The Mind Hack

Between social media platforms and AI we are in the beginnings of the mind hack. Actually, it has been going on for a while. Actually, since the advent of television. Well, some might say the advent of organized religion. But, let’s not digress.

The internet, social media and artificial intelligent software just put it all on steroids. The internet in its infancy, was termed the great equalizer. I believe that capitalism has stifled the great equalizer and has actually created a disturbance in the force.

I have been tossing around some concepts lately on Facebook. Playing around with their algorithms. Toying with the idea that I may be done with that forum. To add to that gestating concept, some nights back, my wife and I watched the documentary “The Great Hack”. For the second time.

If you haven’t seen this movie I suggest that you do. It’s about the realities of social media and the truth of how that relates in our lives. Delving deep into how technology can be used to directly influence what we think and feel and can even alter our way of thinking. One can even go as far to say that technology has reached a point to where it can alter a political outcome. It’s changing how some people think and act by feeding them an alternate reality based on a desired outcome through the use of directly feeding a social media platform and result of information being directly fed to the end user through nefarious means. It discusses the truth of artificial intelligence and algorithmic software that directly affects our lives, as well as, has the ability to change how our own mind reflects on and acts upon what type of information that feeds us and that we all reside in a reality that is barely that.

Real.

Which really begets the question of what is real?

Noted historical philosopher Rene Descartes stated, “The objective reality of a thing is the kind of reality a thing possesses in virtue of its being a representation of something.” However, this was what we knew back in 1590’s, in France. Today, we know much more.

Through the science of quantum physics we have learned that reality is only what we choose it to be. Reality is where we put our mind. Reality is where we place our thoughts. Reality becomes what we think and what we say. Period.

Werner Heisenberg, the noted German theoretical physicist, interpreted the mathematics to mean that reality doesn’t exist until observed. This goes back to when Descartes proclaimed that, “I think therefore I am.” Heisenberg goes on to say, “The idea of an objective real world whose smallest parts exist objectively in the same sense as stones or trees exist, independently of whether or not we observe them ... is impossible.”

John Wheeler, the noted American theoretical physicist, is known for his double-slit experiment. In that experiment he shined a light through two slits to find that “no elementary quantum phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is a registered (‘observed,’ ‘indelibly recorded’) phenomenon.”

The double slit experiments were attempts to decide whether light somehow "senses" the experimental apparatus it travels through, therein adjusting its behavior to fit by assuming the appropriate determinate state of either a wave or a particle, or whether light remains in an indeterminate state, exhibiting both wave-like and particle-like behavior until measured.

Through these kind of experiments and, those by Max Planck, we have come to understand that everything in the universe is made up of quanta. Max Planck received the Nobel Prize in 1918 for his discovery of energy quanta. A quantum (plural: quanta) is the smallest discrete unit of a phenomenon. For example, a quantum of light is a photon, and a quantum of electricity is an electron. Quantum comes from Latin, meaning "an amount" or "how much?" If something is quantifiable, then it can be measured.

So, what does all of this mean? Where am I going here?

What all of this means is that nothing is real until it is measured. The first part of being able to measure something is to be aware of it. Once that awareness becomes conscious quanta are able to reorganize themselves into the consciousness objective that is attempting to measure it, or become aware of it, or to be able to touch, taste, smell, hear, or see it.

So, it is imperative to understand that no matter what is going on in your life it is truly only a matter of perception. This can mean anything from the micro such as a personal health issue, or further on to interpersonal connections, or to the macro means of the ways of the world. All of how we perceive these things reside in our minds. This is why in Buddhist teachings it is said that in order to change the world we must first change ourselves. In other words, it is all in your mind. However, if things aren’t going the way you thought are you able to hack your own mind? The answer to that is, yes. This can be done through the practice of meditation. Today, most people turn to medication rather than meditation to solve all of their problems.

Now, I am not saying that modern medicine does not have its place in our modern society. Although, it is well noted in the medical and scientific community that the placebo is effective much more than 50% of the time in any given situation. We have a medical system that is best used if you have a broken bone or fracture of sort. The problem is that many people are using the medical system to help them with anxiety, depression, or dietary issues without using meditation first. Then subsequently they become addicted to some pill that once they stop using will give them the same side effects of what the problem was to begin with, but “on steroids”. No bueno.

It all begins on Feb. 20, 2023.

I am going to begin having what I will title “Meditation Mondays”. I will have a meditation that we can all participate in to help us all set the week’s intentions. I know it will be a good practice for me, and I though why not have all of my subscribers join in. I have been receiving many emails and requests, so I thought I would go for it.

I began meditating when I was fourteen years old. My high school counselor pulled me out of a study hall class once after noticing repeatedly that I was being harrassed by others in the class. He was a Buddhist, clog wearing, counselor located in a small town in Iowa in the late 70’s. I think to a certain degree we both may have felt out of place. He took me out of the classroom and placed me under his wing telling me that if I would come to his office and learn the art of meditation he could make it that I would not have to go to study hall anymore. I said “Sure!”

Over the years since those meditations I have worked with Buddhist rinpoches, shamans, spiritual and energetic healers, as well as, religious ministers of various dogmas. Some of these notable people have been Ram Dass, Eckhart Tolle, John Douglas, Tony Robbins, and Richard Wright, to name a few. Through years and extensive meditative practice I’ve had some amazing and life transforming experiences. I have benefitted from and worked with transcendental meditation, astral travel, remote viewing and other meditative practices that have become part of my ongoing life process. My training in Reiki and other shamanic energy work has helped some with healing and addressing their health issues to which I have conducted a handful of seminars in Joshua Tree, CA. Through some of these experiences I have walked across burning coals in my bare feet, as well as, stopped breathing for nearly twenty minutes while deep inside a guided trance meditation. During which time the shaman was feeding me what is called prana.

I am looking forward to begin bringing some of this learning forward and having it become a larger part of my daily practice again. I will begin to launch these sessions, in a podcast form, on Feb. 20, 2023.

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