Chapter II. The key to evolution

On the banks of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, the Topkapi Museum, next to Hagia Sophia Church and at a stone’s throw from the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, houses some of the greatest Muslim heritage, a few hairpieces said to be of the Prophet of God Muhammad, and a number of his personal belongings.

Robert Weil, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics student, stood in a narrow corridor of one of a museum building looking back a century and a half, addressing a yellow cloak, an ancient Arab robe, placed in a large, sealed glass box, surrounded by the world’s most sensitive alarm system, a very valuable cloak, said to belong to the prophet of Muslims, Muhammad.

He looks at it with venerability, asking: How did you know that was possible? A century and a half ago! How did you know that?

A young man in his mid-twenties, tall, with a slender body, white, blue-eyed, brown hair, round face, mixed races, an English father, a Polish Jew mother, looks much like her, but for his stubborn-hardheaded? That is definitely English.

being a son of a real estate broker did not dissuade him from choosing the academic field; he was passionate about physics. In his childhood, he was used to observing clouds, their chaotic motion, the stars, their shapes, their positions, and the distances between them, and found in physics an infinitely imaginative field of thinking and constantly searching for answers. It is nothing new; man, by nature, glorifies what arouses his curiosity.

Although he studied business administration at his father’s will, he got confused between his desire to make physics part of his life and help his father in his work. He finally fulfilled his dream of attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, eastern the United States. One of the finest, if not the finest, institutes in the world, emerged from it the greatest physicists of the 20th century. One of the most horrific results of physics research was the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has been done there.

For any young man, studying here is an elusive dream. Considering the Institute’s annual expenses of about $60,000, in addition to the cost of private housing and living expenses, Robert was very fortunate, as he was one of only 1,000 students admitted, out of the 22,000 who applied to the Institute this year.

It was quarter to twelve in the afternoon when he came out of the museum, walked down a small alley down to the main entrance to the nearby Gulhane Park, and sat in its café next to its historic wall.

This garden was attached to the Topkapi Palace during the reign of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire, dedicated to the entourage of the Sultan and his harem, his wives, and maidservants. Therefore, the only door from the palace from which it was possible to access, was the door of the Harem Palace building, this before modernity did its work to the fullest, and transformed the most sacred place for the Sultan into a shrine for tourists, opening its doors from all directions.

He looked at the menu and then ordered at a long last a cup of Turkish coffee.

“It’s a strange sight for a foreigner to drink that kind of coffee.” He heard the voice of the waiter wondering, mixed with a friendly smile, recording the request.

– Without turning around: It is the national beverage here, right? I would like to try it.

– The waiter, laughing: Who told you this?

– He looked at him, saying: its name, Isn’t it enough?

– With a look that hides sarcasm, he replied: No Sir, its name is Turkish coffee, but it is grown and imported from Brazil, and it is a national drink for Arabs. If you want to try our national drink you can have a cup of Turkish tea, I am sure you have never tasted it before.

– The waiter’s last sentence irritated him: Tea? You know, I’m English! Have you ever tasted English tea?

– Sure, but you will have to try the Turkish tea before you jump to judgment, Sir.

– Maybe later, now let me try the Arab’s drink, it looks like my story with them is just beginning.

Coming from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel, a Turkish Airlines plane landed at 12:40 p.m. the previous day.

He hurried, impatient, and wanted to reach Sultan Ahmed Square in the heart of ancient Istanbul, Constantinople. Finish the procedures of the arrivals, he went out to the airport courtyard, and took a taxi, to Sultan Ahmed Square.

-Driver: What is the name of the hotel, sir?

-Robert: I want to go to the Topkapi Museum directly

-Would you like to visit the museum?

-Yes

– But I’m afraid you won’t have time to visit it today, as its doors close at three in the afternoon.

He looked at his watch, which pointed to 2:05 p.m., get out of his pocket, open the hotel reservations app, and show the hotel address to the driver, in the middle of the square teeming with dozens of small, old hotels with small rooms. Housing here in Turkey’s most tourist places is very expensive.

The taxi set off, green hills surrounding the road from all sides. He did a quick search of this city online, before deciding that he had to visit it and meet someone.

-What am I doing here? What is wrong with me?

A month ago, when his mother called him from London, he was sitting with his colleague Christine at MIT’s Forbes family café, planning a week-long vacation, and how he would use her to lure this beautiful physicist into a serious relationship trap.

Christine is a shy, intelligent girl whose energy for physics is inexhaustible as far as the mystery of the universe, I think the expression suffices her, with a special scholarship to attend the institute, given her academic excel, from a conservative Catholic family of Irish descent whose grandparents emigrated to California in the 19th century.

Currently, shyness in women is a rare trait, but it still has the same old influence on men. Nothing in this world arouses men towards women like her shyness. Her clear blue eyes are like the sky on a sunny spring day, a sea of tranquility behind her black-rimmed glasses, golden hair, white skin, moderate body, full-body, looking at her cup of coffee once and at the exit twice before giving him a shy glance.

The last thing he expected, something interrupting the splendor of this moment, but sometimes the winds ran, unlike the ships’ desire. He got a phone call from someone he couldn’t ignore, ask her permission, and went a few steps away.

-Robert: Hi Mom, how are you

-Mom: I’m fine, I’m going to Tel Aviv at the end of the week, do you have any engagements?

– He laughed and understood her intent: And what did my engagements have to do with your travel plans? –

-In a reprimanded tone: Will you come with me, or will you leave me as a prey to the fanatics?! Your father is busy with his work, in fact, he is always busy instead of doing any religious duty.

– Well, there is no need to talk about this again, unfortunately, I have a date at the end of the week, maybe you should postpone it.

-Is there a date more important than a date with God?

-We will meet in Tel Aviv, send me the date of the arrival of your plane.

He could not refuse his mother’s request to visit the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, as she is a devout Jew; his father, although from a devout Christian family, worships his work more than anything else.

Since women were allowed to pray at the wall in 2013 by an official decision of Israel’s competent courts, his mother has done so, despite all the criticism and prebuffers, particularly from ultra-Haredi Jewish extremists, who have caused rioting and sometimes even attacks on praying women.

That is why he would not have let his mother go alone, not now at least, since on her recent visit she was spat and assaulted by hardliners, nearly killed by them, and he would not have angered her, knowing how much effort she had made recently to persuade his father to help him pay for her exorbitant study costs at the Massachusetts Institute.

Amid this atmosphere of religious chaos, their family life has found a way to continue. Love does wonders, or so they say, and he knows the importance of visiting the Wailing Wall for her. Since 1988, to obtain an official decision to allow women to pray at the Wall. From the time of his childhood, she took him with her to Jerusalem, as was the custom of all Jews; a Jewish woman makes sure that her religion is inherited by her children.

Back in his seat disappointed

– Christine I’m sorry I have an important engagement this weekend, we won’t be able to go out together

– Christine wondered: Excuse me? have we already agreed we would go out this weekend?

His face flushed red, sweating, damn me, we don’t have an agreement on anything! He wanted to go out with her so he thought he had asked and she accepted!

-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean this, he stuttered and then added: All I meant was that I only intended, I wanted, I just wanted to…

She interrupted him: You don’t have to. Do you have anything new? A sudden engagement perhaps?

-Robert: Yes, listen, I’d like to apologize. I didn’t mean to…

– She interrupted him again: Don’t worry, Robert

Her face was blushing, his manhood was aroused, and his emotions were inflamed when she said, Actually, I’m not upset at all.

It was not difficult for an intelligent physicist to understand what was behind his gazes. The longer we sit, the more he looks at my smallest detail, he keeps looking at my lips, my neck, and my shoulders, with a gaze full of passion. Shy but still a female, who will not fail to feel a man’s desires toward her which is one of her most important strengths that was inherited from her ancestors.

She looks away, but still sees her surroundings with a wider panoramic view than a man does. her sensors pick up risks, feelings, and repressed desires, many times as much as he can.

It is enough for her to stand in front of the wardrobe and without moving her head or her eyes, she sees all its contents, she finds what she wants in a second, while a man has to move his eyes, head, and probably most of his organs and all of his senses to find what he is looking for, and often fails.

Thus, our mind has developed these physical abilities, over thousands of years, as needed. The man’s need was to focus on his arrow and his prey, and his foresight has evolved, it has become more focused, while the woman’s need is to protect the home and children from dangers, her panoramic view has evolved to see her surroundings more broadly than the man’s. So, our mind programmed itself, and in this way, it developed our abilities.

What it does not need, it leaves or neglects until this thing withers and dies, but what it thinks is important or needed, it keeps, strengthens it.

Necessity is the key to evolution.

Even athletes are well aware of this: in the body-building halls, they gradually lift weights, to force their brains to feed and build muscles. And as long as they’re still in pain to lift a weight, their brains realize they need more muscle power, so they can handle that weight without danger, and the brain starts to protein the muscles, thereby strengthening them and increasing their size. If it didn’t find enough protein in the diet, it creates it.

As the muscles became stronger, and the weight on the trainee became easier to carry, he increased it, and the brain began to strengthen the muscles more to handle the new weight. If the muscle ceases to gain weight, it freezes at enough force and size to carry the current weight.

The principle of negligence and usage; what has a need remains, and what has no need perishes.

But Mousa’ need recently while going to the bodybuilding gym is not to stimulate the mind to meet his muscular needs. Rather, his causes are more profound, dangerous, and insane…

But whom of us would need this?