Your Next Upgrade, by God!

Lee Ellis

Of all the inventions that have been invented by man, those unbelievable wonders which have transformed our world over the past century, all were first given to us as gifts from God.

"Since when did God invent an airplane or television, you quickly ask?"

Well, friend, mankind started to copy the wings of birds almost immediately going from Daedalus and his son Icarus in ancient mythology to the Wright brothers' famous flight in 1903. As for TV, God's solar system is made up of electrons and atoms. Men and women finally learned to use these same electrons to broadcast and receive video signals just as they had learned years before to pick up radio waves.

"OK, you got me. But what about the computer?" you retort, "No animal had ever used one before man created it during just this past century!"

Hmmm, and just what do you think the human brain is? The computer is man's crude attempt to duplicate the human brain. And admittedly, he has duplicated many parts of it. This includes memory, some speech ability and even some learning characteristics, but by no means is he close to perfecting it. Even God might admit that He is still working on a newer, more perfect upgrade as new generations are created by Him.

In "Science and Sanity" (1931) Alfred Korzybski became popular through his book about General Semantics. Few know, though, that in a previous book, "Manhood of Humanity" (1921), he introduced the fact that humans differed from plant and animals in one main area. He called us "Time-Binders," because we were able to build on our knowledge and accomplishments of past generations. Each generation of humans has the potential of starting where the last generation left off, whereas, all other animals, fish and plants must start all over again each time.

Humans have been given one of God's great gifts, the ability to develop a history of the past and to be able to use this information to build better generations for the future. Of course, the problems come when, as George Santayana wrote in 1905, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

We sure have seen this happening over many decades as nations fight wars and build more powerful missiles to destroy each other. This not the fault of God's gift; it is the way we, as humans, often fail to use them wisely. By this, I don't mean that we should appease or give in to evil; we must always challenge it and win over it. But often, it is this misuse of God's gifts that causes evil.

Going back to the first computer --- the human brain--- and our attempts to duplicate it, we find that some parts of man's computer, especially the learning part, are very close in design to God's computer. Many times, we complain to customer service reps at some company about an error in billing or shipping and we get back an excuse that the computer made an error. Then they apologize and tell us that they will make a correction in the computer. Sadly, computers never make errors because they repeat only that which has been programmed into them. There is an old computer slang term, called GIGO which simply means, "Garbage in; Garbage out." What you put in is what you will get out. This never fails. Make one simple error in typing, a decimal in the wrong place or a misspelling, and this error will compound itself as information is taken from that program and transferred by humans to one another.

Well, this also applies to the human brain. It has been proven by many that prejudices, hatreds, personal likes or dislikes of all things have originated by prior programming of our brains. ---GIGO!

By the same token, the ability of many people to achieve success and peace with others has been because they had programmed, at an early age, positive aspects for their goals in life into their "Computer-by-God". By applying hard work to their brain's "software," they kept reaching their goals.

"But what if I have wasted thirty years or more of my life with faulty programming, is it too late to do anything?" is a reply often heard?

No, most people can easily change their personal programming by simply reminding their brains (God's computer) about the many successes they have had in life. Professor Wendell Johnson from Ames, Iowa once wrote, "Failure is the felt difference between what you expect and what you get." In other words, redefine your expectations of what "success" really is. It doesn't mean that you have to have earned the most money, own the largest house or the fanciest car in your neighborhood to achieve success. Actually, no one should try to have something called "Success"! It is not the goal that you achieve at the end of life as if you had been running 110 yards for a football touchdown or had finally discovered the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,

Rather, you and I do have both constant successes and failures each day and each week as we stride life's pathway --- successes (and failures) in relationships, in marriage, in jobs, in community work, hobbies, in helping a charity or a church, or in just dealing with an organizations to which we belong. We tend, many times, to only notice the daily failures and overlook our many successes during each day, and so this is what we plug into that computer of ours. GIGO again! We need to change from GIGO to what might be called, God's available upgrade," SISO ---"Success in; Success out."

Do this, and we will be making the very best use of one of God's greatest gifts. If enough people move to SISO, God may well incorporate it into His newest upgrade. He may even have it just in time for your great grand-children so that they will enjoy satisfying, stress-free lives full of successes and with peace in the world.

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Lee Ellis is a retired journalist and narrator, formerly with both CBS and Gannett (USA Weekend). He was also a combat veteran of WWII, having fought in the South Pacific invasions. He had the pleasure of interviewing Ronald Reagan as an actor and then later working to help him become Governor of California. At the age of 80, he is keeping busy writing and doing free lance narrations for radio and television. He is an active member of Rotary and the VFW.

indiolee@dc.rr.com