MAN REFLECTS ON MAN

Millions of years ago men of unimaginable knowledge and incredible age, members of a civilization established on another planet in the cosmos, arrived on earth when life on this planet was still in the early stages of evolution. We know that they came from a planet in the constellation of Pleiades, one of the groupings of stars that is part of the 100,000 million stars that compose our galaxy, the Milky Way. Even for the greatest scientists of our day it would be impossible to imagine how these men picked our planet from among this immense number of celestial bodies. And if it weren't for the Engraved Stones of Ica, which tell us about the velocity with which they were able to move through the cosmos, it would be impossible to accept the fact that they traveled the 20 million light years between Pleiades and earth.

These powerful human beings did not arrive on our planet at the end of an aimless adventure. Probably they knew that beyond the Milky Way, infinitely farther, and stretching in all directions, there were and are uncountable galaxies with millions of planets, among them, perhaps, many similar to earth. But they did not go to these other planets; they came to earth, and they created humanity here, all of which makes one think that their expedition had a mission whose focus was our planet. The men created on earth were differentiated one from another by their capacity for, the quality of, and the amount of their knowledge. It should not be thought that the men who came from outer space established this intellectual hierarchy with the egoistical purpose of limiting some men's intellectual range so as to take advantage of them. Instead, the different levels of ability were necessary for the performance of the tasks that sustain life, so that each level in its way served the whole society. To move up to the next level required long periods of reflection on the knowledge one had already attained. Thus it was assured that man, before he moved up in the hierarchy, was thoroughly convinced, by his own experience and the knowledge he possessed, of the importance of the function he had been performing. The people knew they could all arrive eventually at the intellectual level of the men who had created them. The hierarchy and one's position in it not, then, a prize or a punishment; and the ability to move up in the hierarchy was a natural right to be exercised.

Undoubtedly those who came from the cosmos were much more highly evolved even than those men on our planet who attained the highest levels of intellectuality. Proof of this can be found in the fact that the men created on earth, despite their considerable cognitive advances, put not only the planet but also the human race in jeopardy. The pre-cataclysmic circumstances and the cataclysm itself were the results of the inferiority of the men on earth to those who cane from outer space. I think that the men who were made by the ancient gliptolithic men changed the goal of their lives as they began to utilize the high cognitive ranges to the detriment of those who occupied the lower ranges. The motive behind this unnatural use of the cognitive powers was the growing emphasis on material things. If we remember that what the men who came from the cosmos installed in the people they created was the desire to develop intellectual capacity so as to increase and preserve knowledge, then enjoyment of material things represents a regression toward the animal state and, as a result, a change in the purposes and goals of mankind. The idea of material pleasure and the goal of contentment in this life came to be ideals for the rest of mankind, the aspiration of all humanity. The gliptolithic men, the ones who made men on earth, had the cognitive power to oblige the others to follow a more worthy path. But this they did not do. They were true to their cognitive principles, and they respected the decision of the others to do as they wished, because they knew that to oblige them to change their ways was a form of slavery. The gliptolithic men knew that the path chosen would lead men to their destruction, and with it the destruction of the splendid civilization they had forged, but they also knew that this destruction would not be absolute, and that some men would survive. Thinking of these survivors and their descendants, they began to engrave the messages that we now begin to appreciate. The order to carve the stones was the only order they resorted to. They knew that someday, if the human race did not become extinct, men would find these records and decipher the messages they contain. They knew as well that the ancient error, the wrong path chosen, would become clear and the true goal of mankind would be grasped. Once these messages had been engraved, the gliptolithic men returned to their planet.

Millions of years later, the goal in life chosen by the gliptolithic men's creations still persists. Modern man appears to have arrived at the conclusion that the nature of man is evil, that we ought not to trust one another, that man is the enemy of man. We have thus managed to construct a world in which everyone, in his search for happiness, thinks and believes that he can conduct this search at the expense of others. It should not surprise that in such a world phrases like "man is wolf to man" and "the struggle for life" should acquire unprecedented significance. We no longer mean by this man's struggle to dominate nature; we mean, lamentably, man's struggle to dominate other men. On this premise has modern man developed ways to, paradoxically, attain happiness. But he is very far from attaining it. Caught up in the struggle he is convinced is necessary, all he has managed to attain is the probability that he will live longer than his grandparents and great-grandparents. The rest, the higher things of life, reflection and cognitive growth - the source of understanding, solidarity, love - he is far from achieving. Unsure of himself, modem humanity is despondent, egoistical, sullen, violent - though he fears death - he creates it.

The support given science today would seem a sign that we are taking the road of reflection and knowledge. But as we know, science and the technology derived from it do not produce the well-being that is sought. Men with power in the material sense use scientific and technological achievements to divide, frighten, and destroy man.

Subjected to an exclusively material life, modern man begins to delegate his reflective and cognitive functions to the machine. Machines think for man and men trust them, and every day we move farther and farther away from the exercise and the development of our cognitive power, every day we lose faith in our intellectual labor. Trusting machines gives access to the most powerful means to find better ways to dominate mankind. But the higher function of thought, so central to human nature, in the hands of the machine subjects man to accept the machine's results, which then dominate him. Since man, in spite of being the most perfect creature on earth, is likely to make mistakes, machines are even more likely to make mistakes. And the smallest error made by a machine can lead man to make a decision that means the destruction of mankind and the planet.

This negative view of modern man does not mean that we do not still have the capability to be different, to convert ourselves into cognitive beings. The men who came from the cosmos and the unknown number of generations that followed are eloquent proof that man is capable. The nature of man, in other words, is not the problem. Modern man has been basing his life on mistaken assumptions for a long time - mistakes that go against his nature - as a result of the fact that he is ignorant of the true goal of human existence. The development of the capacity to reflect and increase knowledge is the only way by which man can achieve a superior form of life in which evil and egoism have no place. Modern man has always been a prisoner of fear in the face of the dim horizon of his origin and his past, for which reason he thinks this horizon to be mysterious. At the same time he wants to know that exists beyond his planet, and since alone he cannot do either, he comes to the conclusion that this can only be achieved by supernatural beings. But through the Engraved Stones of Ica. we begin to gain knowledge of that which he has always thought to be an unresolvable enigma: his origin and his past. Also through the Engraved Stones of Ica we see that if we take as the goal of human existence that which was the goal of the humanity that lived on Earth in the remote past, we can learn about what is beyond our planet. The Engraved Stones of Ica tell us that for this it is not necessary to be supernatural, because to liberate oneself from the forces that hold men back on this planet, a human and not a supernatural nature is essential. With time the ongoing cultivation of the reflexion and the increase in knowledge can make of man an entity whose cognitive energy is projected into the cosmos and permits him to do amazing things. The most formidable thing about this projection of cognitive energy, as the Engraved Stones of Ica tell us, is the extraordinary possibility that man has to achieve it without his body perishing. It should not be thought, as some might assume, that in situations like these man has to convert himself into two entities. Man is always only one entity. His cognitive energy, no matter how far into space it is projected, never ceases to be a fluid tied forever to the organic mass, but at the same time it is not a simple mass; it is impregnated with this cognitive energy, like an energy source that projects its fluid if it is completely energized.

If the men who came from the cosmos were intellectually and cognitively much more highly evolved than even the man in the highest range of the intellectual hierarchy they created, still they were not gods, but men. Their extraordinary achievements make them models for man's potential. Now that we know about them and their achievements, perhaps modern man will ask more questions about his origin. Were these the first men in the universe? Or had they, before their arrival, on Earth, been created by and his past, for which reason he thinks this horizon to be mysterious. At the same time he wants to know that exists beyond his planet, and since alone he cannot do either, he comes to the conclusion that this can only be achieved by supernatural beings. But through the Engraved Stones of Ica. we begin to gain knowledge of that which he has always thought to be an unresolvable enigma: his origin and his past. Also through the Engraved Stones of Ica we see that if we take as the goal of human existence that which was the goal of the humanity that lived on Earth in the remote past, we can learn about what is beyond our planet. The Engraved Stones of Ica tell us that for this it is not necessary to be supernatural, because to liberate oneself from the forces that hold men back on this planet, a human and not a supernatural nature is essential. With time the ongoing cultivation of the reflexion and the increase in knowledge can make of man an entity whose cognitive energy is projected into the cosmos and permits him to do amazing things. The most formidable thing about this projection of cognitive energy, as the Engraved Stones of Ica tell us, is the extraordinary possibility that man has to achieve it without his body perishing. It should not be thought, as some might assume, that in situations like these man has to convert himself into two entities. Man is always only one entity. His cognitive energy, no matter how far into space it is projected, never ceases to be a fluid tied forever to the organic mass, but at the same time it is not a simple mass; it is impregnated with this cognitive energy, like an energy source that projects its fluid if it is completely energized.

If the men who came from the cosmos were intellectually and cognitively much more highly evolved than even the man in the highest range of the intellectual hierarchy they created, still they were not gods, but men. Their extraordinary achievements make them models for man's potential. Now that we know about them and their achievements, perhaps modern man will ask more questions about his origin. Were these the first men in the universe? Or had they, before their arrival, on Earth, been created by humanity. It does not: surprise, then, that the hidden purpose of the enormous amounts of money devoted to improving the technology of space travel, is to develop the capability to leave the planet and establish a new life on another planet to be populated only by the intellectual elite and the wielders of material power, in case the atmosphere is completely destroyed by an irrational atomic war. If this should happen they would not go far. And since they would carry with them the poisonous egoism that had caused the disaster on earth, their descendants could but reproduce the same conditions in the new habitat which would eventually make life impossible. Thus, these descendants would flee from planet to planet, over the course of millions of years, making of the universe a large and growing trash heap.

The Engraved Stones of Ica, the records of the highest form of existence man has achieved, continue, nonetheless, to be disregarded by archeologists. Despite the fact that fifteen years have passed since the appearance of the stones, officially they are still ignored. It can easily be appreciated how many sacrifices I have had to make to maintain my faith in the scientific value of the stones. The incredulity demonstrated by those who from the beginning had the professional obligation to scientific determine the validity or invalidity of the stones, and the persistence of that incredulity, make me think that they fear that everything classical Archeology has built up about man's past would dissolve into nothingness before the force of the truth in these stone artifacts. Is this incredulity another sign of egoism, as much or more terrible than that which is leading our planet to disaster? Doubt, at first, was a necessary step to arrive at the truth. Later, even though a prestigious archeologist found some specimens that proved that the Engraved Stones of Ica were not of recent manufacture, doubt turned inexplicably to incredulity. And incredulity has persisted despite the fact that laboratory analyses from well-known institutions have demonstrated that the engravings are old, given the patina of oxidation that covers the incisions. What should we think of the efforts to prove that the Engraved Stones of Ica are the work of local artisans? And what should we think when, because of this argument, the stones are allowed to continue leaving Ocucaje and are continued to be sold? It is as if someone wanted all the Engraved Stones of Ica to disappear so that when, someday, there is a search for the deposits left by gliptolithic man, they would be empty. If this were to happen, the only engraved stones on display would be those in the Museum of Javier Cabrera Darquea, which would lend more credence to the idea that I myself had the stones manufactured. But even given this unhappy scenario, the inconceivable work it would take to hide all reference to this humanity who lived in the remote past, would have been in vain, because that ancient humanity left their messages in metal objects, in ceramics, in carved wood, in cloth, in groupings of stone structures, and in the ferrous soil of the Pampa de Nasca. As if that humility had foreseen that the material chosen, for its durability, to tell their story - stone - might not be taken seriously.

The obstacles, the pressure put on me to abandon my investigations, have been innumerable. But my status as a scientist, sensitive to the evidence of a more intelligent human being who inhabited our planet, has permitted me to rise above the obstacles that I have encountered in these ten years. My endurance stems from my conviction that the Engraved Stones of Ica are the legacy not of one group of men to another, but of one humanity to another, our humanity. I an aware that new and larger obstacles still stand in my way, but my commitment to making the messages of the Engraved Stones of Ica available to actual humanity, will carry me through. Messages I have already deciphered through thousands of hours of observation and analysis in the last ten years of ray life await the opportunity to be made known. The messages in his book are meant to introduce actual humanity to the world that existed so long ago. And since the path we are following is so different from theirs, the messages of the gliptolithic world can only be absorbed bit by bit. Undoubtedly there are many more that need to be deciphered. This requires considerable time and thought; But nothing will keep me from continuing to disentangle the legacies of the humanity who lived in the remote past, even if it takes me the rest of my life.