Alphomism

Alphomism is an attempt to provide a comprehensive theory of everything. It aims to answer questions such as
Why are we here? and Whats the point of struggling through life?
Alphomism is not a religion. It is a belief system for the modern age which avoids jargon and leaps of faith. It has
been devised by a single person but it draws heavily on the ideas of others.
Alphomism is offered in the hope that some people might find it useful and that it will stimulate debate which might
lead to the production of a superior theory.
It is easier to suppose that the universe has existed from all eternity than to conceive a Being beyond its limits
capable of creating it
(Percy Bysshe Shelley)

Theory

Generally, theories make use of facts (that is, assumptions which are generally accepted to be true), and
hypotheses (that is, speculations about how things are).
Facts and hypotheses are combined to make an argument. This produces a conclusion which ideally can then be
tested against experience.
There are at least six tests as to whether or not a theory is a good one:
Does it achieve its aim of explaining things beyond its assumed material?
Is the theory as simple as possible?
Are the underlying facts, the stated and the unstated ones, really
established?
Are the hypotheses reasonable and eventually capable of being tested?
Is the argument that links the facts and hypotheses a logical one?
Are the predictions generated by the theory capable of being tested?

Religion
Definitions vary but the claim that Alphomism is not a religion is based on the fact that most religions involve,
leaps of faith that is, belief in things which cannot be proved
belief in some external or higher power, often one which created the
universe.
Worship of a higher being.
Alphomism has none of these things.

The Single Person

My name is Richard Miles Brown. My credentials for compiling Alphomism are;

an almost lifelong interest in philosophy and metaphysics

an equally long-lived need to know what its all about
a degree in philosophy and psychology from Oxford University
fairly extensive reading (though nowhere near enough!)
A reasonably broad experience of life
a talent for making patterns out of apparently shapeless data.

The first version was produced almost 30 years ago as a small, self-published pamphlet. The ideas have been tested
against the comments of many others and the rigors of life. Some of the original notions have been changed but
overall it feels as though the system has survived the tests sufficiently well to warrant this scary launch onto the net.
richbrown@ntlworld.com

Uses of a belief system

Four major benefits of belief systems are listed below.
They offer peace of mind by giving release from the nagging ache of unknowing.
By explaining why life is so chaotic, they can make disaster more bearable.
Whats the point of struggling? is a very fair question when the day-to-day rewards are scanty. A system of belief
can provide a strong sense of purpose.
A belief system can provide a means of making consistent moral judgments.

Alphomism
1. Simplifying the task
The universe is vast and contains a huge variety of things. Alphomism tackles the difficulties of size and complexity
by claiming that everything which exists, apart from space, is made of energy.
The simplified task, therefore, is to provide an account as to how, in general, energy operates in space.
2. Avoiding the endless chain
Space and energy are taken to be the fundamentals, the point at which analysis has to stop. The difficult question is,
where did space and energy come from? Some kind of answer might be devised but it will inevitably lead to another
question as to what happened before that. An indefinitely long chain of what before? is in prospect.
This very strongly suggests that if there is to be a complete account of the universe it has to be circular in structure.
3. Limits
Yet if we assume that the universe is a closed system of energy operating in space, there might seem to be a
question as to what is outside the universe. The Alphomist answer is nothing. There is nothing outside.
4. Primal atom
So, the task is to describe a circular process of the operation of energy. It is convenient to start at the point where
all the energy in the universe was concentrated into one dense mass. This is often called the primal atom.
Here, Alphomism makes the major claim that, before it heated up, the primal atom was something like a
fantastically powerful computer. In it, physical activity was at an absolute minimum and mental activity at an
absolute maximum.
5. Explosion
The next important point on the circle is the explosion of the primal atom which can be called the Alpha Point. At
Alpha, energy went from maximum organization to maximum fragmentation. Physical activity in the universe was
suddenly at its highest level, mental activity at its lowest.
6. Nature
The Alpha point marks the start of a phase in the history of energy which can be called Nature. At the start of
Nature, energy was crashing about in ways which would terrify us but the chaos was not total. There were directive
forces operating and residual information in the fragments.
7. Direction
These forces were, and are, shaping Nature in a process known as evolution. The simplest summary of this process is

that energy is being gradually shifted from chaos to order. Through this process, the level of physical activity
decreases whilst the level of mental activity increases. We are at a stage now where, on Earth at least, mentality has
gained a tenuous foothold and is beginning to take control. Doubtless, this is being replicated throughout the
universe.
8. Burn out
If the universe were a purely physical phenomenon, then energy would run down until everything was dark, cold and
still, in a process known as entropy. Alphomism claims that the gradual emergence of mental activity reverses this
process. Conscious beings take control of energy and, exercising our free will, we shape it to our purpose.
9. Purpose
Our purpose is to reach the Omega Point, when all of energy is once more at maximum organization and,
correspondingly, mental activity is at its highest possible level. Our successors will, in effect, re-create the primal
atom.
10. Resurrection
The new primal atom, called Alphoma, will, in every respect, be identical to the original one. In Alphoma, every
self-conscious entity that has existed in Nature will be re-created. Thanks to the fact that Alphoma is all-powerful,
every re-born individual will be able to experience anything they wish to experience. Their various worlds will be
virtual ones, but they will seem to be totally real.
11. Time
Our existence in Alphoma is not, as it might seem, short lived. From the point of view of a person in Nature, Alphoma
once existed and will exist again. But in Alphoma. There is no time. And because the first and last states are
completely identical. It seems to the people therein that their bliss has no beginning and no end.
12. Circle
The circle is ultimately simple. Energy erupts out of Alphoma, streams into Nature and is gradually formed back into
its original shape. There are two phases to the universe, a temporal one and a timeless one. The one could not exist
without the other, but there can be no communication between them. In Nature, we are on our own.

The Universe

In Alphomism, the term universe is taken to encompass everything that has existed, does exist and will exist.
It has sometimes been suggested that there could be other universes beyond the one we are getting to know. It is
entirely possible that something exists beyond our known boundaries but if it does then it will, in Alphomist terms,
be just another part of the universe. However, until some evidence is produced about such existence there is no
point in incorporating the possibility into the theory.
Sometimes people refer to parallel universes which are thought to be somehow within our system but not very
obviously so.
These are either potentially accessible or they are not. If they are accessible, they are part of the universe. If they
are not accessible, then we cannot ever know of their existence and therefore we have to rule them out of
consideration.

Space
Space is a fundamental term in Alphomism. It is the thing in which everything else exists. Although it can be divided
by imposed systems of coordinates, it cannot be analyzed. If, indeed, an experiment is devised which seems to be
analyzing space, then Alphomism would have to say that the entity that is being investigated is not space. By
definition, space cannot be reduced to components.
Philosophers have attempted to describe a universe without space but these bold and useful speculations do not
work. Existence without space is literally unthinkable, even if the only space that is being thought about is that
occupied by the thinker.

Energy

Science has established beyond reasonable question that everything is composed of tiny particles which are bundles
of energy. The behavior of the particles is of no direct concern to Alphomism. What is relevant is that analysis stops
at an irreducible core substance which we call energy.

Circularity
Religions generally try to deal with the what before that problem by claiming that an infinite and eternal god is
the creator of the universe. There are several difficulties with this approach but a fatal one is that although the
words infinite and eternal have their poetic uses they are inadmissible in the rigorous context of a theory of the
universe.
Obviously it is impossible to perceive infinity because if it becomes containable it is not infinity. It is also impossible
to imagine eternity, for the same reason. Words which cannot ultimately be cashed, either in reality or in the
imagination, can have no meaning.
Happily, there are other words which work well. Indefinite describes a state of affairs where we are unable or
unwilling to set precise limits, and timeless covers very adequately for eternal.

Nothing

Generally we use the word nothing in a limited sense. Someone looking for particular objects might open an empty
cupboard and say, Theres nothing here. There will certainly be something in the cupboard, even it its only dust or
air but the meaning is clear.
In Alphomism, the statement that, there is nothing other than the universe, is an instruction to halt all attempts to
imagine. Habits of thought tend to make us think of the universe as being surrounded by darkness. But darkness
implies empty space. The Alphomist insists that, alone amongst words, nothing requires no effort of imagination. It
is the minds final punctuation mark.

The Primal Atom

For a long time there was a debate about whether the universe could best be described by a theory of continuous
creation or by the notion that energy was once totally concentrated into a primal atom which exploded.
Almost unanimously, scientists now subscribe to the primal atom idea.
If it turns out that the primal atom theory is incorrect it will almost certainly be fatal for Alphomism.

The Physical and the Mental

For centuries, philosophers have debated as to whether or not physical objects continue to exist when they are not
being observed. Are physical objects real or are they the product of imagination?
Alphomism suggests that much of the heat of this debate stems from the search for an absolute answer. The only
absolutes, it is claimed, are space and energy. With everything else, what we should always be looking for is the most
economical theory.
Whilst it is vaguely possible that the outer world is nothing but a mental construct, it would be fiendishly difficult to
work out a theory as to how objects pop in and out of existence so conveniently. Easily the simplest approach is to
make use of the clear notions of an outer and an inner world.

The Alpha Point

Just as the existence of the primal atom is scarcely any longer in dispute, so do few question the idea that there was
an immense explosion.
Energy burst outwards, creating space as it traveled. The intricate organization of the primal atom was destroyed.
Because energy was massively fragmented, there were no beings to observe the chaos. The universe was almost
completely physical.

Forces

Conscious beings know what it is to be forced. A strong wind or a push can send us in a direction we have not chosen.

By analogy we transfer this notion to the physical world. A leaf picked up by a breeze is forced to flutter through the
air.
Science supports the notion of forces operating in the physical world. The simplest way to account for the regularity
of action and reaction is to assume that forces are operating. Often the forces, like that of an impacting billiard ball
for example, are directly perceivable by humans.

Evolution

From the moment the primal atom exploded there were forces, physical and chemical, operating to repair the
fantastic damage. The raw material began to recombine.
Eventually, on Earth and doubtless elsewhere, ever more complex structures emerged. When the higher grade
organisms reproduced themselves, they passed on most of their characteristics to the next generation but built into
the process was an element of uncertainty. The genes which provided the template for the progeny were capable of
apparently spontaneous change. Instead of exactly reproducing the parent organisms, the offspring sometimes
showed new characteristics. The fittest of these survived. The process was guaranteed to produce ever more viable
beings.
For a long time, the amount of power which the emerging creatures possessed in relation to the forces operating on
them was small but with each advance there was a shift in the balance. New species emerged with even greater
powers. They were no longer totally subject to the workings of the great machine of nature. They could make tools,
harness power and form testable theories about how Nature worked.

Entropy
For energy to be useable, it has to be able to flow from a higher to a lower level. It is sometimes claimed that there
can be no significant outcome to the process of evolution because with every transaction that takes place, the total
stock of useable energy is run down.
If energy were a purely physical phenomenon this is undoubtedly true. But energy has two aspects. It operates in a
physical, determinedly mechanistic way but it also generates mental phenomena. Alphomism makes the prediction
that the laws which relate to mental energy will be the inverse of those which relate to the physical version.
The justification for making such a bold pronouncement is twofold. Firstly, it fits with all the other aspects of the
theory, it makes sense. Many scientific predictions have been made on such a basis and have been tested
subsequently. Secondly, the notion is in accord with subjective experience. We seem to be able to exercise will
power; we have a strong notion that we can make an effort.
The technology for an actual scientific testing is probably a long way from current capability. The technique would
involve measuring all the energy transactions in a brain and working out a balance sheet. The specific hypothesis
would be that for a brain which is engaging in willed activity the overall energy economy would show an advantage
when compared with a brain which is making no effort.
If, as supposed, there is a generating effect then, far from running down, the universe will be re-energized as the
level of mentality increases.

Free Will

Humans know what it is to be influenced by an exterior force. When they go against it, they feel to be exercising
their freedom of will. But some people, known as determinists, suggest that there are imperceptible forces
operating in the brain which make the feeling of freedom illusory.
This resolution of the debate is to be found not through theory but by experiment. There are physical processes in
the brain which correspond with mental events. We need to ask: Are those processes always the result of the
operation of physical forces, or are there some brain events which would seem, to an observing scientist, to appear
to happen at random?
One of the crucial predictions made in Alphomism is that we will find that there are brain events which have no
identifiable physical causes and that these are associated with the operation of will.

In support of the prediction it can be said that the acceptance of free will explains a great deal whereas it is
extremely difficult, if not impossible, to concoct a satisfying account of the universe based purely on determinism.
There is the further point that if the billions upon billions of humans who think that they sometimes act freely are
deluded, then some account must be given, by the unswerving determinist, of the significance of this phenomenon.
What is the purpose of such vast self-deception?

The Omega Point

It is almost certain that there are other conscious beings in the universe. It is also reasonably clear that we have only
just begun to explore the subtleties and complexities of the operation of energy. Relatively speaking, we are
primitives.
Alphomism holds that in the millennia to come, there will be communication between all the inhabitants of the
universe and that the power of conscious beings to control universal processes will grow exponentially. It will become
apparent that the evolutionary process is leading towards one outcome; the re-creation of the primal atom.
And it will also become apparent that the purpose of evolution has always been our purpose. As the physical aspect
of the universe reduces, and the mental one increases, mental forces will begin to dominate. The power which will
drag the fragments of energy back into the original unity will be not gravity but love. Probably in a final rush, the
parts will be locked together and the primal atom will be recreated. The universe will have reached the Omega
Point.

Virtuality
Modern technology can give us some idea of potency of the virtual world. Some simulated experiences come very
close to seeming real. Alphoma will, of course, be vastly more sophisticated. At our relatively primitive stage of
evolution we can but vaguely guess at what the final state will be like. The crucial point is that it will certainly be
possible to generate mental processes which make events seem totally real. And there will be no pain and no
decay.

Time

Time depends upon discontinuity. In Alphoma, the vast majority of the universal stock of energy will be formed into a
homogenous mass of seamless flows. Within this mental sphere there will be virtual time, at the absolute control of
the inhabitants, but there will be no real time.
There will, however, be a residual element of physical, discontinuous energy as an underpinning to Alphoma;
otherwise the explosion could never happen. Real time completes its circuit but in Alphoma it loses its power.
From the perspective of us in Nature, the universe started with the primal atom and ends with its re-creation. For
the Alphoma inhabitants there is no perceivable break. The bliss is uninterrupted.

Questions
The questions listed here are the ones which have most frequently been asked by people who have read, or heard an
exposition of, Alphomism.
There are doubtless dozens more and a facility for raising issues is provided through the forum.
Alpha/Omega which came first?
Can there be contact between Alphoma and Nature?
Does the Alphoma/Nature cycle repeat itself?
What information about the universe can be gathered purely from thinking?
What sense can we make of timelessness?
Why could there not have been unchanging happiness?
What will the path to Omega be like?
How will Alphoma be created?

 What will life in Alphoma be like?

Could Earthly civilization come to a sudden end?
If the Earth is dispensable, whats the point in struggling to advance?
If Alphoma is inevitable, does this not mean that determinism is true?
Is there such a thing as fate?
What are the implications of fate for the theory of evolution?
If free will is a real force, can there be social sciences?

Alpha/Omega which came first?

We are creatures of linearity; our strong impulse is to think in terms of cause and effect. But the only viable way to
construe the universe is as a complete self-contained system where questions of precedence are irrelevant.
A useful device is to imagine Alphoma as a lake. At one extreme, water pours violently out of a huge drain and
cascades down mountainous rocks until it spreads into a turbulent river. Along its course, the waterway becomes less
precipitous and begins to run more smoothly. It would just run away and eventually empty the lake except that at
some stage on its journey it reaches pumps which lift it upwards. Becoming ever more broad and tranquil, the
pumped flow enters the lake and brings the system into equilibrium
Imagine that the circulating water always follows precisely the same route, down to the tiniest sprays and splashings.
Imagine also that the currents in the lake are such that there is a body of liquid in the middle which never moves.
Let us suppose that individual drops are conscious beings. A creature in the unmoving part will be aware of its
perpetual surroundings whereas a drop in the stream knows only its brief moment of existence before it perishes on
a rock to be replaced by new entities.
From the point of view of the static creature, the system is a closed one. Gravity causes the falling of the water, the
pumps cause the rising, and the lake persists. There is no first and last, the system is simply as it is. If asked to
decide whether the pumps cause the lake which makes the out-pouring possible or whether, on the other hand, the
hole in the base of the lake is the prime mover of the system, the static entity would have no way of saying. Indeed,
being unmoving, the concept of time, and therefore precedence, would be unreal to it.

Can there be contact between Alphoma and Nature?

Direct communication between our timeless and time-based selves is impossible, because Alphoma actually ceases to
exist. All that we have are our fragmentary notions of a much better existence and our longing for that ultimate
peace.
However, our Alphoma versions will have access to all events in the evolutionary phase. There is no reason,
therefore, why we should not talk to our all-knowing selves; if only just to show that we have worked out part of
the puzzle of existence! But there is clearly no point in expecting our Alphoma selves to intervene. The existences
are completely separate.

Does the Alphoma-nature cycle repeat itself?

It might seem that there are two possible interpretations of this question.
It could be suggested that precisely the same cycle recurs indefinitely. The primal atom explodes, history repeats
itself in every detail and Alphoma is created. But if the repeats are identical we have no way of distinguishing one
from the other. From the timeless Alphoma perspective, the evolutionary phase of Nature is like a static structure;
any aspect of it can be examined at will. For us in the temporal phase, an identical repeat of our lives has no
meaning.
On the other interpretation, there could conceivably be repeated explosions of the primal atom followed by different
chains of history which, through the underpinning processes of causation and steered evolution, lead to the
inevitable conclusion.

If this, in fact, happens, then it is sure that we as discrete individuals play a part in only one cycle. Our identity is
determined by a complex mixture of physical and mental characteristics. A different cycle could not, by definition,
reproduce the same complexes.
Overall, the chances of there being repeat cycles seem small. It is extremely difficult to imagine why there would be
more than one process and until there is some evidence of repetition there is no point in detailed speculation about
it.

What information about the universe can be gathered purely from thinking?

According to current science, a large proportion of genetic material seems to have no purpose. It is, in the scientists
terminology, junk. Alphomism maintains that this rubbish very likely contains encoded fragments of information.
Almost certainly, this information helps to steer the evolutionary process but it also provides us with a research
source. Indeed, the good question, Where do ideas come from? can be answered by saying that they originate from
our inherited store which can usually be accessed only by hard mental work.
It is suggested that as the evolutionary process creates ever more complex structures, the puzzle fragments created
by the Big Bang begin to slot together. Some individuals, religious leaders, scientists and artists for example, have
more felicitously arranged fragments than others. They have access to more of the picture. Through preaching,
research and creative output, they lay out their broader picture for the benefit of the rest of us.
In support of this fairly extravagant claim is the fact that there have been people, of both sexes, from diverse
cultures and in many ages, who have cut themselves off from the physical world and spent almost all of their
energies on an exploration of the interior. Eating and drinking the absolute minimum, shutting off their senses
against heat and cold, they filled hour after hour with meditation. They are known as mystics.
They were people who sensed that they had access to some particularly interesting fragments of the universal
picture. Finding the way through all the confused piles of obscuring matter was easy for none of them but them all,
separately and without any possibility of collaboration, ended with more or less the same vision as to what the
culmination of life will be.
In the end, they reported, there is a massive, love-bonded unity of beings. And in that same end, each one of us is
God.
For the Alphomist, the mystics are the brave explorers of the interior world. Putting their physical welfare aside, and
perhaps risking their mental health, they excavated ever deeper. The Alphomist view is that their discoveries are
largely true. They used the word eternity rather than timelessness, but they surely won for themselves glimpses
of that unearthly state.

What sense can we make of timelessness?

The physical definition of a timeless world is; an arrangement of energy that has no discontinuity. This can be
readily realized in the mind by picturing a series of discontinuous events and juxtaposing it against the opposite
notion of a seamless band.
There are subjective pointers, too.
Many people claim to have had paradoxical experiences which they call timeless moments. Very often these occur
whilst listening to music, contemplating a work of art or being immersed in a beautiful natural scene.
But there is a more everyday phenomenon with which many will be familiar.
Sometimes we dream a complex sequence which seems to take hours or even days which leads to, and somehow
explains, a particular noise or other sensation. The real event wakes us. It is happening, or has just happened, yet
we have the firm notion that the dream long preceded it.
Presumably the neurological brain event which corresponds to the dream occurs in a flash but from a mental point
of view it is in a totally different time perspective.
This gives us just an inkling of the way that the timelessness of Alphoma will be independent of the workings of the
physical substratum.
Timelessness is, in fact, a much friendlier notion that the incomprehensible eternity. Even those with a profound

religious faith, who look forward to praising god for ever sometimes shudder at the prospect of endlessness.
Controllable time is a much more acceptable notion.

Why could there not have been unchanging happiness?

One of the several difficulties faced by religious theories of the universe is that an all-powerful, totally benign god
would surely not have created a system which generates so much suffering. The attempts to explain our sorry state
by reference to free will and a fall from grace are not very convincing. The question still remains; would it not have
been better for the all-seeing god, who was perfectly happy anyway, to leave well alone?
In Alphomism, there is no choice in the matter. The universe is as it is and the logic of the system explains why there
has to be suffering. The two phases of the system, Alphoma and Nature, are mutually dependent. The paradise is a
virtual one. All of us enjoy there the ultimate in bliss but we do so only because the Nature phase of the system
provides us with the mental raw materials. Virtual reality feeds off actual reality in two ways.
Firstly, if there were no fragmentation of energy, there would be no opposites, such as light/dark,
positive/negative. Without these contrasts there could be no basis for meaning. All of our thinking about actual
reality is dependent on these polarities. Without the existence, at least somewhere and sometime, of pain,
pleasure can have no meaning. Without agony, there can be no bliss.
Secondly, Alphoma needs billions of individuals in order to be able to convert physical activity into mental. The timebased creatures become the sentient raw material for the process of conversion. Without love as the cohesive force,
and willpower to produce the essential energy, Alphoma cannot be. All of us individuals provide these forces. We are
not a whim of a lonely god; we are essential to the process.

What will the path to Omega be like?

The past few decades on Earth have shown that there is indefinitely more in nature than has been dreamt in our
philosophies Computers which were once the size of large rooms have been shrunk to minuscule proportions. Space
travel has become possible; communications expand exponentially. Impossible dreams are now legitimate research
goals. There seems to be no limit.
In the face of this advance, some preach caution or even a retreat but it is certain that here, or in other places in
the universe, the prevailing evolutionary forces will drive things along. Individuals, even whole communities, can opt
out but there will always be those whose desire to discover is too powerful to suppress.
Eventually, we will make contact with conscious beings from other parts of the universe. Problems which seem
insoluble at the moment, to do with speed of travel, communication over vast distances, the provision of adequate
nutrition, coping with radiation and so forth will be overcome, as have so many other barriers in the past.
Probably the exploration of space will mirror, on a vast scale, that of the Earth. The first travelers will be
exceedingly brave. Beings from other places will surely seem strange at first but it will be obvious that we are all
made up of the same raw materials.
There will, of course, be the chance of conflict and perhaps there will be some terrible star wars. There is reason
to hope, though, that any civilization which has reached the level of sophistication which allows long-distance space
travel would also have acquired enough knowledge and control to make competitive colonization unnecessary. It is by
no means impossible that creatures that have advanced beyond us have surveyed our planet and realized that we are
not yet sufficiently mature to join in the inter-galactic community.
Battles or not, eventually the processes which have pushed Earthlings to create international cooperative
organizations will bring similar inter-stellar associations. Self-conscious beings throughout the universe will begin to
share knowledge. Whatever the setbacks, love will pull peoples together.
Knowing, by this time, that the cooperative end-point is to the benefit of everyone, the universal community will
work in harmony to put the pieces of the energy puzzle together. Every last fragment will be drawn into the centre
and slotted into place.

How will Alphoma be created?

By the time that Alphoma is being designed, the creation of self-consciousness will no longer depend on mating and
birth processes. There will still be individuals but they will be planned and nurtured so as to eliminate disease and
mental misery. Life spans will be indefinitely long and the main, perhaps the only, cause of death will be suicide.

Individuals will be schooled to understand that their interests can best be met by promoting the interests of all.
Through the development of virtual reality devices there will be the potential for the creation of perfect lives but
our successors will be fully aware that for as long as energy remains fragmented, there can be no guarantee of
safety. Final peace will come only when the entire stock of energy is drawn into one self-sustaining ball.
For the creation of Alphoma, our successors will need mental raw material. The energy stock of the universe has to
be spun, as it were, from straw into gold. Without a huge assembly of conscious individuals the system would not be
self-sustaining. The accumulated, concerted will power is necessary for the final atom to subsist.
Without other considerations, the simplest solution would be to create billions of tailor-made individuals, all of them
ready to enter Alphoma. But the energy with which the designers will be working is not new. All of it will have been
changed over and over again through the evolutionary process. The encrypted history of energy will have to be
incorporated into Alphoma; otherwise the solution will not contain everything in the universe. Unless every piece is
slotted into place, the jig-saw will not be properly reassembled.
For their mental raw material, therefore, the Alphoma technologists will set about the virtual regeneration of every
entity that has existed. This may sound an impossible task but only two factors are requisite.
In the first place, our successors will have to have complete access to history. They will have this because the
universe is a massive web of causal links. Every action, whether determined by nature or effected through will
power, has effects. The Alphoma designers will be able to build their absolute picture which will show each
happening.
The second factor will also be well within their grasp. In order to regenerate an individual, the designers need only
to reproduce the mapped memories and psychological traits of that person.
The Alphoma architects will not in any way regret that the work has to be done. In the first place, the history map
will finally satisfy the human drive of curiosity. Secondly, they will be impelled by love. By then they will know, in
vivid detail, the agonies of pain and loneliness which billions upon billions of their predecessors suffered. They will
know that such suffering was part of the process which helped the universe towards its perfect ending and they will
want everyone to share in the ultimate bliss.
When the research and the planning are complete, the process of resurrection will begin.
For each of us, though we have been dead for eons, there will be no gap between cessation of our time-based life
and the moment of our re-creation. From our perspective, we die and then, instantly, we are aware of the new
existence. But we will not be in paradise.
It might be suggested that the regenerators could do us all a favor and, in the detail of the design of our
reconstructed selves, build in a readiness to join with everyone else in the unity of Alphoma. But if they make any
changes, we would not be ourselves and the requisite to be true to history would not have been met.
Each of us, by time of our death, will have reached a point of self-development and understanding. We will need to
go through a process of education and change before we are ready to be incorporated into the final solution. Because
the bliss-state will be tantalizingly close, there will, unavoidably, be a last unease as we come to understand our
place in history and realize what we have to do to prepare ourselves for the fantastic moment of final release.
In preparation for timelessness, our resurrected selves will be ageless. All of our life events will be accessible but we
will not see ourselves as old or young.
Although this last journey will not be blissful, we will make it very gladly knowing that at the end of our road is the
timeless state of overwhelming contentment.
When everything is ready, we will fold ourselves and everything else in the universe, into the Alphoma ball. Probably
the condensation will take place, like the Big Bang, in a glorious rush. Space will accordingly contract and all that
exists will be Alphoma.

What will life in Alphoma be like?

From the purely physical point of view, Alphoma will be a seamless aggregation of all energy. However, for the
experience to have any meaning for us we must retain our identities. With this imperative, it is easiest to think of

each sentient creature as having a particular fragment of the energy mass as their physical base.
Probably, though, this will not be so. There are some brain functions which seem to be not place-specific. Some
mental powers seem to persist, albeit in a weakened form, even after radical surgery. More than likely, Alphoma will
physically be like a vast and complex brain. Each one of us will have total access to its fantastic power without
detracting in any way from the potency of anybody else.
Regardless of underlying energy arrangements, each one of us will be aware of our historical identity and will have
total freedom to do anything we please. Just what this will actually entail is a matter for speculation. In the matter
of the mental we are primitives. Through the arts, music particularly, occasionally through intense human
interaction, especially in love-making, we gain the tiniest of insights into paradise. Our circumscribed minds cannot
begin to grasp the detail of what it will be like to be the holder of total power.
The best we can do, perhaps, like our forebears who had to cast their theories in the homely terms of family life, is
express Alphoma life in the language of our times.
We will be able to fulfill our hearts desires.
We will be free live in the most idyllic villa by a perfect sea and enjoy the finest food. We can have apparent
people or machines or whatever to attend to our slightest whim. We can be any age we choose, have any physique.
Simply by making the decision we can change any aspect of our lives. We could move, for example, to a mountain
lodge or a glittering palace.
Available to us, as a picture show or as something we can experience through virtuality, will be the entire history of
the universe. Every event on every planet will be recorded and replayable in as real a fashion as we wish.
We will, without ceding power, be able to interact with real individuals, not in time- based, place-bound
circumstances but in the modes we choose. One may be deep in a tropical jungle, the other perhaps in the heart of a
fantastic city; the surroundings will be according to choice, the virtual actions of each individual appropriate, but
the essence of individuality will persist.
There will be no wearisome, indeed terrifying, sense of things going on for ever, because time will be not our ruler
but our servant.

Could earthly civilization come to a sudden end?

All that is guaranteed by Alphomism is that consciousness will survive and flourish somewhere in the universe. If
there is, and will be, no source of consciousness other than Earth, then we or our colonizing successors will certainly
survive.
If, on the other hand, there are other sentient beings in the universe, then our particular flickering flame could be
extinguished at any time. A strike by a huge comet or meteor, self-destruction through mismanagement of the
planets resources; these and doubtless many other catastrophes could bring an end to all our wonderful progress.

If the earth is dispensable, what is the point in struggling to advance?

The first consideration is that, even if the Earth is smashed to tiny pieces, nothing that we have achieved will be
irretrievably lost. The universal process is a chain of causes and effects. Even in the chaos of massive explosions
there are interactions which follow fixed patterns. It is well beyond our ability, at this stage, to reconstruct a picture
from the debris but one day this will be possible. Intelligent beings, whether of Earthly ancestry or not, will be able
to trace the map of our history and reap the benefits of our productivity.
There is also the consideration that light travels from the Earth. There is a huge wealth of information in the energy
that spreads out from our small but brilliant sphere. Others will be able to interpret this information and to make
good use of all that we have achieved.
The second component to this answer comes in the form of a prediction.
Alphomism predicts that energy which has been organized via an act of will is very slightly, though permanently,
changed by that process. A statue, a motor car engine, a piece of paper that is written on; the energy from which
they are made becomes upgraded. One day we will have instruments sufficiently sensitive to measure these changes.

Energy which has been organized by conscious beings is, through this process, made more malleable for future users.
The universe is a giant factory producing consciousness which in turn nudges energy towards a more amenable
condition.
If this prediction is true, it is worth the while of anyone at any time and in any place putting their creative stamp on
the environment. A destroyer can demolish structures and burn works of art but the image of those higher-level
constructions is forever implanted. Nothing is ultimately lost.

If Alphoma is inevitable, does this not mean that determinism is true?

In a very broad sense, the universe is determined. We know that the process works out because we exist. The
outcome is guaranteed, and it is not in the least surprising that very many people have a sense of inevitability.
But this does not have to imply that the system is mechanistic. The circular nature of things resolves the paradox
because crucial to the circle is the operation of free will. It is, in fact, the combined will-power of conscious beings
which is the force that guarantees the inevitability.

Is there such a thing as 'fate'?

It is not uncommon for individuals to have an inkling that something was meant to be. The fact that the notion of
fate has persisted so strongly suggests that it is significant.
The implication is that the designers of Nature built in two types of force, a strong set (the laws of nature) and a
weak set. Both sets are essential for the pushing of evolution in the direction of energy re-convergence.
An analogy, imperfect as always, is perhaps the clearest way of expressing the notion of fate in relation to everyday
lives.
The picture is of individuals making voyages in small dinghies. Some of the forces impacting on the vessel are
irresistible. A strong tide or a ferocious wind can totally determine the fate of a particular craft. But some, such as a
weak current or a light breeze, can offer choices. Should the individual run with the wind for a while or should they
put hands to the oars and aim resolutely for their chosen destination?
Each of us is somewhere in the sea of existence. Sometimes we allow the light breeze to blow us along and, instead
of reaching our intended destination, we come to somewhere unexpected. There is, for us, the tricky business of
deciding whether we need to take control or sit back and see where fate might take us.
Very likely the weak forces are physically manifested in the apparently random movements of nuclear particles.
They can be seen, perhaps, as the expression of an underlying common will. Whereas the laws of nature produce
predictable outcomes, the weak forces give us only probabilities. And, just as in terms of biological evolution a
mutation survives or it does not, so it is in life choices. We cant always know whether a weak force is pushing in a
positive direction but given that the overall trend is positive it seems wise sometimes to allow ourselves a degree of
cooperation with the promptings of fate.

What are the implications of fate for the theory of evolution?

When Darwin insisted that all biological improvement comes about through the mechanisms of mutation and natural
selection there were plenty who found this difficult to accept. Some of the inventions of nature seemed far too
clever to be ascribable completely to undirected processes. Critics were driven by this worry to suggest that
creatures were genetically changed by the things learned during their lifetimes. An acquired characteristic could, on
this suggestion, make the process of improvement easier for the next generation.
It seems almost certain that inheritance of acquired characteristics does not, in fact, happen, yet the unease still
remains. Nature has produced such astonishing artifacts. Can they all be the result of random processes?
Alphomism does not allow the notion of randomness, except in the limited sense covering circumstances where we
choose not to investigate causes. What it does suggest is that the weaker forces, built into the process by the
Alphoma creators, set up favorable conditions for progress without precisely specifying what line that progress must
take.
The principles of genetic mutation and survival of the fittest are, on this formulation, very much preserved but with
the added notion that evolution is steered by in-built tendencies for mutations to work towards ever more complex
structures.

If free will is a real force, can there be social sciences?

Science depends on regularity. It is only because forces operate in a consistent way, and make things happen
predictably, that scientists can produce results. If, as Alphomism maintains, humans are only partly governed by
natural forces it follows that their behavior is to a degree unpredictable and therefore that there is no hope that
social sciences can have the same level of predictive success as the natural sciences.
This is by no means to say that there should be no areas of study called sociology and economics, only that the
approach of workers in these fields should be quite different from that of the students of physics and chemistry.
Instead of looking for iron laws and over-arching theories, the social scientists should be looking for broad
correlations and trends. They should then devote most of their efforts to working out ways of putting some order into
the confusion. Predictability in social science will come from the establishment of systems and the passing of laws
rather than from in-built certainties.
Some studies, psychology for example, come somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of the sciences. To some
extent psychologists can work experimentally, especially where their inquiries stray towards the territory of the
science of physiology.

Explanations
One of the tests of the power and value of a theory is the number of phenomena which it can explain.
This section offers a selection of specific explanations but it by no means exhausts the Alphomist range.
Why life is so unfair!
Why there are laws of nature
Why people sometimes seem to remember former lives
Why people sometimes seem to be able to communicate over distance using
their minds
Why religion took such a hold
Why we have fleeting feelings of bliss and dread
Why art and music pervade all cultures
Why we love to solve puzzles
How people can be drawn into mass suicide cults

Why is life so unfair!

The universe is in transition from almost complete chaos after the Big Bang to complete order. Even allowing for an
exponential growth of knowledge and the rapid advances in technological expertise it is certain that we are at a very
early point in the historical process.
There is, therefore, no reason to expect life to be fair. With only the underlying laws and promptings to provide
shape, nature pursues its evolutionary experiments without regard for individuals. When people speak of natural
justice they make the assumption that there is an entity or a process which balances the scales. But there is no such
thing.
Thus, an individual caught in an avalanche or felled by a falling tree is not paying for past sins, they just have bad
luck. Nature knows no justice. Justice is a proper and necessary invention of self-conscious beings. We should use our
growing power to minimize the harm done by nature but for the foreseeable future we just have to accept that
disasters will occur. Nature is neither right nor wrong, kind or cruel. The only reasons we need to find for natural
phenomena are the forces which determine them.
The case is different, of course, with events which involve human factors. It is legitimate to ask questions about

underlying unconscious causes of accidents. But this still does not lead to anything like fairness. The car driver who
crashes because of a deep, unrealized drive towards suicide is not balancing any books for the others caught up in
the disaster. They just have the bad luck to be there.

Why there are laws of nature

We tend to take the existence of natural laws absolutely for granted. Gravity pervades, the electro-magnetic
processes go about their complex ways and so forth.
Yet the scientist, who wants an account of everything, should really ask; why do things behave in this way?
It is a difficult question for a determinist to answer. The laws of nature deliver their certainties but what agency
guarantees the laws?
Alphomism escapes this trap via the circular model. The laws of nature originate with the Alphoma planners. The
forces, both strong and weak, which guide evolution are the manifestations of the common will of the universe.

What people sometimes seem to be able to remember former lives?

Some people claim to have existed previously. They often cite reincarnation or a migration of souls as a loose
explanation of the phenomenon.
In everyday parlance, two factors define a person, their physical form and their mental attributes. Presumably,
nobody who claims to have existed previously suggests that there has been a physical continuance; the assertion is
made on the basis of mental phenomena. Those who claim a previous existence apparently have an array of
memories relating to a former life or lives.
For the Alphomist, the most likely explanation of the former lives phenomenon, if it is real, is similar to the
account as to how some people have access to scientific and artistic insights. Everything that was in Alphoma before
the explosion is within the universe in fragmented form. The information, whether it is in the form of a brilliant idea
or an array of memories, comes from a felicitous rearrangement of energy.
The same explanation can be used for cases where people feel unexpectedly at home or have powerful dj vu
experiences.

Why people seem to be able to communicate over distance using only their minds

There seems to be evidence that under certain conditions people can communicate without the need for sight, sound
or touch. The phenomenon seems to be associated with peoples who have not been much involved in the
development of scientific ways of thinking. There is also evidence that animals pick up signals of which most humans
have not the slightest inkling. For example, dogs start to prepare for their owners return long before the actual
arrival. Regardless of routines, they seem to sense the start of the return process.
There is, according to Alphomism, nothing mystical about this. Brains are electrical devices. Weak electro-magnetic
fields surrounding the heads of conscious beings can be photographed. It is very likely that some creatures, especially
those whose lives are relatively uncluttered and who experience comparatively little noise from the outside world,
can pick up ideas over long distances. There is no difference in principle between this and the process of radio
broadcasts, the only factor is one of sensitivity.
If, as seems to be the case, subtle long-distance perception is possible we face the interesting task of discovering the
workings of the transmitter and receptor mechanisms and of identifying the subtle forces.

Why religion took such a hold

To a modern scientific mind, many religious notions seem incredible yet they have persisted over a very long time.
Alphomism maintains that they did so because they are very close to the truth. The religious thinkers, delving into
the inner world, came up with good approximations. There are, of course, considerable differences between creeds
but generally religions have some of all of several crucial elements:

a belief that there is more to individual significance than the here and now
a perfect place (Paradise, Nirvana etc)
an entity with total knowledge
a catastrophic fall from grace
a hot and horrific aspect (Hades, Hell etc)

 a belief that there is some point in struggling against the difficulties life
brings
a belief that the lives of our ancestors are linked to our own.
the resurrection of the dead
It is understandable that religious thinkers had to express themselves in very human terms and that, given the scale
and power they were trying to encompass, they resorted to the notion of gods. But it is surely not too fanciful to see,
in the Christian tradition for example, the pre-Big Bang state as god the father, Nature, with all its suffering, as
god the son and the emergent Alphoma as god the holy ghost.
Sticking to the Christian tradition, it is also interesting that the idea that the human species began with one woman
who lived in a fertile place, has recently been supported with a claim that we are all ultimately descended from a
single African female.
It might seem, given the insatiable human thirst for truth, that the thinkers who focused on the exterior world would
have held centre stage in the early phase of human development. Survival depended absolutely on the success of the
scientific method. But in fact, those with a gift for introspection acquired great power. There are at least two
reasons for this.
Firstly, the objective method is slow. Science and technology require patience. It took a long time for the separate
elements of objective understanding to begin to link up.
Secondly, people doubtless sensed that, however effective the scientists might become, there was a rift between the
inner and outer worlds which could never be bridged. When the early thinkers who could make some approximate
sense of things announced their ideas, listeners doubtless accepted or rejected them on the basis of their own vague
perceptions. Where a significant number of people came to accept a theory derived from the inner world as true
this became an enshrined part of that communitys culture.

Why we have fleeting thoughts of bliss and dread

Many people have fragmentary tastes of the purest happiness. Many more, sadly, suffer from feelings of deep
foreboding.
Both are memories. No individual experienced the explosion of the primal atom but the fact of that disintegration
is written into the causal history of the universe. To a small extent we know of the heat, the darkness and the
disintegration. The whole truth about the universe is contained within the fragments.
By the same token, we know vaguely about the state of perfect peace. Whenever an individual experiences either
of the extremes they are tuning into small fragments of data about the history of the universe.
The dread, which the memory of the explosion generates, comes because the historical place and function of that
event are not immediately understood. It can be ameliorated by reminding ourselves that although the hellish fires
burned they did not hurt any individual and indeed they are a necessary phase of the evolutionary process.

What art and music pervade all cultures?

An artist, in whatever medium, generally starts with a blank sheet. Words or shapes or notes are put, in some kind of
order, onto the sheet. Throughout the process of producing a work of art, hundreds, maybe thousands of decisions
are made. The finished work is a summary of all these decisions.
In making the decisions, a line here, a blob of color there, the artist is delving into the huge treasure chest of the
unconscious. The promptings which come to the artist are of a different quality to those seized upon by the scientist.
The images are vaguer, they cannot be formulated into coherent theories, they say nothing that can be tested
against reality.
Yet this does not invalidate them. An observer of an art work may not be able to make any significant connection
between the shapes and the real world but it is certain that the process of observation causes changes in the
observers brain. There is, in some degree, a process of unconscious communication going on.
The vague notions, expressed by the artist, are to some extent absorbed by the observer, who is changed by the
experience. It is quite possible that sometimes the changes are radical enough to produce a shift in physical behavior
but more often than not the new information simply plays its part in shaping future thoughts.

With the words of prose and poetry, the forms produced by dance, the paintings, drawings and sculptures of the
artist, there is usually some reference to the real world. Often, referential shapes can emerge without the conscious
intention of the artist.
The case with music, the most abstract of the arts, is different. This speaks the most profoundly of ideas and states
of being which are only just accessible and which defy linguistic or graphic expression. The composer delves deep
into the store. Notions which are too subtle for us, at this stage of evolution, to express in other forms, emerge as
tunes and rhythms.
When we understand much more, and when technology is very much further advanced, we will be able to show how
the process of listening to music changes our ways of thinking. Generally the shifts are too subtle for us to log them
even subjectively but occasionally, music causes an observable seismic event in the mind. Conditions have to be just
right; we, and probably the performers and the audience about us, have to be in a particularly fortuitous state. Then
it can happen that listeners believe that they have gained an inexpressible insight into the most profound and
positive depths.
Those who have bravely tried to pin down such relatively rare experiences have sometimes written of the timeless
moment. This is, of course a contradiction but for the Alphomist it suggests that music can occasionally provide us
with the briefest, faintest illumination on the timeless glory that is to come.

Why we love to solve puzzles

In virtually all cultures there are puzzles or ritual re-shapings. The almost ubiquitous Cats Cradle starts with a simple
closed loop and becomes ever more complex until, in some versions, it reverts to the original. This is a perfect
representation of the universal process.
Jig saw puzzles also exert a wide fascination and these can readily be seen as simple models of the process of
cyclical destruction and creation. They show, too, in an approximate way, the necessity of the destructive phase
because, obviously, without this there is no challenge and no satisfying process.
Puzzles are popular because people sense that we are all part of a massive pass-time process and they reassure us
that order can and will one day be restored.

How people can be drawn into mass suicide cults

Cult leaders usually make absurd claims. Detached observers wonder how anybody could be taken in, yet hitherto
sensible citizens abandon their normal habitats and, eventually, give up their lives.
The Alphomist account is that those who are vulnerable to cult influences doubtless have a strong sense that death is
the quick route to peace. They are not quite as irrational as they often seem.

Morality

Morality comes into play when a general rule of behavior conflicts with current desires. I want to steal the money
but I know I ought not to is an example. In most societies, the moral rules have a religious origin but in Alphomism
there is no higher power to deliver the tablets of stone.
It might seem that, without a god to dictate how we should behave, everyone can be free to pursue their own
immediate interests regardless of general rules. But if Alphomism is true, then immediate self-interest is not the
only, nor even the major, consideration. The creation of Alphoma will bring self-fulfillment far beyond anything
achievable in Nature. It therefore makes sense for individuals to do what they can to further the process of Alphomacreation.
Yet an individual might still argue that Alphoma is going to happen anyway and that therefore there is nothing to be
said against a life of immediate gratification.
There are two arguments against this. Firstly, our successors who designed the system built into it an element we call
conscience. This ensures that we cannot be happy unless we are taking at least some account of the general process.
A strong Alphomist prediction is that, when we have discovered more sophisticated ways of measuring brain
processes, it will become clear that those who ignore the general interest are less happy than those who give it a
measure of priority.
Secondly, although there will be no question of crude retribution following the pre-Alphoma resurrection, we will all

have to go through a process of preparation. Those who have failed to develop love for others during their lifetimes
will have a harder time in training for Alphoma than those who are already in the loving mode. Alphomism suggests
that we can minimize our post-resurrection discomfort by making ourselves as Alphoma-worthy as possible during our
life times.
This entails the development of a healthy level of self-esteem as well as a comprehensive love for others. As far as
self-love is concerned, it is important to note that by properly loving ourselves we make it easier for others to love
us and therefore we increase the total of love in the universe.
In pursuit of the goals of satisfying conscience and preparing ourselves for Alphoma, therefore, Alphomism generates
two moral imperatives.
It might seem that a morality based on the pursuit of long term happiness is one rooted in selfishness but ultimately
there is no escape from this kind of selfishness and indeed there is nothing wrong with it.

Conscience

According to Alphomism, conscience is a mechanism which evolves along with consciousness. It is a device built into
Nature to ensure that we consider needs other than our own immediate ones and thereby take the process of
evolution forwards. Conscience works by triggering generally unwelcome feelings of shame and guilt.

Moral Imperatives
The evolutionary process is aimed towards the creation of Alphoma. For this to be achieved we need:
1. To have discovered everything there is to know about the universe.
2. To have developed an irresistible cohesive force
Discovering everything entails a strict focus on truth and the cohesive force will not be gravity but love.
The Alphomist should, therefore, act generally to maximize truth and love. This applies to our self development as
well as our dealings with others. However, because the binding process is essential to the creation of Alphoma, we
must give more emphasis to the love of others than we do to love of self.
There are times when love and truth come into conflict. Sometimes it is an unloving act to be candid.
The Alphomist answer to this dilemma is to note that in the end, everything will be known. The evolutionary priority
surely has to be the generation of the binding force. Therefore where there is a conflict between love and truth, love
must generally prevail. There are, of course, many occasions when the most loving act is to say or do something
hurtful. In each case we must honestly weigh our motives and assess the likely consequences of our actions.
Alphomism provides a moral method rather than a rigid set of rules. However, it makes sense to generate guidelines
to save having to think every case through from first principles. Some examples of this use of the method are given
below.

Theft
Violence
Suicide
Sex
Contraception
Euthanasia
Abortion

Theft

The definition of theft implies the taking away of something that somebody else owns and wants. The existence of
that wanting entails that it is an unloving act to purloin the item. Because our general duty is to put the love of
others before love of self, it follows that in general, theft is immoral.
However, where personal survival is in question, theft is justified. This is because Alphomism requires individuals to
survive in order to develop themselves and to make their contribution to the evolutionary process.

Violence

It is evidently an unloving act to inflict unsolicited pain on another. Acts of violence, other than those necessary for
self-defense, are therefore clearly immoral.

Suicide
Alphomism holds that we should do what we can in the drive towards the creation of Alphoma. The universal process
depends upon billions of individuals striving to reach the common end. There is, therefore, a general injunction to
keep going. Each individual can make a contribution.
However, there are circumstances where it is reasonable for an individual to opt out. There are some people for
whom the attainment of a reasonable degree of self love seems impossible. Whilst those around such people should
do everything reasonable to help, there must always be respect for the decision of someone who finds the battle
intolerable.
The same applies to those in acute, persistent physical pain.

Sex

At its best, sex is a massively powerful way for humans to express love, for themselves and for others. Sometimes in
sexual union people have sublime insights into the nature of the Alphoma unity. For as long as sexual activity is
guided by love, it is to be treasured and cultivated.
At a lesser level, sex provides also a highly enjoyable series of sensations. This is entirely acceptable provided that
there is no unloving exploitation of those who, through age, mental impairment, economic circumstances, power
relationships or any other factors, are not fully aware, or in control, of what they are doing.
These parameters apply whether the sexual interaction is between members of the opposite or same sex and
whatever the numbers of people involved.
Unfortunately, many conventional moralities have generated rules and taboos about sex that are not appropriate to
the modern age. Most people acquire, largely through psychological conditioning in childhood, fantasies and fetishes
about sex. For as long as these are not expressed in the exploitation of others, they can provide a very acceptable
bonus in sexual interactions.
Provided that no injury is done to others, individuals should be free to express their sexual natures in whatever
manner they choose. They should use the rational approach to morality to free themselves of the burdens of
inappropriate shame and guilt which so often, through an inappropriate conditioning process, attach themselves to
sexual behavior.

Contraception
Given the need to fill the universe with consciousness, there might seem to be a duty to produce as many offspring
as possible but this would be to ignore the complex needs of adults and children. It would evidently be foolish to
advocate an unlimited expansion of population.
Built into Nature is a very powerful reproductive drive. There would seem to be few worries that the supply of new
beings will run dry. Under these circumstances the clearly loving course is to allow adults to make their own decisions
as to when to conceive. Since sex can be a highly positive expression of inter-personal love there can surely be no
argument against the right to make use of contraceptives.

Euthanasia

Provided that elaborate safeguards are in place to avoid exploitation, it must surely be allowed that people who feel
that they have come to the end of their useful lives can request, and be given, a dignified end. It is a very unloving
act to keep someone who is in great pain, or who feels continuous self-disgust through loss of mental or physical
control, alive against their clearly expressed will.

Abortion
The moral calculus concerning abortion involves matching the well-being of a mature human against that of an
embryo. The calculus generally works out overwhelmingly in favor of the potential parent. Although a fetus
undoubtedly has a level of consciousness it is certainly very far below that of someone who has had years of
experience of the world. The embryo has no relationships, aspirations and loving memories; there is no awareness of

the future and all the other things that shape a fully fledged person.
Thus, although abortion should surely be a last resort, it must be permissible if it seems highly likely that the parent
would suffer acute hardship if the pregnancy came to full term. In fact, very often when abortion is being
considered, the difficulties facing the potential parent would also entail a troubled life for the infant.
It is a hard and traumatic thing to have to do but there are no grounds, in Alphomist terms, for declaring the act of
abortion to be immoral.

Selfishness

Even the most apparently self-denying person, who follows the strictest moral code, is acting in their own interests.
Whether the underlying drive is fear, love of god, a desire to make a viable society or indeed anything else, the
person cannot help but do what they ultimately want to do.
As in many other aspects of life, the apparent paradox of selfishness can be resolved by abandoning the search for
the absolute. There is a clear distinction between an immediate focus on our own needs, usually called selfishness,
and a broader approach, usually called altruism.
There is no need for the uneasy conflict between selfishness and altruism. The universe is so constructed that long
term selfishness promotes the well-being of everyone else. The search for the ultimate self-sacrifice is futile.

Super-nature
Some people claim that there are phenomena which are somehow above nature and which are therefore to a degree
mysterious.
Alphomism does not allow of anything which is ultimately beyond our understanding. It is tempting, therefore, to
dismiss all supposedly supernatural phenomena as illusions or delusions. But there is too much personal experience,
and too long a tradition of belief in such phenomena, for them to be lightly brushed aside.
Very probably, many supposedly supernatural events are real. They are natural, but they are super in the sense
that they are exciting and indicative that there are many more things in the mental world than are generally dreamt
of in more prosaic systems of thought.
Speculative attempts to account for some of these phenomena are given here.
Ghosts
Near death
Soul/spirit
Grace/prayer
Meditation
Ritual
Faith healing
Veneration

God

God

God is for many the ultimate supernatural, the maker of nature and its guarantor. People from all parts of the world
and at all times have had a strong sense of a god or gods. It is a notion not to be lightly dismissed.
God is normally used to refer to a being who can intervene in the workings of the world, who lays down certain
standards of behavior, who ultimately judges, who expects to be worshipped by humans and who possesses all
knowledge and all power.
It will be obvious that Alphomism does not support the idea of such a god but it nevertheless provides an account as
to why people feel so positively about the idea of a supreme being. Alphoma is a state of total knowledge and the
Omega designers set up the parameters for the operation of the temporal phase. The idea that omniscience and
omnipotence are real states is, therefore, true.
The difference is that in Alphomism, the state of totality ceased to exist with the Big Bang. It has no continuing
executive power. There is nothing to worship, no divine being to please, no recipient of prayer, no guarantor of daily
justice, no judge and, mercifully, no condemnation to Hell.

The fact that people have imbued the deity with executive power is explained by pointing out that the early thinkers
had extremely little on which to base their theory. The nearest analogy they had was that of parenthood. It seems
entirely natural to extend the particular to the general and to characterize the deity as a mother or father. So much
was mysterious to our ancestors that it is no wonder that they concluded that an almighty god created the universe.

Ghosts

So many people claim to have seen or heard spooky beings that it would be foolish simply to dismiss the notion. Yet,
unlike solid objects such as tables and chairs, ghosts do not appear reliably in place and time. They need a different
kind of theory from that which accounts for material things.
In search of this account we must, however, guard against a common error of thinking. We must remember that just
because there is a collection of phenomena which we call ghostly experiences there is not necessarily one story
which covers them all.
As far as apparitions are concerned, the most commonly offered explanation, and the most likely one, is that they
are record and playback phenomena. The suggestion is that objects other than magnetic tapes and waxy discs can
record events. Particularly dramatic happenings doubtless become more imprinted than others. For the most part,
the recorded message is too feint for us to access and most of us are far too preoccupied to be sufficiently receptive.
Sometimes, though, a highly sensitive person who just happens to be tuned to the right frequencies picks up such
recorded data.
Another type of ghost experience, which involves the movement of material things, clearly cannot be simply a play
back phenomenon. We need to explain what causes the hairbrush or whatever to fly across a room.
The most likely hypothesis is that the agency is a human one. Many poltergeist episodes are associated with people
who are in mental turmoil. Some humans, it seems, are capable of generating sufficient electro-magnetic force in
their brains to project it outwards and to disturb the physical order.
To those many people who have experimented with psycho-kinesis, and concluded that it is not available to humans,
it can be said only that we are a very long way from a full understanding of the interaction between the physical and
the mental worlds. Both are manifestations of energy. Very likely the circumstances under which mentally generated
energy interferes substantially with the physical world are peculiar. Surely, it is far better to see the poltergeist
phenomenon as unfinished research business than to invent unverifiable entities. One day, after a doubtless long and
tricky process, we will understand how these mental hurricanes can generate themselves from what are normally
barely perceptible breezes.
In this, as in several other aspects of Alphomism, the avoidance of irrationality depends upon the assumption that the
universe is a very subtle and sophisticated entity. Energy is capable of some astonishing feats.

Near Death Experiences

Many people who have been very close to death claim to have had unusual experiences. As with ghostly encounters,
there are too many of these reports for them to be dismissed. Generally people say that they glimpsed an idyllic
state but then came to realize that they had to go back, because their work was not completed.
But how, if Alphoma does not actually exist during the temporal phase of the universe, can there be any inkling of a
life beyond the one we know?
The Alphomist answer is that there is a mass of information in the unconscious part of the brain to which we normally
have very little access. The partially re-organized fragments of the primal atom contain significant chunks of the full
picture. The reason that we cannot normally log into this data is that our primary concern, quite rightly, is survival.
Our task, as it were, is to deal with the physical universe. We will make greater use of the inner store in the fullness
of time.
The proposition is that as the bodily functions and life-preoccupations shut down, people close to death become
something like the mystics; they gain much greater access to the inner store. The noise of reality is largely turned
off. They glimpse Alphoma but they also perceive that their lives have some time yet to run. It is a very natural
response for such people to account for such insights by claiming that they heard a voice telling them that there was
yet more to do.

Soul/Spirit

It is possible to imagine a definition of the word soul which would give it utility beyond the realms of religious
faith. It might refer to a combination of personality, behavioral traits, memories, tastes, aspirations and perhaps
other attributes that uniquely define an individual. Very often, but with less poetic effect, the words self or being
could be substituted without loss of meaning.
What is confidently predicted by Alphomism is that there are neither ethereal entities nor blobs of ectoplasm which
mysteriously inhabit bodies, giving them life, and which then float off to some other place at physical death.

Grace/Prayer

There being no divine patron, there is no flow of godly energy to humans. As far as our temporal selves are
concerned, Alphoma does not currently exist. There is no point in appealing to it. However, this does not negate the
notions of grace and prayer. They have been extant for thousands of years and they are therefore likely to have some
basis in fact.
The strong probability is that humans possess considerable powers which rely on relatively weak energy effects. For
the time being these forces are beyond the scope of our research instruments but the prediction is that one day they
will be measurable. Evidence for this comes from innumerable personal experiences and from powerful, undeniable
phenomena such as the emotion-enhancing effects of crowds.
It is by no means unreasonable, therefore, to assume that by focusing the mind, some effect on others can be
achieved. It is also acceptable to assume that gathering together and focusing can multiply the effect. And research
will very likely eventually show that a belief amongst participants that something positive is happening enhances the
effect whilst skepticism probably inhibits it.
The outcome for the Alphomist is that it is entirely rational to engage in something akin to prayer and to believe that
something positive, which might be called grace, is being transmitted. But the power of prayer, if it does indeed
turn out to exist, is a human one and grace is a natural force.
There is nothing illogical, therefore, in Alphomists gathering, if they so choose, to create the likely multiplying effect
which closeness has on the subtler human forces. They will not be asking any other entity for support, they will be
making use of their own powers.
It follows from this that all of the religious efforts over the centuries have not by any means been wasted. The fact
that prayer has usually been based on a belief in a god will surely not reduce its efficacy. However, one big
advantage of non-deistic prayer is that it removes the anomaly of asking a god to make good something which, if
theism is true, the god could have prevented.

Meditation
Quite often, though by no means invariably, meditation is associated with a getting in touch with some mysterious
other plane or an unspecifiable other dimension.
For an Alphomist, meditation is a very worthwhile activity but it is a form of inner exploration. If it turns out, as
seems likely, that thought really can be transmitted directly between brains, meditation is also a way of listening,
not just to other humans but to the background noise of nature.
It is different from ordinary thinking, which involves firing up the conscious aspect of the brain to the highest levels.
In meditation, the aim is to switch off as much as possible of the intellectual, self-directed, babble and to allow the
more subtle influences to register.
Many people, who have wrestled with complex problems, or even something as mundane as a crossword clue, have
had the experience of putting the struggle aside and maybe going for a walk. The unconscious carries on working
whilst we admire the view or listen to the birds and the solution to the problem pops into the conscious mind.
Switching off is sometimes productive and it is certainly a worthwhile thing to do.

Ritual

Closely associated with a belief in the supernatural are rituals such as those which are used for weddings and
funerals.
Most who have attended such ceremonies will be aware of their potency. Weddings can generate huge quantities of

love and joy. Funerals allow the discharge of otherwise unbearable measures of grief.
The abandonment of the notion of a god by no means entails the loss of ritual. The power of such gatherings comes
entirely from the uniting of subtle human powers. Alphomists can devise their own forms of ceremony for making
commitments, welcoming a new child, saying goodbye to someone who has died and for all the other occasions of
human sorrow and joy.
There is also no reason whatsoever for an Alphomist to shun religious buildings. If it is true, as claimed, that our
surroundings are subtly changed by events, then churches are in general sure to have benign atmospheres for the
staging of lifes rituals.

Faith healing

There seems to be no definitive evidence that something like faith healing is efficacious but this is another idea
which pervades and persists. Many people are convinced that they can influence their own healing by thinking
positively. And it has been shown, for example, that patients who have beautiful scenery outside their hospital
windows recover faster than those with nothing pleasant to behold.
The Alphomist prediction is that it will eventually be demonstrated that healing can be accelerated both by a
positive attitude on the part of the sick person and by mental input from others.
There is nothing unscientific about this. The probability is that the extremely powerful anti-viral and anti-bacterial
mechanisms in the body are inhibited by stress and by a lack of positive attitude. All that self-healing involves is the
mental effort to relax as much as possible, a focusing on the perceived site of the ailment and an encouragement of
the body to fight off the invader.
Where others are involved, as in the laying on of hands or through a form of prayer, there are, no doubt, real forces
passing from the healer to the invalid. Probably almost any human can help any other one in this way but it is fairly
certain that disbelief in the possibility will act as an off switch.
Whilst necessarily keeping an open mind on the matter, Alphomism suggests that there is enough evidence to take
the risk-free gamble of believing in faith healing. The important caveat, however, is that the faith is not in a god
but in ourselves.

Veneration
This is perhaps not quite in the supernatural category but it is worth considering in this context because of the
strong influence antiques and the like have on many people. We love to handle items that have been around for
centuries. We also prize highly things which are associated with powerful people. Original paintings are much more
expensive than copies which are visually no different.
The Alphomist account of this phenomenon is based on the prediction that objects permanently record output from
their creators and users. We will discover, eventually, that an original artifact actually does broadcast something
more than the perfect copy. It is as though the creator is, to some extent, in the room.

Predictions

Some of the major testable predictions made by Alphomism are:

There are no things that are not made of energy
There are no souls nor spirits.
There are two categories of sub-atomic events which are not predictable by scientific methods. A strong set will
be associated with the operation of natural laws and a weak set will create tendencies.
Brain events associated with willed activity will be physically unforced.
Brains engaging in willed activity will show a net gain of energy.
Genetic material will be found to contain information derived from Alpha.
Energy is changed slightly but positively whenever it is subjected to willed creative activity.

 Subtle forces emanate from the brains of conscious beings and these are capable of; a) acting over long distances
and b) having an effect on physical objects.
The brains subtle forces are enhanced by belief in them and by humans gathering with a common purpose.
People who have a high ratio of other-regarding actions to self-regarding actions are happier than those who focus
on self.
There are other self-conscious beings in the universe that are, in the essentials of thought, like us.

Government

According to Alphomism, the universal aim is for conscious beings to come together in the cooperative effort of
creating Alphoma. This strongly suggests that the ideal social system would be one which provides maximum
opportunity for individual development whilst at the same time optimizing social cohesion.
It seems obvious, therefore, that the method of government should be some form of democracy but this alone is not
sufficient to guarantee an Alphomist atmosphere. We need to use the Alphomist approach to establish rights, to
provide a solid basis for the rule of law and to help guide the control of economic power.
In addition, because the creation of Alphoma will ultimately depend on universal cooperation, we need to develop
systems for sustaining international order which will, in the much longer term, provide a template for inter-planetary
government.

Democracy
At our relatively primitive stage of evolution, inequalities of power are inevitable. However, the systems that we
implement should work to minimize these inequities, for it is manifestly unloving for one person to have more
degrees of freedom than another.
Of all the available systems of government, democracy seems the best suited for the maximization of equality.

Rights

Just as there is no omniscient provider of a set of moral rules, so there is no external guarantor of rights. The code of
rights has to be devised and implemented by conscious beings through a democratic process.
In working out the fundamental rights of its citizens, governments should seek to balance the needs of individuals
against the need to develop a cooperative ethos. As with individual morality, the only underlying principles in this
process should be the pursuit of truth and the maximization of love.
Varying circumstances might entail revisions of the bill of rights but a few examples of individual rights that would
probably never change are:

1. The
2. The
3. The
4. The

right
right
right
right

to
to
to
to

continued life
freedom from unwanted and needless pain
equality of opportunity for self-development
reasonable self-expression.

The democratic process should determine an extra code which makes explicit the rights of children. It should also
produce another code relating to animals.

The rights of children

It is unloving and therefore immoral in Alphomist terms, to restrict the liberty of an individual unnecessarily yet it is
self-evident that children need to be protected and guided until they are ready to take their places in the adult
world. They arrive with their rich stores of genetically encoded material but they do not have an in-built
understanding of the way things are.
The code of rights for children should aim to preserve them from self-harm and from damage of external origin. It
should aim to produce Alphoma-tending adults, implying that children should be in social groupings which embrace
the core values of love and truth. It should also ensure that every individual has the opportunity to develop their
potential to the maximum because this will optimize the progress towards Alphoma.

The rights of animals

There is, according to Alphomism, a continuum from the predominantly physical universe which existed after the Big
Bang to the predominantly mental state which prevails in Alphoma. It is suggested that there is always an element of
consciousness even in the most inanimate of objects.
However, it is not supposed that stones, nor even plants, are significantly conscious. There is everything to be said
for treating the materials of the world, and the flora, with a kind of respect but it would be inappropriate to invest
entities which are very much at the material end of the spectrum with anything like rights.
The question is; at what point should we draw the line?
It seems entirely sensible to do so on the basis of the apparent level of perception. The objects which we call
inanimate have no pain mechanisms. Animals, on the other hand, most definitely do. It is manifestly unloving to
inflict needless pain on a creature which not only has recognizable neural pain systems but which shows acute
behavioral signs of deep discomfort.
Whilst many would agree that it is wrong to inflict pain on an animal, they would still argue that humane killing is
acceptable to provide food for humans.
This is one of the many areas where any degree of finality is unattainable. Attitudes shift all the time. Some draw
the living beings for food line at the edge of the watery world of fish, many others set their limit at the vegetable
level.
Ultimately we will have no need for real sustenance and the problem of physical feeding will disappear. In the
meantime we have to bear in the mind that we are in a tough developmental process where ideals cannot always be
met. There will, for a long time yet, have to be a degree of personal choice as to how we behave towards animals.
But where there are no allegedly overriding imperatives, such as the need to eat, it is surely right that, at the very
least, animals should be saved from needless suffering. The code of animal rights should be drawn up with this as a
priority.

Rule of Law
Alphomism holds that we should all be working, bonded by love and in pursuit of truth, to bring the creation of
Alphoma ever closer. For this to happen, we need stable societies.
Given that each of us has our own set of priorities, and that our aims often clash with those of others, we need a set
of generally agreed rules to circumvent, and sometimes deal with, conflicts of interest. Sometimes these rules have
been used to control the private lives of citizens but this, for the Alphomist, is not necessary. The rules should be
devised purely for ensuring the good order of society.
If all humans had reached the point where destructiveness was eliminated from their nature, they would follow the
agreed rules willingly. But of course this ideal is a long way off. People disregard the needs of their fellow citizens,
sometimes through lack of self control but sometimes purely for the sake of perceived self-interest.
As a result of this imperfection, there have to be sanctions designed to deter law-breakers. Those apprehended have
to go through a process of justice whereby the sanctions will be fairly applied. Sometimes the sanctions involve
removing individuals from general society in order to protect other citizens.
Traditionally, legal sanctions have been seen as having two major functions in addition to deterrence and protection.
They are supposed to somehow cancel out the hurt of the offence through a process of retribution and they are
intended to reform the malefactor into a law-abiding citizen.
Neither of these should be associated with legal processes. Sanctions should be seen only as penalties, not
punishment.

Justice

For the Alphomist, justice is a combination of love and truth. Every effort must be made to determine the truth in
criminal matters and then, if responsibility for a crime is established, the court must act with love in deciding the
fate of the wrongdoer.

This contrasts strongly with the current practice of treating the malefactor with something close to hatred but such
an approach is demeaning to the officers of the court and counter-productive to the evolutionary process. Rather
than making speeches such as. You are evil and will pay the full price, judges should have an attitude of regret that
the crime happened and that the sanction has to be imposed.
In sentencing criminals, judges must obviously work within the statutory limits of the sanctions but must show that
they will be applied, otherwise they will lose their efficacy. In deciding the severity of penalties, it will be entirely
proper for judges to bear in mind the need to protect society. The conclusion that someone is too dangerous to be
free is very different from the one that the person is evil and has to suffer.
Judges sometimes, almost on a whim it seems, decide to make an example of an individual and dole out a
maximum sentence. This should certainly not happen. The current rate of sentencing is an indication as to how
seriously society is taking particular crimes. If there is an increase in concern about a particular matter then a public
announcement should be made that, henceforth, those convicted of the stated offence can expect harsher
treatment. Ideally, such variations in tariff should be determined only by the law-makers. It is the elected
representatives of the people who should decide the priorities.
When sentencing people to custody, judges should be able to offer two options. Criminals should be able to choose
whether they spend their time in prison doing whatever is required of them in terms of work or whether they go to
an establishment which offers programs designed for personal change.
Inevitably, some who have no intention of making the effort to change will choose what they might see as the softer
option but they will soon discover that they have made a mistake. Some will, perhaps, begin to change in spite of
themselves. Those who seem not to be cooperating will be transferred, after due process, to a time-serving
establishment. Those who remain, genuine self-reformers or just good actors, will go through the appropriate
programs and some will profit, as, of course, will society, from their change of attitude.

Retribution

The Alphomist view is that the state should not concern itself with punishment. The main reason for this is that the
natural reaction of guilt ensures that anyone who breaks one of their sincerely held moral tenets feels wretched,
often for very long periods of time. The punishment is self administered, it is built into the moral system. There is
no need for the state to intervene.
It will doubtless be argued that there are plenty of law-breakers who feel no guilt but if this is so, it is certain that
they cannot be punished. Someone convicted of a crime they did not commit, and who therefore feels innocent, sees
any applied penalty as torture. Someone who feels morally justified in breaking a particular law probably perceives
the penalty as the worthwhile price of martyrdom.
Whereas a court process can assess the presented facts to decide whether or not the accused actually perpetrated
the crime it can never reliably decide the state of mind of the convicted person at the time the crime was
committed. Happily, there is no need for it to do so.
Some argue, though, that regardless of guilt, criminals have to be punished in order to satisfy the desire of the
victim for vengeance.
It is certainly true that almost all of us feel real anger at some crimes. If we see a helpless person being attacked the
common instinct is to do violence to the aggressor. If one of our loved ones is the victim of wrong doing, we yearn to
bring compensatory suffering to the offender.
Of course, these feelings are natural, just as are the urges to settle heated arguments with a punch or to have sex
whenever we feel like it. In more primitive times, aggression and frequent copulation were useful for the survival of
the species. Happily, these once beneficial but crude responses are now largely regulated. We can see better ways of
organizing our lives.
So, according to Alphomism, should it be with the drive towards vengeance. As the above arguments suggest, we can
never know precisely what goes through the mind of another. We do not have the information on which to base an
informed judgment. We should express the feelings of repulsion for the destructive act but recognize the point about
guilt. Either the perpetrator knew that they were doing wrong or they did not. If they did, guilt will make them
pay. If they did not, then they cannot be morally blamed.

Reform

One of the odder notions of classical penal thinking is that people can somehow be made good by doing nasty things
to them. Of course, a criminal might think twice about breaking the law again having had a spell in prison but this
does not imply reform. All that has happened is that the deterrent effect has been reinforced. The urge to break the
rules is still there.
Incarceration is not, of itself, reformative, For adults, coercion is totally inimical to personal change. However, there
is no reason why the opportunity of reform should not be offered to prisoners. If they choose to use the time
positively, so much the better.

International

The road to Alphoma will involve ever-increasing cooperation. We need, therefore, to strengthen the international
bodies which can regulate relationships between nation states and devise rules and systems for ensuring that the
Earth flourishes.
Earths contribution to the exploration of the universe should also be internationally regulated and financed. When,
as we almost certainly will, we make contact with beings from other planets, we will need a unified approach to the
establishment of relationships.