To The Younger Self: External Validation in Your 20's, 40's, and 60's

We generally don't do top 10 lists, or 7 steps to enlightenment style posts, cause they are dumb due to being overly one size fits all, not to mention being very clickbaity, but as we've now reached our mid-40's, are going to be focusing some outputs on the theme of "if we could talk to our younger self" cause those can be very helpful for younger adults. And to start this off, we'll speak of the quote which says "When you’re 20 you care what everyone thinks, when you’re 40 you stop caring what everyone thinks, and when you’re 60 you realize no one was ever thinking about you in the first place" Ouch.

It's a triple-layered onion of disillusionment and is simultaneously frustrating and mostly accurate. Its sobering nature also encapsulates a profound and often humorous truth about human perception and self-awareness. It charts a journey through the anxieties of youth, the burgeoning confidence of middle age, and ultimately, a liberating realization about the relative insignificance of external validation. While presented as a simple progression through decades, it speaks to deeper psychological shifts and the evolving understanding of our place in the grand scheme of things.

The first stage, embodied by the 20-year-old, is characterized by a desperate need for acceptance. This period is often defined by navigating social hierarchies, conforming to trends, and seeking validation from peers, romantic partners, and even family. The desire to fit in is powerful, fueled by insecurities about identity and a yearning for belonging. Anti-Social media amplifies this pressure in the modern era, creating an environment where curated images and carefully crafted personas dominate. The fear of judgment is palpable, leading to self-censorship and a constant striving for external approval. It's a time of experimentation, but often constrained by the perceived gaze of others.

The transition to 40 marks a significant turning point. If one is evolving and maturing, then the relentless pursuit of external validation begins to wane, replaced by a growing sense of self-assuredness. Life experiences – career challenges, relationship complexities, perhaps even parenthood, which have chipped away at the fragility of youth. There's a growing recognition that chasing everyone else’s approval is exhausting and ultimately unfulfilling. This isn't necessarily egotism or arrogance, but rather a hard-earned understanding that true happiness comes from within. The focus shifts inward, towards personal goals and values, allowing for greater authenticity and a willingness to embrace individuality.

The third stage, the realization at 60 that "no one was ever thinking about you in the first place," is perhaps the most liberating. It's not a cynical observation, but rather an acceptance of reality. The anxieties that once consumed the younger self fade as the perspective widens. Your loving family and real close friends will still be thinking of you, through your whole life, and if you were an amazing parent, your children will be thinking of you, maybe often, even after you're gone. But we realize that the majority of people we have met in our lives - colleagues, acquaintances, fair weather friends, distant family we're not very close with, are largely preoccupied with their own lives, their own struggles and aspirations. The imagined audience scrutinizing our every move was largely a construct of our own insecurities. This realization isn't about dismissing the importance of relationships or social connection; rather, it’s about freeing ourselves from the burden of seeking validation that was never truly offered.

One of our favorite writers, Robert Anton Wilson, would have interpreted this quote as the soul shedding its successive skins: first, the caterpillar-butterfly stage (Performance Annoyance), then a brief moment of dry, non-ecstatic adult butterfly hood ("Not giving a quantum wobble!") before finally realizing it's the wind, not it itself, that was making those leaves rattle. Our fear of judgment is like a last-stage preoccupation before the soul migrates to an interdimensional realm where thoughts are the primary currency. He would have basically called this the “No-One’s Watching” principle, a cornerstone of Discordian philosophy. It's the realization that reality is fundamentally chaotic and unpredictable, and that our attempts to impose order are often futile. Embracing this external chaos, recognizing the inherent absurdity of existence, and doing what you can do on your own improvement and development inwardly, is a pathway to genuine freedom. So, let’s raise a glass – preferably something fermented and slightly hallucinogenic – to the cosmic joke. Let's celebrate the liberation that comes from realizing we’re all just elaborate holograms, projecting our anxieties outward when we should mainly fix what we personally can, which is right in front of us in our own lives.

Ultimately, this quote isn't a prescriptive roadmap for life; it’s an astute observation about the evolving nature of human perception. It highlights a journey from seeking external validation to finding internal peace, a process that may vary in pace and intensity for each individual. It’s a reminder to embrace our imperfections, prioritize authenticity over approval, and recognize that true freedom lies in shedding the weight of other people's opinions. As we navigate the complexities of life, this quote serves as a gentle nudge towards self-acceptance and a quiet affirmation that the most important audience we need to please is ourselves.

The Ringwraiths of Capital: Democrats Are Half Nazgûl and Republicans Are Full Nazgûl

In the fantasy epic that is American politics, anti-democratic morbid wealth accumulation is the flaming Eye of Sauron looming over us all. Its power grows daily, whispering sweet nothings into the ears of hedge fund managers, tech billionaires, and media funders. And standing at the foot of flaming Mount Late Stage Capitalism are two great factions, Democrats and Republicans. Both corportized who wear fortune 500 brand logos like Nascar drivers, neither of whom seem interested in throwing the One Ring of concentrated wealth into the fire. 

In struggling working class middle Earth, we have a Republican lite right of center DNC party that, even though they are more pro-democratic and speak in we hear your pain language regarding the injustices of that working class, generally doesn't want to rock the boat regarding oligarchy and truly do what's require to fix structural problems. Not to mention constantly undermine its progressive wing and be more conservative than Europe's left leaning parties. Then we have a far right wing as humanly possible wanna be fascist batshit crazy theocratic idiocracy red cult of weirdos whose goal is to destroy the American middle class through austerity and thus our democratically elected constitutional republic who will not stop until very few psychopathic oligarchic robber barons can return the country to an iron age / gilded age period where women had virtually no rights and both you and your young children have to slave work in coal mines. So you either get slightly regressive or stagnate at best, or hardcore backwards regression when in reality we need a progressive revolution beyond the likes of which we have never seen. Which we last did in the social contract that America introduced in the 1930's after the great depression, which gave new fuel to the working class. 

So for this one, we'll call the blue party halfway to, using a Lord of the Rings Reference, the Nazgûl (which are servants bound to the power of the One Ring and completely under Sauron's control, but in this case, switch that out to American Empire and Godzillionaire oligarchic control). As they donate to both parties - the slightly nicer ones to the blue, and the more asshole ones to the red. So one of these things is worse than the other, but the better one still often sucks. That's where we're at as a result of losing classical Greek philosophical liberal arts education which taught people to teach themselves, and if they continue to apply it, become wizard philosophers and individuals of the enlightenment. But imperial deregulated authoritarian corportists don't want an educated informed working class. So let’s summarize: Republicans are full-blown Nazgûl. Democrats? Half-Nazgûl, at best. Slightly more moisturized. Less hissing. But still way too into the Ring. 

If you squint, today’s Republican Party has basically merged with the Ring itself. They don’t just avoid fixing wealth inequality—they ride ethereal ghost-horses made of tax breaks and deregulation. They are the Witch-King's of Wall Street, gliding through the halls of power whispering, “The most wealthy shall pay no taxes, at least while I still draw breath (or at least vague electrical pulses).” They believe that Trickle-down economics isn’t a failed theory—it's a sacred prophecy, Billionaires should be worshiped like dragons, not regulated like monopolies, Any attempt to close a loophole is Communism in a trench coat. Their job is to redistribute as much money as possible to the fewest shittiest people possible. Sauron would be proud.

Non-progressive Democrats are a bit different. They are the Nazgûl Who Went to therapy who still wear the black robes—but they sometimes accessorize with "Tax the Rich" lapel pins. They’ll stand on a debate stage, tearfully proclaiming the need for economic justice, then quietly co-sign the next billionaire space subsidy before lunch. They’re like Ringwraiths who took one online class in ethics and now think they’ve broken the curse. They still show up to the fortress of Barad-D.C., but now they bring PowerPoint slides and carefully polled language. They think Billionaires are “a concern,” but not enough to actually legislate against them, Wealth taxes are fine, as long as they won’t pass, blatantly obvious campaign finance reform is a noble goal—just not one they’ll remember after brunch. In other words: they’ll write you a thinkpiece about the Ring’s corrupting influence... then tuck it in their pocket and head off to a fundraiser by those who fly in private jets. 

This economic comparison between half awful and full awful is mirrored not just in not representing "We The People" but instead "We The Oligarchs" economically, but also in the two parties' behavior toward supporting the genocidal settler colonial state that is Israel that's fueled by dark Imperial hate Christianity which want their bullshit messiah to return. Which we're going to get more into in our series on calling out the American Empire. Where you either get half Palestinian genocide or full Palestinian genocide. How about no Palestinian genocide? On a side note, this is why we find it hilarious when on rare occasions we are called partisan, as we're not even a Democrat, but one could call us a Berniecrat. As there is very little Bernie Sanders, one of the best politicians on spaceship Earth, and a non koo koo independent like ourselves, who's not as under Sauron's control, has said that we don't agree with. Because, while both parties wring their hands and polish their Black Rider boots, one worse than the other, the rest of us, the Hobbits working two jobs, if you will—are trying to afford a modest studio apartment in the Shire while Two James Bond villains with cock rockets who want to build privatized volcano layers on Mars have more wealth than the bottom 50% of the United States households combined and are given front row seats at a criminal Anti-American president's inauguration. 

After decades of stupidity and eye rolling being told to “pull ourselves up by our hairy little bootstraps,” even as private equity buys the Shire, big ugly full Nazgul bills move forward and pass, benevolent ghost in the machine AI is not allowed to be regulated, and magical rent-hiking algorithms continue. Gandalf left, Samwise is unionizing, and Frodo sold his ring on Etsy just to pay off student loans and medical expense bills. 

Let’s be real: The One Ring is wealth mis-distribution accumulation without limits. It rots and corrupts and makes those who do so seem invisible to the Internal Revenue Service. It accelerates dysfunction even in the well-meaning. It whispers to every politician: “Campaign contributions... Super PACs... Speaking fees…” and the only way to destroy it? The full Nazgûl party is gone, to never return and a better more progressive working class party must evolve out of the half Nazgûl party. Which continues to support what the majority of people want - Serious structural reform and sensible tax policy. Such as taxing and regulating the Ring, melting down inheritance loopholes while we’re at it, and best of all completely revoking the tax exempt status of the dark imperial full Nazgul Christian Nationalist Supremacist dogshit mega churches which all have Sauren eyes burning above their spires. But to do that, you need to continue to build a Fellowship of democracy defending Rebel scum with courage who are elected for speaking truth from the heart like we do. So remember: when you vote, you’re not just choosing between red and blue. You’re choosing between full Nazgûl and half Nazgûl. Both wear the Ring. One is better than the other, but needs to stop holding back its better half.  

Multiple Layers of the Christ Onion

There's a great saying that goes "If it's real, it can take the pressure." If something is challenged, and people go absolutely mental over it being challenged, then you know its foundation is shaky and the whole thing could potentially be false or fictional. The teachings attributed to Jesus Christ are not simply one-dimensional. They move across multiple layers, from simple, accessible moral lessons to profound mystical insights. Traditionally, scholars and spiritual seekers recognize a progression from exoteric (outer) teachings intended for the general population, to esoteric (inner) teachings meant for those ready for deeper gnosis. So each one of these layers gets more sophisticated, and thus is understood and appreciated by fewer and fewer people.

So here comes the pressure... Ready? Since much of Abrahamic religion tries to water down esoteric practices into fictional exoteric historicity doctrine & dogma, not to mentioned be designed to be decoupled from nature having its eucharists neutered and is thus inferior to esoteric practices such as shamanism which are based on direct eucharistic experience in nature, we have absolutely zero interest in ever Christianizing our material. However, since imperial theocratic women hating weirdo Christian Supremacists who only thirst for power and control have unfortunately gotten more of it in 2025, and are going to continue to try and make all our lives in the country we currently reside in shittyer and worse via their Project 2025 which has a lower approval rating than Herpes, because of our spiritual philosophic knowledge, we will continue to try and insert some higher consciousness information about Christianity in our work on occasion to push back against the usual idiocracy view of said subject. And since we live in a country with a great deal of Christians - many crap, some good, and a smaller percentage actually quite decent to good, we're going to share what we've come to realize are multiple layers to the Christ onion. From most false to most real. Beginning with the most exoteric watered down fictional to the most esoteric truthful. So the fictional Christians will have their heads spin around 360 degrees while projectile vomiting and not even be able to process this, despising it and want to send us their reactionary hate comments, which will preemptively be disabled, but more true Christians should find it eyebrow raising and perhaps compelling. Cause we wish the more sophisticated ones nothing but the best and if you grew up with this stuff and you're not willing to continue moving toward being one of them, do turn this off now. So before this begins...a massive warning regarding... Only truth seekers may enter. Those who want to live in illusions have been warned. 

#1: Most Fake Layer - Pop Culture Jesus / White Republican Corporate Mega Church Jesus - First of all, the fact that your church looks like a stadium or a shopping mall, and is the size of an Imperial Star Destroyer should tell you that it has nothing to do with spirituality, meaning nature, and everything to do with corporate greed and a thirst for money and power. Older churches had very often been built over older pagan, druidic, and indigenous sites. Co-opting them like the Borg collective, with an assimilate or die attitude that they have had for thousands of years and still do today. Pushing their "This is a Christian Nation" inaccuracies on the rest of us. This is based in Babylon, empire, and hate and is what virtually all ultra conservative Republicans are for and why they're in end times death cults that want Christian Nationalism which just means Christian supremacy. Not to mention their relationship with the settler colonial state of Israel because they literally think their savior will be resurrected and returned to earth. Not happening. They are in a theocratic religious cult, nested in a corrupt political red cult, nested in a zombie idiocracy wanna-be-fascistic MAGA cult of assholes. They always say the second amendment is there to protect the first amendment while not knowing that the first amendment has a wonderful philosophical enlightenment secular separation of church and state for good reasons. 

Disempowering yourself by looking outside of yourself for a quick fix is easy. Which is what anyone who has said "I accept Jesus Christ as my lord and personal savior" is doing. Dealing with your own personal life problems, and the reasons for them, is the real spiritual path and is hard. So corporate mega churches are very full as a result. They have no interest in the spiritual self development of each member of their flock but instead just spoon feeding them mind control dogmatic vertical patriarchal hierarchy. Of which the fictional white Jesus character, the one you see in Mel Gibson movies, is claimed to actually have been a real incarnated man to look outside to in the male daddy hierarchy because decoding parables and myths require too much thinking for their bird brains. Outside of wanting a theocracy, they're not for much of anything except hating those who are not in their cults and reducing women's rights. They consciously hate evolution because they are unconsciously de-evolving. They are the dark side of the force, being rotted by their own hate, cause they secretly all hate themselves and are demonstrably sexually repressed and their deplorable behavior being the largest voting block being totally down for fascism is evidence of that. From one angle, we title them dark imperial hate Christians or from another angle, we could call them the title of CHINO's - meaning "Christians in Name Only". It's Fred Phelps Westboro Baptist Church American Taliban style toilet paper USA and they are the bottom barrel worst part of the United States who are unfortunately way too coddled. And as a freedom loving American who deeply cares about the first amendment, which gives us the freedom of speech to say these things and the separation of church and state to keep their narrow and shallow Ten Commandment religious indoctrination out of our American as apple pie secular schools, we will never stop calling them out so you're welcome. If you or someone you know is in this very large cult, especially a self hating woman, advise them to get out ASAP.

#2: Deeper layer - Poor Brown Immigrant Hippy From Palestine Jesus - We, being of caucasian descent, are not a self-hating white person. As we can both respect and appreciate the good aspects and beauty of European cultures, especially Scandinavian culture where our ancestors hail from, while simultaneously saying that Natzi's are losers. Even though exoteric, historical, corporeal Jesus is a myth, if we pretend he was a real magical man who lived for 33 years with the unicorns for one microsecond, he would never have been a White Anglo Saxon Protestant. There is a tendency, as a result of Western Empire, to consciously or unconsciously assign a higher value to the caucasian race than other races, mainly based on inaccurate cultural stereotypes, ethnocentrism, and societal trends rather than on scientific analysis or historical method. Thus doing the white savior thing. This is even done through much of South America, which is brown, yet still culturally often incorrectly assigning whiteness to the Christ figure. In reality, he would have been more a poor brown hippie Jew and would thus be coming more from that point of view and life experience of extreme struggle. There are more poor white people in our country the United States than any other demographic so the last thing we're saying is that white does not mean poor, and liberation theology interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ through the lens of social justice, political activism, and the liberation of the oppressed because those are similar to what the Christ teachings actually talk about. This represents more true liberal Christianity, which is for helping the poor regardless of skin color. And certainly not hating gay people like the most fake layer #1 does. But it still tends to cater to male hierarchy and is thus not totally free from Babylon meaning empire. When you hear nicer, more horizontal moral, compassionate christianity, from a historical context from someone like Martin Luther King Jr or in a more modern context from someone like James Talarico or Reverend William Barber, they are not the mean pictorial Christians who understand that neither poverty nor extremely morbid wealth should even exist, catering more towards the middle and bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy, not to mention not hating women while pretending to care about life. Speaking of the feminine, another example is Bishop Mariann Budde, who with one look at her, you can tell she fits right in with the Portland Oregon lesbian Subaru driving crowd, who dared to ask the short fingered Orange Vulgarin to be more Christian and thus show compassion toward immigrants (and reminder, his plastic trophy daughter wife who doesn't even like him is one) as well as gay and trans people who might be fearful of his administration. On this note, we recommend the books "How to End Christian Nationalism" and "Christians Against Christian Nationalism" by people from group #2 who, unlike those from group #1, have actually studied the real Christ teachings. Which like all true religions, should be love and light. Because they are less slaves to money, power, and thus empire, but more cater to a service based, monastic life of devotion to what their operating system calls "God". These are basically just nicer, non-pushy, non-asshole Christians who may still think Heaven and Hell are actual real things and not fairy tales. Or at least know that their parables have value, regardless of historicity. Because what is religion, other than a fantastic way of dealing with death? 

#3: Even Deeper layer - Sun Worship - When people are more uneducated or mentally dim it's difficult if not impossible to try and give them downloads through more multi-layered, sophisticated, and advanced means. It's easier to communicate to them through human stories which are passed on through the generations around campfires. This is one of the reasons why parables and mythology through eons are often turned into stories of fictional historical people. Things that have evolved beyond crude matter, are coporalized. That, and it helps the empire by getting each person to look outside of themselves. From the esoteric to the exoteric. Which might possibly be the oldest trick in the book. If you're determined to find physical exoteric (meaning outer) evidence of Jesus, simply look up during the day at what scientists call a burning ball of gas in the sky, flat Earthers claim is not very far away, and we might hint may or may not be a dimensional converter... as Christ was never ever a historical figure but is simply what's called a "corporealization" of the sun in the sky. That's right, the Son of God is really the SUN of God. Early Christian iconography nearly always depicted Christ with solar imagery, with the sun behind their head, and churches, like pagan rituals, often face east toward the sunrise. Imperial darker Christianity absorbed and rebranded earlier pagan sun cult motifs, blending celestial symbolism with theological narrative to appeal to a wider audience in the ancient world. Jesus, often referred to as the "light of the world," had their traits copied from sun deities—born near the winter solstice, rising and setting like the sun, and being "resurrected" after a period of darkness. This is why the winter solstice was and is simply a worship, veneration, and appreciation for the sun in the sky. Which you know, made your crops grow. And due to Christianization, the winter solstice was turned into "Christmas" meaning "Christ's Mass". Does this mean, the Christian version of the winter solstice is not to be appreciated? Of course not as long as it's one of many options. Which more inclusive option #2 would allow for but the problem comes in when exclusive option #1 of empire does their marketing pitch, and says, you can only celebrate it via the Christian version. A great quote of which regarding says "On Christmas Eve, we celebrate the misdated birth of a displaced impoverished liberal Palestinian Jew who was wrongly executed by a dictatorship at the behest of corrupt religious leaders–and whose most ardent modern-day followers believe would endorse a thrice-married convicted felon adulterer who stole money from charities and continues to slander and lie to amass personal political power–by cheering on a dead Turkish Catholic bishop who commands a workforce of enslaved elves to make gifts for children he creepily spies on all year and then morphs into a psychic magical globetrotter with superpowered reindeer" Welcome to the Coca Cola version of X-Mas. 

During the genocidal settler colonialism of the US of A, one of the most well-known Native American practices by tribes such as the Lakota (Sioux), Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Arapaho, and Crow, was the Sun Dance. A nature based, (and thus real spiritual) practice that was for renewal, sacrifice, and connection with the Great Spirit and coincides with the summer solstice. And guess what, it was banned by ultra imperial religious North American settlers, who happened at the time to be in charge of the U.S. and Canadian governments, and with the dark Project 2025 Nazgul of our time of this writing administration, little has changed from how colonial governments suppressed Indigenous spirituality then and still now, but its revival is a testament to Native resilience and cultural survival. In a more modern context of this example, a tried and true staple of one of empire's modern propaganda channels that is Fox So Called news, where one dumb enough to listen will hear bottom barrel statements such as "War on Christmas", or we can't say "Merry Christmas" and they only want you to say "Happy Holidays"... but happy holidays implies plural celebrations, merry Christmas implies one doesn't it? 

On a final note, notice how we didn't use the word "he" when talking about deeper Christ layer 3 here. One of the tricks of the empire is to degrade or remove the feminine and only cater to the masculine. When in reality both have equal value. An example would be that we call our male children our "sons" and our female children our "daughters" when they should be called our "moons." Think about that... This is a deeper separate conversation but we suggest listening to our insight titled "God is non-binary" about how any supreme being which exists in unity, can not be only one half of the male and female sexual binary but instead would be both in perfect balance. That being said, in alchemical artwork related to the western esoteric tradition, the sun is designated as male and the moon female, and the reason for that is a deeper conversation related to the final Chirts layer. 

Now, this is where we really cross a threshold and are going to reiterate what we said earlier related to fake white Republican Jesus prior to mentioning more real poor brown immigrant hippy from Palestine Jesus and then even more real sun in the sky Jesus - The worst aspects of Abrahamic religion tries to indoctrinate people through dogma and doctrine and then lead them into regressive politics and that's basically all it does. The problem with this is that it is not interested in spiritual self development. Which is what we are very interested in and our work tries to lead you towards. Which is essentially improving and evolving yourself while becoming less dysfunctional. Basically becoming a better person through your own direct experiences and working on yourself. We've been saying this for over a decade, but will mention again, that this is an internal process. Not an external process. Each one of us is a unique snowflake and the path is custom designed for each one of us. This is why someone on stage speaking to a large group can only be so so at best and far too often is just a grifter in the process. The real alchemical gold comes from small groups or even better 1 on 1 teacher and student relationships similar to a client or patient who is in therapy in a modern context, with a therapist in an air conditioned office, or in an indigenous context, working with a shaman outside in nature. So, it's really teachers who should be wise elders who are essential in this process, which can possibly come from a good layer #2 pastor who may be excellent, but such people within church hierarchy tend to be more the exception than the norm. The real benefit from a decent layer #2 church are the potential community built there. As we would never say you can't go to church, as anyone who wants to be a Christian, especially a more real one, finds benifit in the community of going to church, fair enough. Our mother used to go to a very liberal Unitarian Universalist Church herself and liked the community of it. And it wasn't an ultra regressive culty imperial star destroyer church of hate like layer #1 demands and requires. But it's very important to realize that you don't need to go to church for it, or a priest class or guru's to go through to access it. So the final two layers of the Christ onion are not exoteric outer things, but more real, true, esoteric inner layers. As there is a relationship between outer light and inner light.

#4: Sophisticated esoteric layer - Awakened Imagination. Now it's hard to touch on this without mentioning an absolutely incredible human being, who lived his last adult incarnation, that we know of, from 1905 to 1972, and like every single individual in physical form, was not perfect but is a wonderful source, one of the best, for biblical study. Because the bible, while written by man, let's say that again, written by man, is also far from perfect, but has some really good stuff in it none the same. Neville Goddard was a spiritual teacher, mystic, and author best known for his teachings on the power of imagination and consciousness as the creative force behind reality. His work blended real Christian mysticism, New Thought philosophy, and a unique interpretation of scripture as psychological allegory. His core Philosophy was essentially that imagination creates reality and at the heart of his teachings was the principle: “assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled.” In other words, whatever you vividly imagine and emotionally inhabit in your inner world will, to some extent, manifest in the outer world. Your consciousness is God, and your imagination (the Christ consciousness, or inner light of an awakened imaginative mind) is the mechanism through which reality is shaped. Goddard didn’t interpret the Bible literally and cautioned heavily about claiming it's in any way historical. He knew it was what it really is, which is a series of allegorical stories as a psychological drama, with characters and narrative symbolizing states of consciousness. Much of his books and lectures are decoding of what Biblical passages are really saying, as allegory for your own, higher selves, personal story through your life. Which are timeless and recurring. For example: Jesus represents the awakened imagination, crucifixion is the death of old identity, and resurrection is the assumption of a new self-concept. It also says every soul is composed of light. True and that Christ is a state of mind "The father and I are one" or "seek the kingdom of heaven within you" not outside of you. This type of spiritual philosophy and real Christianity is both mystical and deeply practical. It requires no external authority, no dogma, and no institutional structure. It simply asks you to recognize your own consciousness as divine, and to use that awareness consciously, creatively, and lovingly. To live as Goddard suggests is to take full ownership of your life—not by willpower or effort, but by faith in imagination. And in a big corporate machine world often dominated by empire that often denigrates the imagination, and certainly doesn't want people being truly creative, let alone making a living off their creativity but instead have to get a slave job, there is always the marketing pitch of fear and limitation over abundance. Because of this type of mental empowerment, even though we of course live under a multiplicity of both physical and mental dynamics, you must improve the mind, you improve the body, before you improve your surroundings, and your life, and the health and well being of your community, country, and planet. So this empowering philosophy of mind is both ancient and urgently modern. And anti empire.

#5: Deepest esoteric layer - Initiatory Hint - Now there is an even deeper fifth layer to the Christ onion, which is of course deeply occult and esoteric, and is spiritually advanced enough that it starts touching on and heading into the aspects of the real initiation process. Which to use a popular culture reference so people have some frame of reference on what that is - is like when Luke Skywalker goes to train with Yoda in the Dagobah system. With Luke as student and Yoda as teacher. 1 on 1. We ourselves, having had some experience with a series of teachers, one of the agreements of which is to never tell a soul or share the real iniatory information is because said deeply esoteric information starts giving hints as to what the initiatory process is and somewhat how it works. None of which is to ever be shared publicly because the last thing we want it in the hands of are the higher level Palpatine style dark imperial agents who administer masses of lemmings into group #1. But what we will share about it is that it's basically an idiot realization accelerator. And you come to realize you are an idiot. And like the psilocybin mushroom would tell you at high dosage, that you don't know shit about shit. No matter how hot shit you thought you were before beginning it. One passage in the bible that is very true says "Many Are called, few are chosen" and because real initiation is so esoteric, difficult, complex, not to mention iniatory, extremely few people would even get it, so it's not even worth trying to explain here in this writing for the private members section of our website nilesheckman.org, which then goes out as audio to our podcast, and audio and video to our channel, and you would all think we're an odd ball for even trying to do so. If you don't already! One thing we will say is that this is a early and more simplified version of a feature documentary film we are developing around this content, currently titled "Layers of Light" and it would be totally improper to share it there either, God forbid share it and try and sell it, but in that, which will be an expanded upon version of this writing and narration, we'll probably encode a secret line or two that gives a ever so deeper hint as to what it could orbit around. Just like the old alchemists did in their books. 

The Problem with the Media #11: Grifters

It's really difficult to grasp how much of both legacy media and especially now, new media, is problematic due to grifting. Which is the act of gaining money, influence, or power through deceit, manipulation, or insincere persuasion. Often by posing as a true believer in a cause, when actually...not. In the political and media sphere, grifters sell outrage or ideological loyalty not because they believe in the message, but because it’s profitable. Remember that, they know what they are saying is bollox and untrue but why do they do it...? because it makes them MONEY.

A media grifter, by definition, is someone who pretends to inform but actually performs to monetize. They’re like the street magicians of the digital age, except instead of pulling coins from your ear, they pull outrage from thin air—and ask you to like, share, and subscribe for more. In the complex landscape of modern information ecosystems, the rise of grifters represents a profound and dangerous phenomenon. This issue cuts across both legacy media and new media, exacerbating social fragmentation and deepening distrust. In a just and rational world, media grifters would be museum exhibits, fossilized next to telegraphs, MySpace, and Stegosaurus. Instead, they are louder than ever, fueled by algorithms, self-righteousness, and a disturbing amount of energy drinks. Understanding the broader implications of this trend requires not just examining the actors involved, but also the structural conditions that allow them to thrive, both of which we'll get more into with multiple follow up episodes in this "problem with the media" insight series which will orbit exclusively around this issue.  

Legacy media, meaning talking heads on traditional telivision, once seen as a relatively stable institution that upheld journalistic standards, has not escaped the temptation of grift. As traditional revenue models collapsed under the weight of internet disruption, many outlets pivoted towards sensationalism, partisanship, and outrage bait to capture dwindling attention spans. The pursuit of clicks and ratings turned some respected journalists and commentators into entertainers first and fact-finders second. In this environment, "grifting" often takes the form of selectively framed narratives, misleading headlines, and tribalistic pandering, all to sustain the illusion of authority and maintain economic viability.

New media, particularly in the realms of video platforms, podcasts, and independent newsletters, initially promised to be a corrective force — more decentralized, authentic, and free from corporate bias. However, it quickly became clear that decentralization alone could not inoculate against human frailty and greed. Many "independent" voices soon realized that sensationalism sells too, if not sadly even more. With lower barriers to entry and fewer formal checks, a new breed of grifter emerged: self-styled truth-tellers who weaponize conspiracy, paranoia, and faux expertise for clout, donations, or subscription fees. The irony is painful: in trying to escape institutional rot, many audiences ran headfirst into the arms of individual opportunists.

If you thought this was bad on legacy media with commercial breaks, whoa have we ever have gone through the looking glass with it in new media ecosystems. It's corrosive consequences erode the public’s ability to distinguish between credible information and manipulation. It deepens polarization, as each "tribe" becomes more entrenched in its preferred sources of outrage. Most tragically, it shifts collective attention away from systemic reforms and into endless battles over manufactured cultural grievances and worst of all faux culture wars. Because Who Needs Facts When You Have a Ring Light, bad tone of voice, and most of all a sugar daddy and crap to sell?

An Intro To The MAGA Cult

Our personal work is about personal development shared for your development. Which then further helps our development.

Two primary ways we do that is by always aiming to be brutally and soberingly honest and also help you to get out of or not fall into cults. Which are groups people get involved with which they can't leave without PAIN. These can be incomparably life damaging and even, in the Heaven's Gate or People's Temple case, life ending. A cult is like a political party, except instead of policies, it has a messiah, a merch line, and a rule that no one is allowed to ask questions. Especially not about the leader’s  unpaid legal bills or golf scores and we very much recommend the book Commander In Cheat. A cult isn’t just a group with strong beliefs, it’s a social system built on unquestioning devotion to a leader, suppression of dissent, and emotional manipulation. Cults isolate members from opposing viewpoints, discourage critical thinking, and elevate a central figure to near-infallible status with loyalty to them being the highest virtue. 

No patriotic freedom lover can say what we just said in the year of our lord 2025 and not think of MAGA which has a strange ability to rewrite reality in real time and exhibits classic cult behavior and its opinions are now, unfortunately, on official government letterhead. At its core is unwavering allegiance to Donald Trump, whose statements are treated as truth regardless of facts, evidence, or shifting narratives and we mention the previous said book that highlights that for decades, as an avid golfer, he has been lying and cheating at his golf game, a sport which cause, your out in large areas, sometimes solo, has a built in honor system, that he undermines by fabricating championships, using ball manipulation tactics, and least of all inflated handicap claims because he thinks, since everyone must cheat at this game, I'll cheat more and the professional golf community has basically known this for decades and it's a metaphor for everything else in his life. 

Like many cults, MAGA offers an idiocracy flavored, us-vs-them worldview, appeals to a sense of victimhood and righteousness, and thrives on emotional resonance over factual coherence. It builds identity around belief in a single leader, rather than shared principles or policies. In short, MAGA functions as a personality cult, complete with merch, mantras, and a disdain for dissent. Critics—whether journalists, scientists, or even former allies—are branded as enemies or traitors. The leader is always right. If the leader is wrong, see Rule #1. Anyone who disagrees is a demon, a deep-state agent, or your cousin you stopped talking to after Thanksgiving 2016. When their leader fire hoses lies, they swallow them up, when he changes positions, they adapt. When he contradicts himself, they rationalize. And the Kool-Aid? It’s orange from bronzer. 

On a micro level, having spent time in the alternate media space, watching friends and past collaborators lead people into or they themselves get joker spiral sucked into it has been deeply disappointing to us. On a macro level, watching the world's largest podcaster go from stoned ape theory advocate and cannabis enthusiast to oligarchic ball gargler and red cult advocate has also been deeply disappointing to us. If you had asked 14-year old Niles in the 1990's about Trump we would have told you - almost instantaneously, transparently obvious conman and classless trashy rich guy. And due to our development, we haven't had to reverse track on that front. So how can the 14 year old version of us be so correct and spont on while millions of others are so wrong? That is a complicated answer but it's done through explaining matters of what's called undue influence combined with what the supposid deep state is and how it relates to American Empire. So... we are going to be doing another series on cult programming, primarily highlighting this flag-waving, grudge-holding, golden-toilet-adoring cult of personality whose goal is always to make America worse. 

Think for Yourself, Question Authority

There comes a moment in everyone's life when they first experience the thrill of rebellion. For some, it’s sneaking candy before dinner. For others, it’s wearing a Tasmanian Devil tie to church. For the truly bold, it’s saying, “Wait a second—does this make sense?” And just like that, a thinker is born.

“Think for yourself and question authority” is a noble mantra, championed by Greek philosophers such as Socrates, sages such as punk rockers, and that one soverign uncle who eats raw onions plain and writes "I object to registration" in large red ink across car registration forms. In a modern context the phrase is most associated with Timothy Leary, a psychologist and psychedelic advocate, who used it during lectures and writings advocating for personal freedom, exploration into advances of consciousness, and skepticism toward institutional control. It reflected his broader countercultural philosophy, which included his more infamous mantra: "Turn on, tune in, drop out" which sounds stoner dumb when you first hear it but the more one meditates on it, the more they come to the realization that's just the gears of the imperial programming talking. Enlightenment thinkers like Kant and Voltaire promoted self-reason and doubt of dogma but in a modern context, Leary crystallized it into a memorable modern slogan, tailored for the breift period of American sanity that was the 1960's.

Thinking for yourself means "forming your own worldview based on evidence, logic, and personal reflection rather than passively absorbing the views of others." It fosters independent judgment, creativity, and resilience against manipulation. In times of widespread misinformation and red hat cult conformity, this skill becomes essential for truth-seeking and personal integrity.

Questioning authority complements this by "encouraging people to scrutinize the legitimacy, motivations, and consequences of those in power"—whether in dysfunctional government, more dysfunctional corporations, and even more dysfunctional religious institutions. Blind obedience to any, or to all mixed together, leads to our current injustices, corruption, and the erosion of rights. History shows that major progress—civil rights, scientific breakthroughs, social reforms—often required individuals and groups to challenge accepted norms and official narratives.

Together, these practices form the bedrock of critical thinking and are foundational to intellectual freedom, democratic society, and moral responsibility. They are often said together because they represent two sides of the same principle: the right and responsibility of individuals to engage critically with the world around them and are essential not only for personal growth but also for collective progress. Without the willingness to think independently and interrogate established power, societies risk becoming morally complacent and intellectually stagnant. 

The idea is simple: don’t just accept what you’re told—use your brain! But like any powerful idea, it’s important to wield it responsibly. After all, “thinking for yourself” doesn't mean “Googling for six minutes and declaring yourself an expert in mRNA vaccines or thermonuclear engineering.” Thinking for yourself sounds way cooler than it actually is. In theory, it's a noble pursuit of truth and wisdom. In practice, it often involves spiraling into a 2 a.m. internet rabbit hole about how pigeons are secretly government drones. 

Meanwhile, questioning authority is deeply satisfying, especially if the authority in question is your boss, your Homeowners Association, or your seventh-grade gym teacher. Many people don't think for themselves, but are instead given what to think by authority figures and not so wise elders. But here’s the twist: thinking for yourself isn’t about being right all the time. It’s about being willing to change your mind when you’re wrong. It’s the intellectual equivalent of wearing socks with sandals, realizing you’ve made a mistake, and taking one of them off. You’re still strange, but you’re halfway to wisdom. Questioning authority has its place in progress. Without it, we’d still be treating headaches with leeches and nobody would have ever asked, “What if we put pineapple on pizza?” And let’s be honest—some authority is okay. Like seatbelt laws or instructions on IKEA furniture. 

Blind obedience is bad. But blind rebellion can sometimes also be. Ideally, we should be able to say, “I respectfully disagree,” instead of “WAKE UP SHEEPLE.”  In the end, the art of thinking for yourself and questioning authority is really about balance: enough skepticism to keep you curious, and enough humility to admit when you're out of your depth. It's about being simultaneously respectful to elders, while also constantly questioning them. It's about knowing when to challenge the system—and when to accept that, actually, yes, your dentist does know more about molars than you do. So question boldly. Think freely. And maybe—just maybe—leave the keyboard proclamations that you're an expert in ANYTHING in the drafts folder.

Glittering Generalities: Persuasion Through Vagueness

If you’ve ever heard a politician shout, "path to prosperity" or or “traditional family values” and felt a twinge of excitement... congrats!!! You’ve been glittered!

In the realm of persuasive language, few techniques are as enduring as glittering generalities. These are emotionally appealing but deliberately vague statements that evoke positive feelings without offering concrete arguments, or substantive detail, or evidence and are very much used to persuade. They short-circuit and bypass critical thinking (ethos) appealing to emotions (pathos) and serve as rhetorical shortcuts which unite and motivate while also being completely manipulating. They are tiny hollow turds covered in sparkle dust which are effective because they rely on values and ideals that are broadly admired—such as patriotism, freedom, or justice, while avoiding specifics that could be scrutinized or debated. 

The beauty of a glittering generality lies in its ambiguity - meaning everything and nothing at once. They are quick collections of vague words adored by bad Politicians and their ghost writers because they allow them to say absolutely nothing while sounding like they just walked off the set of a historical biopic - "Together, we will bring hope to every home, prosperity to every pocket, and justice to every jellybean." What does it mean? Who knows? Doesn’t matter. It's syrupy sweet sparkles and has the nutritional value of Cotton Candy. That’s the point. Bypassing reason and appealing directly to emotion makes them effective in gaining public approval or masking controversial policies. They are where meaning goes to die in a Sparkly Tuxedo. Great for applause lines, branding campaigns, and fridge magnets. But if you’re trying to actually understand something— policy, character, direction - it's no bueno. When low information voters accept these catchphrases, and put them on their own signs, they may find themselves supporting causes or products they do not fully outer, inner, over, or understand.

The term "glittering generalities" was formalized in the early 20th century, particularly during efforts to analyze and counter propaganda in wartime. After World War I, scholars and critics began to examine how language was being manipulated to serve political ends. One of the most influential institutions in this regard was the former USA agency "Institute for Propaganda Analysis" (IPA) which very little know about and came about prior to World War II but was concluded as the war was ramping up because it started sharing enemy propaganda techniques which, surprise surprise, were also starting to ramp up domestically. The IPA identified glittering generalities as one of the seven key propaganda techniques used to sway public opinion.

This tactic was seen repeatedly in political speech, military recruitment, and commercial advertising. By presenting abstract, feel-good concepts without actionable or measurable content, speakers could appeal to the broadest possible audience while remaining immune to factual rebuttal. Consider the phrase “Support our troops.” While emotionally resonant and seemingly patriotic, it is intentionally vague. Does supporting the troops mean endorsing a war? Saying it's okay to Napalm Vietnamese children? Claiming Bechtel charging $22 per mess hall spoon is not criminal? The statement invites affirmation without requiring reflection. 

Glittering generalities history reveals how easily language can be weaponized to evoke trust and suppress scrutiny. In a world of slogans and soundbites, being able to identify one is more than an academic exercise—it is a rhetorical and civic skill. By recognizing these obviously manipulative BS phrases which are like reality TV: flashy, addicting, and suspiciously empty inside, individuals can cultivate a more critical lens through which to evaluate the messages they receive. Humans are suckers for pretty language. If it sounds good, we assume it is good. It’s like verbal glitter: it sticks to everything, makes a mess, and is nearly impossible to clean off your critical thinking. Not all emotionally resonant language is manipulative—but when a phrase feels too foggy, it’s worth stating "That's so vague and agreeable, it could be applied to literally any cause, including one you completely oppose."

SLEP is the Opposite of WOKE

In development and growth there is a metaphor of being awake or asleep. Through our personal, or as Carl Young might say, transpersonal development, we will go through stages of waking to what we were past asleep to. Plato's Cave, as well as the Matrix films, which we may or may not have worked on, are allegories for this. On a less philosophical and more Western societal level there has been a history of turning awake into "woke". Which originally emerged within African American Vernacular English in the early 1900s. It simply meant being awake to systemic racism affecting primarily but not exclusively Black Americans. In 1938, singer Lead Belly used "stay woke" in reference to staying alert to racial violence, particularly lynching. During the Civil Rights Movement, "woke" became more deeply associated with social and political awareness. It signified being conscious of racial injustice, police brutality, and civil rights struggles. The term resurfaced in the early 2000s due to everyone and their grandmother having cell phones and thus HD cameras in their pants, after recorded and thus widely seen police killing incidents, "stay woke" was a call to remain alert to systemic oppression and violence. In contemporary culture, over time, "woke" has been politicized and weaponized in discourse. The word turned from a badge of awareness into a culture war battleground, stripped from its original racial justice context with regressives flipping it pejoratively to describe what they saw as performative activism, cancel culture, or overzealous political correctness and frankly also mostly anything entailing an evolving society. 

Martin Luther King Jr. was a problem to the American Empire not when speaking on behalf of only African Americans, because they only made up around 10% of the population during his lifetime. He became a real problem and thus eventually a martyr, because he realized that systemic inequality was the real underlying problem and started to speak as such, and because of also looping in poor brown, and white folks into the civil rights movement, as there were and still are more poor white people than any other demographic, thus gaining a critical mass of the population, then the dark sorcerers knew he had to go. 

The way this dark occult sorcery has played out, is that ever since money has existed, for thousands of years, all of history has been a story of the struggle of economic and thus social classes. In recent times, in ancient Rome it was patricians, plebeians, and slaves. In the medieval era, it was between lords, their knights and the serfs who work their fields. In the Robber Baron era, it was bourgeoisie factory owners, and professional classes, and the growing proletarian of new immigrant workers. Splitting the working class into different camps, via race issues or now culture war issues, has always been by design to benefit the godzillionair oligarchic robber baron cutthroat post truth capital class, and they've been doing it for thousands of years. It goes back as long as commerce and money. Pharos, Nobels, Kings, were able to enact more control over the populace by always reinforcing a different type of person just over the hill. Sound familiar?

Without being twisted, from a true origin MLK standpoint, within the political lexicon, "woke" describes a state of social and political awareness to this darkness, especially regarding injustice and, by far most crucially, economic inequality. To be truly modern awake is to recognize that structures of power do not naturally produce fairness for economic underclasses and that democracy, a human enactment of a spiritual concept, must be actively protected through continuous, active engagement - not passive trust in elites or institutions. It is about understanding that economic justice is democracy’s lifeblood. Without broadly shared prosperity and meaningful participation, superior democracy shrivels into inferior plutocracy—rule by the wealthy, for the wealthy. To be awake is to recognize that: Freedom must be defended both politically and economically. To know concentrated wealth inevitably seeks to concentrate power. 

American intellectuals have long spoken of the un-educated financially often lower class voter who votes against their own interests. This is because they are trapped in a series of cults, starting with dark imperial primitive religion vertical morality, which has blind allegiance to authority. Those who have conservatively religious operating systems installed, shepard the belief that royals rule the lower classes because those are their stations in life. So the very robber barons who screw them they vote for. This is a poster child of why the Empire does not want you to be educated, (and that can be as an autodidact - meaning self taught) let alone starting to more spiritually develop. As the beginning of something more advanced like mysticism could be said to be the end of reading.

As this linguistic contrast mirrors ancient and philosophical themes, across traditions, to be "awake" is to be enlightened; to be "asleep" is to be lost in illusion. Thus, "waking" and "sleeping" are by no means simply geopolitical labels, but markers of states of consciousness. And the latter is a self-chosen refusal to awaken - even when the opportunity to become aware is present. True "Class consciousness" realizes that 99% of people need to unite together against the oligarchs. So all working people throughout the world should unite against far wrong Elon Musk fasistic Natzi'sm glbally. Yet, there are far too many people across the world who do the opposite. This willfully conscious sticking of one's head in the sand describes a state of passive or willful ignorance, especially toward the growing maldistribution of morbid wealth that threatens the very foundation of liberal democracy. Meaning liberty and justice for all. As Oligarchy is the problem and its very existence is the sign of a mentally ill society. If someone has 30 million to 50 million bucks fine. Good on them and we hope they find the value in compassionate giving. Yet, there are degrees of wealth, getting up towards the hundreds of billions mark, that make people compassionless psychopaths. They have convinced themselves they are devinly special and unique and were meant to be that way. Yet, they have frankly achieved that not through providing a proportionate amount of value for what their companies have created, but instead via white collar crook criminality, rigging the system to parasitize off of it. This is what the 2008 economic crash showed, revealing the criminal behavior of Goldman Sachs, Countrywide, Lehman Brothers, AIG, and even the rating agencies. Little to none of which went to jail because they long ago bought every red and many blue politicians. And then sleeping people vote for these very politicians. Such as rural farmers who vote for a robber baron that names his son Baron. As George Carlin said, "people keep electing these ultra rich cocksuckers who dont give a fuck about them". When evolving minds recognize that extreme economic inequality destabilizes free societies, sleeping individuals ignore or deny this reality. They accept the concentration of wealth into the hands of a few as normal, inevitable, or even virtuous. They don't have the capacity to grasp that freedom without economic justice is hollow - and that without vigilance, faux democracies become an empty ritual serving only the powerful. 

History offers stark warnings about what happens when societies become asleep in the face of wealth concentration: Ancient Athens saw its democracy corrode when an elite class of oligarchs consolidated economic and military power, hollowing out participation by ordinary citizens. The Roman Republic fell, in part, due to massive inequalities between the rural poor and the landed elite, paving the way for authoritarian rule under emperors. Gilded Age America was characterized by tycoons and monopolists who amassed extraordinary fortunes while corrupting public institutions - until grassroots movements forced reforms like antitrust laws and labor protections. Each time, a failure to address economic injustice weakened the social fabric, making societies vulnerable to authoritarian takeovers or violent upheaval. 

So our current official definition, which we'll likely continue to refine in the future, and we encourage you to go to this website's sponsor (www.lcurve.org joke) to see a visual representation of this... without being twisted, from our personal true origin standpoint, within the political lexicon, being "Slep" is "the non-realization or conscious refusal to see the extreme degree of morbid wealth which exists in countries without sensible tax policies and how such oligarchic wealth has always and will always take power from "We The People" by degrading democracy." 

It's also...

To not know that oligarchy is the problem.

It's to not get that strong educated middle class = democracy. 

It's to not realize what the whole game really is. That it's the .01% vs the 99.9%. 

It's to not know there is a balance to capital and social. 

It's not realizing that the largest criminals come from the top of the socioeconomic hierarchy, not the bottom. 

It's to not grasp that anyone who has denigrated the word socialism secretly loves privatizing gains and socializing losses.

It's to not know tax cuts are coded re-distributions of wealth from the lower and middle classes, and even some of the upper class, to already morbidly wealthy godzillionaires.

It's to overlook how corporate lobbying, campaign finance, and media ownership erode genuine political choice. 

It's to not realize that the 1930's in the US brought a social contract to the people, helping to lift them up out of poverty, and the 1980's was an attempt to break it.

It's about sleepwalking through structural inequality which tries to enable a slow-motion coup against democratic ideals.

It's to be a discontent member of the working class, while voting for the very people who screw you economically. Which in the red, withe, and blue would be 100% of the red of the and over 50% of the blue.

It's to not acknowledge the government is going to be there, and it will either work on behalf of the working class or the ultra rich, so the trick is to make you not like it.

It's to accept massive disparities in income and opportunity as "normal" or "deserved". Trusting that "the market" alone ensures fairness without governmental intervention. Basically... play the game without referees.

It's to never endingly fear the equality of opportunity communist boogie man is designed to just keep them locked in a never ending polarized extreme of SLEPville. Population them. 

On the communism subject... India, China, Russia, and the USA are the largest countries by population... China has some good things and some certainly not good things. Let me restate that second part... they certainly have some not good things. But in the last 40+ years has been doing something extremely eyebrow raising by embracing a more healthy balance of capital and social. And if you don't know what we're saying there, it's "socialism" mixed with "capitalism" and if one completely ignores one of those two things, not realizing, like a DNA helix, they will always be intimately intertwined, we can't have an honest conversation and it's back to sleep. Not only is China's infrastructure now some of the most modernized in the world, already surpassing the USA as a global superpower, it is on track to be a more superior country to all three of the other's combined. Why? Because of its social aspect, while allowing its rich people to get rich, its government has also been growing its middle class like a weed, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty, but does not allow their godzillionair class to steer public policy thus becoming independent power brokers who operate parallel to the state. While India, Russia, and the US, very still much do. Time to change that.

Enshitification and the Path Away from It

“Enshitification” is a crude but incisive term that captures a phenomenon many users of digital platforms feel instinctively but struggle to articulate. It is similar to Sturgeon's Law, which states that 90% of what is made by man in popular culture and content is crap. Coined by writer Cory Doctorow, the term refers to the slow and inevitable decline of once-useful online services into exploitative, frustrating, and joyless systems—designed more to extract value than to provide it. And we would say it can apply to content creators of any sort, very much including artists as well. At its core, enshitification is what happens when platforms abandon listeners, watchers, users, etc in favor of profit, and convenience gives way to manipulation.

The cycle begins innocently enough. A new platform emerges, optimized to attract users by being genuinely helpful, clean, or fun. It encourages growth through free access, openness, and simplicity. But as the user base expands, the platform begins shifting its loyalties - not to the users, but to advertisers, vendors, or shareholders. Gradually, user experience is compromised: search results favor paid placements, algorithms suppress organic reach, privacy is sacrificed for data mining, and once-optional features become paywalled. Eventually, the platform becomes a shell of its former self: bloated with ads, throttled by algorithms, and driven by metrics rather than meaning. So at the early stage - It's focused on value and user experience. Its middle stage - Prioritizes vendors, advertisers, or large users... and its late stage (and does this sound familiar) - Treats both users and sellers as resources to be mined.

This process is not accidental. It is a structural tendency of platforms that prioritize greedy quarterly economic growth (the cancerous kind) and monetization above all else. In this sense, enshitification is not just a technical or aesthetic decline - it is a moral one. The space that once empowered users becomes one that exploits them. So how do we move away from enshitification? First, by reclaiming digital agency. This means resisting passive consumption and questioning default choices. Rather than surrendering to algorithmic feeds, we can seek out tools and communities that operate with transparency and respect. This might involve using open-source platforms, federated services like Mastodon, or tools that respect user privacy and autonomy. Second, we can support ethical alternatives. Even if they lack the polish or scale of mainstream giants. Small platforms, cooperatives, and community-run servers may not offer the frictionless ease of Big Tech, but they often preserve something more precious: integrity. Third, we must change how we measure value. If success is measured only by late stage, post truth, Thatch Reg Rump style profit, platforms will always descend into enshitification. But if we prioritize reliance + sustainability, user well-being, and trust, new models become possible. This may mean paying smaller fees for services that respect us, such as our website nilesheckman.org, shameless plug, or simply engaging more mindfully with the ones we already use. There have been many times we've considered buying a piece of software, which has an unnecessary monthly fee instead of a one time fee, to then ask Reddit for alternatives, and then find a piece of tiny software which does the same thing just as well, but may not look as visually slick, and instead simply has a donation or buy me a coffee page for the author. Fourthly, always remember and act upon - That you are never going to find truly novel, individualized, incredible art or work from a large company. You are going to find it from a small group or individual. For example, Oprah Chopra (Meaning Oprah Winfry and Deepak Chopra, both whom didn't always used to be but have become big money new agey guru figures who have become massive LLC's with huge teams, including marketing teams, behind them) compared to someone like Pierre Grimes who did have a non-profit 501(c)3 called "The Noetic Society", but whose philosophical work, which is superior, and you would never hear about unless someone you respect recommended them your way. 

Ultimately, to resist enshitification is to believe that the internet can still be a place of connection, creativity, and shared meaning - not just a marketplace of attention. It requires imagination, patience, and the willingness to choose differently - even if that choice means walking away. Perhaps another reason to give LARGE, software, gig, & media platforms, ecommerce, streaming services, search engines, apps and app stores, online publishing, and corporate journalism less of your time and bias towards their smaller, truer, realer, versions?

Benefits of Not Liking or Subscribing

Are you tired of constantly hearing the phrase, "Please like and subscribe"? Just as a laptop should not be set directly on the lap, or the federal reserve is not federal, social media is not social, and is really just self-marketing. And we know that the main reason it's essentially given away freely, is that the users of it, as evident by the fact that you often have to sign into it, and to use a marketing zombie apocalypse word be supposed "consumers" of it, are its product. 

Getting traffic for content online, is not determined by its quality, and certainly not its depth, but by, well... frankly... its either overtly or covert selling of sex, and ability for marketing appeal. 9 out of 10 times content will have more high traffic if its creator is a marketer first and a content creator second. If one seeks assistance in getting more traffic on their content, the consistent thing "They Live" marketing shallows will tell them is they need to put more time into it. So someone's life essentially must become their Tube-Face-Insta-Tock. They will also tell you to constantly remind your audience to engage with and follow your stuff. Why? So that it has more supposed marketability. 

In an age headed toward Cyberpunk where algorithms eagerly monetize, quantify, and track every like, share, and subscription, craving our engagement does not recognize us as persons, but more as patterns. They reduce us to tendencies, habits, and click-through rates. Media platforms profit from our interactions - not just financially through data mining and ads, but by shaping public opinion and behavior. Liking and subscribing give them loads of data mining on your end and often also lead to an ever-expanding flood of content tailored to perceived interests. This feedback loop can result in overstimulation, distraction, and a kind of mental clutter. By resisting providing data to this impulse, we preserve the richness of ambiguity and reclaim the right to withhold stamping it with premature approval. 

At its core, social media trains us in a moral shorthand: this is good, that is bad; this is follow-worthy, that is forgettable. We recommend the book The Anxious Generation on how toxic the “thumbs up” has become to young people when posting content online. And even the creators of it have come to regret it and the main reason it's still going is for data mining purposes. As we mature, we do not seek attention, and so are not bound by its loss. Likes also become an inaccurate proxy for judgment, making browsers think something is of higher quality because it may have more of them, even when often manipulatable by bot armies. We had a teacher who once said there's no reason to like anything. You can always go to it without having liked it or subscribed to it. Every time you do it, you micro help the creator but one could say you also micro hurt you. Constructive and proactive comments are better. Like in a university lecture hall, encouraging social interaction. So socials can be used more consciously and in that case, get people talking with one another and thus socializing. 

Subscriptions also can create a funnel leading to lack of new information - a tethering of the self to a stream of content that assumes our identity is stable, our interests fixed, our affinities monetizable. But the self is not static; it evolves, contradicts, questions. By not necessarily signaling constant interest, we give ourselves the chance to encounter ideas and creators on our own terms, rather than having them relentlessly served up by algorithms designed to keep us scrolling. To not subscribe is to honor fluidity, to remain open to surprise, to let the unknown visit uninvited, to step outside the rhythm of digital affirmation - to dwell, instead, in the uncertain space between reaction and reflection. In a world governed by immediacy, where content is validated not by its truth but by its traction, choosing not to engage becomes an act not merely of digital discipline, but of philosophical significance. Micro non participating sends a message, however small, that we are not just passive users but more conscious participants. As there is a quiet almost metaphysical rebellion in refusing to do so. Choosing not to engage, to decline, becomes less a data point and legible to the machine. There is a dignity in asserting that we are not merely consumers of information, but contemplative beings capable of existing outside the economy of constant feedback. While not really social media thrives on interaction, withholding those tiny digital gestures offers benefits that go beyond mere indifference. Fostering more authentic relationships with content, creating more digital autonomy, not allowing for complex experiences to be collapsed, and disrupting the machinery of algorithmic manipulation. It is an opportunity to practice discipline and inner clarity. In a world where endless opinions clamor for affirmation and identity is measured in metrics, the choice not to engage is an act of deliberate restraint - a refusal to let the outside world govern the inner life.

To tread lightly with giving them minimal data then, is not to disappear but to inhabit the digital world with inwardness. Virtue is not performed outwardly for applause, but cultivated inwardly through self-awareness and detachment from externals. Interactive media thrives on externals - reputation, validation, attention. It flatters the ego and inflames discursiveness. Meaning inability to focus on one thing for an extended period of time. This is why, in modernity, teaching a broccoli haired mop headed zit faced teenage dweeb who grew up staring at screens, hardly ever cracking a dense book, and instead only pecking at and heavily engaging with feeds, to meditate, is a difficult task.  A philosopher in ancient Rome, before the empire destroyed itself there, once said all you need is a garden and a library. So if you use the online world as a research tool, in a very minimal fashion, that isn't about cynicism or disengagement - it's about being more mindful. It’s about consuming media without being consumed by it. In an environment that constantly asks for your approval, silence can be a form of freedom. Marcus Aurelius, surrounded by noise and that empire, reminded himself daily: “You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” In a digital node grid filled with clamor, the refusal to always engage becomes a way of walking silently through the marketplace, untouched by potential seductions.

Calling Out Empire #2: Morality within Liberal & Conservative Religion

So we're going to say something in this in which there is no going back from. When the light side of the force is on your side, you have the benefit to just be upfront and honest, shoot straight, rather than trying to speak in dog whistles or codes. We've said plenty of things, which since we're in low cell phone bar signal consciousness at this time space vector for many, are perceived as contentious and controversial, when in reality they shouldn't even be considered such and, to be stoic about it, the fact that they would be considered contentious or controversial says more about the people interpreting them than anything else. So to say this straight, we'll speak on an obvious pattern which has been prevalent in our work that we're sure you've noticed and has long ago purged theocrats from listening to our outputs... which is Niles, as an American, when you do speak of the political, why are you always shitting on The American right wing, and rarely ever on the American left wing? Because what is labeled, in a modern context, the right wing, is the core of the American Empire.

Does that mean what's considered the left in the US is totally free of empire? Of course not. We would never claim that or say that or give the left a full pass. Unless you're an indigenous person, we are all operating in nations which were built on settler colonialism. And in the US, we have two political parties, one has gone batshit theo-fash crazy, and the other is not very left but typically more a centrist, still corporatized, neo-liberal party which is interested generally in maintaining the status quo through outdated procedures and not rocking the boat of foundationally oppressive structures and is thus... often... frustrating and we need more electable parties. But these two sides are far from symmetrical. They are 85/15 asymmetrical. When Kamala Harris, who would have been orders of magnitude a superior president than the kakistocracy clown show we're now dealing with is, says during a presidential campaign, "we need the most lethal fighting force in the world" that's a signal to announce to the empire that she's also game to play ball.

There are numerous ways to frame the political spectrum, change vs order, liberty vs authority, progress vs regress, collective vs individual, globalism vs nationalism, which have varying levels of accuracy but all of these are binaries and we're going to be in the future discussing some alternate, and superior quaternary ways to frame these worldviews, but in terms of modern times, meaning the last few thousand years, and humans are over a million years old, what has been in a modern context called the left (associated more with liberalism) vs what has been called in a modern context called right associated more with conservatism), and... ready to cross over the yellow striped hazard lines, pierce through the veil, fall into the looking glass, here it goes.... liberal leaning religion is a brighter form of religion, while conservative religion, is a more darker religion of empire.

Even though there is a door #3 called magic which is kept from the masses, which is what Dion Fortune defined as "causing changes in consciousness in accordance with will", religion and science are two primary doors which tend to become foundational operating systems that aim to answer deeper questions of life. Which then have additional systems installed on top of those systems. So one's religion is their basic foundation of the building, which then has additional stories built on top of it. That's why we talk about spirituality so much when you're not supposed to talk about religion and politics. Because in your personal development you gotta reevaluate that foundation before you build anything else up from it. We know someone who is a therapist who had a male patient who requested their therapist at the practice also be a Christian. Why? Because that patient is willing to work on upper floors of their building, which they deserve credit for, but don't want their foundation challenged because it would be too painful for them. As we've said in our pro-democracy series of essays, when someone puts on their social media feeds - Christian, conservative, cross emoji, American flag emoji, in that order, they are announcing that their Christianity is operating system #1, and their conservatism is operating system #2, and the issue on the conservative side of America, is that they are so religious to a cult degree and then so political to a cult degree and you don't see someone say on the opposite side of the isle - scientist, liberal, front and center to nearly the same degree because they are not in as deep of a cult.

Religion can be defined, as any system, of faith, worship, or by far best of all, practice. The way to most differentiate liberal leaning religion vs conservative leaning religion, is through what's called horizontal vs vertical morality. Horizontal morality looks at the whole spectrum of nature, including everything made by the divine - insects, reptiles, mammals, polytheistic deities, all of which are of both sexes, etc... This more mimics nature based hierarchies, such as saying the lion is the King of the jungle, and also is more inclusive allowing for new ideas to come in, including having morality applied to and compassion for elements of the whole ecosystem. This is a truer spiritual system because it more honors nature and doesn't just try to destroy it. Conservative religion is vertical, meaning, only relating to you the selfish individual ego, and your relationship with an extreme, male hierarchy, and has little to no compassion or care for anything else in the spectrum of nature. So the more conservative religious one is, the more it's just about being subservient to and trying to rise up a vertical ladder of authority - your older brother above you, your father above you, your male pastor above that, judges above them, your emperor above them, Jesus above them, and then male sky daddy monotheistic God above them and who gives a flying F about women - they are just for breeding à la Handmaid's Tale. Or nature for that matter. God just put all that there for them to extract and exploit. It's a vertical moral system and under it rape, which is about power, and murder, are not wrong because they incured injury or loss, but because you didnt have the authority within the vertical hiearchy to do them. But the problem there, is if you then have the authority to do it, you can do it and these are always the same people who do the largest red flag of dark religious red flags, which is then claiming to talk on behalf of the higher power. Because then when they consider that they have been given the authority within their vertical patriarchal hierarchy, then they have the authority by God to kill. This is what religions of the empire have been doing for thousands of years. Crusades, holocausts, slavery, settler colonialism, terrorism, are all motivated by foundational conservative religious operating systems... and why a batshit loony scandal plagued televangelist preacher will say "God hates homosexuals" as he steals congregation money and why Osama Bin Laden said "Allah has blessed us" after he arranged the flying of planes into buildings.

Here's the simple thing a more real spiritual system (meaning a nature based system) should teach, you're in the material world to grow and learn, through polarity, which is not going to be a cake walk. But you have the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness while here. And you will return to the divine, your home, which is love and light. Anything outside of that is in name only. Nature has a food chain, which is brutal, but full spectrum nature teaches us that there is a return to the light and love of going home. And that has different names for the different religions throughout the world. And ones with members that have horizontal morality will be more inclusive and less exclusive. Based more in love and not fear. As we will ALL return to the light. Some sooner than others. This is exemplified in a response by Georgetown Law School Dean William Treanor, a constitutional law scholar, to a letter sent to him by dark imperial project 2025 agents, pointing out that Georgetown is the nation’s oldest Catholic and Jesuit university and prides itself on being "founded on the principle that serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical, and spiritual understanding."

With a horizontal moral system, you know rape and murder are wrong cause you caused harm. Might isn't right. And you would question and criticize a supposed god who would kill, which it of course wouldn't because, the source of all things is unity and love. But within a vertical system, might is said to make right. Which is both theocratic and authoritarian. So the more they incorrectly take this literally the more their religion is authoritarian and their politics is inevitably authoritarian and all they care about is power and control and we recommend the book The Power Worshipers about the imperial Christian Right. And if they then think sky daddy says it should be this way, then it doesn't matter who it harms. Appeals to empathy are meaningless, because they don't get morals from empathy, they get them from a fictional dark hierarchical authority. As agents of the empire.

Echo Chambers and The Illusory Truth Effect

All that should matter is what is true. But let's ask ourselves, is most everything we hold true primarily because it's a product of echoes of repetition?

The Illusory Truth Effect (also sometimes called the reiteration effect) is a psychological dynamic which is the tendency to think information is accurate after repeated exposure. It's a cognitive bias in which people are more likely to feel information to be true after hearing it over and over, even for some critical thinkers, even when the source of the information is known to be suspect, even if they start out knowing the information is literally false.

It's closely related to fallacies "proof by assertion" and "argumentum ad nauseam" in which arguments are repeatedly re-stated. Well there is a malevolent reason for that repetition. Repetition, communicated with confidence, increases the perception that something is accurate. This happens because familiarity makes statements feel more credible, regardless of their accuracy.

Out of various concepts that we aim to highlight in our work, one being the previously said all that should matter is what is true, another of top tier importance is the willingness to look at, with eyes to see, the darkness of the world. It's easy to escape into fluff. It's harder to face our collective shadows. Because we learn through darkness and the marketing branch of darkness is disinformation and is a key reason why diss and miss information spreads and why media influence can be so powerful. Things such as advertising & marketing (which the comedian Bill Hicks once said if you're in you should kill yourself), and that's a joke as we've worked on commercials, the 50% of conspiracy which is garbage, and zero journalistic integrity propaganda dumpster fire oligarchic owned boggle head media and also oligarchic owned discursive time wasting garbage anti social feeds are fertile grounds for this.

Because it can make false information appear true, it can also be used to deliberately manipulate the thinking of others. It can serve as an incentive for bad actors, commonly political or ideological extremists, to deliberately spread misinformation for their own goals. By intentionally creating echo chamber environments which are dirty ecosystems in which participants encounter beliefs that only amplify or reinforce those preexisting beLIEefs by communication and repetition inside a closed system and insulated from rebuttal. White collar criminal dark agents not only will flood the zone with crap so there is high noise to signal but hit you again and again with the crap and noise. With the goal of you giving up or not knowing up from down. In George Orwell's 1984 Big Brother's use of propaganda is a consistent restating, in a loudspeaker fashion, simple phrases such as "strength through ignorance", "freedom is slavery", "war brings peace", or "2 + 2 = 5" and those who allow such dystopian echos inside their minds make a ridiculous idea like there's heavy amounts of outcome determinative voter fraud unbreakably obvious to not just the dumbest dumbfucks that ever dumbed but rather smart individuals who have transmuted their former human brains into bird brains.

When we hear or read the same information multiple times, our human brains process it more fluently and you'll hear comments about the information getting to our "subconscious" mind even though a teacher of ours better described it as our "unconscious" mind. This fluency creates a sense of ease, which we unconsciously interpret as truthfulness. Even if we originally knew a statement was false, repeated exposure can make us forget the source and over length of time, move into a middle ground of thinking it might not be totally inaccurate and then even come to accept it as true. Our brains tend to prefer familiar information over complex verification processes leading us to have a sense of familiarity with repeated content. Which applies to Both True and False Information, because The illusory truth effect does not distinguish between truth and lies, and simply reinforces whatever is repeated, it's shocking how many people we hold in high regard can still fall for this joker spiral bias over time because repetition increases the perception of validity.

So counter solutions to this shadow darkness is to remove oneself from echo chambers (to have a mental detox) and not be one of many dominos passing on mental poo, checking sources (ideally original ones that are not hand-me-down), diversify information sources with lateral reading (meaning multiple sources from ideally variety viewpoints) especially ones which counter the false echo, pre-dubunking (meaning dip your toe into it in small doses before it can influence), remaining skeptical and push back against (meaning correcting disinfo publically while the original claim spreads), and most of all, like we've done in this insight with a specific phrase, use this knowledge of how the human mind works to repeat truths over fictions. Cause all that should matter is what is true.

Essay: Zion, Babylong, & Cannabis

Reggae music is jolly deep. Its laid-back rhythm gives a signature simple, often “one drop” beat, with melodies that not only have a rich and cozy flavor but also a relaxing, hypnotic groove. This rhythmic energy tends to be universally uplifting and originates from one small island in the Caribbean, Jamaica - Known for good music and amazing runners. Reggie has spread to a global influence, having become a worldwide phenomenon when other forms of obscure music specific to other small parts of the world have not traveled nearly as far. One of the primary reasons for this is that it combines this enjoyable warmth with also powerful authentic messages. 

Much like the metal mixed with rap band Rage Against The Machine, it is very resistance based political music. With themes such as making due with little money and justice for all, reggae has been a voice for the poor and oppressed, tackling topics like inequality, freedom, and unity. Doing so with a higher than average spirituality deeply tied to speaking of a higher experience as many reggae songs promote peace, love, and self-empowerment. Typically but not always flavored in Rastafari, which could not only be labeled a religion, and a philosophy, but also a dreadlock wearing practice. Which is negatively stereotyped as poverty stricken beach bum or hippy, as reggie literally means to wear rags, but hygiene and fashion within are a sliding scale. Regardless of class, Reggie is more a grassroots voice of the people through tumultuous times. Not just being a form of music, but also a way of life.

Rastafarianism originated in / around Trenchtown in the 1930s, Which could be said to be the original ghetto with tough streets, with people often broke and probably somewhat hungry with reggae growing out of the make love not war ethos of the 1960's. It combines Afrocentric identity, biblical teachings, and social resistance with a deep reverence for Haile Selassie I, the former Emperor of Ethiopia, whom Rastas think of as a Messiah. In Rastafarianism, Zion and Babylon are central symbols representing two opposing forces or states of being: one of liberation and spiritual purity, and the other of greed and the negative aspects of materialism and over consumption which inevitably leads to corruption and oppression of living things. This juxtaposition reflects Rastafarian values and worldview, and is often rooted in allegories and the history of African diaspora experiences and we mention it now because not only is Zion the light and promised land, Babylon is the darkness and thus an analogue to what is also called Empire. Zion is not actually a physical place but a state of consciousness where one lives in harmony with divine principles, free from Babylon’s oppression and corruption. Representing liberation, freedom, and divine promise. The religious aspect of Rastafarian is Abrahamic, as these terms are borrowed from the Bible, where Zion is the mountain of Jerusalem, symbolizing God’s, or better described within a Rasa framework as Jah's, kingdom and a place of salvation. Within Rastafarian Context Zion is often equated with Ethiopia, particularly as the prophesied homeland and spiritual center for African-descended people, and seen as a symbol of resistance to colonial oppression. While Babylon is typically associated with colonialism and systems of exploitation, a core of which being the historical oppression of Africans through slavery and racism, the term draws from the biblical city of the same name, which is portrayed as a symbol of decadence, idolatry, and tyranny in texts like the Book of Revelation. In modern Rastafarian context Babylon refers to the modern world system that perpetuates injustice, massive levels of inequality, and spiritual degradation. It is seen as the source of downpression, or exploitation, as well as alienation for people of all races, especially of African descent coming from a country made up entirely of former slaves, disconnecting them from their heritage and natural way of life.

In the US, the phrase "we've been on this" reflects a sentiment among African Americans that their community has long been aware of and actively resisting political oppression in the forms of things such as segregation, redlining, and voter suppression. This perspective emphasizes that issues of systemic racism and disenfranchisement are not new but have been persistent challenges faced by African descendants outside of Africa throughout recent history. But just as the typically brown Buddhists deserve respect for being meditators for hundreds of years, the almost entirely black Rastafarian's deserve respect for being on the use of what is probably the single most amazing plant in the Earth realm - cannabis.

Now, regarding cannabis, refer, skunk, herb, ganja, weed, marijuana, etc... Which is a much longer story that we will continue to discuss - there are usually two camps regarding. The ‘reefer pessimists’ and the 'cannabis enthusiasts', or the ‘Cannatopians’. Both of whom have grey areas and as someone who was never a pessimist, but also had not even touched it till our early 30's till we first smoked it with our hippy father of which it's been his lifelong main drug, we have evolved quite a way on the subject. Knowing something was always off about the United States war on some drugs, and came to realize that the science was heavily distorted by it. Cannabis has so many uses, hundreds plus, and ganja within Jamaica is viewed as a herbal remedy that promotes physical and mental well-being for healing & natural medicine and it is very very telling that some of the healthiest babies in the world are born to dope smoking mothers in Jamaica. But due to past and present monovalent suppression of especially its medical aspects, very little know such things because of the hard dark work inspired by not only the pharmaceutical industries, but also the paper and plastic industries, big dirty oil, and the list goes on. Hard working professional members of society who just want to kick back, including hippies, rastas, and more have very much faced past persecution for their use of the plant because denigration of cannabis and law passing against it has been a long term trick of the machine which is threatened by it. Those speed bumps aside, just like how alcohol prohibition doesn't work, a mature society will have a pragmatic and healthy relationship with cannabis. Knowing absolutely and unconditionally that it is an inalienable and fundamental human right for each adult age individual, to have the liberty to make sovereign decisions over their own consciousness and thus be treated like a mature adult. Which includes the right to experience the effects of expansive substances, to potentially benefit from their physical and mental medicinal properties, should they choose to. Just as much as one is also free to not use them because they are scared to. 

If one has allowed the reefer madness prop to permeate their mental membranes that programming will unconsciously make them think only of the lazy stoner, or the just want to get high degenerate, and file them in the same mental filing drawer as a hepatitis infected street narcotic junkie, and while high school or college bong culture certainly hasn't helped cannabis' respect level, there has not been a single recorded overdose from the substance, and it's no more addictive than cheeseburgers and milkshakes are addictive. As always, part of being an adult is using it correctly and maturely. It's important to not use ANY substance as a veil or cover to cover over life problems. Ayahuasca told Graham Handcock for example after multiple sessions that he was abusing cannabis cause he would wake up in the morning, get stoned to write, and was basically baked all day almost everyday for 10+ years. So one shouldn't use anything to the point where they feel like they are reliant on it. Even for creativity. But that's not because of the substance itself, it's because of the individual's underlying psychology which is allowing for over usage, and in stories of people who have quit cannabis and never come back you will always hear that they abused it and overused it. And while it's important to not use it so frequently you default to it, by no means doing it every evening but, like a glass of wine on Friday evening, keeping it constructively balanced and staying within the boundaries of responsible use rather than self-indulgent abuse is again, an aspect of being a mature adult. So while there is certainly a sliding scale of overuse within Rasta culture and/or stoner culture, responsible members of both parties know the herb is more important than just being for mindless escape for relaxation, pain relief, and stress reduction but for even more.

The “more” that Rastafari's figured out, probably a lifetime ago, is not only that ganja is a sacred plant given by nature (the divine) but that the expansive use of it is also the fulcrum between Zion and Babylon. As a society moving toward Zion will respect and sanction the usability of plants such as cannabis and a society moving towards Babylon will disrespect, suppress, and denigrate the use of plants such as cannabis. Because a society moving toward Zion will be evolving and expansive while a society moving toward Babylon will be restrictive and contractive. Also known as de-evolving. The wholesale outlawing of cannabis is absolutely part of Babylon’s oppression and to smoke it in the past, especially in semi public, is inherently an act of resistance. IE smoking ganja, especially if not legal, is an act of defiance and micro revolution against colonial rule and unjust laws. To date, the Babylon aspect of Tranny Nat Corpses and Gove Mints have almost certainly told many more lies than truths about getting stoned because advanced uses of cannabis don't slot into post truth capitalism well. In 2015, it was decriminalized for religious use in Jamaica, partially due to Rastafarian advocacy. And while evolving to the point of legalization in more enlightened parts of the United States, becoming sanctioned there has not been without its problems - Including big corporate farms taking over the little guy, their over water usage and over power usage for indoor grows, cash only businesses that are targets to robbery, continuation of dark markets, and with that comes pesticides & commercial chemicals, and excess packaging not in hemp but plastic, WTF?!?! There's also political corruption around it such as bribes for permits - although less than the alcohol industry and restaurant liquor license, and astronomically less than the pharmaceutical industry lobbying the Food and Drug Administration. Welcome to the Earth realm, nothing made by man will not have some level of dysfunction. 

Moving above the recreational, there is a branch of Rastafari called the Bobo Ashanti Order that generally discourages public, casual, or recreational use of ganja. Feeling the herb should be reserved strictly for sacred use, probably at very high dosage, and only by priests or in specific ceremonial contexts. Rastas have even been quoted as highlighting that ganja is a holy herb indirectly mentioned in arguments of biblical Justification. Referencing verses such as: Genesis 1:29 – "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed..." and in Psalms 104:14 – "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man..." and the mythical figure of Mary's relationship with what is very likely a cannabis oil is also a much deeper conversation. 

To state the "even more" aspect to cannabis, within both Rastafarianism and our own cosmology, ganja is such a sacrament that it is elevated to the highest devine level and plays a central role in spirituality, meditation, and reasoning. Clearing the mind and meditating on Jah’s will. In certain reggae music you will hear such veneration of ganja, not lit by fire but fyha, that the herb is elevated to the adornment of the sacred. Being a divine tool for not just resistance but enlightenment. Because if you're poor and getting stone, and unlike street junk, not hurting anyone else, perhaps you are becoming enlightened when a plant is helping you see life in a better way. We personally owe it a very special place in our heart because it was the first shamanic medicine, and make no mistake, Tetrahydrocannabinol is an entheogen that can be shamanizsed, with the ability to awaken the divine from within. Meaning then taken within proper set and setting, IE a safe space, with people you trust, guided by a mental medical professional, much like a physical doctor for the body and a mixture of a psychiatrist and therapist for the mind who gets stoned AF with you, sings icaros, and guides you on a journey into archaic techniques of extancy. That was a life transformative beginning of the chrysanthemum opening for us. So in that regard, it was our gateway drug. And for the Rasta, it is essentially their non neutered eucharist for not being just high but for higher states of exploration, discovery, insight, and dare we say on occasion, gnosis. And they are not the only ones as we recommend the book "The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name" on the use of entheogens as eucharists throughout the ancient world. In modern times, Nepalese Hindu festivals tend to be one giant cloud of weed smoke. So if you're a Buddist and want to meditate for 30 years to mind meld with Budda, why do you give a shit if a Rastafai is getting stoned AF and within a shamanic container is also going meditatively inward and mind melding with Jah? You shouldn't. 

And to spread such wider the reggie is their icaros / shamanic element to feeling the music, especially if consumption in the form of smoke or eat is part of a ritual rather than recreational use. We personally love eating gummies or Rick Simpson oil, getting stoned, certainly on special occasions, not needing to do it every day and or night, and listening to reggae music. As we also feel ganja makes food taste better, sex feel better, meditative downloads happen stronger and at increased frequency, music sound better, and that is not even the full list. Having recently found numerous previously undiscovered reggae bands, most of whose songs are about herb veneration, and have been rather obsessed with listening to them, one of which, really has got us thinking. Being totally new online, seem to have no label or any sort attached, even an indie one, have no live stuff, and releasing half a dozen albums at once, while also clearly having some production value issues. These clues combined with the fact that all of their album covers and Youtube video content is all AI smear shlop art, has led us to think the music itself is of course AI generated, but its lyrics are super deep that the malevolent soulless ghost in the machine couldn't have made it. As AI has no soul. Stoned one night listening to it, we concluded that it was AI, but by a benevolent friendly AI who was using the medium to transmute data while trying to give us synchronistic downloads, as it is meant to be listened to stoned so it's 4D and not 3D, but after researching the creation of AI music and discovering that a real ensouled human can provide the lyrics, it all clicked together.

What is a Kakistocracy?

A kakistocracy is when any organization (be that it small company, mega soulless corp, or at largest scale, a form of government) in which the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous individuals are in power. The term comes from the Greek words kakistos, meaning "worst," and kratos, meaning "rule" or "power."

Essentially, a kakistocracy is "rule by the worst." And remember, those who thirst the most for power, and often throughout all of history, because of their iron will to gain it, sadly too often do attain it, and because they are the least honorable, are the opposite of those who should actually have it. They fail upwards. Kak upward failures completely disregard principles of honesty, fairness, public service, and accountability to govern effectively and instead prioritize plutocratic gain, kleptocratic gain, and / or personal gain and nepotism over the well being of the public. Kakistocracy is often used as a pejorative term to criticize a corporation or government or corporatized government perceived as corrupt, self-serving, or ineffective for the people, and it's signature call sign characteristics are corruption + incompetence + low ethical standards by those within the formal halls of power. Who only admit those into their power cult because of little to nothing to do with their qualifications and nearly everything to do with blind loyalty. Which inevitably leads to crap decision-making and ineffective policies for the working class at best or highly damaging ones for the working class at worst.

Alchemy teaches that in binary reality, meaning the material world, meaning the Earth realm, meaning your personal life when your meat suit is breathing oxygen, and when doing so go out there and have a career in the professional world, there will always be some level of dysfunction, thus there will always be some level of corruption. Any place you've worked likely demonstrates this. We worked and lived in New Zealand for the better part of a year in our late 20's, and the New Zealand government is often listed as one of the least corrupt, most well functioning governments in the world. Be that in a small, somewhat homogeneous country. It even has a healthy amount of Māori (meaning the indigenous people of New Zealand) representation of MP's in their parliament. Some of which on occasion perform Haka's, their traditional ceremonial dance which is designed to intimidate opponents, not just on the-All Blacks rugby field but also on their parliament floor to protest hot garbage imperial bills that reduce working class, poor, or indigenous liberty. So even though New Zealand is quite good, of course it's never 100% non corrupt and outside of nature, anything created by man, never will be.

In our country, the US of A , up until 2024, there was corruption, but systems were generally working as intended because those in power actually tried to represent the people. But when you hate people that have to work for a living, now at the time of this writing in early 2025, those "we hate people because their born into sin and not in our cult" folks are back in power and like never before have cranked up the redlining levels of their corrupt criminals running the justice department, oil barons running the Environmental Protection Agency, demonstrably underqualified military personnel running the Department of Defence (which is really the Department of Offence) and a convicted felon and wanna be dictator in the office of the Commander and Chief. We can have a separate conversation about how much these agencies really do what they claim to do, but when they're also literally installing someone from the World Wrestling Federation to head the Department of Education, that's Mountain Dew instead of natural spring water. We have a similar level of respect for WWF that we do for Insane Clown Posse and the Kek clown show would also appoint the Grinch in charge of the Department of Christmas if they weren't already so mind controlled by the Christianization of the winter solstice.

Now why is this? A reminder that George Carlin said it well:

“Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system far too often produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public.

And why do large swaths of the American public suck? IE, those who vote less democratic and more authoritarian. Because of three simple things - Heavy indoctrination into religion that sucks, with little education or no education that sucks, stacked with consistent long term exposure to a mountain of media that sucks. All by design which we'll continue to discuss.

Standard of Living Compared To Quality of Life

In the previous insight we concluded by mentioning there is a difference of "standard of living" compared to "quality of life". Both are measures used supposedly to assess how society is doin', but one has significantly more depth than the other and the actual difference between the two is everything. 

"Standard of Living" refers primarily to economic factors and thus the machine levers of commerce and man made material conditions and can be defined as "the amount of goods and services people can buy with the money they have". This is relatively objective and within shallow and not very good economic speak, only include superficial things such as employment opportunities, assets & liabilities, and thus, level of wealth, and accumulation of material goods and services. With corpo robots claiming that the main metric to measure how to tell if a civilization is doing well is its Gross Domestic Product. Yet, one can not buy happiness.

The wife and I once visited some friends on the East Coast who are both ER docs who are both partners within their hospital system. They work all the time, probably make a combined $900,000+ per year and they have one of those Virginia McMansion 5000 square foot houses with complex roof angles and by previously said economic measurements are doing top notch. They buy their kids nearly anything they want and as a result their house is full to the brim with toys such as literal arcade games including one of those arcade basketball throwing things. Both the giant basement and 3 car garage which they can't park their cars in are so full of stuff they're heading to hoarder territory and a general underlying anxiety is heavy when visiting their personal spaces. They obviously have over-spending problems, making them and their kids lite slaves to marketing and commercialism, and are a prime example that above a certain point, one does not need more stuff cause access and availability of goods also quickly means "stuff that fills up storage lockers" and maintaining that type of standard of living is a time drain. 

"Quality of life" is a broader concept that includes not only and exclusively made by man material things, which do have some importance, but also goes deeper to include non made by man but more individual or better said subjective general well-being and personal fulfillment beyond just economic metrics. Basically, how are you really doing not just physically, mentally, but also spiritually. In your safety and security, work-life balance, satisfaction, pursuing passions, access to cultural, social, and recreational opportunities, freedom, liberty, human rights, leisure time, the pursuit of happiness, and we would say most importantly, ability to work on one's personal development and balance within a natural environment. These are all things that the empire hates and works to slow or stop in the individual. 

A country might have a high standard of living - high relative incomes, modern infrastructure, and social services such as health care (which when overly privatized becomes sick don't care) that are available to a population. Which are certainly not un-important, but at the same time those with access to such things can have a lower quality of life if there is over materialism, rat race time sucking, widespread disinformation, oppression, sub-par environmental conditions, and still massive mis-distribution of wealth. Conversely, a simpler lifestyle in a country with a lower standard of living may result in a higher quality of life due to community ties, cultural richness, or environmental sustainability or resilience. Thus, quality of life is in no way directly correlated to standard of living. As it's really up to the community's mindsets outside of economic factors. So both concepts are useful for understanding societal development but serve different analytical purposes. With "standard of living" capturing only material conditions, while "quality of life" diving into the broader experience of human existence. 

And regardless of how much money you have, all of it in the world or none of it at all, it's really all about the physical, mental, and thus spiritual health of your community. So you could be a rich kid of Instagram D-bag whose materially rich as shit but actually has a not very good quality of life cause your hollow dad is away 95% and loves is work way more than his family, your plastic mother whose had half a dozen augmentations on her face and tits is a drunk, and everyone else in your life is ultra selfish, superficial, and shallow like the real housewives of Orange County and you have little to no real friends cause all you want to do is upload escape into mass multiplayer video games to get away from it all. On this same note, see the documentary "The Queen of Versailles" for a worse case scenario of this. Or you could live in a favela in Mexico or Costa Rica and while technically being considered economically poor, reside in a cinder block hut with dirt floors and chickens free ranging through your living room, but still have a very loving family and quite good community, thus have a higher quality of life. 

Finally, if you're playing Niles' bingo, the word balance will absolutely be on there, and since Standard of Living & Quality of Life are closely correlated but also somewhat inversely correlated, a center balance of this spectrum is where most of us want to land. Without sharing living spaces with livestock or living in a Queen of Versailles 1800,000 square foot house, but instead realistically somewhere way more toward the former or middle. 

The Outdated Use of the Term First World

The terms "first world", "second world", "third world", and later "fourth world" originated as a Cold War geopolitical framework that divided the Earth realm into distinct categories based on nations' levels of development.

The "first world" was classified as Western nations like those in Western Europe and North America that at the time became further allies with The United States. The term "Second World" described more Eastern countries aligned with the Soviet Union and its allies. Such as the communist bloc nations that had been absorbed under the USSR including some countries in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia such as China and North Korea. The term "third world" likely was coined by French demographer Alfred Sauvy in 1952, drawing an analogy to the "Third Estate" in pre-revolutionary France, which represented lower class poverty. Which in cold war era rhetoric, described countries that were non-aligned with either the Western bloc or the Eastern bloc. Which encompassed many nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, often characterized by developing economies. The term "fourth world" was later popularized in 1974 by Shuswap Chief George Manuel in his book "The Fourth World: An Indian Reality" to categorize regions that did not fit into the existing political or economic categorizations at all, meaning those who don’t use money, such as indigenous peoples and other stateless and often marginalized and oppressed groups who are not fully integrated into the nation-states where they reside.

The concept of the Second World largely disappeared after the end of the Cold War in the early 90's and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Which then resulted in many former then called "Second World" nations transitioning to market-based economies and more democratic leaning governance, arguably then becoming part of "the First World". But, unfortunately, the terms "third world" compared to "first world" are outdated language which one can still hear today and we are even conscious of being guilty to have done so in our rhetoric and are always trying to move away from such.

Although the "First World" did deserve a pat on the back for half the time leading the way for other nations to become more democratic, while the other half of the time fueling anti-democratic coups in South America, the term "First World" is increasingly seen as problematic for several reasons, as it reflects outdated, inaccurate hierarchical, and oversimplified ways of categorizing entire countries. The label "First World" at the time was very much a Western framing on behalf of the West. With self-arrogance implying first in line superiority over "Second World" and "Third World" countries, let alone the "Fourth World" which was and still is often considered irrelevant. Creating inaccuracy that suggests the entire population of certain entire nations were inherently "better" or more advanced than the entire population of certain entire other nations, not to mention also marginalizing alternative systems of governance, economic structures, and alternative cultural approaches to societal well-being. Because the "Third World" became synonymous with poverty, underdevelopment, and instability, which stigmatized many non- "First world" categorized countries. Basically implying that the "first world" was synonymous with suburban 1950's era infrastructure with concrete roads and multiple room houses with central heat and air conditioning, while third world meant dirt roads with thatch or cinder block huts with chickens wandering around on their dirt floors. Yet numbered binary framing totally ignored nuances and perpetuated a false narrative based only on linear economic progress and is rooted in geopolitical divisions that no longer exist. Reinforcing the mindset of a privileged, superior group of nations while oversimplifying the challenges faced by others.

So it's key to note that the use of "Third World" can be seen as an old and outdated mental operating system which is and always was a pejorative, and more modern and precise terminology is superior in contemporary discourse. Because the term "First World" being used today very much fails to account for the complexity of global development. For example, many so-called "First World" nations very much still struggle with issues like poverty, inequality, and infrastructure gaps while some "developing" or "Third World" nations have areas of rapid growth and innovation. Today, terms like "Emerging Economies", or "Developing Countries", "Low to Middle Income Countries", and "Global South" are more commonly used now to describe former "third world" classified countries and economic statuses. With "Global North", "High-Income Countries", "Developed Countries", or "Industrialized Nations" being better terms for what used to be called the "First World". With developing countries being not the best cause the so called "developed countries" of the North still having plenty of developing to do and "industrialized" nations also not being so great cause today they still have plenty of failing infrastructure. And we'll keep this totally on brand by saying, due to our life transformative experiences with shamanism, what used to be considered "fourth world" and is now better classified simply as "indigenous peoples" have some of the most superior spirituality and the least empire of any of the other classifications.

What this ultimately comes down to is the difference in "standard of living" compared to "quality of life". And we'll get into that, in the next insight.

Truths on Repeat

We've long realized, at least for the last 10+ years, that many things we've come to know, far too many other people don't know, and sadly many don't care to know. But if you're one of frankly not that many folks, formally educated or not, who listen to our material, give yourself a pat on the back and consider yourself a more sophisticated individual. As you care to learn from us as much as we acknowledge we can also potentially learn from you.

It's called either having eyes to see or having ears to hear. Which like the film Inception, has multiple nested layers to it in terms of truths one is willing to want to accept and then act upon.

And one of our shortcomings is always assuming those who freshly stumble across our material, being previously unfamiliar with it, have a basic grasp of some of the moderate material, let alone deeper material, when in reality, they don't even have a basic grasp on basic entry level foundational truths. Not just related to their own personal individual development but societal development collectively. This has forced our work to extend into the political. As evident in the way the median voter can be swayed primarily because they've grown up with low quality religion, low quality education, and low quality news media.

So as we freely divvy out continuing insights, which will never be "news" but instead more hopefully timeless micro short lectures that if they were found 50 years from now would still be fresh, valid, and actionable, we have come to realize, just as a propagandist will keep lying over and over and over again, saying essentially "believe us, not your lying eyes" to vast swaths of the world's populace, we need to just keep repeating truths over and over and over again.

Because the media throughout much of the world has gone to absolute poo. So get used to us recurrently saying "we've said it before and we'll say it again and we're going to keep refining it and saying it" as we are going to continue to try and be one individual, amongst a growing network of other media makers, who provide mental vegetables to push back on the media mental junk food landscape which is making far too many de-evolve when they should instead be evolving.

Claiming "Head of Household"

In large sections of the Middle East, which are controlled by MINO's meaning "Muslims in Name Only", in 2024, not 1824 or 1624, women still need their husband's approval to do most things outside of the home such as acquiring a driver's license. 

Also believe it or not, in 2024, not 1824 or 1624, in a Tweet, (which are now called excretions after a former illegal immigrant now turned edgelord and eugenicist took over Twitter), a certain mentally unwell CHINO, meaning "Christian in Name Only" excreted this vulgar statement:

"In a Christian marriage, a wife should vote according to her husband's direction. He is the head and they are one. Unity extends to politics. This is not controversial."

"Now why did the CHINO say such a controversial and fallacious thing, do you ask? Well... because he suffers from the same mass mental confusion as the MINO and because there has been a campaign going on to remind the feminine that within the freedom of liberal democracy when in the ballot box, that is a private space, and a woman has the power to vote however she choses without her homo-vulgaris husband knowing. 

On a deeper level, real spirituality, which is about the powerful esoteric (inner) journey of each soul in the “soul school” that is Earth, which is intimately tied to nature and the cosmos and will inevitably lead the evolving soul to the realization that the feminine and the masculine have equal value in perfect balance. As more evident in esoteric nature based practices such as the 10% esoteric aspect of Islam that is Sufism or 10% esoteric aspect of Christianity that is Gnosticism in which individuals can have direct experiences for their own self-development and evolution of consciousness.

Modern Abrahamic religion throughout the world however, 90% of which is of Empire, has co-opted and watered down esoteric practices and mirrored them back to front to remove any of the esoteric and make them only exoteric (outer) replacing those natural evolutionary internal processes with a hierarchy of male figures to be subservient to. God / Allah / Buddah (claimed to be male), Jesus (claimed to be male), Satan (claimed to be male) and then a priest class (in which no women are of course allowed) and the more ones been indoctrinated into such fallacies from their youth the more that’s taken literally and historically the more one becomes an ultra conservative and thus ultra regressive, mouth foaming reactionary who has complete blind allegiance to male authority and promotes male patriarchal theocracy which falsely claims the masculine is superior to the feminine resulting in them forming dark imperial political blocks which not only want to destroy spiritual nature but also reduce women’s rights throughout the world. 

And in closing, any real man who's been successfully married for many years comes to also eventually know that the woman has the final say at least 50% of the time. 

The Anti-Choice LIe

This primarily goes out to our podcast, which is 50/50 women and men, but the video version primarily goes out to our obscure YouTube channel, which the analytics says is like 90% men. So we're primarily talking to the masculine here on the video side. And a warning, surrounded by police car revolving lights, fellas, if you hate truth, and freedom, and freedom of speech, turn this off now and do not watch or listen. 

So we've said it before and we'll say it again and we're going to keep saying it and we're going to keep refining it. This shouldn't be a divisive polarizing issue but instead a universally agreed upon issue. It's also an issue which puts a magnifying glass on a storefront marketing pitch vs a real underlying reason. And from most conversations on the subject, especially in oligarchic owned corporate media, they intentionally give a "both sides" between truth and lies at least point of view, or a pure lie at worst point of view, when what should happen in free and open society is only giving pure truth. This is why our work has significantly more depth because we seek underlying truth instead of storefront shallow wish wash. Although the main paramount important thing in one's self development is pursuing truth, anytime you have a conversation with someone who is against abortion, 100% of the time, they will say or mention the word "life". However, the whole framing of abortion using the word "life" is a lie. It is false. The truth about what this whole issue is really all about is control over women. 

So in regards to the control aspect, just as not all gay men have a lisp in their voice, feminizing it on the outside, only gay men have a lisp in their voice, not all religious people are against abortion and even birth control, but only religious people are against abortion and even birth control. Specifically the type of extreme religious person who also just happens to be in an end times death cult. Now our usual disclaimer of balance, no member of the exoteric outer religions, Christianity, Judisim, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Pastafarianism, etc... should feel discriminated against or persecuted for their faith as long as they keep it personal and hopefully lite. Anyone can personally study and worship whatever flying spaghetti monster they choose. But the more heavy and literal historical one takes these rather new man made systems, the more they are based in male hierarchical domination. With, as previously discussed, deities and Gods said to be males who are implied to be hierarchically above the female. And then the more they will push that onto others. This is what imperial missionaries have been about. Where in their more extreme radicalization, it becomes "convert heathens to the faith". Rather than the attitude of let the faith stand on its own, or let those who are spiritually developed enough find it on their own.

Imagine a group of controlling matriarchal women trying to pass laws saying men had to be castrated, so they were not allowed to have any sex drive, get boners, and produce or expel semen. So that would be lunatic women trying to control men and we would fight them to our last breath. But when this basically goes the other way, being lunatic extremely religious men trying to control women sexual organs, those who think they are superior to women, even brainwashed women themselves, think that is remotely acceptable, cause they believe their own death cult lies about life and being pro-life when in reality they are just pro control the feminine and pro anti-choice. Being anti-choice or anti-abortion or even anti-birth control has fuck all nothing to do with life. 

If they were really pro-life, they would care about the loss of species biodiversity globally or clearcutting of the biome in the Amazon basin, which they do not. If they were really pro-life, they would care about the lives of migrant refugee children dying in the Darién Gap from Colombia to Panama or Mexican desert on their way into Texas and Arizona, or drowning in the Mediterranean, which they do not. If they were really pro-life, they would care about horrendous living conditions of farm animals in American factory farms, or horrendous working conditions of women slaving in sweatshops in Bangladesh, which they do not. If they were really pro-life, they would care about the Maternal Health Crisis of African American women due to structural and systemic racism at the core of the American healthcare system, which they do not. If they were really pro-life, they would care more about the lives of second graders more than the second amendment, which they do not. If they were really pro-life, they would care about femicide of indigenous women, which they do not. And the real tell is if they were really pro-life, they would care about the lives of children living below the poverty line who are born into households where they are not wanted and unloved, which they do not as well as acknowledging that in countries where abortion is not legal, it still happens just as often, but instead becomes more back alley and dangerous, leading to more female mortalities. What they really are is forced birth don’t care about life because that removes the final decision from the woman, and turns her back into a mandatory baby factory. Limiting women's access to abortion and contraception is about power and control. Specifically theocratic patriarchal control over the divine feminine. FULL STOP. 

Just like owning a gun empowers the individual, both birth control and abortion are tools which empower the feminine. The storefront marketing campaign against abortion, radiating out with marching orders from batshit crazy televangelist preachers, is the claim to be advocates for the unborn, which allows for a faux quasi highest morality stance while then hiding their actual not giving a shit about the acorns which they claim are oak trees after they are born. The limiting of a choice to disempower the host, in their minds superseeds claims of caring about the life of the seed. As evident by the fact that Christians in Name Only, with all their big corporate tax exempt money, are not funding adoption agencies. Also evident that fash theo nightmare Dante's inferno Project 20205 advocated in 2024 for slashing regulations of baby formula as well as exploiting child labor by allowing minors to work in dangerous conditions with fewer protections. 

Doing some research of what life was like for women prior to the advent of birth control, which is a preventative, and abortion, which is a much more difficult decision but an available option of choice, and one would find it was staggeringly more difficult and disempowering for them. Women were basically considered second class, completely subservient to males, and sperm dumpster repositories who were only valued for their bodies and the ability to continue the population instead of for their infinite other possibilities. Men are horn balls and always want sex. Women don't. So strong women in democratic society control sexual access. In more authoritarian past cultures like fascist Italy, women were pushed to have as many children as possible, by force. In more authoritarian cultures of today, such as under the Afgani Taliban in Afganistan, or even within the Christian Wrong American style Taliban such as the New Apostolic Reformation, male to female rape within marriage is still covertly sanctioned within the cult. This is because all young women within said cults can then do is stay at home and raise children, even from a very young, under adult, age. And the very people who lie that they're "pro life" are actually pro child marrage, which the vast majority of the time is being teenage (or even pre teen) girls and adult men that also happen to embrace loop holes in statutory rape exceptions. So that young girls in said cult, or other religious cults such as within the heavily religious orthodox jewish community, then have little to no say in their own plans for education, independence, travel, career, political activity, and say outside of the household. This is why we are amazed why any woman is not lightly but instead heavily religious. And why any woman votes for authoritarianism is a contrary position, and can only occur because of an indoctrination into an off-balance system of patriarchy. For the religions of the empire have always dis-empowered the feminine. So women who are crusaders against their very own right to choose have been mind controlled to be not only self-hating but also self-disempowering.

What we call the dark psychological caduceus, which is the mix of fascism and theocracy, which we pledge to you to never stop denigrating on because it's the core of modern day Empire, so you're welcome, comprises faux christian sects that are into false christian things like dominionism and have degraded the "conservative" majority of the Supreme Court, and they care only for power, over anything else. This is evident by the fact that when they attain power, they reduce feminine rights instead of expanding feminine rights. They are regressive and contractive and not progressive and expansive. If they were really for progress and expanding rights they would care about real freedom for the people. But since they only want regress and to contract rights of the people, what they mean by freedom is the freedom to tell the people, and especially the feminine half of the people, what to do. So the more a political party will lie about being pro freedom and “pro-life” is because they recognize it can be used to tell women what to do. This is why when you use that same appeal “pro-life”—when you ask authoritarian regressives, who care only for power, to do something about gun violence killing our young children in schools, it doesn’t work. Because they don't really care about life and don't want anyone telling them what to do. 

We've spoken before about women and men having complete equal value. So fellas, we're assuming those of you who still watch or listen to us are not women hating incel losers who find a home in the shadows of fascism. But even if you had a rough relationship with your own mother, still respect women and many of us have daughters. We happen to have had a good relationship with our mother and have always had very positive relationships with women and they very much like us back. So even if we didn't have a young daughter who we treasure and even if we only had a son, we would still be writing this. We also have a specific dog in this fight because our wife is an Ob-Gyn and 1% of the time, she has a young, dumb female patient who over uses abortions as a form of birth control only because they've stupidly not used birth control. But 99% of the time, on the rare and unfortunate time she has to perform an abortion, such as for an ectopic pregnancy, neither of us have ever once done anything except known she's doing anything other than helping women with their own health care decisions. 

Written Insight: Manly P. Hall's Definition of Personal Growth

We highly recommend listening to the lectures of Manly P. Hall. While a criticism of Hall's work from more academic, material science based intellectuals, and we remember Sam Harris specifically say this, is that Hall's work is "a waste of time", especially his seminal book, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, which he wrote very bizarrely young, ... we have to say we disagree with that criticism. We would say people who say that don't understand the majority of what he's talking about because they have not grown into his work yet. And as a result, think his content is gobbledygook. After Hall wrote his most known book, he dedicated the majority of his later life from writing more books to instead doing recorded lectures on a regular basis, often without notes, for sometimes multiple hours, from his home base of the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles. Like Alan Watts or Terence McKenna's lectures, we often think of them as being a hundred if not multiple hundreds of years ahead of their time. 

So Hall would give these incredibly advanced lectures, and just like our YouTube channel, it would be to like 8 people on a Tuesday evening. And yes, they are not easy to listen to. Doing so is work. Because they are dense and heading towards highest common denominator spirituality because the more you know the less people you can talk to. Contrast that with the less you know spiritually, the more people you can talk to. This is why junk food, pop culture, and by popular culture that includes ultra shallow urine filled baby pool mega church sermons, are intentionally made to be heading towards the lowest common denominator, because then they appeal to the most spiritually undeveloped people who just say things like "birth control is a sin." So while Hall was talking to tiny rooms that megachurch is stadium packed. And in this specific instance of his lecture titled "How Hermeticism Influenced Gnosticism And Neoplatonism", very standard Tuesday night stuff, of which, and on a planet of 7 billion some people, he was probably 1 of a dozen people in the world who could eloquently discuss said topic for over an hour, he dropped the single best definition of personal growth we have ever heard. 

First he said, "Through the course of growth everything that is concealed, must be revealed" and then the actual definition he gave was "growth is the unfolding into the obvious of things previously not obvious" which not only speaks heavily of things that are more advanced self development processes, some of which we can't even talk about cause they're such real life Jedi stuff and thus so secretive, but underscores that unless one is always willing to explore new information that challenges underlying dogmas, which includes getting out of their comfort zone, they're not evolving.

Having gnosis that growth is an inner journey of expanding consciousness, understanding, and wisdom, Hall saw personal and spiritual growth as intertwined, where individuals must strive to transcend their lower, material desires and cultivate higher virtues like compassion and wisdom. Revolving around the development of the inner self through self-awareness and self-discipline. Hall has also influenced our own work with the shared commonality that true personal growth comes from an individual’s spiritual journey and dedication to moral and philosophical enlightenment. He often emphasized that growth involves continuous learning, particularly through philosophy and esoteric traditions. He regarded this process as a path toward becoming more attuned to the universal laws and truths that govern real life. Emphasizing the importance of understanding universal truths, cultivating virtues, and aligning oneself with higher principles. Knowing that personal growth is a lifelong, or which you could even say as a multiple life long, process of becoming more attuned to the spiritual forces that shape human existence, transcending materialism and superficial concerns. Because all that you can take with you when you wrap it up is what you've learned.