Materialism and immaterialism are indistinguishable in the limit that the inertia of reality tends to infinity.

It will be difficult enough just to define the inertia of reality, let alone attempt to explain it. But due to the paramount importance of this concept in the domain of eschatology, it is imperative that we begin to grapple with it.

What concerns us is the resistance of 'reality' with respect to deviation from its 'physical lawfulness' resulting from changes in the 'mental' state of the 'intelligences' that are creating or maintaining that reality.

One might assert that the inertia of 'reality' is just the measure of its materiality or objectivity. But one could also cast this question in the form of the popular conundrum of whether God could create an immovable object. In any absolute sense the answer would have to be, no.

In practical circumstances we are dealing only with relatives, and so the inertia of any reality is only relative to a given range of mental states of some given set of intelligences. The success of science and technology speaks only to the inertia of our world relative to the rather narrow range of mental states that comprise our normal waking consciousness.

The question for the eschatologist is to what degree the world will be susceptible to sudden shifts in human consciousness and to deliberate intervention from other intelligence.

There is a rather simple and pragmatic answer to this question. Let's not push our luck. Let us proceed in the spiritual transformation of our world with caution and deliberation.

One cautious way to proceed is to work on the reification of our imaginal realm to the point that the normal world gradually becomes an optional domain for us. This latter course is also the optimal path for navigating the eschaton. But, as described elsewhere, this simple picture will be modified somewhat in the circumstance of a separation occurring between the 'sky' and 'earth' people.

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rev. 4/22/97