Thesis

The Buddha had not intended to return to Earth so soon. But things were not well with his planet, and the worsening (by the day it seemed) situation could not brook another 2,500 years of idly standing by. That much was clear.
So after a brief reconnaissance life as Giordano Bruno, the Buddha returned in current times to try again to set things right. This time as a young girl called Ruth Marten, Melissa’s daughter.
But would the observations and the wisdom tailored for long-ago India serve today? How would she approach man in his current state, fused to the compulsion to own, to amass; blinded by greed and other defilements. Was there indeed a path, a channel to reach modern man? And was there a way to make the world listen to a young woman?
In Book Three of this Trilogy Ruth Marten, the Tathāgata, is now a university teacher, employed by USC. From her very first lecture (which are all video recorded and posted online), she becomes an Internet sensation, garnering millions of views a day.
In fact, her message is so strong, and is so appealing, that millions decide to change their lives and to consume less and meditate more. This to the degree that the powers that be see her as a real threat to not only their bottom lines, but to the society as a whole.
Ruth Marten, in other words, has to be stopped.
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Ultimately, there is only one truth. There can only be one truth. There is only, there can only be, one way that thingsâ€"however complex and complicated they may appearâ€"are.
There is only one truth, only one way things are.
True, there are many views on that subject as well: are things? Do they exist or are we just imagining them in a narcissistic universe where we perceive nothing but our own dreams? Some see it that way.
I maintain, howeverâ€"as do most observersâ€"that things are, objectively (un-interpreted) as well as subjectively (interpreted).
And these many things that are, they are a certain way. By reason of existing they exist the way they exist. No other way.
Things are not two certain ways. They are a single certain way. And they arrived at their current state of being by a certain series of events, by a certain path, a certain way, not via two, or three, or four certain ways, but one certain wayâ€"and here I lay profound stress on the two words “certain” and “way.”
Reality, as we perceive it, consists, among other things, of bodies and blood and stars and skylarks and grass and hastily assembled tables and ice cream and painted fingernails. We perceive these things and we say that they are. And they are a certain way.
Perhaps we do dream them in some vast communal slumber, but if that is the case, then that is the way things are. Or perhaps a capital-G God created all things, well, if that is the case then that is the single certain way they came to be. Or perhaps all things are conjured by a man named Thornton in Philadelphia, and if so, well, that is the one certain way it is.
Perhaps, you sayâ€"playing the Devil’s advocateâ€"reality is conjured by two men, Thornton in Philadelphia and a certain William in Bern, Switzerland. Perhaps. But if so, then that is the one certain way that things are.
Perhaps, you say, this is just one of a million million parallel universes, and we only see one trillionth of what really is. Again, if so, then that is the one certain way that things are, simply because that, then, is the true state of affairs.
Man has always been curious about the way things are, and has over the years, and by various means and approaches, looked into it to find out more about it.
One study of the way things are is called Science.
One study of the way things are is called Philosophy.
One study of the way things are is called Religion.
And this is what they share, their common space: they seek the truth about the way things are. The one certain way things are.
They seek, these three paths, ultimately the same thing: Wisdom.