We find ourselves in a world of potential abundance, but even this can’t fill the deep hole that we often feel, individually and collectively.
The dream from the Old World has come to the end and we are desperate for a paradigm shift.
The extremes all around us exemplify the lengths that we'll resort to in order to feel whole. We need a revolution, a different kind of revolution, and we need it Now.
The Promethean Revolution is the flowering of Human Consciousness.
It’s the only real revolution. All others were prologue. This revolution has endured inside us.
It’s an unfolding process that has been occurring for years, decades, centuries, and millennia.
It’s as old as life itself. An intrinsic aspect of our DNA from the beginning, that’s crashed through endless barriers, and is the driving force of our evolution.
This revolution goes to the heart of what it means to exist, to be alive, and to be conscious. It’s embedded in the energetic fabric of the cosmos.
A universe whose only purpose is to wake up to itself, to realize what it is, to self-actualize.
You are that universe, just like everything else. We are an ever evolving process on a trajectory of awakening, and when we arrive, we'll begin again and know this place for the first time.
It’s not just a dream, its real, and it’s coming into being before our eyes.
This revolution is not based on an ideological or materialist foundation like before, but is a profound and lasting experience that’s centered in our own body.
It’s a holistic understanding of our very being right now.
Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity, forever lighting the path out of the dark night of our caves.
The champion of mankind initiated the Promethean Revolution for the Greeks and its finding new life today. Exploring the ocean of consciousness has finally reached a critical mass.
We are now positioned to transform our individual and global consciousness from a survival mentality to one of Thriving.
Ecstasis is the term given to an array of states of consciousness by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal in their book "Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy Seals, and Maverick Scientists are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work."
They begin with a look back at the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were a nine day event in ancient Athens that used numerous techniques to dissolve standard frames of reference in order to explore consciousness, discover reality, and evoke profound meaning.
It included everything from sensory deprivation to sensory overload, anything that would lead to catharsis and rebirth.
A lifetime event and Rite of Passage for people across the Mediterranean for more than Two Thousand years.
The event occurred in a confined space underground, among peers, using music, dance, psychedelics, storytelling, and physical exertion, among other techniques.
It ended with the Roman conquest and subsequent conversion to Christianity.
Thus the techniques went underground or were appropriated and distorted for another two thousand years. Only to be rekindled by events like Burning Man in the Twenty-First Century, one of the few rites of passage that have emerged within our overly controlled society.
Ecstasis is the modern form of stepping beyond oneself, what the authors call Non-Ordinary States.
Exploring the Spectrum of Consciousness allows us to experience a richer and more expansive reality than we do through our narrow lens of everyday reality.
The forms range from dramatic to barely perceptible, from short lived to lasting.
They include contemplative, mystical, psychedelic and flow states. Together they can result in profound realizations, enhanced personal performance, and life transformations, despite the different techniques and applications used.
These experiences can also be instrumental in helping us to solve our many global challenges.
The content of the experience varies, but the authors discovered that Selflessness, Timelessness, Effortlessness, and Richness (STER) are the common elements among each of the disparate traditions that that looked at.
These states breathe new life into our minds and bodies, and help us to feel alive and invigorated again.
Such states have been experienced before through traditional methods found in athletics, the arts, religion, spirituality, and elsewhere but they often remained isolated there and bound within dogma.
And traditional practitioners have rarely realized their shared experiences with other disciplines. But with modern science as our guide and neuro-chemistry as our lens, we can unite these traditions under one umbrella, and realize the broader implications.
Non-Ordinary States have many applications because collectively we are desperate to get out of our heads. Our ordinary lives are often mundane and unfulfilling.
This is an important point because existence, life, and human consciousness are all extremely profound but our collective minds turn these miracles into another banality.
And we must depart this dark chasm in order to move beyond simple survival. Humanity yearns for Ecstasis, and we lack satisfactory channels for alleviating that primordial thirst.
This deficit presents an opportunity, what the authors call the Four Trillion dollar Altered States Economy. Because that's what we're collectively spending our money on trying to get out of our minds.
And we're having little meaningful success despite our enormous craving. It matters because individually and collectively we are being pushed too far in the wrong direction.
And we need relief. We are yearning for a change that is meaningful and lasting.
Let’s take a look at what STER looks like to get a deeper sense of its significance. Selflessness is the sense of peace we feel when we get out of our own heads.
Where we can see the larger perspective that leads to a sense of Unity. Timelessness is stepping outside of the need to constantly do and achieve what society tells us is imperative.
Keeping us in a constant state of doing, and rarely being. We can only enter the present by going beyond time, the place outside of our routine schedules.
Effortlessness is the wonderful feeling of doing something that you love with ease where otherwise it would be unbearably difficult. Richness is the embodiment of feeling Alive and Present, where Life is Vivid and Significant.
Together they alter our brain chemistry and brain frequencies from a slow, narrow, linear, and analytical consciousness that is limited in capacity, to a broader conscious bandwidth that can take in orders of magnitudes more information.
Where we move from being overloaded by multitasking, to spontaneously experiencing the full spectrum. And from this elevated perspective we can learn, create, connect, and achieve higher level functioning.
We are in the midst of substantial obstacles, what they call Wicked Problems, which require substantial solutions developed by highly creative, skillful and productive groups of people who are able to think outside the box. Exactly what this revolution addresses.
So why hasn’t it taken flight thus far, what's been the hang up? The authors contend that it’s been subverted, corrupted and overlooked for so long largely because of what they call the Three Pales; The Pale of Religion, the Body, and the State.
The Pale of Religion has blinded our vision from the beginning and especially since its widespread adoption over two thousand years ago.
With the end of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Abrahamic Religions and even the Eastern traditions to some extent have had a particularly strenuous hold on human consciousness until recently.
This coincides with the Pale of the Body. We have long feared, rejected, and misunderstood our own bodies.
We are ashamed of its natural processes and often feel embarrassed by them, whether it is mental, emotional, or physical.
The nude body for example is the most natural thing of all, and has been outlawed nearly everywhere in public. Shame and Embarrassment are two of the strongest emotions that have been systematically used to control, manipulate, and exploit human behavior.
In addition, we haven't fully understood the complex biological processes of the body.
We are only now learning about the neurochemical mechanisms of the brain and body.
We're beginning to apply ancient consciousness extending techniques to the body with scientific precision, through movement, music and sound, food and aromas, nutrition from plants, herbs, and supplements, meditation practices, sensory deprivation, and sensory overload.
We are learning to truly be at peace with our minds and enjoy life by employing the body's full potential.
Each of these tools and techniques has unique attributes that can be combined in different ways for maximum effect.
For example, Meditation is a valuable tool that doesn’t have to remain solely in traditional forms.
It can be accompanied by music, aroma, herbs, food, or the use of tobacco or cannabis, to mention a only a few. It’s essential to know what the essence of the technique is so that the appropriate context can be created.
Meditation is like taking a row boat across the ocean. It’s a gentle, slow, long term, and mindful practice.
This is in contrast to psychedelics which are like taking a jet airplane across the ocean, where you can quickly see the extensive variations of consciousness and compare them.
The Pale of the State is the last barrier discussed. The modern state is relatively new, having existed globally for less than a hundred years.
Before this the earth consisted largely of empires and kingdoms, controlled by aristocracies and dominant hierarchies.
But even as democracies emerged the tradition of subverting human freedom and inclusion has continued.
As evidenced by the founding of the first so-called modern democracy, the United States, which only allowed white, male, land owners to vote. To say nothing of the widespread subjugation of people's rights afterwards.
This tradition of prohibiting groups or behaviors that challenge the corrupt status quo has endured to the present, despite the efforts of reformers exemplified in the Counter Culture.
This is part of the everlasting struggle between generations and part of the Long Culture War.
Until recently, these Pales have systematically stunted and subverted human consciousness and the Promethean Revolution.
The Revolution of Ecstasis has proliferated recently due to key industries that are contributing scientific understanding to Non-Ordinary States including Psychology, Neurobiology, Pharmacology, and Technology.
The authors tell a history of a new psychology through the lens of the human potential movement, the sexual revolution, and the use of altered states to cure trauma and affect lifelong development.
What's been discovered is that under the right conditions "altered states can lead to altered traits," from self-discovery to self-development.
With neurobiology we're beginning to better understand the structural elements of Consciousness itself.
Consciousness is no longer viewed through the simplistic lens of an isolated ego-centric self, but rather a complex process that involves the whole body and the whole spectrum of consciousness, which includes the breadth of biochemistry and even the power of intention.
Our consciousness is constantly changing, moment by moment, hourly, daily, yearly, etc.
And historically we've been able to affect it in only meager ways. We've essentially been stumbling around in the dark.
In large part we are a series of automatic programs and have therefore been susceptible to manipulation by others, and mediated by arcane dogma that has been weighed down by historical tradition.
But now we can reprogram ourselves using scientific understanding, what the authors describe as moving from an Operating System to a User Interface, where we can upgrade our own software.
What we've learned is that rather than meditating for thirty years in Tibet with the hope of a glimpse of the broader reality, these states can be reproduced at will with the right techniques and tools.
Pharmacology allows us to use our biochemistry in tailor made ways. Intoxication is just one form of this, but a particularly potent one.
It’s unfortunate that the gatekeepers of society have largely treated this area as a frivolous activity, even though everyone in it willingly engages in the activity in one form or another. This view largely remains as a mechanism for control more than anything else.
In reality, it appears that Intoxication is a natural part of human functioning, perhaps even a core aspect, a primary motivation akin to food, water, and sex. And humans aren't alone, in fact intoxication is widespread throughout the animal kingdom.
It’s been documented in dolphins, horses, and birds to name a few. The critical advancement of pharmacology is the targeted inducement of particular states of consciousness that lead to long lasting cognitive enhancements like de-patterning, lateral thinking, and problem solving capability.
These innovations emerged through the personal and professional pains by courageous researchers like Alexander Shulgin, who despite the consequences, Open-Sourced the information.
Something most people don’t know is that this was also Tim Leary's strategy. He feared that unaccountable authorities would appropriate psychedelics and use them for nefarious purposes.
And of course that’s exactly what happened. From the outset they were weaponized and turned into tools of manipulation.
In the modern era, Technology is making Ecstasis safer and more approachable, using everything from acoustics, to visual art, virtual reality, and physical activity.
Transforming once risky experiences like skydiving into a safe wind tunnel experience for example.
These personal benefits multiply and become a social transformation engine for the collective whole. Giving us more capability and opportunity, and allowing us to be more resilient in the face of obstacles.
This translates into greater innovation and creativity. And this is exactly the kind of exponential increase in problem solving that we need to solve our many wicked problems.
This is exemplified by the Burning Man experience, in which people from all over the world and across the spectrum of interests meet to explore Non-Ordinary States. It’s the ultimate real life sandbox and open world environment.
The greatest dangers to this revolution are manipulation, abuse and coercion by institutions with a vested interest in maintaining dominance over human consciousness.
We have at least ten thousand years of history to draw from. The authors argue that the principal threats come from Militarism and corporate Consumerism.
Where the public is susceptible to fear mongering by unaccountable groups with vast resources that can fund research to manipulate us for their own advantages.
This is an asymmetric battleground in which the wolves have built the henhouse. The main advantage of the Promethean opposition is unfettered access to open-sourced information.
The levers of power now reside in a free and open internet. The fire that Prometheus stole has transformed into electrical signals that instantaneously traverse the earth. The more we share across unconstrained connections, the more we can explore the depth and breadth of reality.
The authors end with a discussion of "known issues" in the Democratization of Ecstasis, and offer some guidelines.
It’s natural to suddenly realize a new and immense capacity in Ecstasis that was previously hidden from sight, and it’s equally natural to get lost there.
However, the mature response is to ground yourself in the realization that everyone is capable of this experience and deserving of the opportunity to discover it.
Exploring the spectrum of consciousness should be done with the right mindset, in the right environments, and with the right intentions.
Each tool has unique Benefits and Limitations, and the effect of the tools range across the entire spectrum.
From relaxed and gentle, to sudden and intense. When exploring the Ocean of Consciousness, one can take a sailboat or a jet plane.
Neither is a panacea, so find what works for you and create your own unique combinations. Following these guidelines will prevent the unfortunate mistakes of the past.
Finally and most importantly, the tools are not the goal. Just like the finger is not the moon. The tools help us to experience the Spectrum of Consciousness and Reality.
The dream of the New World is the flowering of human consciousness. The nightmare is a waste of this potential. The balance hangs by a thread, and what you do matters.
It’s a battle of inches and degrees. The empires of old emerged and disappeared one degree at a time, and this revolution is no different. What is unique is the scale of this profound endeavor.
It’s for the consciousness of a planet that represents the universe. It’s an opportunity for the cosmos to know itself.
NewMediaProductions.org
