Hi Julian, I'm Micke
An invitation to an open conversation
(Dear reader who isn’t Julian: this is as good as any introduction to who I am, so I’m letting this post double as my introduction.)
I just stumbled across “The Egg and the Rock” and fell down a rabbit hole of posts that made me most excited. I’m pretty sure the universe intended for us to talk, because the way I found your post “I wrote a story for a friend” in the most serendipitous and synchroniciticious way.
I too am on a quest to redefine the universe, in the very same way you are, after psychedelic assisted therapy (Ayahuasca) reconnected me to the universe. I know of that ineffable experience of oneness, when your whole being feels like its glowing with all the love of the universe, when that love sweeps everything that separates us from the universe away.
I know that this experience is meaningless to talk about, it’s like describing a dream one had, or one’s latest orgasm, but there’s a meta-process to it that I’m interested in comparing notes on. It’s been almost six years since these particular events flung me into a new incarnation of myself. Few of the changes were major, but just like the reductionist principle doesn’t work on the universe, it doesn’t work on life. I went into the process as “Head of Innovation” at a PR- and communications agency living in Stockholm, and now I’m a post-conventional hippie-slash-aspiring-author living in the desolate north with my (common law) husband and our two dogs.
I don’t know if you’ve read Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon. It was published in 1936, and it is basically a story of the universe you are trying to describe. I had heard that many authors, including Arthur C Clarke and CS Lewis, both found it influential (even if I believe Lewis found it heretic, since it’s contradicting the Christian doctrine). I have to admit, the first time I read it I stopped when he suddenly started describing stars as conscious. This was back in 2013 maybe, but it stayed with me and in 2015 reread it and finished it.
The idea I’m exploring in my book is “how would an idealistic universe work”? I have not seen you explicitly state that you’re in favor of an idealist universe, rather than a materialist, but I infer from your writing that you do not share the inherent materialist bias of contemporary science. Obviously such an universe would work identically to ours, until we encounter strange physics. I too believe that science has lost sight of the forest because of all the trees, to borrow a Swedish paraphrase. I don’t know if you’ve read “The Master and His Emissary” by Ian McGilchrist, but he has a very scientific approach to his thesis that our society is dominated by the left hemisphere, which focuses on details, to the detriment of the right, which sees the whole. This is exactly what’s happening everywhere you look: we have too many specialists and too few renaissance women and men. A side note, but Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED-talk “My Stroke of Insight” ties into this: the majority of strokes in the west happen in the left hemisphere. The state she talks about when she she only perceives reality through the right brain hemisphere is very similar to the experiences of oneness.
I am really excited about the Hubble tension, and the crisis in cosmology. We are nearing the point when we have to realize that the current models of explanations are insufficient. In my research about consciousness, I found the theoretical physics approach the most interesting and exciting - because it overlaps with, you know, how the universe works. One thing that really changed my mind on this topic just before my awakening was listening to Alan Watts, and he asked “how can an unintelligent system create intelligent beings”? The bet I’m making in my book is that the Quintessence theory replaces the Dark Energy theory. It postulates that it’s a force weaker than gravity, hence why the universe behaves differently when it comes to gravitation on universal scales. So, in essence, “consciousness and dark energy (and life)” are the same thing (although it’s never stated as such in the books). I intend to be a light yet philosophical read, kind of like The Good Place was a light yet philosophical watch, so I don’t much go into details of the science behind it all. When I found your post I became excited, because our goals align, and we have similar approaches, while at the same time having completely different experiences.
I am very interested in evolution of consciousness (which to me, is the evolution of the universe). I am using my alien species to explore different paths to civilization, and the series (which is called The Psychonaut Chronicles) as a whole will explore different possible paths once you reach “global peace and prosperity”. And here’s where I come back to what you wrote about the End Poem: much like you feel that the universe was talking through you, I feel that it’s talking through me when I write my books. I used to work in the so called “creative industries”, but this is the first time I’m exploring creation for creation’s sake.
I am not on social media anymore, and I created this account just for this. I am on Mastodon; that’s actually how I found you. There, were humans are the algorithm, a friend of mine boosted this post by Kashmir Hill from the New York Times. It has a nice feeling to it, like the blogosphere back in 2005. If you feel like venturing there, let me know and I’ll point you to likeminded individuals.
One thing that I’ve made that I think might be your cup of tea is “Bedtime Stories for Grownups”. It’s a playful attempt at getting people to think differently about themselves and the universe, made during a very love-filled and exciting post-awakening period. I’ve uploaded all the episodes here, but you can also just search for “Bedtime Stories for Grownups”. All thirteen episodes explore the same area that End Poem does. I have to be honest, I never heard of it until today – as a gamer I knew of Minecraft, and as a Swede I knew of of Markus sad drift away from a loving mindset – but I spent the full nine minutes in appreciating reverence. Well done indeed!
Side note that came up: have you read “The Biology of Belief” by Bruce Lipton? I read it as the basics of evolution of consciousness, and it’s amazing. I’d love to talk about it and how it ties into the “Egg, Not Rock” theory.
Anyway, my podcast: I know that Episode 13: The Story of I is especially popular among those who have listened. You can also find it by searching in your podcast app, if that’s easier.
If you respond, please don’t feel obliged to reply in a post. A discussion in the comments works great, and I’m sure I’ll come up with other musings to post here in case anyone else stumbles in here.
Love,
Micke
PS. If you’re interested in a little more detail on evolution of consciousness, I made a short intro of my species here.
