“there is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

Four Hindrances to Happiness

I am going to review some forms of ignorance making life more difficult for us:

Material ignorance: you perceive the world with its objects and problems as solid and immutable.
Solution: understand that in reality you are the only thing real, and it is the rest of the world that moves around and mutates like a whirlpool.

Spiritual ignorance: you don’t know who you are, you prefer others to tell you, or even copy other people. Lack of inspiration.
Solution: look for that part inside you that has not changed since you were born. Start doing what you wanted to do when you were a kid.

Technical ignorance: not listening to others, not knowing how to be silent, not being able to learn.
Solution: spend time every day not to make any judgment or assessment of the past or the future. Learn new things.

Emotional ignorance: you let yourself be dragged by emotions, and in doing so you become them.
Solution: observe and dissociate yourself from thoughts and emotions, with the certainty that they are part of something that comes and goes.

All ignorance is rooted in a single ignorance: not being in the here – now.

 

The Gateway Experience: Brain Hemisphere Synchronization in perspective

1. Introduction. In order to describe the Monroe Institute technique for achieving altered states of consciousness(the “Gateway Experience”)
involving brain hemisphere synchronization or “Hemi-sync”, the most effective way to begin is to briefly profile the basic mechanics which underlay operation of related methods such as hypnosis, transcendental meditation, and biofeedback.

It is easiest to effectively describe what Gateway is by beginning with a short description of those associated techniques that share some common aspects with the Gateway Experience but which are nevertheless different.

In this way we can develop a frame of reference at the outset which will provide useful concepts to explain and understand Gateway by comparison, as we proceed.

2. Hypnosis. According to the theories of psychologist Ronald Stone and the biomedical engineering models of Itshak Bentov, hypnosis is basically a technique which permits acquisition of direct access to the sensory motor cortex and pleasure centers, and lower cerebral(emotional) portions (and associated pleasure Centers) of the right side of the human brain, following successful disengagement of the stimulus screening function of the left hemisphere of the brain.

The left hemisphere of the brain is the self-cognitive, verbal and linear
reasoning component of the mind. It fulfills the function of screening incoming stimuli by categorizing, assessing and assigning meaning
prior to allowing passage to the right hemisphere of the mind.

The right hemisphere, which functions as the noncritical, holistic, nonverbal
and pattern-oriented component of the brain appears to accept what the left hemisphere passes to it without question.

Consequently, if the left hemisphere can be distracted either through boredom or through reduction to a soporific, semi-sleep state, external stimuli to include hypnotic suggestions are allowed to pass unchallenged into the right hemisphere where they are accepted and acted upon directly.

The result may involve an emotional reaction originating in the lower cerebral region, sensory/motor responses requiring involvement of the
cortex, and so on.

Both the sensory and the motor cortices of the right cerebral portion of the brain contain a sequence of points known as the “homunculus” which corresponds to points in the body (see Exhibit 1, next page).

Stimulation of the corresponding area on the cortex causes intermediate response in the associated portion of the body. Consequently, induction of the suggestion that the left leg is numb, if it reaches the right hemisphere unchallenged and is referred to the appropriate area of the sensory cortex, will result in an electrical reaction being generated that will induce the feeling of numbness.

Similarly, the suggestion that the person is experiencing a general feeling of
happiness and well-being would be referred to the appropriate pleasure centers located in the lower cerebral portion or in the cortex of the
right hemisphere, thereby inducing the suggested feeling of euphoria.

Finally, suggestions such as one that informs the hypnotic subject that he enjoys enhanced concentration or powers of memory would be responded to in the right hemisphere by accessing unused information storage capacity normally held in reserve as a result of left hemisphere selection and control processes.

This aspect will become significant in the context of the Gateway process when attention is given to examining the way that hypnosis may be used to
accelerate progress in the early stages of the Gateway Experience.

3. Transcendental Meditation. On the other hand, transcendental meditation works in a distinctly different fashion. In this technique, intense
and protracted single-minded concentration on the process of drawing energy up the spinal cord ultimately results in what appears to be creation of acoustical standing waves in the cerebral ventricles which are then conducted to the gray matter in the cerebral cortex on the right side of the brain.

As a result, according to Bentov, these waves “will stimulate and eventually ‘polarize’ the cortex in such a way that it will tend to conduct a signal along the homunculus, starting from the toes and on up.”

The Bentov bio-medical model, as described in a book by Lee Sannella, M.D., entitled: Kundalini-Psychosis or Transcendence, states that the standing acoustical waves are the result of the altered rhythm of heart sounds which are occasioned by prolonged practice of meditation, and which set up sympathetic vibrations in the walls of the fluid filled cavities which comprise the third and
lateral ventricles of the brain.

In addition, according to Bentov: “The states of bliss described by those whose Kundalini symptoms have  completed the full loop along the hemispheres may be explained as a self-stimulation of the pleasure centers in the brain caused by the circulation of a ‘current’ along the sensory cortex.”

Bentov also notes, “that most of the described symptoms start on the  left side of the body means that it is mostly a development occurring in the right hemisphere.”

Although normally a period of meditation  involving intense concentration and practice for five years or some is required to “bring up the Kundalini,” Bentov states that exposure to  mechanical or acoustical vibrations in the range of 4-7 Hertz (cycles per second) for protracted periods may achieve the same effect.

Bentov cites as an example “repeated riding in a car whose suspension and seat combination produce that range of vibrations,_or being exposed for
long periods of time to these frequencies caused, for instance, by an air conditioning duct.”

He also notes that: “The cumulative effect of these vibrations may be able
to trigger a spontaneous physio-Kundalini sequence in susceptible people who have a particularly sensitive nervous system.”

Platforms and the Chicken and Egg Problem

The fundamental problem with platforms is that they do not generate value with their first users. They suffer from the ‘chicken-egg’ problem, which they need to solve.

Without users there is no critical mass and without it no transactions are generated. They need to start from a certain degree of complexity in order to start and grow. This is the real barrier to entry they have, and the grave of many startups.

At the same time, they must have a certain openness that allows them to create other ways of generating value (‘applications’) in ways that are not always predictable. That is, they must have some degrees of freedom; enough for some creative chaos to take place inside them.

The case of software is the most typical: Linux, OpenBSD, Android, WebKit, Wikipedia, etc. allow building business models on them making emerge an ecosystem.

It is always better to start from a working business and migrate to a platform than to start from scratch.

Analysis and Assessment: of Gateway Process

Approved For Release 2003/09/10 : CIA-RDP96-00788R00170021 0016-5
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
US ARMY OPERATIONAL. GROUP
US ARMY INTEL.L.IGENCE AND SECURITY COMMAND
FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, MARYL.AND 20755
9 June 1983
SUBJECT: Analysis and Assessment: of Gateway Process
TO: Commander US Army Operational Group Fort Meade, MD 20755

1. You tasked me to provide an assessment of the Gateway Experience in terms of its mechanics and ultimate practicality. As I set out to fulfill that tasking it soon became clear that in order to assess the validity and practicality of the process I needed to do enough supporting research and analysis to fully understand how and why the process works. Frankly, sir, that proved to be an extremely involved and difficult business.


Initially, based on conversations with a physician who took the Gateway training with me, I had recourse to the biomedical models developed by Itzhak Bentov to obtain information concerning the physical aspects of the process. Then I found it necessary to delve into various sources for information concerning quantum mechanics in order to be able to describe the nature and functioning of human consciousness.


I had to be able to construct a scientifically valid and reasonably lucid model of how consciousness functions under the influence of the brain hemisphere synchronization technique employed by Gateway. Once this was done, the next step involved recourse to theoretical physics in order to explain the character of the time-space dimension and the means by which expanded human consciousness transcends it in achieving Gateway’s objectives.

Finally I again found it necessary to use physics to bring the whole phenomenon of out-of-body states into the language of physical science to remove the stigma of its occult connotations, and put it in a frame of reference suited to objective assessment.

2. I began the narrative by briefly profiling the fundamental biomedical factors affecting such related techniques as hypnosis, biofeedback and transcendental meditation so that their objectives and mode of functioning could be compared in the reader’s mind with the Gateway experience as the model of its underlying mechanics was developed. Additionally, that introductory material is useful in supporting the conclusions of the paper. I indicate that at times these related techniques may provide useful entry points to accelerate movement into the
Gateway experience.


3. Niels Bohr, the renowned physicist once responded to his son’s complaints about the obtuse nature of certain concepts in physics by saying: “You are not thinking, you are merely being logical.”

The physics of altered human consciousness deals with some conceptualizations that are not easily grasped or visualized exclusively in the context of ordinary “left brain” linear thinking. So, to borrow Dr. Bohr’s mode of expression, parts of this paper will require not only logic but a touch of right brain intuitive insight to achieve a complete comfortable grasp of the concepts involved. Nevertheless, once that is done, I am confident that their construction and application will stand up to the test of rational critique.


1. Paradoxically, having gone to such great lengths to avoid trying to render judgements based on an occult or dogmatic frame of reference in the end I found it necessary to return, at least briefly, to the question of the impact of the Gateway Experience on common belief systems. I did so because although it was essential to avoid attempting to render an assessment in the context of such systems, I felt that it was necessary after having completed the analysis to point out that the resulting conclusions do not do any violence to the fundamental mainstream of either eastern or western belief systems. Unless that point is clearly established, the danger exists that some people will reject the whole concept of the Gateway Experience in the mistaken belief that it contradicts and is therefore alien to all that they hold to be right and true.


2. This study is certainly not designed to be the last word on the subject, but I hope that the validity of its basic structure and of the fundamental concepts upon which it is based will make it a useful guide for other USAINSCOM personnel who are required to take the Gateway training or work with Gateway materials.

From Mechanical to Organical Business Models

Most businesses and startups are designed following the traditional mechanistic thinking of the last two centuries. This approach assumes that the business works as a mechanism in which one piece engages after the other: from customer acquisition to profit. The problem: this has been obsolete for years.

The change is there for all to see. Nothing that does not work as a network can grow beyond a certain size. And that size threshold is getting lower and lower because big players like Amazon or Google are already imposing their dynamics on society.

Almost all large corporations have this obsolete “mechanical” structure. But they survive thanks to legal and financial privileges that parasitize the rest of society. These privileges are also doomed to disappear.

Exchanging your Time for Money is a Loser Bet

In a world of increasing competition and decreasing returns, for most business owners investing time and money in personally running the machine is a guarantee of long-term ruin.

Professionals are the most exposed, but so are other types of businesses. All of them invest their most limited resources: time and capital in exchange for getting some money in each transaction.

Capturing Value, Converting it to Capital

The alternative is to invest part of that effort in creating capital, in the form of a technological platform. Only with technology can you capture and retain a part of the value you generate for yourself, instead of having your client take everything.

Limited resources must be invested in technology that allows for three things: generating value for participants, scaling in the network, and turning transactions into money.

The Challenge: How to Become a Network

I know, designing platforms and aligning incentives is a big challenge. But so is the amount of change we are going through.

Get help in the form of a little consulting advisory, or partner with other players in your same industry, including competitors. Their main problem is the same as yours: how not to be devoured by a system that has mutated into a network.

Gateway and Hemi-Sync

Now that we have briefly profiled the basic mechanics of the principal techniques for altering or expanding consciousness which share some of the objectives and/or methods employed in the Gateway Experience, we may proceed to focus on what that technique actually involves.

Fundamentally, the Gateway Experience is a training system designed to bring enhanced strength, focus and coherence to the amplitude and frequency of brainwave output between the left and right hemispheres so as to alter consciousness, moving it outside the physical sphere so as to ultimately escape even the restrictions of time and space.

The participant then gains access to the various levels of intuitive knowledge which the universe offers. What differentiates the Gateway Experience from forms of meditation is its use of the Hemi-Sync technique which is defined in a monograph by Monroe Institute trainer Melissa Jager as, “a state of consciousness defined when the EEG patterns of both hemispheres are simultaneously equal in amplitude and frequency.”

Although Hemi-Sync seems to be rather rare and of only short duration in ordinary human consciousness, Melissa Jager states that: “Audio techniques developed by Bob Monroe can induce and sustain Hemi-sync with the Institute’s basic Focus 3 tapes, ••• ” She also notes that: “Studies conducted by Elmer and Alyce Greene at the Menninger Foundation have shown that a subject with 20 years of training in Zen meditation could consistently establish Hemi-Sync at will, sustaining it for over 15 minutes.”

Dr. stuart Twemlow, a psychiatrist and a research associate of the Monroe Institute, reports that: “In our studies of the effect of the Monroe tape system on brainwaves, we have found that the tapes encourage the focusing of brain energy (it can be measured as with a lightbulb, in watts) into a narrower and narrower ‘frequency band’.

This focusing of energy is not unlike the yoga concept of one pointedness, which we may translate in western terms as a single-mindedness.” Dr. Twemlow goes on to observe that as the individual gets into the tapes beyond Focus 3, ” … there is a gradual increase in brainwave size which is a measure of brain energy or power.”

The basic plan for the Federal Reserve System

The basic plan for the Federal Reserve System was drafted at a secret meeting held in November of 1910 at the private resort of J.P. Morgan on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia. Those who attended represented the great financial institutions of Wall Street and, indirectly, Europe as well.

The reason for secrecy was simple. Had it been known that rival factions of the banking community had joined together, the public would have been alerted to the possibility that the bankers were plotting an agreement in restraint of trade—which, of course, is exactly what they were doing.

What emerged was a cartel agreement with five objectives: stop the growing competition from the nation’s newer banks; obtain a franchise to create money out of nothing for the purpose of lending; get control of the reserves of all banks so that the more reckless ones would not be exposed to currency drains and bank runs; get the taxpayer to pick up the cartel’s inevitable losses; and convince Congress that the purpose was to protect the public.

It was realized that the bankers would have to become partners with the politicians and that the structure of the cartel would have to be a central bank.

(from “The Creature from Jekyll Island”)

Fiat Money and the Post-Covid Economy

Investors have stopped considering the value ‘utility’ and are moving to the value ‘store’. They buy apartments -like in China- to “save” money, not to foster research or innovation.

The same goes for many other products: people are thinking more and more about the resale value of things, and less about their utility value.

This is a consequence of the abundance of fiat money at 0%. There is no good deposit of value, and everything becomes a deposit.

Fiat money encourages this behavior. Who wants to risk 100% of an investment to get 5% return, when you can get 200% return by selling the “ticket” to the next person who comes in to play?.

That’s how bubbles are formed, and that’s how it was formed the gigantic Ponzi scheme we are all trapped in.

The intention of the central banks is to create a new electronic currency -also fiat- for the post-Covid economy: the CBDCs (central bank digital currencies).

With it, and once countries, societies, and natural resources have been plundered, the parasitic class is preparing the next bubble. It is called space exploration.

A Bright Future

They say you don’t hear the shot that kills you. Because the bullet travels faster than the sound of the shot. You can be dead before the sound arrives.

Which is what is happening now – deadly events are coming at such a pace, and from such strange directions, that we are dying as a society without a clue as to what hit us.

But all crisis are opportunities to improve. I am sure that when all this is behind us, and the necessary reckoning is done, each of us, and all society will be much more prosperous and free.

Platforms are not About Technology

Are you an entrepreneur? If you don’t have your own platform on the Internet, you tend to become a commodity. In the future, the most successful businesses will be platforms.

The value of a platform is neither in the technology or in the user growth rate. The value is in the community on top of it. In the activity that exists on the network of users, and their interactions.

Nobody should be in the business of “making software”. This is about enabling interactions among people, and among machines.

Are you able to bring together like minds to help people socialize and support each other in a differentiated and relevant way? That’s what people are looking for, and that’s one of the best ways to make the new products.

Technology is the real commodity. The platform problem is essentially an innovation and a marketing problem.

SQL vs Blockchain Databases

The problem of structuring data for unknown future uses was solved in the 70s and it’s called relational algebra.

It stores data in a way that is right, that prevents many types of errors based on the actual data and relationships between the real world objects the data describes.

It’s a way of storing data that works no matter how toy want to query it in the future. Data structured with relational algebra is accessed using a language called SQL.

A Blockchain database is the optimal technology to validate and register transactions safely, or any other time-dependent variable. But data recovering and analysis will still need to be run with SQL.

Reporting, Bureaucracy and Misdiagnosis

In an interconnected world, the traditional way of analyzing reality based on cause-effect relationships is obsolete. The economy depends on the propagation of information, and this in turn depends on technology. And technology in turn depends on economic and social conditions.

People do not make economic decisions rationally. What used to be “the economy” is now a complex system composed of millions of players who interact with each other, and respond to informational stimuli that occur in real time.

The dynamics of registration and reporting of the system (eg time to register mortgages, collect information, surveys, etc.) generates very partial information, which when published is already obsolete, and causes misdiagnosis.

On top of all this, there is a growing political and civil service bureaucracy dedicated to recording, controlling and implementing ideologized corrective measures, which are always based on an incorrect diagnosis of the situation and on obsolete models of how the world works.

Ultra-fast recording and automated systems are needed, which do not depend on bureaucracy or human decisions. Systems based on technologies such as Blockchain, where transactions, communications, and reporting are basically the same thing.

From “Product Marketing” to “You Marketing”

Most marketing boards insist on ‘problem-solving’ as the main approach to gain customers. But solving immediate needs is only an intermediate step. It is important to go further. What we all seek (even unconsciously) are deeper motivations and concepts.

Lets review some marketing strategies:

– Mediocre marketing focuses on the product or the seller.
– Traditional marketing focuses on the benefits, and puts them ahead of the specifications.
– Brilliant marketing revolves around the human condition: your desires and aspirations.

When you know how to connect to people by appealing to those desires magic happens. I’m talking about feeling better, having more time, creating a family, having more fun, falling in love, feeling in control of your life, etc.

None of these concepts are specific companies or products. They are fundamental human aspirations. But they are crushed by the materialistic and shortermistic culture in which we live.

85% of one´s success in life is directly due to communication skills. Big winners know there´s a 3 letter word more potent than “SEX”, and its “YOU”. Make it always about them.

Are Programmers going to be Replaced?

Programming is like dancing: everyone can do it, but very few do it so well that they get money in return.

However, writing the code is only part of solving the problem. In fact, it’s not the most important, because different languages can solve the same problem. The key is knowing how to pose the problem: build the model that reproduces and automates something real.

For example, fifth generation languages (5GL) are purely declarative: they express what needs to be done. Then the machine sets the how, and does it. To use them you need to be clearer about WHAT to do than about HOW it should be done.

Application development’ is a field that will be increasingly automated. And the programming of ‘real programmers’ will become the creative germ of everything, as it happens with cars which are first made in clay.

The Hacking Philosophy

The hacking idea is intrinsic to any complex system. You discover the mechanics that make it to work, and then you can see it from the inside and manipulate it at your convenience. It’s not just about coding and programming. It is a universal concept.

People tend to use insecure systems, or secure systems they don’t know how to use. This creates opportunities and vulnerabilities everywhere.

Besides, it’s much easier to hack people than computers: people have volatile emotions that make them paranoid and vulnerable. Specially when they know they belong to something dark and unfair.

That said, almost all IT security these days is “cheaper than possible” because the people in charge are not able to do risk management. Until there are “reference catastrophes” of sufficient magnitude they will mistakenly believe they are safe and do nothing.

Then they will find out that decades of mismanagement are not easy to fix. It’s always the same story, it’s utterly stupid because nobody listens to the experts.

Anything that can be hacked should be hacked, before the bad ones do it. Until then, we will just blame blame terrorists or “traitors”, a very old strategy that works regularly.