Birthright

The Coming Posthuman Apocalypse and the Usurpation of Adam’s Dominion by: Timothy Alberino, published: 2020

Author-adventurer-philosopher Timothy Alberino asks: What if things we have read and discussed for centuries, if not millennia, were true – just not quite the way we had interpreted them?

What if all that is, is just what it seems – but we’re missing one simple ingredient? Perspective.

Alberino reminds us of the Allegory of theåve, Plato’s thought experiment in which some prisoners are condemned to remain chained to a wall from birth, facing another wall upon which shadows dance. We assume they will believe that what they see is real – until they finally are released to turn and see the “real” things they had only “seen through a glass, darkly.”

Early in a fascinating and exhaustive book detailing his search, Timothy Alberino makes a thoughtful observation: the search for the “theory of everything” has led us, in a scientific sense, to something that, literally, “resonates.” String theory. This is the theory that all of the universe is, “at its most fundamental level…vibrating filaments, or strings.” These strings, he suggests, play the harmonious notes of all matter. Or, at times perhaps, it echoes as a shriek rather than a song.

Alberino goes through biblical and other ancient scripture to discover how often God/the numinous is expressed in terms of sound: creation is spoken into being; “in the beginning was the word;” and how often communication with that higher level is expressed in terms of music: songs of praise and the harmony of the spheres.

After the first couple of chapters, Alberino urges the reader to metaphorically “move over,” so that we can observe from a new angle; to open our “receptors,” our eyes and ears, to gather more/new information and what it means in the larger story of creation.

Alberino tells a story that has elements of C.S. Lewis’ “Space Trilogy,” reviewed in this column not long ago. The idea of both Alberino’s proposition and Lewis’ is that the universe was made for higher beings to inhabit, and that these habitations have been many and varied. At one point, the beings (mankind) of Earth rebelled. In Lewis’ story, the rebellion resulted in a “silent planet,” which falls out of harmony with Deep Space (heaven). The planet is redeemed when a higher being (a God) is sent to the planet, embodied as a human, opening a channel of communication and “ascendance” thereafter.

Alberino’s study leads him to the idea that mankind is possibly the expression of a hybridization deliberately brought about by rebellious “gods” who visited Earth and mixed with the humans, resulting in a being somewhere between gods (angels?) and men. But the men, the “sons of Adam and daughters of Eve” have been uniquely made to own this Earth, and thus the rebels want to create this new offspring who will also inherit the Earth.

Alberino spends some time on the story of Eden, and confirms in his broad reading of scripture and myth that there are repeated images in these stories, across time and cultures. There is a garden whose name translates to “delight.” “In…every culture on Earth, gardens are associated with the divine.” For example, there is the Biblical Garden of Eden, and in Babylon this garden was literally built, according to legend, by King Nebuchadnezzar in the Hanging Gardens. Another recurring image in the creation/fall/redemption stories: the tower, mountain, high place, where communication with the numinous can occur. Think of the bridge to Asgard; “Mount Meru of South Asian cosmology, Haraberazaiti of Iranian tradition, and Himinbjorg of Scandanavian mythology.” Or in modern stories, the Star Gate that can transport an individual from here to the far side of space.

There is also the story of a deluge – a huge and horrific event that inundated the Earth following the visit of “the watchers,” who came to interbreed with humans and thus gain the Earth, and the power of procreation.

Alberino goes into great and thorough depth seeking out the original meaning of words – often words that we’ve taken for granted in more poetic translations of old texts, but when we examine them, might add layers of important meaning. One that is illustrative is the translation of Genesis’ “serpent,” which is derived from the Hebrew “nuchash.” As a noun, he writes, “it refers to a snake.” As a verb, it means to “deceive.” And as an adjective, it is “bright, burnished, and shining.” All of this might lead to a picture of a different kind of creature (the serpent) that beguiles the first humans.

Many of these stories have been unearthed and tied together by other writers, so in one way the book doesn’t “break ground.”

It is that level of detail that makes this book, and the theories in it, compelling reading. The appreciation for discovering the meaning and evolution of words, and finding the points of similarity and difference in the narratives of that “essential” story from time to time and culture to culture, leads Alberino not as much to speculation as observation. While the proposition itself is the stuff of science fiction, his research and the sources cited will lead the curious down an interesting trail.

Alberino is a self-described “auto-didact,” whose inquisitiveness and spirit of adventure led him to move to the Amazon jungle at just 18. He has gone from library to archaeological dig to film studio, investigating languages and histories, scriptures and mystery spots all over the world. He writes without taking sides or trying to convince. The book seems mostly about looking at what we know with a lens of a slightly different perspective, and to include as many references to the old and enduring stories as possible – and how they might, in fact, tie together.