The Existential Detective Network

What is this transition we’re in? (Part 1)

Adrian Unger — Wed, 08 May 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Hi there, happy new moon in Taurus! This week we're just going to jump right in.

I’m sure many of you remember hearing of the “end of the Maya calendar” in 2012. Perhaps even some of the fatalistic predictions around what that meant. While the fatalistic perspective was a bit out of touch, or perhaps dramatic, as an allegory it’s not far off. Further, as one digs into various ancient, spiritual and esoteric traditions we find many descriptions of cycles¹—and how they end and repeat. It just so happens, we are living at a time, right now, that is at the end of many of these described cycles. Rather than being fatalistic, I see this as an immensely exciting time to be alive!

What are cycles?

As day turns into night, winter to spring, new moon to full, life is filled with cycles. These cycles manifest in our physical reality, like how the moon influences the tides. And, while we are aware of many cycles, there are many more at work beyond what’s common knowledge. Just recently, scientists found evidence of a 2.4 million year cycle of Mars affecting Earth’s oceans! The scale of cycles as measured by our perception of time on Earth can occupy any length, from daily to millions of years and anywhere in between.

"Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates." —The Kybalion

Beyond the effects on our physical world, these cycles also influence each of us energetically. This is an essential mechanism of Astrology. Yet, again, there is a preponderance towards fatalism. Energy is influence and something to work with. Not a predictive fate of exactness. So, how does this energy manifest, if not something specific and exact? Through archetypes, of course! Or, perhaps more simply, as possibilities.

In this way, cycles represent different archetypal energies expressing themselves more predominantly during different time periods. As cycles are, well, cyclical, they also represent a specific progression through said archetypes—something akin to a Hero's Journey.

The end of a cycle

What's so immense of this current time, is how we are at, or nearing, the end of a cycle. And, not just a small cycle measured in days, but something to the tune of hundreds or thousands of years depending on who you ask¹. Further, we're not in the middle of the cycle experiencing a progression from some archetype into another, we're at the termination of the cycle itself. Of course, being a cycle means it's not really a termination but rather a loop. Or, ideally, an evolution rather than revolution.

Evolution is a integral part of our reality. And not just as with a lizard developing larger toepads, but evolution of consciousness. As we experience cycles of different energies—which are cycles of Archetypes and possibilities—we have the potential to work with those energies in a new way, with new awareness. If we don't, then life at one of (or all of the) individual, familial, communal, national and global will feel like Groundhog Day—forever repeating.

What's does this mean for our experience?

Well, remember, it's always about possibility. There is no fatalism, there is no predetermined future. Still, there are generalities we can make. First, it will be a time of change. Whatever the precise length of this cycle—be it 500 years or 15,000—we will not have experienced this level of change since the cycle started.

Further, we can think of all the societal structures and concepts (laws, governance, philosophy, economics, everything!) we've built up during this cycle as being of this time-period. As we move into a new cycle, we will have new possibilities of what we want to conceptualize, build and create. Thus, we need to identify what in this current cycle is worthy as a solid foundation—what do we want to keep and what do we want to toss?

"If we cannot learn the art of destruction, we'll never be effective creators, because we will never be able to complete cycles." —John Sandbach

So, a transition into a new cycle—a new era—means these sort of "basic principles of how society functions" are no longer stable. It is a process of entropy or chaos as the systems, collective agreements, and societal structures are becoming more and more fluid and malleable—ready for us to create something new.

Embracing uncertainty and paradox

"Peoples minds tend to be lazy. They prefer to fall back on their earlier and easier ways of thinking. People don't like tensions and ambiguities. A paradox often appears as two seemingly opposite or contradictory truths. Evolving to new and higher grounds of awareness can be uncomfortable. Unfortunately, many seek clarity and resolution in duality: right versus wrong; good versus evil; me versus you. They don't seek integration." —Anneloes Smitsman, Jean Houston

A time of change like this means you will have to dig deeper to develop a sense of security and trust. A stable culture innately offers a sense of security. You don't have to dig deep into your inner being to figure out your life. Rather, generally, you can follow the norms and be quite comfortable and even successful. With the collective idea of society becoming more chaotic, priming itself to be rebuilt, we no longer have the familiar comfort and accepted culture that provides a sense of security and even anchoring to our own existence.

Instead, we have to dig deeper, individually, to find a sense of security with our existence. This is why I believe esoteric knowledge (spirituality, metaphysics, philosophy, analytical psychology, etc.) is primed to be discovered and adopted by a larger portion of humanity, right now. There are thousands of years of knowledge at our disposal, ready for us to try out and give ourselves a new perspective on our existence and afford us a new sense of anchoring so we can come together to work with the possibilities of this new cycle. And, of course, avoid falling into the trap of polarity.

"The synonym for uncertainty is freedom and possibility" —Dan Siegel

It is a beautiful, exciting time marked by some level of chaos and entropy, which just means the potential to create is that much more.

Besides the Maya prophecy, there are those of the Hopi, and the Yuga cycles of the Vedic tradition. In Astrology, there is the Age of Aquarius among many other global cycles one can gleam from the gyration of planets, in Human Design the 2027 Prophecy. From a more economic rather than esoteric view, The Sovereign Individual remarks "a mysterious five-hundred year cycle appears to mark major turning points in the history of Western civilization". In my estimation, all of these (and more) combine to indicate we are in a time of great significance and transformation. ↩↩

AI won't change the World, people will

Adrian Unger — Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Alright, I promised AI hot-takes on the tednet.org homepage, so let's give it a go: At best, AI is mostly a distraction, at worst it's another nail in the coffin that is the downfall of humanity. Whew! We're in for a ride.

First, I want to tackle the idea that AI will "save humanity." Save humanity from what? Climate Change? Seems counter-intuitive considering the pressure the industry adds on resource extraction and energy production. Or, perhaps save us from war? Yet, getting more efficient at targeting people to kill—while, evidently, being quite loose on oversight—isn't going to bring us peace. We're just perpetuating the arms race.

And, even if the enormous energy requirements of AI is the kick in the pants we need to unlock some breakthrough in production, there's an issue at the core of AI that is a hindrance to improving humanity: that we are viewing it as anything more than a tool and that we can give up our own authority and decision making to a machine. We, as humans, often get caught up in the hype of progress and new technology and forget that we are the source of creation. This is both a literal and spiritual statement. We are both the cause of, and solution, to all life's problems.

Homer nearly had it right…

Technology doesn’t change us. We adapt to technology. Really, we are infinitely adaptable. Which is to say: our bodies and consciousness merges with the experiences we repeatedly provide them. So if we repeatedly expose ourselves to a new technology (smart phones, social media, memes, etc) then we will adapt to those experiences—for better or for worse. The point being: technology doesn't change us, we adapt to technology. The former puts us at the whim of external circumstance. The latter empowers us to be conscious of our own adaptations—our habits and conditioning.

The core of being human is creation. That is: we create. We imagine and then make that imagination a reality. It’s why being a human is so unfathomably incredible. We are the stewards of this earth and of this reality. We are our own authority. We can maintain autonomy, if we choose to do so. I believe there is a split here, that depends on how you view humanity: A. You view humanity as destructive, dangerous and inherently selfish to the detriment of others. B. You view humanity as creative, loving and inherently generous to others.

With Group A, you likely fear the irrationality of others, their broken logic, and more than anything, their unsubstantiated beliefs. Humanity is seen as chaotic and order must be maintained through external authority and control. In this view, AI can be an impartial, purely logical, objective judge of all human affairs. Thus, can save us. This view is based in fear and usually extends to believe we should trade in emotion and compassion for efficiency and increased productivity.

With Group B, you respect the divine integrity of every individual. You see humans an innately good and pure. That all negativity, destruction and conflict arises from conditioning that casts darkness on the true being of each person—creating internal discord. That if each person was able to tap into and act purely on their own inner authority, that all conflict would disappear from the world. This view is based in love.

"[..] there is a natural source of radiance and brilliance in this world—which is the innate wakefulness of human beings."—Chögyam Trungpa

As the power of our tools and technology reaches heights unlike anything we've seen in (remembered) history, it exemplifies the importance of returning to love. And, how this needs to happen at the individual level. Each of us, needs to tap into our innate goodness, to cast away our conditioning and fears, and instead honor, hone and act from each of our own inner authority's. Giving up our autonomy and our own authority to make decisions to an "objective" and unemotional AI will not save us. Honoring each of our own individual inner authority's and innate goodness will. It is crucial for each of us to take responsibility for our creativity and honor our individual inner authorities.

As for AI, it’s another tool in the toolbox. Wield it in weird and wacky ways. Just remember, it is not a replacement for your inner authority and decision making.

That's it. That's the AI hot-take. So, are you going to kick ChatGPT to the curb? Or, ask it all of your major life decisions? Like, if you should eat that ice-encrusted Hot Pocket that's been at the bottom of your freezer since who knows when?

A life without faith is a life without authenticity

Adrian Unger — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Each one of us has a unique gift or expression to share with the world. To realize and share this gift of service is to be your authentic self. And, to share this gift you have to have faith in yourself. If you don't have faith, you will not impart the fullest expression of your gifts on the world. Instead you and your gifts will be at the whim of external circumstance and the perspective of others. In a society bent on reason and facts, one can become hindered by possibility only as history can teach us. With faith, one can open oneself to possibility hindered only by one's imagination. Which, really, is possibility without limit.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” —Albert Einstein

Any great creator or inventor or founder of a business or product that reshaped society had great faith in themselves.

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future." — Steve jobs

And, even more explicitly:

"Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith." —Steve jobs

Faith, belief, trust all are pointing to the same thing here: knowing that something can happen before it happens. Despite any lack of evidence or precedence or naysayers—or even a brick to the head.

“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.” —Michael Jordan

The realm of possibility does become clearer or easier when there is precedence. Take the four minute mile. Or the Barkley Marathons. Once the undoable was done, it opened the floodgates for others to accomplish it as well. Once the 4-minute mile was finally broken, it was broken again and again within the weeks, months and years that followed. Yet, the second person to do a four minute mile, knowing it was possible because someone else did it, still had to have faith that they could do it. And the first person to run a four minute mile? They just had to fucking do it.

This is the power of faith. The reason so many religions taught (still teach?) faith is not to adopt a doctrine per se, but to develop trust in a benevolent and loving universe. If you fully trust in life itself, you will not have fear: not fear of failure nor other people’s opinions. This lays the foundation for pursuing your authenticity—your unique gifts that want to be expressed in this lifetime. And, by most accounts, failure is an inevitable part of that creative process—you'll need faith to keep pushing through failures.

“There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.” —Brené Brown

Each of us has something innate that wants to be expressed. Yet, in many cases, it is hidden deep behind layers of conditioning, beliefs about how life “should be”, fears etc. It may even be hidden behind expectation—we aren't all here to revolutionize personal computing or be the best basketball player. Each of our masterpieces is utterly unique.

“If you go to your grave without painting your masterpiece, it will not get painted. No one else can paint it.” —Gordon MacKenzie

So, how does one cultivate faith? At some point, you just have to do it. To not fear at all would be reckless. Instead, courage suggests taking action despite fear—not ignoring fear, or sweeping it under the rug, but being fully aware of it and facing it head on.

“Real fearlessness is the product of tenderness. It comes from letting the world tickle your heart, your raw and beautiful heart. You are willing to open up, without resistance or shyness, and face the world. You are willing to share your heart with others.” —Chogyam Trungpa

As always, I'd love to hear how this resonates with you. How have fears of this nature shown up in your life? Where in you life could you possibly use more faith? Do you feel you've uncovered your authentic expression or gifts?

P.S. Next weeks issue will be delayed.

How to think about meaning

Adrian Unger — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Howdy, hope everyone had a nice eclipse this past Monday! I'm about to head off on a road trip so there may be a gap in TEDNET issues in the coming weeks. But, maybe not, we'll see 🤷. On to today's issue:

To find meaning, or even discuss meaning (as in the meaning of life), we have to look to a way of thinking outside of the material realm. Science, as it exists today, cannot provide any guidance on meaning beyond "to perpetuate the species by means of reproduction". Which I doubt is much solace to anyone. Instead, we have to look to the inner world (our psyche and spirituality). Where traditional thinking and reason deals with the outer, material world, intuition deals with the inner.

"Despite all the supposed knowledge that we have accumulated, meaning is no where to be found, except in those fields of study that point to a unity between man and the universe." —Stephen Arroyo

Intuition and the inner world are innately personal and entirely subjective. That is, objective reality cannot be measured and tested in order to prove or disprove the meaning of life¹. The meaning comes from within. So, by it's very nature, we have to step outside of the bounds of empirical evidence. We cannot simply look to a study, or some other external authority, and be given a meaning for our life. This has been the fall of so many religions over the ages: they became the meaning themselves, rather than guides to find that meaning.

Stepping into the world of psychology, philosophy and spirituality means we are entering the land of discernment. We must find a language or symbolism that resonates with our own intuition. We must determine what feels right or good to our own selves. I like to think about it as a personal science: We can't test and measure objective, material reality and thus can't rely on other peoples results and conclusions. Instead, we have to perform the test for ourselves and be aware of the results within ourselves! This is how we find meaning.

In this way, the type of knowledge employed for objective science is different than that for subjective. Which is why many get stuck. If they do feel compelled to search for meaning in their life, they may dive into thousands of years of human writings on the matter in hopes of finding something concrete. Or, a sort of definitive and complete system of meaning and how it all works that can be proven or shown in the same way we show empirical evidence for objective sciences. Instead, the works of this nature are guides to finding the thing, rather than the thing itself.

"[..] the teaching is merely a vehicle to describe the truth. Don’t mistake it for the truth itself. A finger pointing at the moon is not the moon." —Thich Nhat Hanh

This, to me, is the magical part. Each of us, individually, have such immense responsibility! Without an objective, empirical guide to the meaning of life, essentially, we just have to choose it. The foundation of how we build up our view of ourselves and the world around us must be decided upon by each of us. This is like the root, creative act of being human! It's empowering and humbling. And, honestly, fun. If you haven't yet, why not give it a go? And, even if you already have, intuitive knowledge is a process rather than the static facts found in objective observation:

"As man's needs undergo periodic transformations, so his myths must change to suit his new dimension of being. As man's consciousness evolves so must his myths." —Stephen Arroyo

Agree? Disagree? Let me know. I'd love to hear from y'all. And thanks to everyone who's joined along thus far, and for the positive response—I'm immensely grateful! If you know anyone else who might enjoy these ponderings, please forward them this email or send them to tednet.org! 🙏

People definitely try to gather empirical evidence for psychological theories. But there's apparently a replication problem. In any case, my view is that the real depth of the psyche cannot be touched on without diving into deeply subjective and personal experience. ↩

Awareness is the Goal

Adrian Unger — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Howdy all. Before jumping into the first, ugh, issue I guess we'll call it, I wanted to provide a bit of context. The focus of TEDNET, as I alluded on the homepage, is around "existing as a human", with some specific coloring from our current events. Which, well, is pretty dang broad. So I'm going to share what is essentially the end goal: Awareness. Nothing I write needs to be true. If it helps even a tiny few develop more awareness, I'll chalk it up as a win. On to the first issue!

From the most benign self-help books to ancient philosophy and spiritual texts, the goal is awareness. Every bit of advice for improving your business, or your relationships acts as a tool to help you be more aware. Some of these tools offer specific awareness such as how to listen, or "work smarter not harder." While others offer general tools to increase awareness. Most notably, meditation. So, what is awareness?

Is it consciousness? Perhaps. Yet, I think it has it's own distinct feel or flavor. Or, perhaps even a more narrow definition. Awareness is a bit easier to understand than grandiose "consciousness". The point is, so much of what we do and perceive in the world happens without awareness. Think of your goals, strategies, wishes, wants, fears, distastes: are they really yours? Where did they come from? Why do you feel the way you do today? To understand these fully, would be to have complete awareness of one's self.

And, that's the goal. Every bit of increased awareness allows us to act in a way that is for our betterment. To be fully aware of one's boundaries. One's own tasks. With awareness—any increased level of it—comes new freedom. To be aware of unconscious behavior, self-defeating habits, limiting beliefs, and our actual, personal motivations means we get to choose. The more aware you are, the more you get to choose. The more free-will you get to exercise.

Looking at self-help books, religion, philosophy, and spirituality in this way can also be freeing. You don't have to evaluate if you believe everything they are saying. You don't have to ask "is this doctrine for me?" You don't have to declare that you are a buddhist, or a minimalist, or a hustler or anything else. You can just try these things out. Like testing a new tool. Does this work for me? Does this thought, practice or concept allow me more awareness of myself and my actions? Great. With increased awareness you'll likely realize that a tool that works for you may not work for someone else. Or even, that a tool that did work, one day will no longer.

Awareness is very freeing. It allows you to be fully you. And, that's the goal. It's not to be this way or that way. It's not a set of behaviors, beliefs and mannerisms. It is not some idolized way of acting and showing up in the world. You are not here to emulate another. Rather, it is being aware of why you act the way you act. Why you think the way you think. And, with that awareness comes the freedom—the responsibility—to take full accountability for ones actions. For one's entire life.

Awareness is the ultimate goal.