It was described as a catastrophic implosion — the tragedy of the Titan voyage to the depths of the ocean to find the wreckage of Titanic ship that sank 111 years ago. On June 21, five men comprising the pilot and four passengers embarked upon a 10-day sail from Newfoundland. Each passenger paid $250,000 to journey down the ocean floor. There had been successful trial expeditions in 2021 and 2022 by dive experts, scientists and filmmakers in rehearsal for the great plunge of two weeks ago. OceanGate, the owners of Titan submersible, were confident that with the air pressure inside the Titan remaining “constant and equal to what we experience at sea level, eliminating the need for decompression during the ascent”, nothing could go wrong. According to their tourist brochure seen by foxweather.com “With the click of a button, Mission Specialists can select a camera, monitor the sonar, or view preloaded images of deep-sea species, and the Titanic as they experience an entirely foreign world that only a handful of people have had the privilege to experience.” Even then there were safety concerns and repeated warnings and that the “world of deep sea exploration is not well regulated.” Titan, it was also revealed was “not registered as a US vessel or with international agencies that regulate safety. And it wasn’t classified by a maritime industry group that sets standards on matters such as hull construction.”
Many questions have arisen since the disaster occurred. Was the voyage a suicide mission? Was it in aid of furtherance of science and technological development? As I reported last week with reference to a BBC online, warnings over safety of the Titan submersible repeatedly sent to OceanGate were ignored by the chief executive officer of the company. A leading deep sea exploration specialist, Rob McCallum showed evidence to BBC of his warnings through emails, but the chief executive officer of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, got irritated and would like to be left alone. His response was that “he was tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation.” In one of the emails, McCallum had warned him that he was potentially putting his clients at risk and urged him to stop using the sub until it had been certified by an independent agency. He urged the company to seek certification before using it for commercial tours. “The vessel was never certified or classed. Until a sub is classed, tested and proven it should not be used for commercial deep dive operations. I implore you to take every care in your testing and sea trials and to be very conservative. As much as I appreciate entrepreneurship and innovation, you are potentially putting an entire industry at risk.” However, the entreaties fell on deaf ears. “OceanGate engineering focused, innovative approach …flies in the face of the submersible orthodoxy, but that is the nature of innovation”, was the response from Mr. Rush. Mr. McCallum made the last effort at dissuading him and he wrote to him: “It will be sea trials that determine whether the vehicle can handle what you intend to do with it, so again, take care and keep safe. There is more riding this than Titan and the Titanic.”
Mr. Rush would have none of the warnings; he took the plunge and it ended in disaster in which all on the voyage died — Mr. Rush and the four tourists enthusiastic to sail to the ocean bed to see the wreckage of the Titanic that broke into two and went down. The Titan itself like the Titanic a century before it curiously broke into two also.
As I was saying, predictably, views on the catastrophic expedition will necessarily differ. A great many would see nothing wrong in men’s spirit of adventure despite uneasy feelings which no doubt each of them must have had and ignored or suppressed. Mr. McCallum’s pronouncements were prophetic warnings. Many saw the expedition as the path to discovery: Nothing ventured, nothing gained; He who dares wins. Where there are no pains, there is no gain. Life is all about risk taking. There is the argument that the advancement of mankind has always come with risks. A young public figure friend of mine as I said last week argues that life’s paths to development and progress are strewn with risks. He is among those who see the Titan voyage as an attempt at innovation. It was through such daringness that the world has developed, he had said in his note to me.
He wrote: “They are the men in the Arena. They tried and failed. Sadly they do not have a second chance. I am certain others will learn from their mistakes, improve and succeed. That is the story of mankind. Seemingly a senseless and daring mission upon which mankind’s course was altered for good.” He went on: “Don’t cry for them. When the University of Bologna the first and surviving university in the world started in 1088 AD, it was not certified by anyone. Certification is for established systems. I went to Jamestown with my family and saw the replica of the Susa Constant, the first ship that came from England in 1607. No ship registry will flag the vessel today for human transport. The imploded Titan submersible is a forerunner to our effort to conquer the seas, mountains, and space…Every year, the success rate of reaching Mount Everest peak keeps improving. Between 1990 and 20005 the success rate was around 34 per cent but from 2006 to 2019 the success rate doubled to around 66 per cent.
“The descent to the ocean beds will become normal in the near future and we may yet learn more about the wonderful cosmos around us or just enjoy what those who climb Everest feel when they reach the peak despite the dangers. We try, we fail, we succeed, learn, evolve and improve. That is the story of mankind.”
I have reproduced his note to serve as background for the basis of my point of view. Another interesting view was forwarded to me after reading this column last week in which it is stated that, indeed, risks taking began from the cradle. It comes with childbearing processes. If it were not so, there would have been no concern over maternal death rate, especially where science has not sufficiently developed to mitigate it. Women, the argument goes, brave all the risks and pains attendant to child bearing and today our world is filled with human beings such that in some countries the talk is about overpopulation. The risk is today taken for granted and all families court it. When the risk succeeds, there is outpouring of love, there are shouts of congratulations; there is dancing and rejoicing. The risks are not over nor are the pains eliminated even though appreciable progress has been made in this sphere with advancement in health care knowledge and practice.
The foregoing points of view are no doubt persuasive, and interesting, no doubt, and the arguments adduced seemingly unassailable. The issues as noted last week are, however, much deeper than that. Who was Mr. Rush and was there any possible connection between him and the disaster of Titanic that sank in 1912, for example? Why was Mr. Rush rushing to put the vessel on the sea to comb its depths to see the unsinkable Titanic that ironically sank 111 years ago? What else could have shown how limited we human beings are? What forces were goading Mr. Rush to be obstinate and pushing him despite warnings and signals about concerns over the viability of his vessel? Was there anything he carried deep within him that connected him with the catastrophic mission of the Titanic, using Titan as the vessel? Mr. McCallum had said…”There is a lot more riding this than Titan and the Titanic.”
What’s in a name? This column has treated the issue of name about twice in which it was stated that there are no accidents in a name. Each person comes to this earth with his name. He is the name he bears. His talents and abilities and destiny are enshrined in the name which is why everyone is at alert that his name is protected; it must be without stain. No alteration or modification is tolerated. He is what he says his name is. Lawan will complain if you call him Lawani. Muhammadu will not answer you if you call him Mohammed or Muhammad. Ishaya will sharply correct you if you call him Isaiah. The tones emitted by the groupings of the consonants and vowels are not without effects as they resound in the bearer; they make all the difference and the bearer is ready to defend his name with all he can muster. So is it that no matter how long it takes and the attendant preparation a family may make to get the name right, at Christening, the child will be given his name, what he comes with. The name is whispered to the prospective mother by the baby itself while in the womb. If the mother is inattentive, it will be received by the father, grandmother or a woman of influence around the family or even a relation from afar. The whispering by the child is normally through connecting radiations between it and the mother.
For the fulfillment of what he carried within him and what is contained in his name, Mr. Rush got himself driven to rush the catastrophic mission. He was the owner of OceanGate which he founded in 2009 and in which he was the chief executive officer. Titan is not much different from Titanic in sound and the tone sent out; every letter radiates, every word sends emits rays which constitute the material for the weaving of the tapestry of life by the Nature Beings. In the case of Titan, the waves of the volition that accompanies it coupled with the rays the letters and sound emit cannot but be without effects. They cannot be ruled out that Titanic is targeted in the volition. There is, therefore, no doubt that there were connection threads between Titan and Titanic. Was Rush in the Titanic? Could he have been the owner of Titanic or the chief captain on its tragic mission? We may not know because of the veil over his inner eyes, but most likely. We can sense that the links are active. What error of judgment could he have committed that he had unquenchable longing to visit the Titanic down the depths of the ocean? He sensed something strongly about Titanic the voyage of which, from his inner stirring, and pull he was undoubtedly connected? Since this expedition ended in disaster, he must come again in a repeated earthlife until there is recognition of his possible guilt that may have led to the unmitigated tragedy and there is atonement and his slate is wiped clean.
From the enlightenment of these times, we are permitted knowledge of events and recognition of possibilities both here on earth and in the Beyond. There are millions of disincarnate souls roaming about in the ethereal world, among them would count victims of the Titanic tragedy of 1912. Many of them who carry deep wounds in their souls may be embittered over the premature termination of their lives on earth through the Titanic voyage. A great number amongst them may have been seeking opportunities to avenge their unsavoury experiences on Mr. Rush out of immaturity instead of moving on to make progress who may be seeking opportunities to avenge their experiences instead of learning from them and moving on. The bitterness and the vengefulness are capable of releasing dark forces to trigger a ship capsizing once they could find anchorage. Such vengefulness compounds woes hindering their progress in the Beyond.
Mr. McCallum must have been standing at his post and may have carried out his tasks through his unrelenting warnings and admonitions to OceanGate to sever his own connection with the tragic mission of the Titanic and connection with Mr. Rush. The Creator does not place disaster on man’s way in order for mankind to make progress. Man is surrounded with help, starting from his intuitive perception and helper in the Beyond. The Lord has placed in Creation His Divine Laws to govern Creation. Was there no time when mankind forged links with the Light Region and heavenly melodies filled the earth? That was in the very beginning of human sojourn on earth. There was swinging as it was meant to be and there was joy and rejoicing on this same earth. We are told in the great Work, “A Gate Opens” by Herbert Vollmann, (Heavenly Melody): “The time came when these delicate flames had blossomed forth in purity into human spirits, and in the blossoming there mingled a faint note from faraway lands, which touched the strings of their hearts like gentle hands, awakening that tone which had sounded so beautiful to them as they departed, and they had quietly received into their innermost being. For they were seized by a vehement urge: for they knew the sweet sound of home, and soon their strings resounded more fully, and their song grew into a melody filled with longing.”
The Creator sent Prophets and Teachers of Mankind to teach and lead us human beings from one step of development to the other. At nowhere are we told that they as exemplars for man took risks or taught same. They received guidance for their activities from the Light Region to which they were connected. Indeed, we learn in higher knowledge that God gives to His own in their sleep. There are no inventions, there are only discoveries. All mankind needs are lovingly brought to the earth from a plane called Medium Gross Matter by the servants of the Lord for the use of mankind at the appropriate time consistent with the measure of their maturity. Despite all we have been blessed with, all the technological wonders that daze us, we are told, our best are yet to come! It is not for nothing we are given the faculty to weigh and examine and be guided to choose what furthers our development and progress.
It may be asked: Of what benefit to mankind or Creation is paying a handsome fee of $250,000 US Dollars for a jolly but risky ride of eight hours just to go and see the remains of a ship that got wrecked 111 years ago? Even if it was a journey of scientific investigation, which incidentally, it was not, it is still outrageous. We learn from higher knowledge beaming In the Light of Truth and spreading on earth today: Motion — A Law of Creation, “Man does not gain anything by being the fastest runner, a skillful boxer, a bold driver, or if he knows whether the horse appeared on earth before or after the fly!”
Certainly our sympathy goes to the five occupants of the Titan submersible, and to their loved ones over the tragedy. At the same time we cannot but feel immense pity that they chose to fritter away their precious lives in pursuit of absolutely nothing, for with knowledge we can work on ourselves and alter the course of our journey away from fateful entrapment we are wont to call destiny! The question remains for everyone to ask and it is where to start: “Who am I? Why am I here on earth?”