Fantastic stories of superheroes with great powers are the product of our imagination. But what if we could extend our natural abilities, by opening and using more areas of our brains?
The consensus among scientific circles is that we only use 10% of our brains. Our brain can control our cells, tell them how and when to reproduce and regenerate. When we heal from a wound, we grow new skin and tissues to repair the damage.
By using more of our brains, we might be able to regrow entire limbs, like lizards grow back tails. Or we could change our appearance, like chameleons change color and some sea creatures shapeshift and morph to mimic a specific background.
Dolphins are very intelligent and friendly to Humans. They use 20% of their brain, and they developed a natural sonar system more sophisticated than what the US military can produce.
We can program our brains to think positively, creatively. Prayer is known to speed healing. Focused meditation can also accelerate the process. Many cancer patients recovered faster than others when they use prayer or focused meditation.
In the movie LUCY, an unwilling drug mule is contaminated with a mind enhancing substance that opens her brain. As she uses more and more of her brain capacity, she can manipulate her body, shapeshift, read others’ minds, manipulate matter, link with electronic devices, control time, etc. Farfetched? Not so much.
Great minds of recent times, like Stephen Hawking, publicly acknowledged taking brain enhancing drugs to achieve greater understanding of the laws of the universe. Shamans claim to access other planes of consciousness and possibly contact with faraway entities, through focused meditation and the use of substances that open unexplored parts of their brain.
Some abilities, considered as supernatural powers, could be achieved by conditioning our brains through meditation or other methods. By opening and using the regions of our brain we do not presently use, we could learn to manipulate the forces around us. Some people study and practice to master abilities like telekinesis, mind-reading, mind-to-mind communication at a distance, and levitation… abilities Tibetan monks already achieve through meditation.
Some Tibetan Lamas also practice what they call the Rainbow ritual at the end of their lives. They meditate for a week straight without food, sleep, or water. During that time, their bodies shrink considerably and emit light, until they dissolve into visible rainbow light that ascends, which is the possible origin for the term enlightenment. They leave behind only a desiccated shell the size of a tiny child.
In stories and movies, like Star Wars, enlightened beings, like the most realized Jedi, also dissolve into light as they die, with no body left behind. This is not as farfetched as you might think. It could be imprinted in our DNA. In nature, nothing is lost, it only transforms and recycles or transforms into pure energy… like fire produces heat and light.
Science also might speed the process and make cyborgs of us, implanting electronic markers and communication devices directly into our bodies and our brains. Making connections directly from our brains to computers is not impossible. Some people already have imbedded electronics in their body. Amputated patients can control an artificial arm or leg with their mind.
Will all Humans have supernatural abilities in the future? Shall we attain quasi-immortality? It’s a distinct possibility. Science fiction authors already explore this landscape. In my stories, a few characters have natural or cybernetic abilities we cannot yet achieve.
Here are a few suggestions for entertaining reads set in such a future.
Winner Arizona Literary Awards, Fiction, 2019
Something’s rotten on the angel planet. When Avenging Angels turn up dead, Urielle, their Legion Commander, suspects the handsome intruder brought unspeakable evil to Azura.
Maksou never met a woman he couldn’t seduce. He came to the forbidden planet to rescue his friends and get rich in the process, but the jungle crawls with lethal life forms… including a gorgeous warrior angel, who saves his life but keeps him prisoner and challenges his irresistible charm.
Urielle, sworn to protect Azura at all costs, has no use for a maverick who ignores the rules and endangers the planet… no matter how attractive. Especially when the Galactic Trade Alliance (GTA) wages a secret war to get their greedy hands on the priceless crystal at Azura’s core.
When bounty hunter Akira Karyudo accepted her assignment, something didn't add up. Why would the Galactic Trade Alliance want a young kidnapped orphan dead or alive?
She will get to the truth once she finds the boy, and the no-good SOB who snatched him from a psychiatric hospital. With her cheetah, Freckles, a genetically enhanced feline retriever, Akira sets out to flush them out of the bowels of the Byzantium space station. But when she finds her fugitives, the kidnapper is not what she expects.
Kazmo, a decorated Resistance fighter, stole his nephew from the authorities, who performed painful experiments on the boy. Stuck on Byzantium, he protects the child, but how can he shield him from the horribly dangerous conditions in the lawless sublevels of the space station?
Akira faces the worst moral dilemma of her career. Law or justice, duty or love. She can't have it both ways.
"Wow! If readers want to see and feel and believe they are in deep space, then ‘Akira's Choice’ is the perfect choice! With a touch of romance, the vivid descriptions and beautifully developed characters masterfully presented by Schartz create a virtual world that invite the reader not merely to observe, but to walk amongst them and participate... This is a delicate art, and Schartz wields her weapons with precision and skill. Banzai!" 5 stars - exceptional - recommended read - Ind'tale Magazine
