The Advance

A fractal image is one that is made up of geometric patterns, all correlating and spiralling mathematically. Infinitely complex, yet based on simple and fundamental laws. It’s the metric that all matter and energy conforms to. All that ever existed.

Its cause and effect, the Fibonacci sequence, no energy is ever destroyed, as above so below. Religions are interpretations of ancient text and wisdom and inflection revealed to us. Things that transcend time and space. The consciousness that we call the universe or god which we use as an interface fits into that pattern of construction the way we do.

Consciousness is quite the matter of discussion. If there’s infinite connectivity, the universe is infinite in size, then knowledge is also infinite. We can’t hold up some kind of tool to measure that. It’s interesting thought, and it requires detaching from reality and disappearing into the void.

Whenever I see someone who has never come back from an acid trip it scares the shit out of me. How deep does the rabbit hole really go? How deep does it go before you forget your way back out? Is the payoff for feeling and understanding at too great a cost?

Mindfulness and meditation are words that are thrown around a lot when it comes to gleaning self knowledge and understanding. Soft concepts reserved for soft people, and other misconceptions. They’re usually associated with natural new age cuddly people. Shaman and monks detached from the world of physical possessions and connections to worldly beings. It isn’t cool to people who have rigid or even just reliable belief systems because as we’ve all seen, there’s a degree of insanity to those who relinquish control of their lives. Taking their eyes off the road, relinquishing control of the vehicle, unclipping their seatbelt and drifting into the path of known hazards.

Control equals comfort. Comfort equals respite. Respite equals relief. Relief equals happiness.

To step back out in to the void for a minute and look at ourselves in the third person, we are this consciousness driving a meat vehicle built from blood and bone navigating a world of death, pain, starvation, torture, cruelty and neglect. Of course this creature feels those connections. It’s wired biologically to react to these things.

Now look at an animal. Any of them. They aren’t pondering the meaning of life, feeling guilt for the animal they just killed or the carpet they shat on. They’re not living with purpose or trying to interpret complex emotional trauma. They’re not worried why all of the animals in the next paddock are being loaded into a truck. They’re just living. It’s their gift.

When I feel the happiest is when I’m distracted from pain and concern. Riding a dirt bike down a country road in top gear, open throttle, standing up on the pegs wearing a t-shirt, shorts and a helmet. I’m not concerned with falling off or hitting a car I didn’t see. I’m free. My brain is releasing dopamine. My endocrine system is releasing adrenaline.

Those systems are wired in place. They’re reactive systems. Stimulating those systems is also how we can get ourselves into a world of shit. Take crime for example. It can feel good to hurt someone. To steal something, or to break something that isn’t yours. Things that clearly have a negative effect on the world around us. Drug addiction is built into us, a drug is being introduced to our system which releases those same drugs of happiness. Porn is no different. Neither are some of the good things we do. Overuse of that system is what causes us to do more, faster and more intense in order to reach that zenith of happiness.

So really, it’s happiness that we’re trying to achieve with the tools that we know work. The tools you’re given and shown all of your life. The tools that you know are killing you one punch, drink, drag, rail, stroke, thrust or sentence at a time. Medicine can be packaged, labelled and sold as poison.

I’m not some monk or advocate of celibacy. I love a shag as much as the next person. I love a drink and a smoke too. I love a plate full of delicious grease. I’m not better than you. I’m just aware and awake to the universe and the connection I have to it. I’m a leaf on the tree the same as you are.

Establishing that connection is how you achieve understanding. Finding understanding comes from interpreting those ancient mathematics. Plugging in, logging on and downloading from the wifi.

So how did I achieve this level of connectivity and understanding?

The advance to contact is a military term. An offensive move to gain or reestablish engagement with the enemy. The enemy is the only true enemy. It’s one that attacks your being. It disrupts your decision making and planning cycle. The enemy is within your head.

In my mind there was a door I needed to breach. One that I couldn’t see or find in the darkness. I didn’t know what was on the other side, but I needed to know why I was so anxious and afraid of change. Paralysed by choice. Addicted to poisons. Self sabotaging and trapped by my own self pity.

Advancing on the enemy requires leaving a position of safety and comfort. Crossing unfamiliar territory and exposing vulnerabilities. Fighting against a potentially larger force. Without doing these things, the enemy gains the initiative. When the enemy gains the initiative, you are fighting the defensive battle you’ve always been locked into. Bait and hook. Bombardment. Ambush. Mutiny and self destruction.

I was shown how to meditate and alter my breathing patterns by a group called The O2 Awakening. It involves opening up to yourself and exposing those vulnerabilities. Confronting traumatising situations and finding reason within them. Deep and real communication with your internal being. That’s what has cured my anxiety. A story I will later tell.

I only want to speak and write about things I’ve experienced. I only want to advocate technology that works. Special forces like the US Navy Seals use breathwork to calm the mind before battle. So does Lebron James. So do the All Blacks. Special Forces operators are not new age cuddly people. They only use techniques that work. The US Department of Defense advocate breathwork and yoga as it has a proven track record of healing and managing PTSD. Science meeting spirituality.

If you want change and understanding, you need to pick yourself up out of the hole you dug, plug forward and take the position you are biologically designed to hold. Our evolution has come about from hundreds of thousands of years of doing this. Failure to is inevitable destruction. Death is certain, life is not.

I want to help you find your door and open it. Cross the void, connect with who you’re meant to be and then pass that knowledge on.

That’s how we can advance. That’s how we can cure. That’s how we can find happiness.