Encountering the Theory
I met Arthur shortly after the publication in 1976 of his two books, The Reflexive Universe and The Geometry of Meaning. Ever since, I have been totally captivated by both his prodigious goals and his unique intellectual genius. I sincerely believe that the lifetime of discoveries leading to his theory of evolutionary process constitutes the most significant Weltanschauung of the past 2,000 years.
I was fortunate to observe and study in some depth the two mental levels (using Arthur’s terms) of his total being—Level I, his “projective mind,” or spiritual purpose, and Level III, his “objective mind,” or conceptual constructions. But I had less opportunity to personally observe and study his physical levels—Level II, the “projective body,” or psychic-emotional-motivational realm and Level IV, the “objective body,” or sensory-motor skills. Although I would very much like to believe in magic and each and every far-out paranormal possibility, I am at best a “hopeful skeptic” in regard to most paranormal claims. This was my mindset when I visited Arthur and Ruth at their home in Downingtown in the late spring or early summer of the mid-1980s.
While Arthur and Ruth were in Berkeley during the previous winter, the underground water pipes had apparently frozen and burst at an unknown location. There was no observable manifestation of leaking water over the large amount of land potentially carrying the defective underground pipes, and Arthur had no maps or other means of knowing where the pipes had ruptured.
Around lunch time on the second day of my visit, an old friend of Arthur’s, a so-called “dowser,” happened to drive up. During their conversation Arthur casually asked him if he had the time to locate the ruptured water pipes via dowsing. This gentleman at first declined and then said that he would give it a try, and he proceeded to find a proper stick to act as a dowsing rod. Holding the two forked ends of the stick, he wandered around over at least 50-60 yards of land for the next few minutes and then proclaimed that we should dig at a particular spot, which appeared to me to be one of the least likely places to find a buried water pipe. I looked for any external signs of leaking water and found none. Nevertheless, we found some shovels and an old post-hole digger and began to dig down several feet, hitting bedrock as we dug deeper. Though I didn’t say so to Arthur, I was convinced that this site was a random choice and that our efforts were futile, but Arthur insisted that we continue digging at a particular corner of the hole.
Almost simultaneously two events occurred: one handle of the post-hole digger broke—and suddenly there was water leaking and then gushing out from the rocky area where we were digging. We had found the leaking pipe! My mouth fell open. I was amazed. I wanted to call the press and announce that I had just witnessed some real magic. But Arthur, seemingly unimpressed by what was for him a “typical” psychic event, was already concentrating on another task—repairing the post-hole digger.
As we walked toward the barn, he spotted a small hickory tree and began talking about the high tensile strength of hickory. We cut down the hickory tree and Arthur began stripping off the bark as we continued to walk toward the barn. In the barn I watched him grab whatever vise grip and tools were immediately available as he stripped, cut, sanded, and bolted together a beautiful new post-hole digger over a matter of a few minutes. Watching the liquid flow of his movements as he rapidly sculpted this handle with whatever tools he happened to bump into was like watching a mesmerizing dance. I couldn’t decide which event I liked more, the projective psychic magic or the objective physical finesse.
This then was the total Arthur—simultaneously manifesting all his levels of being, mental and physical. These two blended events were branded into my memory that day, and my respect for Arthur (already maxed out) somehow increased another notch.
