Philosophical Rogues and Antiheroes of the Intellectual. Roger Babson (Part 1)

I have always wondered if the Universe is consciously aware of our exsistance, an all encompassing conscious entity.  The main beleifs of Hinduism, Buddhists and Taoists, is that we live in a panpsychism existence, that we are one and part of the Universal construct. The Taoists and Zen Buddhists believe that we should flow with nature, not go against, know and accept it. This, in its spiritual philosophy would offer the practitioner to understand that within Space and Time, the elements even the subatomic particles, we are connected to, yet, paradoxically we learn, through meditation of Eastern philosophies to disconnect or detach from the overly conscious mind, to be calm, slow down impulse in some cases rework the determinism of mind and body, decision making that can be clumsy and flawed.  And yes at the end of the day, we are flawed creatures, bestowed with an ability to be self aware, to think with a structured awareness, consciously of our environment assisted in this development of the millions of years of evolution.  However, this evolution has come with a heavy burden that is the self-aware human being.  To know, has also caused us to be aware of the fear that life ends and we don't live forever, that nature is a constant.  We are not. The indifference and duality is what the Buddhists would call the cycle of birth, death and suffering, the endless lives of the karmic wheel – is to bridge the duality.  The West on the other hand, particularly the Greeks, philosophized about the gods to be the controllers of life and fate, when Plato wrote Timaeus, he thought of the Earth as a unique concept that evolved both as a center of life and consciousness within the whole Universe, a world that has a soul, divided into 4 parts by the Greek letter Chi (X).  And we are all part of that soul.  But, we can see with the idea of panpsychism, that it maybe reassuring in an understanding to abate our fear of isolation in the cosmos, yet, being conscious of birth and the suffering of life – is also to know what nature can inflict onto the conscious mind.  There is a cruelty, the Greeks would look up at the gods, see Zeus, the main god, as a vengeful, uncaring and arrogant deity.  He saw human beings no more than insects, to play with and destroy.  In the fables of Greek mythology, there was one god, who was compassionate towards man, he understood the nature of a deity, their arrogance and disregard for the plight of humanity to survive the darkness.  The Earth, a place where we all reside, its harsh winters, hot and dry summers – that bought droughts, crop failures, famine, disease and death.  This particular god was a trickster, he mocked the arrogance of other gods, knowing what would enrage Zeus even more – was to free man from his predicament, the god's name was Prometheus. "The God of Forethought", he decided to give man fire, tools and the ability to free himself from the tyranny of nature, that are the god/s themselves.  To survive, to be protected from the elements, cultivate and use the land.  To live, to endure.  Prometheus stole from the gods enabling humanity to be a light in the darkness. For this, he was punished by Zeus, sent to an island, chained to a rock to have a vulture eat at his liver for all eternity.

So, what if we, despite the idealisms of  panpsychism, perceive nature as an enemy of humanity.  More so its most oppressive element.  Gravity.  Of the mid 1900s Roger Babson, a billionaire Entrepreneur from Gloucester, Massachusetts, who was a writer and investor with a keen interest in the rational.  The sciences.  Influenced heavily by Issac Newton whilst studying at MIT, particularly the theory of gravity.  Babson was also a stanch believer in the Christan God or at least the groundwork of its spirituality, that for its intention was a template in early American society.  He championed his own interpretation of what Christian spirituality entails, for Babson it meant a free and open place for contemplation, reflection and understanding.  And more importantly, he felt that it would strengthen the moral condition of a society.  Yet, there was a paradoxical aspect to Babson, focused on the empirical of science, is also viewed the Christian concept of a deity as an absolute.  It would appear, that his rational, at times, would overtake the assumption of an all seeing omniscience.  As he was able to forecast the stock market crash of 1929 by studying the statistical aspects, the charts and maths – knowing what was unsustainable within the peak of cyclical markets, seeing that reality, even under the expression of spiritual and scientific viewpoints - all things peak and then decline. Of course, the focus to predict an event and of its time and date, will always stand as the illusive, no matter the spiritual or scientific/economic beliefs.  But, for Babson, it was enough to combine the two, as the foundation for a moral framework.  An ethical and just society based on knowledge, merit and technology. 

After writing  many books, essays, and magazines. Roger Babson, in 1947 lost his grandson to drowning, which also reignited  a tragic childhood memory of his sister's drowning.  To which  he soon after wrote in 1948 an essay titled "Gravity – Our Enemy Number One", where he describes the helplessness of his sisters drowning. 

"When I was a boy, my oldest sister was drowned while bathing in Annisquam River, Gloucester. Mass. Yes, they say she was ‘drowned,’ but the fact is that, through temporary paralysis, or some other cause (she was a good swimmer), she was unable to fight Gravity, which came up and seized her like a dragon and brought her to the bottom. There she smothered and died from lack of oxygen."

Within he same year he founded the "Grativty Reserach Foundation".  Babson was no crackpot idealist, he believed that, like the fable of Peomtheus, there is a need to conquest the unseen.  So, in light of these tragic events, Roger Babson decided to challenge the natural world with technology.

To fight his God, he attempetd to wage a war on gravity