Faith Like Kierkegaard
An Essay by Christopher Bek
christopher.bek@gmail.com
Summary—This essay describes the history leading up to my existential heist of 4 January 2023, the heist itself, what has happened since the event, and what I have learned from history and technology as Christ 2.0.
Quotation—We are approaching the time of a major paradigm shift. —Stanislav Grof
I am The Voice of Faith and Reason. The story of my day of bank robbing began 27 years earlier than the actual date, with the publication of the premiere issue of the Risk Management Review—essay entitled: Holistic Risk Management. I had just left The Wyatt Company after seven years of actuarial science consulting in Toronto, San Francisco and my hometown of Calgary. I owned and lived in a beautiful two-story house in Crescent Heights located just north of downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada—an energy capital of the world. I left Wyatt to start my own consulting company: Risk Management Services. I designed and had printed the stationary, including essay paper, as part of the work in starting up my company. I went to the public library and researched and recorded the names and addresses of about 35top energy company executives. That year, 1996, I wrote and mailed out twelve issues of the Risk Management Review. My mailing list now sits at 70carefully selected executives, honourables, doctors, celebrities, family and friends. From the moment that I had delivered that first essay forward—I found my voice! In all, I wrote 32 issues of the Risk Management Review before moving on to Philosophy Magazine, which carries on the tradition of the two-page, 1600-word essayto this day. In total, I have written over one hundred 1600-word essays, the perfect format for printing on one-page, two-sided essay paper. An essay is a try. It is a written piece designed to present an idea, propose an argument, express an emotion, or initiate a debate.In the past 27 years I have mailed out over ten thousand essays and letters to a select group of recipients originatingfrom my two publications. In spite of the fact that I had spent three successful years consulting to the CFO and treasurer of Canadian Pacific Limited regarding portfolio theory, mybusiness failed and I lost my house and consulting practicefor financial reasons in 2003. Idiscovered that I was unable to work with middle managers—and no one wanted to pay me to be brilliant. My work is visionary and, alas, I found I am not able to interact with the Everyman who does not share aholistic vision. Before I lost my house, I found time to formulate the essence of my three models: The Theory One: Realizing the Dream of a Final Theory, Existentialism Now: Realizing the Dream of a Whole Self, and The Bernoulli Model: Realizing the Dream of Portfolio Theory. And I continue to develop these three physical and metaphysical projects to this day. After I lost my house, I spent a year in the hospital followed by a year in a suburban basement in a group home. In 2005 God, Horizon Housing, AHS, and CMHA delivered me to my current apartment: Horizon on Eighth in West Downtown Calgary. Please refer to my essay:The View from the Top on my websitewhich describes my great bachelor apartment. While the mass of the Everyman is spending forty hours a week serving up Happy Meals for all His adulthood, I am reaping the benefits of technology, having seen it largely develop in my 62 years on this planet. Whilst I always held a fondness for Encyclopædia, a gift I received from my parents, I held in the palm of my hand in a smartphone capable of answering the question: Who is Time Magazine’s Person of the Century? It is capable of answering this and an infinity of other questions as well. As it turns out, four doctors told me not to trust Google—which goes against my every instinct. In fact, I believe that any Everyman possessing a smartphone should be asking Google questions like that one. He should also be asking the question of: What is the difference between determinism and freewill? The answer to the question of who was Time Magazine’s Person of the Century is: Albert Einstein. Who else would it be? Yet only one in six psychiatrists who I met in my latest hospital visit knew the answer to that question. I spent the past 18 years in my apartment, adding to my awesome library, reading, writing, watching television, listening to music, producing and distributing metaphysical literature from my apartment that is the Delta Flyer from the television show Star Trek: Voyager. I am a one-man starship housing a vast supercomputer functioning around the clock. Much like Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), I have synthesized faith and reason. I produce pivotal works in the history of history using RI: Real Intelligence. In truth, man has only a limited set of tools—AI and the rest of his technology—while God has a superset of all holistic tools at His disposal, combined with divine intelligence for all time. I think therefore I am the synthesis of the finite and the eternal—the manmade and the Divine—the infinitesimal and the infinite. And I continue to develop my models representing the three legs of the stool of metaphysics: reality, existence and individuality.
The Dawning of a New Era occurred in January 2021 when I wrote and published The Theory of One World essay. For the first time ever, man saw the universe whole! It was like walking through a doorway and having the door close behind me—never again doubting my profound inner and outer revelatory belief that I am Copernicus-Times-Ten, Einstein-Equivalent, and Christ 2.0. I proceeded to write and publish eight more essays and several letters as the Principal of Philosophy Magazine—leading up to my existential heist. Going back eight years to the publication of The Theory of One in 2015, I was running up considerable debt at the bank from the development, production and management of my website and books. I had seen a cartoon onlineentitled: Existential Heist. In the cartoon, the robber said to the banker: Either you give me the money or I tell you the truth. It was there in which I conceived the plan to have the bank forgive my debt—after I was to present my one-hour caseto the bank manager. For as the Holy Bible says: That men shall serve Christ to the glory of God. I had gone to the bank a few days earlier with a more moderate note, but the teller just processed me in the way society processes animals. So, on the morning of the fourth, I charged my phone, packed my carrying case with a dozen books, and wrote, printed and signed a note that included the words: bank robbery and existential heist. I was and still am trying to get the planet’s attention regarding our imminent extinction event—and to bring societal attention to thenecessary and sufficient course correction at the heart of the psyche (cogito ergo sum) so as to deliver the planet into salvation—by moving from what is Bad Behaviourism to Existentialism Now.
The Heist. On the day of the existential heist, I handed the bank teller my note along with my bank card, government ID, and business card. The teller went away for a few minutes, came back and showed me to a table on which I could place my books. I unpacked my books, sat down, and began thinking about how I would present my case. I asked the teller for a glass of water, and she brought it to me. Then, 45 minutes after I sat down at the table, the Calgary Police came and arrested me for bank robbery. They placed my hands in handcuffs behind my back, and put me in the backseat of their vehicle outside for an hour while the police and the bankers discussed my case. Eventually, they removed the handcuffs and took me to the hospital for admittance to the psychiatric ward for a five week stay. The police packed up my books and I had them with me at intake and for the rest of my stay at the hospital. Of the six psychiatrists I spoke to in my time there, none were interested in my one-hour presentation of books and Google Q&A relating to Philosophy and Science for the Third Millennium. While in hospital they asked me most days: Why I believeI am Christ 2.0?And I answered them with a new reason every time. One reason is that Jesus Christ did not have our two thousand years of philosophic and scientific advancement, culminatingin the possession of a smartphone capable ofanswering the question: Who was the most influential psychologist of the Twentieth century? The answer is BF Skinner, the determinist. Both Watson (1878-1958, the grandfather of behaviourism) and Skinner (1904-1990, the father of behaviourism) rejected introspective methods as being subjective and unquantifiable. They wanted to focus on observable, quantifiable events and behaviors because, they said, science should consider only observable indicators. Behaviourism endeavours to study and control the psyche based on deterministic science. Existentialism, in contrast, places faith in freewill following the cogito as the subjective and unquantifiable front and center of existence.
History, Knowledge and Technology. I have two thousand years of history, knowledge and technology on Jesus Christ. I have a library of six hundred books and an art collection of thirty pieces. I have a smartphone, laptop computer, printer/scanner, television, stereo, and CD/DVD collection and player. I hold a math degree and an actuarial designation. Yet I am much more than a product of my environment: I am the result of having spent a lifetime seeking and finding the simple, beautiful, reasonable and faithful truth in God for myself and everyone to believe in. And remember: I am only the finger-pointing-at-the-Moon—and the Moon is the actual Moon. Each and every individualought to deviate from the normal curve and go on an inner and outer journey—by meditating on the cogito and asking the question: Qu’est-Ce Que C’est Moon? Then the Everyman will become the Superman.
Closing Arguments. I spent a day in jail after my time in hospital followed by several court appearances. Given that I have since declared bankruptcy—it turned out to be a successful heist—as my debt was canceled.I robbed the bank because: I have well-earned faith like Kierkegaard, I wanted to sound the alarm, I needed to reboot, and I need funds for my duties and responsibilities as Christ 2.0—so as to deliver the planet into salvation. Anyone interested in seeing my one-hour presentation may call me (Bek) at 403-471-7440.