Planetary Matrix (Tek-Gnostics Heresies excerpt)

“As a boy, I once rolled dice in an empty house…

playing against myself.

I suppose I was afraid. It was twilight, and I forget who won.

I was too young to have known that

the old abandoned house in which I played… was the universe.

I would play for man more fiercely…

if the years would take me back.”

- Loren Eiseley

Part One - Earth Matrix
The Greek philosopher, Aristotle said that man is by nature a social animal. As social beings, it is inherent within us to communicate. As tool builders, it is also within our nature to create and manipulate artifacts. To date, the world-wide-web is arguably one of humanity’s most ingenious and ambitious artifacts. It is nothing less than a vast working model of global consciousness. Each human with the means (computer, tablet, mobile, etc.) to connect to the web becomes, in a sense, a single, autonomous neuron in the global mind of Gaia, our home-world. Given the incredible creative potential, each individual earthling brings to this system, the possibilities for our global consciousness artifact are seemingly infinite.

As this global nerve-net becomes more complex and sophisticated, our evolving technologies have accelerated in their sophistication and complexity. Indeed, our terrestrial and satellite communications network encompasses the Earth in such a way as to be as integral to Earth’s functioning as one of her atmospheres. This information network or “infosphere” further deepens humanity’s potential within Gaia’s sentient life support systems.

The timely emergence of this so-called infosphere, may indicate that it is a natural, organic development of Gaia’s nervous system. If Earth’s environmental systems act as her autonomic nervous system, perhaps humanity and our artifacts, act as her conscious, somatic nervous system. Perhaps we serve as Gaia’s expanding and evolving nerve-net. Regardless, our infosphere appears to be on the brink of exponential expansion again, facilitated by what we have come to call… technological singularity.

If the singularity event is a culminating working model of global consciousness, this model intricately facilitates humanity’s evolutionary (paranormal) growth. Like any model, it helps us envision and assists us in transition into an awakened tek/human partnership. The model shows us how a man/machine system will work. Thus humanity and our artifacts evolve in tandem into the “century of singularity” as an amalgam of communicative intelligence.

Indeed, the singularity may be seen as an awakening of our collective communicative abilities. A partnership of artificial intelligence, as achieved through the networked, intelligence augmented path, with an evolving, paranormal humanity, becomes an amazingly powerful intelligence entity. Again, perhaps the timely marriage of man and machine is by design. Perhaps this is all “part of the plan.” As our technologies are an integral part of us, so too may what we have termed singularity, become an integral part of Gaia.

If we hypothesize that humanity acts as Gaia’s self-reflective faculty… if we act as an organic instrument of self-consciousness, it follows that we facilitate Gaia’s ability to think about Herself. The human collective, as global consciousness, allows our Mother Earth to pause and reflect… to be self aware. This “Eyes of the World” hypothesis may be expanded, by virtue of the spark of divinity within each human, to suggest that we also act as part of universe’s self-reflective spiritual sense organ. Perhaps on a much grander scale, Earth is a sleepy dendrite, about to “wake up” in a back-water corner of what we call the Milky Way Galaxy.

Within this mythology, each of us fulfill a dendritic perceptive and communicative role, for our sentient home-world. Gaia, orbiting Sol, our local star, in return fulfills a similar sentient role, as an individual within her community… the Milky Way. Our home galaxy thereby joins the universal intelligence community of galaxies, wherein Universe’s ultra-sentient persona, aka: God… pauses and thinks: “what a wondrous existence this universe is!” …wheels within wheels.

Now, within this body of work, the universe is analogous to… can be equated to… information (universe=information). Within this premise, information has a very special meaning: Information equals intelligence or coherent order. This is as distinguished from noise, which is incoherent chaos. Evolution of consciousness is the gradual emergence of information out of chaos.  This is the “lifting of the veil” or the steady increase in light… the change in focus from folly to wisdom, that the ancient Gnostics spoke of. The continuity in universe is not necessarily mere consciousness... but information… coherence. In this regard, the dualistic nature of universe can be expressed, not merely as light versus darkness, but rather: coherence versus confusion.

This mythic hypothesis would place humanity in a more profound role… as an intelligence system of Gaia, which in turn plays a role in a galactic and ultimately universal intelligence network. The mechanism whereby Gaia’s humanity-wide system sends signals… communicates… is none other than our old friend, synchronicity. Per Jung’s theory, synchronicity is acausal, in that it is affected by meaning, rather than causation. It does not appear to be limited or even effected by either space or time. This synchronistic network of communication is available everywhere and every-when at once… on a cellular level, on a human level, as well as on a galactic level. …wheels within wheels.

Returning to humanity’s planetary rise to prominence over the last 10,000 years… this may turn out to primarily be an evolutionary leap for Gaia… rather than merely a human evolution. Viewing Humanity as a sense organ of planet Earth arguably places our rapid evolution as a component of or a development of Gaia’s evolution. However, the question remains as to what was the catalyst that sparked our species’ intelligence increase?

The question brings us (back) to Terrance McKenna and what has been called his “stoned ape” hypothesis. In his 1993 book: Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge (sub-titled: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution), McKenna proposed that the explosive evolution from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens was sparked by the addition of the mushroom psilocybe cubensis, in their diet. Per McKenna, over a timeframe of a mere 100,000 years, proto-human evolved into modern human, facilitated in part by the sustained ingestion of the psilocybin mushroom.

Following herds of wild cattle across the African savannahs, our ancestors ingested these mushrooms, scavenged from the herd’s dung piles. Over time, the psilocybin mushroom became part of early man’s (paleo!) diet. Low doses of psilocybin improve visual acuity. Thus, our ancestors, in consuming psilocybin mushrooms, became more successful hunters than those whose diet did not include the mushroom, resulting in a higher rate of reproductive success. 

In a 1992 interview in High Times Magazine, McKenna further explained…

High Times: You have a unique theory about the role that psilocybin mushrooms play in the process of human evolution. Can you tell us about this?

Terrence McKenna: Whether the mushrooms came from outer space or not, the presence of psychedelic substances in the diet of early human beings created a number of changes in our evolutionary situation. When a person takes small amounts of psilocybin visual acuity improves. They can actually see slightly better, and this means that animals allowing psilocybin into their food chain would have increased hunting success, which means increased food supply, which means increased reproductive success, which is the name of the game in evolution.

It is the organism that manages to propagate itself numerically that is successful. The presence of psilocybin in the diet of early pack-hunting primates caused the individuals that were ingesting the psilocybin to have increased visual acuity. At slightly higher doses of psilocybin there is sexual arousal, erection, and everything that goes under the term arousal of the central nervous system. Again, a factor which would increase reproductive success is reinforced.

HT: Isn’t it true that psilocybin inhibits orgasm?

TM: Not at the doses I’m talking about. At a psychedelic dose it might, but at just slightly above the “you can feel it” dose, it acts as a stimulant. Sexual arousal means paying attention, it means jumpiness, it indicates a certain energy level in the organism. And then, of course, at still higher doses psilocybin triggers this activity in the language-forming capacity of the brain that manifests as song and vision.

It is as though it is an enzyme which stimulates eyesight, sexual interest, and imagination… and the three of these going together produce language-using primates. Psilocybin may have synergized the emergence of higher forms of psychic organization out of primitive proto-human animals. It can be seen as a kind of evolutionary enzyme, or evolutionary catalyst.

(Note: In the second installment of this excerpt, we will expand and explore the Matrix concept, taking it to a galactic level.)

Those interested in purchasing The Tek-Gnostics Heresies will find it available on Amazon and other such online booksellers... or the intrepid reader can buy a copy directly from your humble author at the Tek-Gnostics HEADshop.

Climate Summit 2019 - Live Feed

Recorded earlier... presentation begins around 18:14.

Climate Summit 2019 - Act Now!

The link at the bottom of this post will take the curious to the United Nations 2019 Climate Summit Act Now! widget. From that page... 

ActNow Bot

The United Nations’ ActNow Climate Campaign aims to trigger individual action on the defining issue of our time. People around the world will be engaged to make a difference in all facets of their lives, from the food they eat to the clothes they wear. This year, we will be focusing on two mini-campaigns around food and fashion.

FOOD: What we eat has major implications for climate change. The destruction of rainforests to create land for agriculture, along with growing demand for meat, are major contributors to the increasing greenhouse gases which are taking a significant toll on climate and global food security. 

FASHION: Making clothes has a huge impact on climate change. The textile industry contributes around ten percent of global greenhouse gas emissions—it uses more energy than the aviation and shipping industry combined, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The industry’s impact is not limited to global carbon emissions. It also produces about 20 percent of global wastewater and 85 percent of textiles end up in landfills or are incinerated when most of these materials could be reused.

Climate change requires urgent, coordinated, and consistent action. ActNow harnesses advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to spur behavior change. The ActNow bot recommends daily actions to reduce our carbon footprints... like traveling more sustainably, saving energy or eating less meat. By registering and sharing your actions, you send a message that individuals like you want climate action and are willing to take it. ActNow highlights the impact that collective action can have at this critical moment in our planet’s history. The more people act, the bigger the impact.

ACT NOW!

Apocalypse Now! – Climate Summit 2019

The world is in a race to limit climate change. To meet the urgent need to address climate change and achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement... U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is convening a summit in September to raise ambition and increase climate action. 

The race is on. It is a race we can win. It is a race we must win.

On September 6th, 2019 hurricane Dorian inundated the Commonwealth of the Bahamas as a category 5 storm. The destruction of the archipelago's civilian infrastructure was nearly complete. The airport on Grand Bahama Island was completely decimated... entire neighborhoods were razed. The devastating storm and loss of life in the Bahamas represent the latest casualties in the global climate crisis.

Such Climate change-fueled storms are happening with more ferocity and frequency. This hurricane season it was the Bahamas... in prior years it was Puerto Rico... the Virgin Islands... Dominica...  Haiti... The entire Caribbean is on the front line of humanity's battle with climate change. The devastation of the Bahamas conjures flashbacks of New Orleans after Katrina. The Crescent City's devastation evoked the sense that a climatic apocalypse had occurred.

These are the catastrophes that hit us here in the U. S. of A. but the crisis is global... and not confined to near sea level archipelagos. This summer... when it was reported that the Arctic started burning, it was like, “How on earth can the Arctic be burning?” And then, with the Amazon rainforest burning out of control... it became clear that the devastation of human-inhabitable Earth was happening now... climate change is now... Apocalypse Now!

This is a Call to Action: Global greenhouse gas emissions are reaching record levels and show no sign of peaking. The last four years were the four hottest on record, and winter temperatures in the Arctic have risen by 3°C since 1990. Sea levels are rising, coral reefs are dying, and we are starting to see the life-threatening impact of climate change on health, through air pollution, heatwaves and risks to food security. 

In response to these catastrophes, the U. N.'s climate action summit is being held on the 23rd of September, 2019 to meet the climate challenge. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is calling on all leaders to come to New York on September 23rd with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their nationally determined contributions by 2020, in line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent over the next decade, and to net zero emissions by 2050.

Editor's Note: In fine synchro-mystic fashion, and by way of cosmic-trigger verification, we immediately noticed the presence of the 23 Enigma in the timing and planning of this momentous event. It is unclear that the United Nations was attempting to harness the 23 trigger, but it is clear that the signs and portents of the "23 enigma" are directing our attention to the climate summit.   

Climate change is the defining issue of our time and now is the defining moment to do something about it. There is still time to tackle climate change, but it will require an unprecedented effort from all sectors of society. The Summit will showcase a leap in collective national political ambition and it will demonstrate massive movements in the real economy in support of the agenda.

The Summit will bring together governments, the private sector, civil society, local authorities and other international organizations to develop ambitious solutions in six areas: 

1) A global transition to renewable energy.

2) Sustainable and resilient infrastructures and cities.

3) Sustainable agriculture.

4) Management of forests and oceans.

5) Resilience and adaptation to climate impacts.

6) Alignment of public and private finance with a net-zero economy.

New technologies and engineering solutions are already delivering energy at a lower cost than the fossil-fuel driven economy. Solar and onshore wind are now the cheapest sources of new bulk power in virtually all major economies. But we must set radical change in motion...

The climate action summit will focus on 9 interdependent tracks, or areas of action. As an old pacific northwest woods-worker and environmentalist, I resonate with the track that focuses on forests and land-based ecosystems, smart agriculture and food systems, regeneration of life in rivers, lakes and oceans and enabling of all people to connect to nature. More information on the upcoming summit may be found at the link provided below...

Climate Action Summit 2019

Finally... this Call to Action must be answered by "we the people" of the world. It is clear that the Archons who control the petrochemical industries... and their political lackeys... will do anything to maintain the status quo. In fact, they will do everything they can to push Oil & Coal, while the planet burns.

If you are citizen, vote green. If you are a consumer, vote with your pocketbook and buy green. If you are a student, join Greta Thunberg for her Friday protests. Become a climate activist. Whatever you choose to do, act like your life depends upon it... because it does.

Apocalypse Now! Series

Part One: Fire & Water     Part two: Paradise Lost

Part Three: The End of Ice     Part Four: Notre Dame

Culture Wars Portland – Pop Mob

I had purchased tickets to the Portland Thorns vs. Washington D. C. Spirit NWSL soccer match, not long after the conclusion of the Woman’s World Cup. Saturday, August 17th was a home game for the Thorns, in the newly expanded Providence Park stadium. Providence Park is a great neighborhood sports venue (just up from the Pearl District) for both the Portland Timbers men’s team, as well as the Thorns.

After the headline-generating controversy of the “equal pay” lawsuit, and the Woman’s National Team victory at this summer’s World Cup in France… the NWSL has considerable star-power and draw, with over 20,000 fans in attendance. There were many amazing players on both teams, fresh from the 2019 World Cup extravaganza. Most notably: U S midfielder Rose Lavelle, playing for Spirit and U S midfielder Lindsey Horan, playing for the Thorns. The Canadian superstar forward, Christine Sinclair also made an appearance, playing for the Thorns.

What I didn’t realize when I bought the tickets (great seats… midfield, a dozen rows up), was that on this particular Saturday, the White Nationalist militia group, the Proud Boys had scheduled an anti-Antifa (sounds redundant, I know) rally on Portland’s waterfront… a dozen blocks from Providence Park. On our drive up I-5 toward Portland, we monitored the rally… and the huge counter-protest… on social media.

The Thorns organization had issued an early statement, indicating that they were monitoring the developing situation and that the safety of their fans was of the utmost importance. As we pulled into town, we envisioned (as had happened in the past) running skirmishes and teargas raging through the streets of downtown Portland. However, this scenario was not to be…

A half-hour into the march, the Proud Boys… hopelessly outnumbered by Portlandiers of all stripes… made a hasty and somewhat panicky request to Portland police... that they be extracted from the situation. The Portland police, not wanting to see an escalation of violence, agreed. They allowed the Proud Boys to march onto the Hawthorne Bridge and disband.

The hour-long protest was not without incident. Portland police made multiple arrests of individuals they identified as “instigators.” The obvious matchup was between the Proud Boys and the Rose City Antifa. Picture if you will… big, burly white supremacists marching in lockstep chanting some variation of Nazi sloganry… squaring off against skinny 20 somethings, clad in all-black, making a wide assortment of taunts, slurs, and superlatives.

However, the group who won the day… in alliance with the Rose City Antifa… was the totally amazing and oh-so-stylish faction known as the: “Pop Mob.” Here was an adversary of the Culture Wars who came ready to play. Dressed in flamboyant costumes, including one guy in a full-blown unicorn outfit… others in full-body banana suits… Pop Mob meant business. Their battle tactics were to demonstrate… through the theatre of the absurd… the complete insanity of white supremacy, violent protest and the general ineptitude and absurdity of culture war and identity politics.

The Pop Mob performance artists were equal-opportunity demonstrators. They poked fun at the Antifa and Proud Boys alike. At the end of the day... I believe more violence did not ensue precisely because both the Proud Boys and Antifa were a little embarrassed and downright humiliated at the absurdity of their ideologies... as deftly pointed out to them, by Pop Mob. Both warring factions dispersed without further incident, once the Pop Mob made the scene.

The Pop Mob’s action is a classic “Operation Mindfuck.” The idea of dispersing large, warring factions with the use of humor, mimicry, and ridicule is a brilliant tactical maneuver. As you know, Operation Mindfuck involves subtlety, so that those whose minds are being fucked, don't know whether something's being pulled on them or not. Consequently, both Antifa and the Proud Boys were suspicious that they had been made fun of… but couldn’t quite grasp what to do about it… so they went home.

I am happy to report that the Thorns vs Spirit game ended with a 3  to 1 result in favor of the Portland Thorns. The August 17th Portland, Oregon protest and Culture Wars skirmish ended with the result: Proud Boys: 0, Antifa: 0, Pop Mob: 1. What a blow against the Empire! You gotta love it!

Culture Wars

"The world we live in today appears to be much more socially chaotic and politically contentious than it did only yesterday. Seemingly overnight our planet's socio-political landscape has been rearranged into a nightmarish, dystopian mix of soul-crushing late-stage capitalism, social media intrusion, surveillance, and tribally networked identity politics. Welcome to the Culture Wars. The term "culture war" has been used to refer to the political discourse and actions surrounding issues that are rooted in dogmatically held, emotionally charged ideologies and factional reality tunnels.

Originally, the term referred to the conflict between traditionalist, conservative values and social-democratic, progressive values... as predominantly demonstrated in the Western world. The late 20th and early 21st centuries witnessed the rise of a new, ultra-conservative movement, labeled neoconservatism. Neo-conservatives or Neocons differ from their conservative predecessors... as well as their opponents... in that they interpret problems facing the nation as moral issues rather than economic or political issues. With the rise of the neocons, the culture wars have since escalated from an ideological cold war, to one that is white-hot."

"Most battles in the culture wars are fought over issues such as LGBTQ rights, abortion,  gun control, feminism, pornography, the sexual revolution, drugs, multiculturalism, the role of religion in American society, school prayer, the teaching of evolution... and the latest battlegrounds... immigration and climate change. Other battles come and go depending on what new moral panic is currently trending on social media.

Although the issues of the culture war target tribal affiliation and emotion, they are often employed by those who are not actually vested in the culture war... those who hold the pursuit of wealth and power as their primary value. They use the culture war as a means to get people to act against their own economic self-interest and to distract voters' attention."

"Such battle lines are being exasperated by emerging, social media conglomerates that seek to dominate the world's infotainment sphere. The usual suspects... facebook, google, amazon... battle for dominancy of modern humanity's hand-held interface with a globally intact mass media landscape. Through intrusive, privacy-busting, personal data mining techniques, they insidiously target users, utilizing their own browsing history to not only sell them "personalized" products, but to sell their personal data to ambiguous, often shady third-parties, with ambiguous, often shady intent. Theft by data..."

~   ~   ~

The preceding excerpts are from our new Culture Jammer Central page, at our mothership: tekgnostics.com. The curious will find a brief overview of the Culture Wars phenomena... that insidious scam, perpetrated by those who wish to continue to divide us. We also delve into the ramifications of the impact that social media has upon the Culture Wars... what we call: the World Entertainment Wars.  

As the page name implies, additional resources for those who wish to resist the tomfoolery of the Culture Wars will also be made available as we update and expand the new addition. Stay tuned, dear intrepid traveler, for: The Empire Never Ended...

World Entertainment War is... “a benevolent media virus programmed to prevent

the entertainment criminals from stealing your imagination."

- World Entertainment War

The Noö Future of Politics

“The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be”

 – Sam Lowry

In December of 2010, an intensive 28-day campaign of civil resistance, including a series of massive street demonstrations took place in the North African nation of Tunisia. These protests led to the ousting of longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. It eventually led to a thorough democratization of the country and to free and democratic elections. The Tunisian Revolution, also called the Sidi Bouzid Revolt, marked the beginning of a new era in world politics.

During the Sidi Bouzid Revolt, Tunisians used technology to accelerate their revolution, and in the process gave us a preview of how other people around the world might do the same. The Revolution began in mid-December, as civil unrest broke out in the interior of the country after a young street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest mistreatment by a government functionary… a desperate expression of helplessness in the face of a lack of opportunity.

The protests started in Bouazizi’s home city of Sidi Bouzid, far from the centers of Tunisian power, but they quickly provoked a violent response from the government’s internal security forces. As protesters marched and police beat them down, political organizers traveled to the area and started using digital video and Twitter to spread the word throughout the country. Within a day of Bouazizi’s immolation, the movement became a viral phenomenon.

As it drew more and more people, the center of online action moved to Facebook. A much more popular medium in Tunisia than Twitter, it was also a more visual one… photos and videos posted on Facebook, documenting brutal government oppression, made the protesters’ case in a visceral way as they spread through people’s online social circles.

Social media didn’t trigger the Tunisian Revolution… oppression did. However, social media networking enabled it. Without the ability of a small number of activists to pass along shocking news and imagery from the first wave of protests, they might have fizzled out as so many street demonstrations in so many countries have in the past. 

So it was that in the fiery beginnings of the Arab Spring, weaponized social media - as a politically strategic tool - was born. Since 2016, it appears to have taken two distinct forms. The following has been adapted from the writings of John Robb. Retired USAF special ops pilot, entrepreneur and author of Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization… Robb founded numerous successful technology companies, including an online brokerage/banking company that sold for $295m and a company that pioneered the technologies used at Facebook and Twitter.

Open Source Insurgency

An open source insurgency (as first exemplified in the Tunisian/Arab Spring, circa 2011) is a loose network that is composed of many individuals and small groups working independently but united by a single purpose. In the 2016 presidential election, this single purpose was to elect Trump. As we have seen, such digital insurgencies can originate not only from the left but the right as well. Open source insurgencies are much more innovative than their bureaucratic counterparts. They are constantly coming up with and trying out new ideas.

Trump accelerated and directed this insurgency by interacting with it. Via his twitter account, he accelerated the innovation of the insurgency by paying attention to it. His now-famous Tweets and media mentions incentivized innovation and spread new ideas across the insurgency in minutes (not days/weeks). Trump also selected targets for the insurgency. In many, many instances, Trump directed the insurgency to silence individuals in the opposition through a torrent of online/offline abuse.

Networked Orthodoxy

The second form of political social networking arose organically around the opposition to Trump's presidency… now known as… the #resistance   

This reactive, outraged form of political social networking rose up from the ashes of a collapsed two-party political system. As of Trump’s election, the resistance has virally grown... as-yet devoid of any clearly defined strategic leadership. This politically correct reaction can be described as a bureaucratic, networked political orthodoxy... an open source insurgency in reverse.

 It uses social networking to exert pressure on people to accept the orthodox position (in this case, resistance to Trump's insurgency). Online orthodoxies grow through peer pressure and political correctness. This online orthodoxy is growing at an accelerated pace because Trump, through his continued bombastic, and increasingly racist tweets, feeds the outrage that fuels it.

These two political networks, the Trumpian insurgency, and the politically correct resistance... are the two main examples of our current state of affairs. This political dichotomy replaces, yet mirrors the old, two-party system. For the most part, they generally fall along traditional left/right ideological lines. However... they are more insidious than the traditional broad-based party politics, in that they fuel racial, religious, ethnic, social, and/or cultural bias to form the exclusive, niche alliances of identity politics.

Participatory Political Networking

So where is political networking taking us?  That's the BIG question. Robb identified a third possibility for where our political system could be headed…

Imagine in the near future, a networked participatory political party.  Such a participatory party could be run as a cell phone app.  This would allow it to scale up to millions of members in a very short time. People participating in the on-line party would debate the issues and vote on how their representatives should vote in Congress. 

A networked, participatory political party would combine the fluidity of the "insurgency" with the solidarity of "orthodoxy." Unlike current political parties, this party wouldn't just vote every 2 years to elect candidates.  It would operate continuously… voting on all major issues. Through their phone app, party members would provide immediate direction, showing constituent trending in real-time. Such a participatory party could arise independently, growing virally… or it could co-opt an existing political party from the inside out.

How would a participatory network govern?  Unlike the other systems, it has the best chance of working within the confines of the current US Constitution.  It also has the strength to tame political distortions caused by globalization without resorting to the extremes of either the orthodoxy or the insurgency.

Robb’s insight envisions a participatory political system made possible by social networking.  Would such a system be the best chance for a better future...  a system that would put social networking to work for us instead of against us?

Is our Brave Noö Future destined to be driven by the continued rise of open source insurgency? Is it ordained that we repeatedly resort to reactive orthodoxy? Open source insurgencies can take advantage of innovative immediacy, at the cost of deliberation and accuracy. In their haste, they are more susceptible to error. Networked orthodoxy is reactive, yet, over time, aligns with traditional, rule-of-law guidelines… slow but steady.

Or do we embrace a third way? Do we embrace the possibility of a networked, participatory political system? For a glimpse of this potentiality, we turn to the 21st century oracular instrument of choice… science fiction. The sci-fi genre has become the modern equivalent of the “Oracle of Delphi” for those who deal in predictive speculation. Turning to a new talent within the genre, will our near political future resemble the globally networked, digital government of Malka Older’s 2016 cyberpunk book: “Infomocracy?” 

In her book (the first in the Centenal Cycle series), Older imagines a near future where a powerful search engine monopoly, known as “information” facilitates Earth’s socio-political transition from a collection of warring nation-states, to a global micro-democracy. Nation-States are a thing of the past and governing districts are broken down into 100,000 person constituencies known as Centenals. Each centenal is run by a political or corporate faction, with more or less global influence. The faction who wins the most Centenals in the 10-year election cycle, controls the world government for that cycle.

So is Malka Older’s cautionary sci-fi tale, where we are headed? Those of us who are foolish enough to seriously monitor the current political theatre will likely find out soon. Weaponized political networks will certainly play a significant role in the 2020 American presidential campaign. Arguing over whether or not Russia will be a major perpetrator in such political shenanigans, misses the point. 

The future of politics likely will be driven by humanity's immersion in the globally networked, social media empires that are well on their way to dominating all of our lives. So when we all wake up on November 6th, 2020… maybe we will be a little closer to knowing what the near future of politics looks like... nationalistic autocracy or micro democracy? As always… stay tuned, dear intrepid cybernauts, stay tuned!   

Fog of Information

“In this day and age... we are faced with a Fog of Information that is as distracting and detrimental as the fog of war.”

- from “Bread & Circuses”

Information Overload (AKA: infobesity or infoxication) is a state of mental uncertainty and consequential inaction, driven by too much incoming information. This mental malaise occurs when an individual has difficulty in understanding and effectively making decisions on a specific issue, precisely because they have been inundated with excessive, often conflicting quantities of information, pertaining to said specific issue.  

The concept of Information Overload originated in the study of Information Theory, which examines the storage, preservation, communication, compression, and extraction of information. The term, information overload, was popularized by Alvin Toffler in his bestselling 1970 book Future Shock. Here is a brief definition from a recent study on information theory: 

Information overload occurs when the amount of input to a system exceeds its processing capacity. Decision-makers have fairly limited cognitive processing capacity. Consequently, when information overload occurs, it is likely that a reduction in decision quality will occur.

As any intrepid explorer of our exponentially expanding digital culture has experienced, information overload is a direct byproduct of social media and the insidious rise of what has been labeled the Attention Economy. Within attention economics, an individual’s attention span is considered a natural resource, to be extracted and exploited like any other commodity. Once again… strange days have found us.

In these strange days, information overload is the exacerbating yet predictable result of too many, increasingly unmanageable information streams. In addition to texting and the antiquated e-mail, we are subjected to a daily barrage of facebook, youtube, snapchat, instagram and of course twitter… all received through our now-pervasive mobile devices. Together, these information streams cascade and inundate each of us in a cumulative morass of data that we refer to as a Fog of Information.

In analogy to a Fog of War, fog of information obscures a clear view of the digital battlefields of the Culture Wars being waged on and through these information mediums. As in military conflicts, a fog of information is a stark reality in the culturally and ideologically driven information wars. Precision and certainty may be unattainable goals, but the use of social media facilitates a trade-off of precision and certainty for speed and agility... fast, if not accurate.

The major theatre of battle in the American Culture Wars is being waged in the political arena. As such, battle lines are drawn between Red States and Blue States. This schism pits Republican vs. Democrat… conservatives vs. progressives, coastal elites vs. the heartland. The split is, of course, a divide and conquer strategy, encouraged by those who stand to gain the most from a population fighting amongst themselves. The information fog obscures any clear-headed perspective so that it is impossible to tell who is targeting who. Just keep the message simple… make Amerika great again!

Thus, the president of the U S of A… the illustrious Orange One has become the master of 280 character diplomacy. Forget about protocol… the administrative branch proclaims presidential decree via tweet. Minus any apparent, legally binding executive order, the American legislature anxiously awaits the Orange One’s most recent twitter post, be it a misspelled assault on members of congress, or a proclamation of war. That’s how shit gets done in the information wars!

Political commentary aside, the fog of information imposes a paralyzing cloud of uncertainty over in-depth analysis and critical thinking… in favor of memes and quick sound bytes. These are the tools of the information warrior… thoughtless posts that spawn thoughtless, knee-jerk responses. These are the weapons that are being employed in the socially networked politics of our near future. Decree by tweet is just the beginning.

Meanwhile, social media behemoths such as google and facebook exploit the people’s confusion through the Attention Economy. It turns out that short attention spans are lucrative commodities! Clicks mean profit! Social media has changed the face of not only politics but all facets of our lives. The fog of information even hides the fact that our networked world is changing in ways that most of us do not fathom... as yet.

However… the ever-resourceful readers of this blog possess ways and means in which to counteract the fog of information. Through the art of what has been called synchromysticism, we observe the torrent of information, extracting meta-information from mega-trend. We study the signs and portents to glimpse the over-arching patterns that course through social, pop media. It is this pattern recognition that sharpens and broadens our intel on “what the f#@k is really going on!” In this Brave Noö World… intel is power.

In our next installment, we will look at how the 2016 presidential campaign marked a critical pivot-point in modern politics. We will explore the future of political networking and the massive changes in store for political systems, world-wide. The Orange One’s twitter feed barely scratched the surface of how politics will play out in our Brave Noö World… stay tuned, dear intrepid readers… stay tuned! 

Quieting the Monkey Mind

“Many creatures bear the outward form of a man, but do not be fooled by appearances. Not all such life-forms can be considered human.”

- Frank Herbert

American author, futurist, skeptic, tekgnostic saint and illustrious proponent of the eight circuit model of consciousness: Robert Anton Wilson was fond of describing Homo sapiens as: “Domesticated Primates.” In so doing, he was reminding us of our shared, evolutionary mammalian attributes. His description was not necessarily flattering. Using a then-contemporary, science fiction film title analogy, he described humanity’s existential circumstances as: living on the “Planet of the Apes.”

Similarly, American research pharmacognosist, ethno-pharmacologist, and psychedelic advocate, Dennis McKenna has often described Homo sapiens as: “Problematic Primates.” McKenna’s depiction emphasizes humanity’s ignorance of our place within, and impact upon, our homeworld. To quote McKenna: “The human species is an anomaly in nature. Our hypertrophied brains have made us highly linguistic, immensely creative, and enormously clever… but we also devalue nature. This disjunct has created problems for us as a species and for the entire biospheric community.”

These two luminaries’ colorful descriptions of humanity were likely inspired by the Buddhist concept of the “Monkey Mind.” This expression illustrates the unsettled, restless, capricious, whimsical, inconstant; confused… and the resulting indecisive and uncontrollable nature of most of humanity. The mind-monkey metaphor was consequently adopted in Taoism and Neo-Confucianism, as well as in the poetry, drama, and literature of archaic China and Japan.

“We all have monkey minds” suggests a fashionable pop-Buddhist anecdote… “with dozens of monkeys all clamoring for attention. Fear is an especially loud monkey, sounding the alarm incessantly, pointing out all the things we should be wary of and everything that could go wrong.” This “fear monkey” metaphor is especially poignant in our modern, conspiratorial, brave noö world. Fear continues to be a particularly problematic bugaboo within the human psyche.

The monkey mind is a powerful metaphor precisely because it is a universal one. Many cultures use the monkey archetype to illustrate superficial, unaware and copycat behavior. Proverbial examples include “Monkey see, monkey do” and the infamous “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” monks. Within such philosophic and meditative systems as Taoism and Zen, the monkey mind is the undisciplined, un-evolved mind.

Use of the monkey-mind metaphor, challenges us to rise above our primate, animal nature, to become truly human. As Frank Herbert famously said in his epic science fiction novel: Dune… Many creatures bear the outward form of a man, but do not be fooled by appearances. Not all such life-forms can be considered human. In that ground-breaking piece of science fiction, Herbert also famously said … “Fear is the mind-killer.” 

The implication of the monkey mind suggests that there exists, a higher mind that is available… if not inherent… to humanity. Applied Tek-Gnostics identifies tools and technologies that ameliorate the negative impact that fear has upon the normal functioning of the domesticated primate. By incorporating the intelligence engineering techniques outlined, the intrepid psychonaut will discover the ways and means to quiet the incessant, fear-based chatter of the monkey mind. And in so doing, the courageous intelligence engineer enhances her/his level of accessible intelligence or Intel… from which to navigate our Brave Noö World.

- Adapted from: Applied Tek-Gnostics – A Field Guide for the Collective Conscious

Chapel Perilous - Pt 3

From Part Two of this series... "Once through the doors, it is best not to linger in Chapel Perilous. Just as in Friedrich Nietzsche's abyss, if you stare into the Chapel for long enough, something starts to stare back. Who knows what psychic critters lurk within the Chapel? Pass through… don’t make eye contact… you don’t want to catch someone’s (or something’s) eye. Just keep walking until you reach the other side."

Chapel Perilous Part 3

Should the doors of Chapel Perilous unexpectedly burst open… the ever-resourceful intelligence engineer may resort to the Tekgnostic Crux exercise, as outlined in chapter four. This emergent yoga may provide the immediate calm focus needed to cross the threshold to the higher, more rarified headspaces to come. In so doing, incorporate the following mantras for each circuit…

Circuit one… “I am safe”

Circuit two… “I am emotionally safe”

Circuit three… “I am interactively safe”

Circuit four… “I am on a path with Heart”

Circuit five… “I am psychedelically safe”

Circuit six… “I am synchronistically safe”

Circuit seven… “I am transcendentally safe”

Circuit eight… “I am one with Universe”

The key to surviving and deriving benefit from the process is: preparation. The ancient mystery cults sought to institutionalize the process within their teachings. Through their study, through their progression through the various degrees of learning and initiation, initiates were afforded a background of knowledge that both aided and comforted them through their dark night of the soul ordeal.

It is widely believed by scholars that the secret ceremonies and initiations of the ancient mystery cults, such as the “Greater Eleusinian Mysteries” involved the ingestion of specific substances or compounds that had entheogenic properties. The Eleusinian mysteries are believed to have used a substance called kykeon, variously described as having transformative (read: psychedelic) properties. In their ancient organization, the mystery cults of antiquity sought to not only institutionalize the process within their teachings, they sought to codify, guide and otherwise control the traumatic process/ordeal of the dark night of the soul.

The mystery cults sought, through initiation and ceremony… to assist their initiates in an organized “death of the ego” …an orderly, guided tour of Chapel Perilous. They sought, through entheogenic revelation, to guide the initiates beyond the valley of the shadow, to their ecstatic rebirth. This may be the path of the cult… the original, intended path of religion… but it is not the path of the shaman. The shamanic path is ultimately a solitary one.

To stand at the doors of Chapel Perilous is to stand alone. Just as in the moment of one’s actual death, ego death can only be realized by “self.” The lessons learned upon exiting the Chapel, the alchemical “turning silver to gold” is the precious boon. It is the buried treasure, the magical elixir… heretical grail… that is bestowed upon the solitary courageous intelligence engineer. This moment of transformation is a conspiracy between you and Universe alone… with that which shall remain nameless.

In concluding our glimpse of Chapel Perilous, a reminder… This inevitable moment of doubt comes to all who question the meaning of existence. The psychonautic quest to explore the fringes of reality inevitably lead to the dark Chapel. We all must face and pass through the valley of the shadow. In our very questioning, we all must overcome existential fear and doubt. This ordeal comes with the territory.

And so, having been so tempered… so transformed… having been illuminated in the excruciatingly beautiful ways of Universe… having been bestowed the grail… the intelligence engineer’s job is but half done. Once the peak of the proverbial mountain has been reached, the intrepid trekker must navigate the descent of the mountain. The adventurer, with boon in hand, must make the return trip and survive to tell the tale. For it is in the telling… that the ways of Universe are revealed to clan and kin.

Note: The above is the third and final excerpt from the chapter on Chapel Perilous. Much more on the Eight Circuits of Consciousness and the Tek-Gnostic Yogic Crux may be found in Jack Heart's "Applied Tek-Gnostics - A Field Guide for the Collective Conscious."  ...This title is available now on Amazon, in paper and electronic editions. Find the link below...

Applied Tek-Gnostics

Chapel Perious - Pt 2

From Part One of this series: For the prepared, this most dangerous navigation, this perilous crossing, can be achieved… at great cost. The price to be paid is one’s presumption of the fixed, static, unchanging and dependable nature of reality. Those who have been reborn, emerging from the chapel, having traversed beyond the valley of the shadow… those tempered souls, no longer are afforded the luxury of an unvarying reality. At this juncture, and in the words of Robert Anton Wilson: 

“Reality is what you can get away with.”

   

Chapel Perilous Part Two: Additionally, we envision Chapel Perilous as a rite of passage… an initiation into the mysteries… an inevitable portal to the higher circuits. Ancient mystery cults prepared their initiates in the ways of their teachings. The Orphic mysteries, circa 600 BCE, were traditionally founded by the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into the Greek underworld and returned. Although there is no surviving, definitive text of Orphism, it is clear that the descent to the underworld, demonstrates the perils of the Chapel.

Within the ancient Orphic mythology, Zagreus (Greek: Ζαγρεύς) was identified as an archetypical predecessor of the “Dionysus” figure… the son of Zeus and Persephone, who was dismembered by the Titans and reborn. Importantly, in the earliest mention of Zagreus, he is paired with Gaia (Earth) and called the “highest” god. The essential myth is as follows…

Dionysus (in his incarnation as Zagreus) is the son of Zeus and Persephone. Zeus pledges his throne to the child. The Titans are enraged over the proclamation and decide to murder the child. The Titans proceed to murder and consume Zagreus. Athena saves the heart and tells Zeus of the crime, who in turn hurls a thunderbolt on the Titans... ashes to ashes. The resulting soot, from which mankind is born, contains the bodies of the Titans and Dionysus. Thus, the soul of man (the Dionysus part) is therefore divine, while the body (the Titan part) holds the soul in bondage.

This mythology parallels the Gnostic teachings of the divine spark that is the human soul. The dismemberment of Zagreus also aligns with the Ancient Egyptian Osiris mythology. These mythic similarities demonstrate a common lineage of the ancient mystery cults, Egyptian mythology and early Gnostic teachings.

“The Orphics were an ascetic sect; wine, to them, was only a symbol, as, later, in the Christian sacrament. The intoxication that they sought was that of “enthusiasm,” of union with the god. They believed themselves, in this way, to acquire mystic knowledge not obtainable by ordinary means. This mystical element entered into Greek philosophy with Pythagoras, who was a reformer of Orphism as Orpheus was a reformer of the religion of Dionysus. From Pythagoras, Orphic elements entered into the philosophy of Plato, and from Plato into most later philosophy that was in any degree religious.”

- Bertrand Russell

Carl Jung borrowed terms and interpretations from the mystery cults as a source of metaphors for his reframing of psychoanalytic treatment into a spiritualistic ritual of initiation and rebirth. The Eleusinian mysteries, described in book one of this series, particularly the qualities of the Kore (archetypical feminine), figured prominently in his writings. In this manner, the mystery cult teachings proceed from antiquity, through Gnostic tradition, influencing hermetic, alchemical, Rosicrucian, and Masonic secret teachings, to modern psychology.

Within our figurative, eight-fold roadmap that represents human consciousness, Chapel Perilous stands at the crossroads that separate the four monkey mind circuits and the four true human circuits. This is symbolically so, because all who truly seek answers to life’s great mysteries, inevitably reach an excruciating moment of profound existential doubt. This is the true rite of passage that, regardless of system, must be undergone alone.

This is the Buddha… alone under the Bodhi tree. This is Jesus… alone in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. However, this definitive moment does not necessarily come at a prescribed time. Often it will come “as a thief in the night” when one least expects it…

The deep darkness that is Chapel Perilous may appear at any point along the eight-fold path. We place the Chapel at the crossroads of the lower and higher circuits… for convenience and metaphor. Often, activation of the fourth circuit… the opening of the heart chakra… may trigger the Chapel Perilous ordeal, but this is not always the case.

So just how (the curious psychonaut may ask) can one be sure if it is indeed the Chapel, and not some mere, mundane, mental catastrophe? While a definitive answer is occluded, the quandary becomes clear by paying attention to “the signs and portents.” The approach to Chapel Perilous is marked by a distinct increase in synchronicities within the seeker’s life. This sudden, divine invasion of synchronicity may be alarming, but… fear not.

Do not be “surprised or dogmatized” by a synchronous influx… for this experience is just another day in our brave noö world. Synchronicity is a byproduct of correct inquiry… it is to be expected on the path to the higher circuits. In fact, if synchronicities are not popping up everywhere, then you are not asking the right questions… you are not approaching the Chapel!

Experience of the Chapel, as well as spontaneous activation of the higher circuits, may occur at any time. It is the conceptualization of the eight-fold path, as typified by the eight circuits, that places Chapel Perilous at the tipping point… the turning of the tide… of consciousness exploration. But as we all know, the map is not the territory! It is the unknowing, the unannounced spontaneity that makes the dark Chapel so perilous!

Also, once through the doors, it is best not to linger in Chapel Perilous. Just as in Friedrich Nietzsche's abyss, if you stare into the Chapel for long enough, something starts to stare back. Who knows what psychic critters lurk within the Chapel? Pass through… don’t make eye contact… you don’t want to catch someone’s (or something’s) eye. Just keep walking until you reach the other side.

Note: The above is the second excerpt from the Chapel Perilous chapter of Jack Heart's New Book: "Applied Tek-Gnostics - A Field Guide for the Collective Conscious"  ...This title is available now on Amazon, in paper and electronic editions. Find the link below...

Applied Tek-Gnostics

Chapel Perilous - Pt 1 (excerpt from - Applied Tek-Gnostics)

“Chapel Perilous, like the mysterious entity called “I” …cannot be located in the space-time continuum. It is weightless, odorless, tasteless and undetectable by ordinary instruments. Indeed, like the Ego, it is even possible to deny that it is there. And yet, even more like the Ego, once you are inside it, there doesn’t seem to be any way to ever get out again, until you suddenly discover that it has been brought into existence by thought and does not exist

outside thought.”

- Robert Anton Wilson

Beware! If you value normalcy... if you value a comfortable, predictable world... turn back now. Once you cross the threshold of Chapel Perilous, there is no going back... for to enter this portal is to enter into the realm of magick, meaningful coincidence and synchronicity. Here the laws of common sense do not apply. Chapel Perilous is guarded by that ancient, daemonous trickster, Fate. Should you, in your courageous audacity, choose to proceed... you have been warned.

As indicated in book one of this series, there exists between the four, lower mundane, monkey mind circuits and the four, higher transcendental, true human circuits… a conceptual chasm of doubt. This inevitable moment comes to all who question the meaning of existence, beyond the corporal provision of survival and security needs. The ancient Gnostic mystics called this spiritual, psychic and mental no-man’s-land, the: Valley of the Shadow of Death. The more literal translation of the archaic text being: Deep Darkness.

The Valley of the Shadow metaphor refers to a significant crisis of belief wherein an individual is faced with profound questioning of his/her worldview. This event begins with the questioning of one’s assumptions of the meaning of life, or how the world works. Invariably, this quandary leads to a realization of the inequity of the human condition and/or the shallowness of one’s earlier assumptions. This moment of awakening comes as a shock, as we had grown comfortable with our previous world view, thank you very much.

On a side note, the famous and most-often quoted 23rd Psalm of the Old Testament, not only commentates on the Valley of the Shadow, it contemporaneously and synchronistically ties the balancing point, or no-man’s land of the Eight Circuit Model, into the serendipitous, cultic phenomenon known as the 23 enigma.  This phenomenon was popularized by none other than Robert Anton Wilson, as first recognized by William S Burroughs.

Beware as you read these words dear reader, for just as with that rascally trickster synchronicity, the 23 enigma virally expands within your consciousness, once observed. Once exposed, the 23 contagion will magickally appear everywhere, when you least expect it! But I digress…

Returning to the topic at hand, this ancient, Gnostic metaphor is akin to the more modern and intellectually accessible concept of the Dark Night of the Soul. The connotation of Dark Night of the Soul infers a spiritual bankruptcy of the materialism of mundane existence. Leary and Wilson et al, metaphorically referred to this moment of crisis, utilizing the epic “Quest for the Grail” mythologies (such as Chrétien de Troyes’ unfinished poem: Perceval) as… Chapel Perilous.

The term Chapel Perilous first appeared in Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (1485) as the setting for an adventure in which the powerful sorceress Hellawes unsuccessfully attempts to seduce Sir Lancelot. More recently, T. S. Eliot referred to and used it symbolically in his epic poem: “The Waste Land” (1922).

As in the Valley of the Shadow, Chapel Perilous refers to a psychological state in which an individual profoundly questions the very nature of reality. Perplexingly, they cannot be certain whether they have been aided or hindered by some occult force outside the realm of the natural world… or whether what appears to be supernatural interference was in fact a product of their own vivid imagination.

Within the Applied Tek-Gnostics system, to enter Chapel Perilous is to come to the shocking realization that “the Gods are Crazy.” This is the horrific, epiphanous moment when one comes face-to-face with the ambivalent... or worse... malevolent nature of worldly powers… what the Gnostics identified as: Demiurge. As examined in more detail in chapter two of this volume, this deranged entity is not to be confused with the ultimate, transcendent creative power, which cannot be named.

The concept of “Chapel Perilous” was artfully used by Antero Alli, in his 1986 book: “Angel Tech: a Modern Shaman's Guide to Reality Selection” which, in turn, was based on Leary’s appropriated Eight-circuit model. In Alli’s book, Chapel Perilous is regarded as a rite of passage, when transitioning from the four lower circuits of consciousness to the higher circuits. In Chapel Perilous, the integrity of the lower circuits is tested in preparation for activation of the higher circuits.

 So too does Applied Tek-Gnostics utilize Chapel Perilous as myth, metaphor and map. We imagine Chapel Perilous as the gateway to the Gnostic Valley of the Shadow of Death… to be traversed at great peril, where the intrepid traveler is ultimately “reborn” once emerging on the far side. The rebirth metaphor is useful in assessing the seriousness of the situation. It is one that has been used by ancient Gnostic teachings and misused (born-again) by certain modern Christian sects.

It has been alluded to in Jungian psychology as the harrowing “ego-death.” This metaphoric death is essential in Jung’s individuation process. The doors of Chapel Perilous are often traumatically burst open in the throes of the psychedelic experience, wherein the ego-death becomes a very real misperception of honest-to-god (better have your affairs in order), death. In this sense, to pass through the valley of the shadow becomes an excruciating self-assessment.

For the unaware or unprepared, stumbling upon Chapel Perilous is profoundly traumatic. It may manifest as an existential crisis that threatens faith, belief, certainty and sanity. Depending upon one’s worldview, this pervasive and all-consuming doubt may shake the foundation of religious faith, shatter the illusion of ego, or question the veracity of one’s sanity. Upon entering Chapel Perilous, the very shackles of reality appear to be at stake.

For the prepared, this most dangerous navigation, this perilous crossing, can be achieved… at great cost. The price to be paid is one’s presumption of the fixed, static, unchanging and dependable nature of reality. Those who have been reborn, emerging from the chapel, having traversed beyond the valley of the shadow… those tempered souls, no longer are afforded the luxury of an unvarying reality. At this juncture, and in the words of Robert Anton Wilson: 

“Reality is what you can get away with.”   

Note: The above is an excerpt from Jack Heart's New Book: "Applied Tek-Gnostics - A Field Guide for the Collective Conscious"  ...This title is available now on Amazon, in paper and electronic editions. Find the link below...

Applied Tek-Gnostics Paperback

Kindle Edition