bread of life

The affordance of new insight depends on breaking the frame through which you ordinarily see the world. In the “Kenosis-Gnosis-Pistis” schema (or “Purification-Perception-Dalliance”) this is represented by the Kenosis/Purification stage.

I have described this in the mystical language of The Cloud of Unknowing as a type of forgetting. It is also often described as a kind of death, part of the death-rebirth trope identified by Brian Muraresku as the central experience of “the religion with no name” in The Immortality Key.

John Vervaeke talks about “the religion that isn’t a religion” to distinguish between traditional belief-centred religion, focused on propositional knowledge, from experiential and transformative “religion” focused on participatory, perspectival and procedural knowledge. This fits Muraresku’s “religion”, which may not have a name, but which has all the hallmarks of what we call Shamanism.

Shamanism is not any particular set of beliefs, but a set of disruptive psychotechnologies, “ways to go beyond” as Rupert Sheldrake puts it. The most familiar are those that induce a “trance” state, such as drumming, dancing, singing and chanting. And, of course, the ingestion of psychedelic compounds.

The idea is that by engaging in a disruptive practice, you “open your mind” or even “lose your mind” through the forgetting or emptying (kenosis) of your habitual frames of reference, allowing fresh perceptions and insights to occur (gnosis). This new information can then be integrated into the personality through a process of reciprocal correction and attunement (pistis), thus deepening your understanding and ongoing relationship with reality.

Meditation works in the same way. It is a psychotechnology designed to provoke a revolution in the Kenosis-Gnosis-Pistis cycle. Great poetry, art and music can achieve the same result. They are all psychotechnologies for the development of wisdom. What Vervaeke fails to appreciate, however, is that belief is itself a psychotechnology. The Credo is not just a set of propositional statements that are literally true or false, for example. It is a set of faith commitments or “acts of faith”.

Only through the radical transformation afforded by a revolutionary learning process based on powerful psychotechnologies and disruptive strategies can we grow into the fullness of our rational humanity. As the adult is to the child, so is the sage to the adult. You wouldn’t live your life as a child knowing that you could be an adult (unless you have Peter Pan Syndrome) so why live your life as an adult knowing you could be a sage?

What is DMT without the breakthrough?

What is an all night rave without the ecstasy?

What is Zen without Satori?

Just a glitch in the Matrix.

Break on through to the other side.

Break frame to make frame.

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

“Do you know how you deal with a complex dynamical system that is operating against you? By cultivating a counteractive dynamical system that is operating for you.”

John Vervaeke

This is what I have been saying from the start. You cannot fix the off-kilter Wheel of Life by tinkering with it and tweaking it. Why? Because it is a complex self-organising adaptive system that will just reconfigure itself around whatever interventions you make. It doesn’t work.

Something more radical is needed. If you really want to be free from the suffering (dukkha) created by your dysfunctional ego system, you have to get off the Wheel altogether and establish an alternative non-dysfunctional system.

To escape the parasitic processing (Muppet-Victim), reciprocal narrowing (Muggle-Addict) and egocentrism (Diva-Demon) of the Babylon System you need to cultivate the decentring, reciprocal opening and anagogic awakening of the Enlightenment System (Mystic-Shaman-Warrior-Monk-Philosopher-King).

The only way to get beyond the prison of the ego is to be born again. And again.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

What does it mean to judge someone by the content of their character? What are we judging exactly? Most people would say something like, “whether they are a good person”. But what is a “good person”? Aristotle would say “a virtuous person”. He explains what he means by this in The Nichomachean Ethics.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an Aristotelian and a Christian. He believed in virtue and character and the possibility of cultivating them. He believed that being a good Christian meant having a good character and that having a good character meant that you didn’t judge people by superficial things like the colour of their skin.

King’s dream was that his children might live in a society made up of wise people who could see into the human heart, rather than foolish people who only judged by appearances. For King, as for Aristotle, wisdom and virtue are closely related. The better your grip on reality, the less egocentric you are. And the less egocentric you are (the more decentred), the holier you are. This is why King’s dream is ultimately a religious dream.

As a religious man, he dreamed that he might become as holy, virtuous and wise as possible. As a civil rights activist, he dreamed that his country might become as holy, virtuous and wise as possible. But he was a realist. He knew the depths of foolishness in the American psyche. This was part of his wisdom.

If you are familiar with my work, you will know that I make use of two different psychological systems based on the six realms of the Bhavachakra, the Tibetan Wheel of Life. The first is a loose translation in which I identify six ego states corresponding to the different realms, namely, Diva, Demon, Victim, Addict, Muppet and Muggle. The second is simply these ego states flipped over into their positive counterparts, that is, Mystic, Shaman, Warrior, Monk/Nun, Philosopher, King/Queen. (The two systems are depicted on the Home Page).

These two “mind-maps” are really just descriptions of what a foolish character and a wise character look like. It is quite a radical claim, because what I am saying is that foolish people and wise people live in different worlds according to different principles. You find this idea expressed in Christianity in the St. Paul’s distinction between the “old man” and the “new man”:

“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

Ephesians 4: 22-24

In my book, The Confessions of a Psychedelic Christian, I relate the six aspects of the “new man” to the three qualities of holiness, virtue and wisdom. The “Mystic Shaman” represents holiness, the “Warrior Monk” represents virtue and the “Philosopher King” represents wisdom. Thus to develop and embody these archetypes is to become holy, virtuous and wise.

Conversely, the six aspects of the “old man”, the unregenerate man or woman, are associated with the opposite tendencies. Thus, the “Diva Demon” represents selfishness, the “Victim Addict” represents weakness and the “Muppet Muggle” represents foolishness. The more entrenched these archetypes, the more selfish, weak and foolish we are.

Look at yourself. Are you cultivating wisdom or foolishness? And what are you doing to cultivate it?

Look at your culture. Is it growing wiser or growing more foolish? And what is your culture promoting? The development of character or the denial of character in favour of identity politics?

I still believe in Martin Luther King’s dream, but sometimes I wonder whether it will come true even in my own children’s lifetime.

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”

Matthew 7: 24-27

A meaningful psychedelic trip undertaken for the purposes of insight, healing and spiritual awakening must be done in a spirit of mindfulness. This means that you must engage the same processes of paying attention and not judging as you do in ordinary meditation. You should apply “soft vigilance” to whatever comes up, without reactivity or judgment. Without straining or slacking, your attention should be flexible and responsive. Go with the flow. Use all your senses. Really look and really listen. Really feel. Then, eventually, you will remember what it means to be fully alive and fully awake here and now. You will remember yourself. Perhaps you will remember God.

Worldview attunement depends on the consonant co-identification of agent and arena.

The various aspects of the human ego, which I affectionately refer to as “Divas”, “Demons”, “Victims”, “Addicts”, “Muppets” and “Muggles”, are agents in the arena of the ordinary human world, what I call “Babylon”. Depending on which ego state predominates at any one time determines your existential mode.

“Mystics”, “Shamans”, “Warriors”, “Monks/Nuns”, “Philosophers” and “Kings/Queens”, as aspects of “Buddha Nature” or “Christ Consciousness”, are agents in the arena of the supra-mental, supra-human world of “Gaia”, “the Pure Land” or “the Kingdom of God”. Similarly, the existential mode is determined by which aspect is dominant.

There are actually six arenas (the six realms of the Wheel of Life) in which each of the six “worldly” ego agents can act and six arenas in which the six “spiritual” agents can act. “Babylon” and “the Pure Land” are meta-arenas containing within them the potential for any one of their six sub-arenas to manifest.

In Babylon, these are: the Heavenly Realm (Devaloka), the Hell Realm (Narakaloka), the Animal Realm, the Hungry Ghost Realm, the Titan Realm and the Human Realm. In the Pure Land, these are: the Pure Place (which can be either a Pure Consciousness Event (PCE) or Resonant At-Onement depending on whether you are attentionally scaling down in meditation or scaling up in contemplation), the Dragon, the Dojo, the Temple, the School and the Kingdom.

A sense of incongruity, meaningless or absurdity occurs when the wrong agent is in the wrong arena. The cultivation of spiritual character therefore depends on finding the appropriate arena within which to exercise the skills and virtues associated with each archetype. You need to find the right place for the practice of the six yogas (dhyana, kundalini, karma, bhakti, jnana, raja).

Only then can the virtual be realised. Only then can you actually live up to your potential.

If you spend too long on the Wheel of Babylon, you begin to lose touch with reality. This means that things stop being truly meaningful, since, as John Vervaeke puts it, relevance gets uncoupled from truth.

The Meaning Crisis is an existential crisis. In a post-truth world, how do you know what’s real anymore? It’s as though everyone were tripping all the time. Objectivity is lost. Truth is a fiction. All we have is “identity”, which means that we identify with things and ideas simply according to an intuited sense of their relevance. Subjectivism and relativism are the order of the day. The Sophists win.

This explains the exponential rise of bullshit in our culture. “Bullshit” is actually a technical term introduced by Harry Frankfurt in 1986. It differs from deceit or lying in that it is uninterested in the truth to begin with. Advertising and propaganda are the traditional purveyors of bullshit, but it is now endemic in academia and the media. Our culture is drowning in bullshit.

The result is self-deception and self-destructive behaviours. People progressively lose the ability to recognise bullshit and so increasingly bullshit themselves. They start by choosing expedience over truth and following the crowd for the sake of social approbation, what Nietzsche called “herd mentality”, and soon lose interest in the truth altogether.

This is why it is impossible to argue rationally with Muppets. “Ah, but we’re all Muppets now!” they retort. “The Age of Reason is over. Welcome to the Age of Bullshit!”

And they’re right. As long as you remain stuck on the Wheel of Babylon. As long as you remain trapped in Plato’s Cave. But there is a way out for those who want out. As C.S. Lewis said, “the doors of hell are locked from the inside”.

Get out of Babylon.

This very land is the Pure Land.

“Psychotechnology” is John Vervaeke’s fancy cognitive science word for spiritual practice. Psychotechnologies are intentional, sustained mental techniques designed to disrupt ordinary patterns of thought in order to make way for new ones. Strictly speaking, they are a form of mind training, but the most powerful and transformative ones are also types of spiritual training.

The principal psychotechnologies I use in Shamanic Christian Zen training are mantras. However, the mantras are more than just sounds or words – they point to specific mental actions. I will briefly describe some of them here.

Dosa Nirodha Karuna

Tanha Nirodha Karuna

Dukha Nirodha Karuna

What makes a Diva, Demon, Victim, Addict, Muppet or Muggle? Beyond and beneath the particular behaviours associated with each archetype is a particular emotional moodscape – a certain cocktail of hormones and neurotransmitters is activated, creating a different feeling tone associated with each ego state.

The higher the activation, the more you will be in the grip of that state. If your nervous system is flooded with adrenaline and catecholamine, for example, the rage and murderous impulses you experience will make you feel and perhaps even act like a Demon, especially if you have anger management issues.

The Pali word dosa means aversion or hatred. It covers the whole spectrum of negative feeling states from violent rage to simmering resentment. Tanha means thirst or craving. It covers the spectrum of desire, from burning lust to subtle greed. Dukkha means suffering and refers to all states of unhappiness, dissatisfaction and general discomfort.

If you have ever tried to meditate after a flaming row with your partner, you will recognise how difficult it is. In fact, it’s impossible. Until the adrenaline has left your system, you will inevitably just sit there seething. You will encounter a similarly insurmountable difficulties if you try to meditate after looking at pornography, or after hearing some bad news which confirms your suspicions about the terrible state of the world.

If you are wound up, fed up or turned on, you will be unable to focus your energy on constructive tasks or on spiritual practice. You will just have to wait patiently for the effects of your inner drugs to wear off, while at the same time refraining from producing any more. This is, of course, a practice in itself. It is the practice that makes all other practice possible, by preparing an empty space of “apatheia”, in which both the brain’s default mode network and the sympathetic nervous system are deactivated. (For the full mantra, see the blog The Clearing Meditation).

The next family of psychotechnologies is the mindfulness and “headlessness” practices. These are well known and widely available. I like to use a mantra adapted (or “exapted”) from Kashmir Shaivism:

Parashiva

Shiva

Shakti

These refer to transcendent consciousness, immanent consciousness and qualitative phenomena, the immediately given objects of consciousness.

I also use a sequence of seven mantras called The Ray of Creation:

Amun Ra Atum Ka Ba Gaia Jah

where each mantra represents a stage in the evolution of the universe: Emptiness (Amun); Energy (Ra); Form (Atum); Life (Ka); Mind (Ba); Global Consciousness (Gaia) and Universal Consciousness (Jah).

Then there are the Transcendentals:

Peace Love Goodness Beauty Truth Consciousness Bliss

and the various psychotechnologies associated with each of the spiritual archetypes:

Mystic Shaman Warrior Monk Philosopher King

and their corresponding yogas:

Dhyana Kundalini Karma Bhakti Jnana Raja.

Unlike the emotionally activated ego states (Diva Demon Victim Addict Muppet Muggle) their spiritual counterparts are characterised by a state of “cool flow”. Compare the manic rants of a Muppet with the dispassionate reflections of a Jnana Yogi Philosopher, for example.

The most visible demonstration of “cool flow” is in the coordinated physical movements of the Warrior, who channels the Chi (energy) in a consummately controlled and natural way, even in the heat of battle.

To sum up then, the various psychotechnologies can be grouped under three broad headings in Shamanic Christian Zen training:

1. Apatheia
2. Mindfulness
3. Cool flow

The Tibetan Bhavachakra or Wheel of Life can be understood as a cross-section of human reality in six of its most salient permutations. I have taken the liberty to loosely translate them into English vernacular as Diva, Demon, Victim, Addict, Muppet and Muggle. In most depictions of the Wheel of Life, you will find an image of the Buddha outside the Wheel, usually on a cloud somewhere above it.

If we can identify six archetypes in our Human-All-Too-Human Wheel of Samsara, what archetypes might we hope to find in a Buddha’s Nirvana beyond the Wheel? If human psychology includes some constellation or other of these six subpersonalities, what constitutes a Buddha’s psychology?

I contend that we can identify six matching archetypes in awakened Buddha Consciousness, if we “looking-glass” the human ones. What we end up with is the Mystic, Shaman, Warrior, Monk, Philosopher and King archetypes, corresponding to the six yogas, Dhyana, Kundalini, Karma, Bhakti, Jnana and Raja yoga.

A Self-Realised Master Yogi, who embodies all six yogas and personifies all six archetypes is a Living Buddha. Strictly speaking, he or she is no longer human, and so no longer transmigrates around the Wheel of Life. He or she is “in the world but not of the world”. He or she is identified with Gaia rather than Ba, with the planet as a whole rather than their individual bodymind or the distributed cognition of the human social matrix. He or she is a “Buddha in Babylon”.

Buddha recognises Buddha. But human consciousness cannot see beyond the limits of the human Wheel of Life. This state of affairs creates a paradox: spiritual teachings can only be understood by spiritual beings, but it’s human beings that need them. Which is why we must suppose that all human beings have Buddha Nature, an incipient germ of spiritual awakening buried somewhere in their psyches, a pearl of great price smaller than a mustard seed, ready to sprout at any moment.

Once this baby Buddha (or baby Jesus) is born in the soul, the business of spiritual training in the yogas can begin in earnest. For as Dogen Zenji said, “training and enlightenment are one”.