10 Key Questions to Ask on Earth in 2021

My current models of C-19, our global situation, reality/God, & individual/civilizational development

In my recent posts—Non-Knowing, Humility, & the Middle Way and The Danger of Dark Rabbit Holes—I spoke to several layers of bubbles that freshly ‘popped’ for me in recent weeks.

I also expressed the power of non-knowing.

Presently I’m enjoying zooming way out and gazing upon the flickering, omni-dimensional, labyrinthine hyper-object of our total global situation—admiring how totally, totally incomprehensible it is, how utterly far beyond any one human’s grasp.

A map of “the actual political spectrum” I made in 2018 for a post on (political) pragnosticism — this web has been further complicated by C-19 & other factors

This ‘zoom out’ practice is humbling and humorous and helps me take my own maps less seriously.

I notice myself becoming more agnostic about many aspects of our total situation. I now feel a lot less clear on the extent to which a small group of possibly-demonically-possessed psychopaths are furthering an agenda of global control VS the extent to which other factors—multipolar traps/misaligned incentives, incompetence, emergence, fear, unconsciousness, etc.—are more impactful.

10 Key Questions to Illuminate 2021 on Earth

I had the idea to write out and answer some questions I feel are key at this juncture—to check my own pulse on where I now stand, after my recent ‘zoom out’ experience.

Let’s run through ten of these, with the understanding that none of the following models of reality can actually capture or contain reality:

1. Is our individual and collective sovereignty—over our own minds, bodies, money, resources, time, space, attention, cultural capital, data, privacy, natural resources, food, health, art, care for our children, and so forth—already greatly compromised, and is there a likelihood of further erosion if we do not begin to actively and consciously reclaim our power?

Yes, I’d say so. In the 1800s, Emerson wrote, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

In 2021, I’d say it’s a far greater accomplishment. As one example, consider the rise of AI-driven algorithms—AI that is so intelligent/strategic it can beat the world’s greatest chess geniuses at their own game—that are constantly attempting to addict you to social media and sell you stuff you don’t need; this alone is deeply compromising the sovereignty of generations; watch The Social Dilemma for more on this.

The simple truth is that social engineering and mass persuasion via media have advanced tremendously in the past 100 years. Hollywood, the music industry, television, news, social media, marketing, advertising, and so forth, are shaping us in profound ways that are often not in our best interest.

Combine this with other indoctrinations such as those of culture, religion, public education, government, economy, scientism, allopathic medicine, processed food, and so forth, and it adds up to a world in which living the truth of one’s own soul increasingly requires tremendous inner strength and consciousness.

2. Is there a ‘deep state’ centralized nucleus of power on this planet?

I’d say yes. I don’t know to what degree these entities are conspiring together toward a common agenda, but…

Is there a group of billionaires, big (tech) companies, banks, government officials, intelligence agencies, and little-known groups/societies that hold vastly more power to shape civilization than most people?

Yes. I think it would be very hard to argue in good faith that this is not the case. I mean, the lone statistic that the ~2700 billionaires on Earth control more wealth than the 4.6 billion least-wealthy people already powerfully illustrates this.

3. Are there psychopaths and mega-wealthy billionaires attempting to opportunistically capitalize on the C-19 situation to further their own agendas of power, wealth, control, depopulation, and/or the imposition of a techno-totalitarian surveillance state?

Likely yes, there are some who are attempting this. Read my recent book on C-19 and The Truth About COVID-19 by Joseph Mercola and Ronnie Cummins for more on this. Certainly there are powerful people attempting to retain and advance their power, as has always been the case in our lifetimes.

4. Is there a lot of dark shit happening on Earth?

Yes. What I’ve shared above already attests to that. On top of that: Nearly 1 million people, many of them children, are (sex) trafficked each year. 77 billion land animals and 1-2 trillion fish are killed each year, many in inhuman factory farms. War, genocide, slavery, rape, child abuse, and the destruction of the natural environment are all still occurring on (fairly) large scales. Collapse and extinction-level risks are large concerns; even if they’re less likely than some predict, the sheer scale of such risks is so vast that they’re essential to consider.

Of course, there’s plenty of light/wonderful stuff going on too. We live in a time when things are bizarrely utopian-dystopian. There’s tremendous beauty, possibility, and opportunity occurring alongside the more ominous tremors.

And then there’s the level of non-conceptual is-ness that lies beyond both ‘dark’ and ‘light.’ More on that below.

5. What is the C-19 phenomenon?

In my view, above all it seems to be a powerful egregore—a collective thought-form—which, fueled by vast attention and energy and fear, has taken on a disproportionate amount of power in this collective—leading to debilitating stress and fear for hundreds of millions of people.

Like most, my current model also suggests there is a notable biological ‘virus’ component to C-19. I do feel it is wise to be aware of the virus. My best current guess is that the ‘viral spread’ occurs in accordance with what I’ve called ‘energetic terrain theory’: That is, the virus (a piece of genetic code) triggers a purgative/cleansing process within organisms that are already ill and/or stressed/afraid/traumatized (at the level of energy/consciousness). The purgative process is actually the body intelligently attempting a meaningful/beneficial reset (like virtually all illness), though if this process becomes sufficiently intense, it can be fatal.

‘Energetic terrain theory’—which I articulate in more depth in my recent book on C-19—synthesizes and expands upon some of the ideas of German New Medicine and terrain theory—which Charles Eisenstein says the following about:

“There is an alternative to the germ theory of disease that holds germs to be part of a larger process. When conditions are right, they multiply in the body, sometimes killing the host, but also, potentially, improving the conditions that accommodated them to begin with, for example by cleaning out accumulated toxic debris via mucus discharge, or (metaphorically speaking) burning them up with fever. Sometimes called ‘terrain theory,’ it says that germs are more symptom than cause of disease. As one meme explains it: ‘Your fish is sick. Germ theory: isolate the fish. Terrain theory: clean the tank.’”

‘Energetic terrain theory’ implies that the best long-term strategy to build anti-fragile health is to take good, holistic care of your psycho-spiritual-emotional-physical health. To begin understanding how to do this, I can recommend Tao Lin’s incredible new novel, Leave Society, as well as the work of Jiro Taylor and Kelly Brogan. Also, these 11 books + these resources:

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Resources/paths that come to mind: 1) Jordan Peterson 2) Jungian psychology 3) Internal Family Systems 4) Shadow work 5) Working with a skilled therapist or coach 6) Self-actualizing before self-transcending 7) Holistic health habits 8) Self-authoring 9) Conscious partnership

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4/ Books that may help: 1) King, Warrior, Magician, Lover by Bly 2) Iron John by Bly 3) 12 Rules for Life by JBP 4) Hero With a Thousand Faces by Campbell 5) Internal Family Systems Therapy by Schwartz 6) Own Your Self by Kelly Brogan 7) The More Beautiful World by Eisenstein

6. Is it a good idea to get the C-19 vaccine?

I think this varies from person to person. I encourage individuals to trust their own guidance, intuition, research, and reasoning. As I’ve written previously, the mRNA injection seems to help diminish C-19 severity short-term, yet it is not without risks.

One of the inventors of the mRNA vaccine has a nuanced opinion on the matter that I recommend checking out. Similar to him, I feel the vaccine may make more sense for elderly and C-19-vulnerable people, and not so much sense for children and young, healthy individuals—who are unlikely to have a severe case of C-19. Above all: Trust yourself and your body.

7. Are the regulations and restrictions around C-19 becoming increasingly tyrannical—a slippery slope to a dark place?

This is somewhat of a value judgment. For me, the answer is yes. Something in me instinctively recoils at the use of violence/coercion to force people en masse to inject/mask/isolate/be surveilled/distance/etc.—hard to imagine this changing for me.

Bodily sovereignty and freedom of movement/privacy just feel utterly fundamental to me. I understand others feel differently. I would rather live fully and die when I die than live in a surveilled, locked-down, bodily-sovereignty-sacrificing safety bubble that governments tell me is intended to extend my life as long as possible. I’m totally okay with others choosing the safety bubble, but the right to opt out of it feels like a non-negotiable.

8. Is it wiser to fight the old or Be Free Now & be/vision/create the New?

The latter. To be free now is most powerful and fundamental—i.e. to realize the level at which you are always, already free. This is the level of is-ness (and that which is even subtler than is-ness), discovered through what has variously been deemed gnosis, illumination, liberation, awakening, or enlightenment. This freedom is most fundamental to realize because it is always with you, independent of circumstance, and no one can take it away.

Furthermore, it is wiser to be/vision/create the New, rather than fighting the old. Attempting to fight or change or convince those defending the legacy paradigms will only further entrench them in their ways. “What we resist, persists.” More effective is to be free now, radiate the universal love/freedom of unity/is-ness, and vision/create new possibilities from that frequency of unity/is-ness—new possibilities that can act as activating beacons signifying an adjacent beautiful reality one can step into.

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

― Buckminster Fuller

The frequency of the New is not likely to generate a total departure from the ‘old’—at least not at first. There’s much that our ancestors have done excellently. The loving frequency of unity/is-ness is more likely to generate a higher synthesis that extracts the best of the legacy paradigms and syntropically synergizes it with ancient/indigenous/shamanic wisdom, regenerative/permacultural approaches, holistic health understandings, wiser communication approaches, sacred economics / regenerative cryptocurrency, new-paradigm birthing/parenting/educating/relating approaches, decentralized/open-source governance/organizational models, omni-compassion, non-dual self-realization, “ethical cult-building,” learnings from experimental New Earth hubs/projects/communities, new ways to own data/cultural capital / NFTs, other Spiral-Dynamics-stage-yellow/turquoise-level ideas, wiser sensemaking systems that increase sovereignty, and so forth.

9. Is there a level where all is peace?

Yes, in my experience there is. Through meditation, conviction, wise entheogenic use, non-knowing, non-conceptual presence/is-ness, and/or non-dual inquiry, one can be initiated into gnosis and can come to discover the pure spacious freedom that underlies all phenomena. “God” is another word for this mysterious, intelligent, spacious peace—the unifying substratum of all that is.

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6/ None can say. It is the un-pin-down-able, divine, mysterious play—"Lila," as the ancients said. If, for even a moment, you can drop *all* concepts—forget everything you think you know—there it is. The perfection.

10. Is every statement on some level true, on some level false, and on another level totally insufficient?

Yes, I feel. Every statement is in some sense true, in some sense false, and in some sense utterly insufficient, as no linguistic-conceptual statement can contain reality. The dualistic, conceptual apparatus implied by a true-or-false framework is totally insufficient to contain reality. Reality transcends all attempts to pin it down; thus reality itself cannot be found in the words in this post, or in any words (apart from the is-ness that fundamentally underlies the phenomenal experience of the words).

In Sum

Right-o, this has been a fascinating and useful exercise.

It is interesting to note how one can notice the insufficiency of all maps and models, and yet still see the value in creating and refining maps and models that seem to one to be increasingly accurate, beautiful, life-giving, and useful. This is the integration of the path of knowledge and the path of Tao.

Maps and models are ideally held as lightly as possible, in my view, to help one wisely remember their total insufficiency. I find that it is key to continually drop back and immerse oneself in non-knowing, in order to really viscerally feel the inadequacy of all maps.

It was valuable for me to write out my answers to these questions to get a sense for my own current models.

Again, far more fundamental than any model, for me, is the direct experience of Being / God / Tao / Source — which can be noticed via what Terence McKenna called “the felt presence of immediate experience.” In my view, God / Brahman / Nameless Infinity is actually all that we are ever experiencing, though most people are not presently aware of this.

Non-conceptual engagement with experience is a portal to a deeper seeing/feeling of the indefinable being-ness/is-ness that underlies all of Life. This being-ness is called ‘sat-cit-ananda’—being-consciousness-bliss—in ancient Vedic philosophy.

This being-ness is changeless, deathless, and untouched by the apparent events of this world.

Thus, to discover this being-ness and to know this being-ness as one’s own essence, is the most powerfully transformational experience for a human being.

It brings a level of peace, trust, and fearlessness that cannot otherwise be attained.

Simply elevating your conviction that Being is God is the One Life is Perfection can also be immensely valuable. Faith is your greatest ally in life.

I’ll be writing more on the process of noticing Being / Tao for yourself in the coming times.

I hope this has been a valuable read for you. There are a lot of breadcrumbs here leading in many directions. At the risk of being too prescriptive, if I were to distill it all down to twenty-three words:

The key to existence is: Trust Life. Be free now. Be who you are. Be sovereign. Be healthy. Radiate universal love. You’re beautiful.

Love,
JB

P.S. I’m excited to share that I’m developing a new 8-week group journey & men’s circle called The Sovereign Man — for brothers who feel called to become closer to God and show up as the honorable, grounded, courageous, loving, clear-eyed men our world is asking for.

The medicine of the men’s circle has been profound for me, and I feel passionate about sharing it. My current intention is to begin on 11/11/21 and go till 1/11/22. If you feel called to be one of the ~22 brothers undertaking this rite of passage, reply and let me know.

——

Jordan Bates is father of Lila, husband of Tanja, brother of Anna, son of Connie and Dan, and friend of all. He’s a synthesizer of paths, transformational mentor, writer, rapper, trickster, lover of Tao, and founder of Ouroboros. Find him on social media and view his latest books/albums/offerings here.