve the experiences and spiritual growth required in that life. The urge to remain attached to an organism is none other than what you call the survival instinct. If an organism is damaged beyond repair the spirit has to leave it and the organism dies. To prevent this from happening prematurely, spirits with similar material bodies and levels of consciousness team up to ensure survival of the species. That way they enhance each individual spirit's chances of physically surviving any particular event, thus gaining more experience and knowledge during that lifetime."

Teecha went to fetch a mug of water and I used the opportunity to water a dry plant. It was cold and I took a blanket to the fire. He had already added more firewood and filled the kettle, a hint for coffee, I assumed. What he had told me so far was of more immediate interest and I was eager to hear more. He didn't disappoint me...

Join us next month
for Part 2 of this excerpt.

© 2008, Uys Lafra, All Rights Reserved

Excerpted from the book, The San Piper: Encounter With An Otherworldly Bushman © 2008 by Uys Lafra. Printed with permission from O Books, Winchester, UK. Click on the thumbnail below to learn more.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Uys Lafra has spent his life in the computer industry in South Africa. Bewteen 1989 and 1992 he took a sabbatical and ran safaris in Namibia and Botswana, where he met ‘Teecha’ the Bushman, featured on the cover.