The Aquarium Vision is definitely syncretic. It is a coherent integration of the major world views. To maintain its coherence it must go beyond each of the existing views.

Let us consider the five key groups, but this time take them in the order of least to most rigid in their beliefs, i.e. Experiencers, Postmodernists, Nondualists, Judeo-Christo-Islamic tradition, Scientists.

Within each of these groups we will attempt to identify a few individuals who are amenable to entertaining an expanded vision and motivate them to pass this vision along to their fellow believers.

Even more valuable will individuals who can identify with more than one of the above groups. Such persons will already be well on their way to the new Vision.

To proselytize within each of the above groups we can adopt an 'Aquarium Apologetics' directed at the main barrier that stands between that particular set of beliefs and the Aquarium Vision. In what follows we will consider each groups in its turn.

Experiencers -- These are people who have had life changing encounters with what appears to them to be some other reality. The defining characteristic for these people is that their previous world view has been shattered in the aftermath of another reality having broken into their normal experience. What we can offer is a more objective perspective to aid in the integration of their traumatic experience, and one that will also provide a means for them to explain to others the cosmic process into which an increasing number of us are being initiated.

Postmodernists -- These are the artists and intellectuals who have grown weary of the mental and spiritual restrictions imposed by scientific modernism. These people endorse a philosophical pluralism where reality is regarded as largely a social construct, determined by the vagaries of history and the political economy. This is a big step toward an immaterial idealism, but there is a general avoidance of any alternative cosmology as this would be seen as a threat to an otherwise radical pluralism.

Nondualists -- By this set of beliefs I am designating an modern adaptation of Eastern mysticism. It is opposed to the Cartesian mind-body dualism which is the foundation of the Western analytic tradition. Nondualism is espoused by many New Agers. This group is partial to the Eastern cyclical cosmology of eternal returns. As such they tend to devalue the significance of history, particularly the Judeo-Christian view of history as having a divine sanction and a transcendental outcome.

Judeo-Christo-Islamic tradition -- There is a division between the natural and the supernatural. Our natural world has a divine origin and outcome. The proper outcome will require a direct and dramatic supernatural intervention. Anything like this Aquarium Initiative is an attempt by humans to interfere in the divine order. These expectations force any would-be Aquanauts to take on a messianic complexion.

Scientists -- Last but not least. Unless there is a dramatic intrusion of another reality into ours, the scientists are going to be a tough lot to reason with. However, if even a small number of people in the above groups become interested in the Aquarium vision, this would make an impression on some of those people who inhabit the speculative fringes of science, particularly the fringes of physics. Once these folks can engage their more conservative colleagues in a concerted discourse on the nature of reality, the days of scientific materialism will definitely be numbered.

What remains for us is to see how difficult it will be to track down and engage the appropriate persons as described above, using the Internet as a primary tool.

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rev. 4/20/97