My friend in this podcast answered it with the title of the most famous western movies of all time — there is good, there is bad, and there is ugly1. He is right. It’s all too easy to treat a “how do you do” as merely a “hi”2 — it’s much harder to give an actual answer, considering how our own perceptions change in seconds.

I remembered that over a decade ago, another friend had taken to “biohacking” with the aim of getting better answers for himself by using certain technologies and techniques to gather measurable data to rely on — not just for a quick reply in public, but as a genuine long term life analysis tool.

Nowadays he isn’t alone, there are entire “longevity charts”3 with people competing (mostly amongst themselves) for the best “youth score”, measuring absolutely everything you can possibly think of, taking a ton of supplements and graciously sharing their “secrets” far and wide4.

Perhaps, instead of “biohacking” ourselves and popping all sorts of pills to match the data gathered from our efforts, we should first “hack our brains”, as without our brains, our bios could mean very little. We go to the gym, we stretch our muscles, we do Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong and many other valuable activities and practices, though when it comes to our brains, we kinda neglect them.

From Hacking to Plasticity

Our abilities to create, focus, detach, relax, recover or rejuvenate and many other qualities that directly affect our personal as well as our professional lives, are incredibly dependent on the choiceful tapping of our brain’s different states at will5.

Whether it’s work productivity, family harmony, or an effort to provide a supportive environment for medications to function, if we get our brains in the right state of mind, we help ourselves to retain and regain the best possible health and life.

Or, as Garnet Dupuis6 (the integrative health specialist, entrepreneur and inventor of the NeuroVIZR, who was my guest on this Podcast) puts it:

“When you signal the brain, you message the mind.”

During the podcast Garnet shares enlightening thoughts about his journey, including:

• how he got the idea of the NeuroVIZR in the first place;

• what the best areas of applications are (that he has seen thus far);

• how to use the NeuroVIZR for obtaining the maximum benefits (“stimulation” vs. “communication” vs. “revelation”); and;

• scientific research which supports his approach, specifically around “Neuroplasticity”.

You’re now perfectly prepared to listen to the podcast. Or, if you already have, feel free to read on for more background on this exciting topic of Neuroplasticity.

For those keen to buy a NeuroVIZR device (shipped worldwide), you can do so directly on their website and you will get a 10% discount using the coupon “POLYMATHS”.

Buy now with 10% Discount

Should you live in Switzerland, you can follow this link instead and have free shipping, too. The coupon code remains the same.

Neuroplasticity (also known as “brain plasticity”) is a very interesting field of research, examining the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization.

Examples of neuroplasticity include circuit and network changes that result from learning a new ability, environmental influences, practice, and psychological stress. It was once thought by neuroscientists to manifest only during childhood, but research in the latter half of the 20th century showed that many aspects of the brain can be altered (or are “plastic”) even through adulthood.7

The potential of applying neuroplasticity to a wide range of disorders is immense. From ADHD, chronic pains and tinnitus, all the way to treating actual brain damage, a surprising consequence is that brain activity associated with a given function can be transferred to a different location, and with it, invoke healing.

Practical uses aren’t limited to dealing with diseases, or using tools such as the NeuroVIZR as a brain gym alone. Modern and seemingly superhuman aspirations can become quite real when we finally start to consciously build our brains.

Human echolocation for instance is a learned ability to sense our environment from echoes. It’s used by some blind people to navigate and sense their surroundings in detail by adapting parts of the brain associated with visual processing for the new skill of echolocation8 and can be learned by anyone within a matter of weeks9.

What capabilities would we unlock with flexibility in our minds and plasticity in our brains?

Viewing Without Seeing

Many years ago I read the amazing book “And There Was Light” — the autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran who had lost his sight in an accident when he was eight years old and went on to become a blind hero in the French Resistance during the Second World War. In a fascinating scene, he tells of interviewing prospective underground recruits, “seeing” them by means of their voices, and in this way weeding out early the weak and the traitorous. The book clearly conveys the message:

“Light is in us even if we have no eyes.”

And most of what this light can do, or how it works, science hasn’t figured out at all.

The following is an excerpt of a LinkedIn Post10 I came across a few weeks back. It resonated with me as I had just made an experience with the NeuroVIZR that questioned my perception of sight:

Blind from birth. No eyes. No optic nerves. No visual cortex. And yet they saw.

Neurologically this would be considered impossible as there was:

• No photonic input;

• No visual memory;

• No retina, no optic nerves, and,

• No developed visual cortex.

However, in a landmark peer-reviewed study by Dr. Kenneth Ring and Sharon Cooper11, and in many subsequent reports, congenitally blind individuals described vivid, spatially accurate visual experiences during near-death states.

Indeed our eyes don’t need to be open to trigger a vivid visual activity in our brain.

Now what if…

…using flickering light to activate visual regions in our brains in ways that create spatial patterns, would it allow us to view the perception of vision differently?

Several years ago I visited the beautiful Borobudur Temple in Yogyakarta12 during sunrise — an incredible sight to behold and a truly eye-opening experience for me.

Joining a group of people who were doing “Surya Kriya”13 (note: this is different from what you get when you search the internet!), I realised that there is more to us humans than what meets the eyes — which actually are an extension of the brain14 and possible pathways to obtain the keys for uncovering our inner mysteries.

The Neuroscience of Flickering Light

There are shared principles between modern technology (e.g. using 40 Hz light frequencies when dealing with Dementia and Alzheimers15 or applying tools such as the NeuroVIZR to better train and communicate with your brain) and the ancient techniques relying on natural light sources alone.

All these historical and modern methods have some common neurological foundations of flicker-based induced light patterns through closed eyes, for example:

• Brainwave Entrainment: Whilst there may be different overall effects coming from the nature of the respective light source used in conjunction to what types of electromagnetic waves ultimately reach their “destination”, all these practices induce so-called photic driving, where rhythmic visual stimuli (whether from natural fire, sunlight or torches) entrain brainwaves, particularly into alpha (8-12 Hz) or theta (4-8 Hz) frequencies.

• Geometric Imagery: Visual patterns (e.g. spirals, tunnels, lattices or checkerboards), known as Klüver form constants, are commonly reported in traditional practices and linked to the same types of phosphenes generated by closed-eye flicker stimulation from devices like the NeuroVIZR.

• Retinal Stimulation: Even through closed eyelids, the retina's cone cells are stimulated by flickering light, thereby triggering electrical signals that travel to the visual cortex. In the absence of complex external images, the brain processes this rhythmic temporal input as spatial forms.

• Destabilisation of Default Brain Dynamics: Whether through the rhythmic input of flickering light, the sensory withdrawal of deep meditation, or even the effects of psychoactive substances which are sometimes used in rituals — the brain's "default wiring" is temporarily loosened. This "destabilization" allows the brain's intrinsic architecture to become visible as structured visual experiences.

In essence, these ancient practices and modern neurotechnologies both tap into the brain's inherent capacity to interpret rhythmic light as meaningful internal visual experiences, revealing a "First Language" of perception that is felt as rhythm, seen as pattern, and known as meaning.16

Whether cave, temple, monastery, or lab — the pattern remains unchanged. When the flicker calls, the cortex answers: Light begins to move, and we move with it.

Perhaps that’s why creation is filled with marvels of reflections — the sun’s rays bouncing off a calm lake, the ocean’s waves rolling in, a river’s flow downstream or the forest’s ceiling blowing in the wind.

It seems to me that Nature’s got her own switch when she wants to tune our brains.

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Looking at the artefacts and discovering facts I wasn’t aware of, my thoughts started to wander and I wondered whether in a few hundred years history would teach how the 20th century changed the meaning of the word “expertism” during its scientism decades into something like —

Expertism // The convenient desire to put someone else’s opinion above one’s own inner knowing.

What triggered my curiosity was a historical globe, depicting a spherical structure of our planet, which surprisingly had been documented much longer back than I originally thought.2

It became clear to me that the course of our recorded history actually hangs on a string of very few scriptures that survived different spiritual and worldly wars during which more than 98% (!) of written materials were destroyed — mental maturity and humanity clearly don’t go well with each other.

Luckily such maturity doesn’t have to come from the books we read or the things we consume, indeed it might have a completely different origin altogether.

Gods, the Death of Ego and the Rise of Self

I wrote extensively about realizing our potential, perfecting our performance, using rhythm and flow states etc. to maximize wisely utilizing our time here on Earth.

What I missed out on and what is the key factor for success or misfortune when applying any of the aforementioned concepts is addressing the elephant in the room: Ego.

One could argue a newborn doesn’t have as many attachments, pride and sense of ownership as we acquire during our adulthood and yes, we are born in this world without even the ability to hold our excretions, and (at least many of us) leave it in the same state.

In between of course we meet all sorts of “Gods” — our parents, teachers, best friends, the love(s) of our lives, (real and fake) spiritual Gurus, medical doctors and other people of authority that we accept to take instructions from either by force or simply because we trust, admire or look up to them.

Courtesy of our ability to analyze and compute the outcomes when following other people’s guidance, during the course of life we eventually learn to put these (good and bad) experiences in perspective.

However, we never look at the “Anti God” quite the same way — our Ego. It stands supreme, beyond any glimpse of a doubt, keeping ourselves in check. And yet it’s only when the ego dies, that the self rises, and with it, real mental maturity can begin.

Most of us are so busy with our day to day jobs, that we miss to recognize the things that really matter across the board, across our life.

In fact, who is truly able to differentiate and question whether a desire or an opinion is born of ignorantly following an outer God or “expert”, is influenced by ego processed information, or truly comes from inner experience?

To distinguish, intelligence alone, clearly isn’t enough.

Real mental maturity demands from us the ability to not think of ourselves as a name (or what it stands for) and instead needs us to acquire the skill of experiencing oneself through the eyes of the world and the universe:

Or as Niko from Awakened Species who sent this clip from Jim Carrey puts it:

Sustaining Mental Maturity

It doesn’t stop there. The challenge of sustaining mental maturity is that even if we think we’ve reached a certain point, it takes work to maintain such a state.

“Unthinking”, catching the difference between “being” and “feeling” (emotions), plus letting go of the many concepts we’ve derived from engaging in the world certainly all help, but like our ability to hold bodily liquids, mental maturity doesn’t stay in our life without making continuous effort.

So who are the saviours of mental maturity?

• Those who challenge us.

• Those who hear us after we challenge them.

• Those who bear witness to help us see through the noise and enable us to focus our abilities inwards.

Then we can discover what was always there: the lack of ego and the rise of self, without our memories and emotions being trapped in our actions and perceptions.

Or, as Madālasā sings3 to her son in this beautiful song from Gaiea Sanskrit:

You are pure, conscious and taintless

You are not subject to the illusoriness of the world

Give up this sleep of delusion, this dream which confounds the mind

Why are you crying?
You are pure

The name you have acquired is not yours, merely a mind-created fiction applied to you

The body is not you, nor are you of it

The Lord of the universe doesn’t cry either!

This sound is an illusion attributed to you

The qualities imagined as yours are inherent in all the senses

The insignificant elements within the man acquire the condition of growth…
...through the addition of food, water and drink

It is not a growth or diminution of You

Within the body shell
You remain constant

Do not become confounded by this body which has been fastened upon you

“Father”
“Son”
“Mother”
“Wife”
“Mine”
“Not Mine”

Do not assign much significance to what is only an aggregation of elements

The deluded man thinks pains alleviate pain

The deluded man thinks enjoyment of pleasures gives happiness

The intelligent man whose mind is free from confusion knows pleasures and sorrows to be alike

The carriage goes upon the earth, the body is seated in the carriage

The Self resides within the body

The deluded Jīva (soul) thinks “I am this body”

The Self has no attachment to His carriage
Foolish is such ignorance!

You are pure, conscious and taintless

You are not subject to the illusoriness of the world

Give up this sleep of delusion, this dream which confounds the mind

Time to:

With many tests to choose from, I opted for something called “Darkfield live blood analysis”, as during the past couple of years I had seen (sometimes scary looking) images of people’s blood with things in it that don’t look like they belong there:

Anita Baxas MD Substack

Microscopy of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Blood

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a year ago · 56 likes · 54 comments · Professor Anita Baxas,MD

Now whilst I have doubts whether the images from Anita’s Substack are easily reproducible or if they are truly linked to experimental injections is beside the point.

General pollution or environmental toxins, an overload of EMF signals or an unhealthy lifestyle / bad diet could also be the source of negative phenomena in the blood, so at the end it doesn’t really matter what caused it, especially if there are simple solutions (such as fasting) that could help.

After digging a bit deeper into this special form of dark field microscopy (particularly in relation to observing live blood), I believe we need more disruption in research to put science back into “the” science. In fact I really don’t understand why Darkfield microscopy is kept (quite literally) so much in the dark.

After the one week water-only fast, my blood looked way happier (and healthier) than before. I also got a detailed non-fuzzy report with helpful explanations and a clear set of recommendations, which I found very helpful in order to better understand the background of this fascinating diagnosis tool.

Given my positive experience, I asked Naturopath N.D. Margit Brusda, Founder and CEO of LIVISOMA® (which is where I had the analysis done) to share more about her approach. I hope you’ll enjoy this short but intriguing introduction into yet another universe, the microscopic world of your very own elixir of live: blood.

During this introductory episode we cover questions such as:

• What’s the difference between light and dark field microscopy?

• Are there general trends in the population which can be observed by analysing live blood from a large number of patients?

• When is the right time to do an analysis and who should consider it?

• How does a dark field live blood analysis session look like?

• What is actually the meaning of “live” here in this context?

If you have further questions, I’d be happy to do a follow-up interview with Margit.

Alternatively you can directly WhatsApp her clinic or book your dark field live blood analysis session online here. There is also a test-kit they send you if you opt for the online session: it allows you to simply mail in a sample from the comfort of your own home (which I find pretty convenient for a quick check-up after a few months).

Hope you had a happy and healthy start this 2025!

My very best as always,

Toby

One of the magical knowledge encounters of my life happened while studying music at university. The teacher of the subject “hearing” introduced me to the idea that every human has an “inner sound” — which in rare cases can even be heard (albeit only in deep meditation).

Only now (and over 25 years later) do I realize the profound impact this practice (and simply knowing that such an inner sound exists) had on my life. From being uplifting during extremely strenuous times to becoming an inner guide towards realizing my true self, this encounter was as memorable as it was consequential.

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Therefore today, I am very happy to share with you the latest podcast where my guest is no other than Gunda Dietzel, the hearing teacher from my time at university whose expertise I had referenced in multiple other articles before, for example in the chapter about “Potentiality Analysis” in:

Also in the section “The Power of Your Voice” in:

And finally during the “History of Meditation” in:

— which brings me back to the beginning.

I hope you will enjoy this wonderful Podcast and learn as much as I did!

My very best as always,

Toby

P.S.: For German speaking Premium Members there is a special (live) video recording from Gunda (see below!), where she explains the history and demonstrates some of the practices related to the Nada-Brahma System of Vemu Mukunda.

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Therapeutic Potential of Voice and Individual Groundnote — the „Nada-Brahma-System“ of Dr Vemu Mukunda:  

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This week’s podcast guest is Kerstin Brachaus-Mechow, a very special lady. She has been protecting, nurturing and further developing the life’s work of genius inventor Rudolf Mechow for decades.

Mechow had long been in search of the perfect sound and only after many years of dedicated research, study and incredibly hard work succeeded at his quest. The following video (in German, you can activate English subtitles) tells his story:

During her journey, Kerstin discovered many unique health and wellness applications of the ball shaped (spherical) sound which Mechow had patented2 in the form of various audio systems, speakers and devices.

"Sound, sonic, tone and their very special effect on the cell membrane are exciting and promising areas of research." — Christa Schyboll

Not only that, she also came up with her very own system of (audio) holographic frequency therapy that she now teaches as part of a professional curriculum provided by the Academy Klanggesund®.

Listening to the podcast you will quickly realize why I’ve given this episode the title “Molecular Audio”:

The Magic

How does such “magic” work?

Well, turns out it is science after all and one that Kerstin explained during a very special event at the MSVP & Vedience Research Institute launch in India late last year:

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Traveling the world.

A dream many have and one which (thanks to a period of unprecedented wealth, open borders and global opportunities) has come true for some of us as well.

In this podcast my guest is a very avid traveler who has visited every country as defined by the UN plus many disputed ones …

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But which brains?

I often wondered how decisions are made given that different people and situations produce unique approaches: I’ve observed rushed conclusions, simple…

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At the same time billions of people around the world over the past few years have accepted experimental, non-proven (and as we now know possibly harmful)1 injections in the face of overwhelming fear.

Fear of what exactly?

• A severe disease or even death?

• Losing your job or being able to provide for yourself and your family?

• Becoming unable to travel or being excluded from activities in society?

and many more.

The problem with fear however is that if we don’t face it, it just keeps growing. First on us, then in us. Eventually it could overwhelm our entire “Being” — our thinking, feeling and could even change our character into an almost different personality. Depression, suicides, bi-polar outburst and many more emotionally triggered mental diseases are often at the core driven by an opening of deep fear.

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Thanks to a handful of very generous donors as well as the general public, the museum’s beautiful instruments are still on display in working order and can be played by visitors from around the world.

End of last year I was one of those visitors. My favorite item in this unique collection had always been the Dulcitone — an instrument of celestial sound yet without strings. Instead, metal pieces in the shape of tuning forks (mounted on springs attached to the soundboard) are striked by a felt covered hammer action:

The video is totally worth watching in its entirety by the way and if you happen to visit New Zealand (or Waiheke Island in particular) do not miss going to this special place.

Just like the instruments in Lloyd and Joan’s museum inspired me, I would like to inspire you learning something new about instruments that you may never have heard of before.

Let’s start with the video shared1 right on top of the article — The Theremin, which perhaps is the most unique instrument ever invented2.

The Theremin

Before discussing the background of the Theremin and why it is such an incredible instrument, yet so difficult to master, I would like to invite you to first listen to the following performance by one of the leading theremin artists of our time.

Understand that this instrument is played without any physical touch or excitement whatsoever, yet marvel at the almost ethereal human voice sound it produces:

Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s take a closer look at the origins of the theremin (“θɛrəmɪn”, also known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox), an electronic musical instrument named after its inventor, Leon Theremin3 (who was born in Russia as Lev Sergeivich Teremen before coming to the West).

Invented over a century ago and patented in 1928 already, the device is still the only musical instrument which is played without any physical contact4. It’s like playing a harp with invisible cords, trying to produce a sound like an angel singing an opera.

In 1993, the film “Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey”5 was released, and the instrument gained perhaps its highest level of popularity to date among musicians and filmmakers. The theremin also inspired a surge in sound technology that led for instance to Robert Moog’s creation of the modern synthesizer, transforming the musical landscape ever since:

If you like the sound of the theremin, have a look at what some of the world’s leading artists are able to do with it:

• Carolina Eyck: Website | YouTube

• Katica Illényi: Website | YouTube

• Lydia Kavina: Website | YouTube

• Dorit Chrysler: Website | YouTube

• Pamelia Stickney: Website | Soundcloud, plus here she introduces the Theremin in an excellent TEDtalk:

Or, if you’re inspired to try learning the theremin yourself6 (know that it’s really hard, but a lot of fun), here is a list with a few options where you can acquire the instrument (note that there aren’t many manufacturers of theremins out there):

• Theremini: Moog’s beginner version.

• Etherwave: Moog’s semi-professional version. The Etherwave “Plus” is the professional bigger brother.

• Claravox Centennial: Moog’s high-end theremin was created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the instrument and as a tribute to virtuoso thereminist Clara Rockmore7.

• D-Lev: A (mostly) Digital Theremin.

• B3 Series and the Zep: Burns provides an excellent selection of very affordable theremins.

• OpenTheremin V4: Build your very own theremin from the ground up using high quality open source electronic components.

I hope you enjoyed the theremin, now comes the next unique instrument — the waterphone.

The Waterphone

A waterphone is an instrument which was invented, developed, and manufactured by American Richard Waters8 (1935–2013).

Influenced by a Tibetan drum containing a small amount of water affecting its timbre, it’s somewhat related to the nail violin, which also used a resonator and rods (or nails) for being struck or bowed:

The waterphone is also called an ocean harp and can be taken into the water, where on several occasions it has been used successfully to call whales and other cetaceans, especially by Jim Nollman9 of Interspecies Communication.

The waterphone is featured in soundtracks to many movies, including Matrix, Star Trek, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and many more10.

If you’d like to learn more about the waterphone or buy one online, check out:

• Waterphone Online or

• TheWaterphone

In fact, water is a fascinating medium to make music with, just see the Zadar sea organ, how an orchestra uses frozen water to create ice instruments, or how water filled glasses turn into a Glasspiel (or “verrillon” = glass harp) — many which you can still hear being played in various places in Europe, e.g. at Mozart’s birthplace Salzburg in Austria.

Benjamin Franklin was even so impressed by a verrillon performance on a visit to London in 1757 that five years later he decided to create his own instrument, now known as the glass harmonica and perhaps one of the most dangerous instruments of all time:

Instruments in (or with) Nature

A few years ago a Lithophone11 known as “The Great Stalacpipe Organ” had its 60th anniversary.

Probably the largest musical instrument in the world and built right into Virginia’s Luray Caverns, this “cave organ” produces sound by tapping ancient stalactites with rubber mallets:

At the Treetop Walk Park in Kopfing (Austria), you can find giant megaphones built by a team of architecture students from the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Installed to enhance the sounds of nature, they represent a place of peace, healing and contemplation:

And if you wanted to use nature as your musical instrument, why not take the opportunity of listening to the music plants make right in your home?

There are plenty of technical gadgets available now which help you to do just that. By measuring the electrical resistance of vegetable tissues and transducing it into a MIDI (Musical Instruments Digital Interface) signal, the MIDI signal then controls a synthesizer that produces the actual sound. For instance:

• PlantWave

• PLANTChoir

• Music of the Plants (various devices)

whereas the last provider also offers a professional version called “U1 PRO” enabling you to manage the musical parameters customizing the instrument of your choice, musical scale, base note, frequency, spatiality, chorus and reverberation. Simone explains it really well here:

To end on a lighter note or if you find this too technical or theoretical, you may want to have a look at the Vegetable Orchestra in Vienna instead.

For the past 18 years, the musicians of this orchestra have been purchasing local vegetables from the market, turning that produce into instruments and performing them in front of a live audience.

The vegetable scraps of course aren’t wasted. They’re made into soup, which is served to the audience at the end of each performance.

A very different version of Vienna’s normal New Year's Concert.

Enjoy!

Toby

3

The Internet Archives: Interview of Leon Theremin (Lev Sergeyevich Termen)

Interview Theremin

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Jeremy …

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Better understanding the nature of our Universe’s electromagnetic spectrum and taking time to explore what’s going on in the world beyond our visible and audible senses, thereby making an effort to open our minds and capture some spectrum of life beyond our current abilities and limitations, is one such example which may well save a life or two in the coming decade.

The Modern Wireless World

For over a century now, many new forms of wireless connectivity have brought about countless blessings and opportunities to the human race. With the rise of radio, TV, satellites, internet, cell phones, etc., and smart devices now coming in all shapes and sizes, we’ve been able to enhance our ability to connect, interact, innovate and grow financially, economically and intellectually.

Indeed, the opening up of new wireless radiation spectrums with each new generation of cell phone network coverage (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, 5G from space, 6G2 etc.) only seems to have increased such capabilities.

Research in this field brought us the microwave, various forms of wireless energy transmission3, the ability to let it rain in the desert4, incredible possibilities in health and medicine to treat previously incurable diseases, and many more.

At the same time, and perhaps coincidentally, it also brought us a new set of both physiological and psychological problems. From previously extremely rare5 (or even unknown) forms of cancer, a huge rise in infertility6, to nefarious social media addictions preferencing virtual befriending illusions and pleasures in exchange for real world human interaction, the dis-connect between “our way of life” and “us living and being”, comes at a steep price that even affects remote National Park areas.

Now I’m not arguing to go back to the stone ages or defer all of our modern day advancements, but our human greed (and curiosity) is inevitably leading us towards grabbing ever more parts of the electromagnetic spectrum and forcing it into doing our bidding, without understanding it in the first place.

The Electromagnetic Radiation Spectrum

Take a look at the below (as of 2009 complete) electromagnetic radiation spectrum (“EMR”) of our world (courtesy of Unihedron):

The Complete Emf Spectrum (2009)

991KB ∙ PDF file

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Letting the eyes wander over this enormous collection and phenomenal visualization of data, most will immediately recognize a list of examples (e.g. the light bulb or the piano), representing the nature or qualities of the spectrum in such area, but few will notice their absence in other areas from a human sensory perception level.

For instance:

• we can feel the warmth (infrared),

• see and identify colors (visible),

• hear sound (audible) and feel vibrations.

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I made my own experiences burning out at a relatively young age, juggling multiple businesses at the same time. I should have known better as since I was a child, I had always dreamt of experiencing the true meaning of meditation in life and with it, hopefully experience a real path towards “enlightenment”. I have no idea where this deep desire came from, as both my parents and my surroundings weren’t familiar with the concept of meditation, so it’s no surprise that it took me the first twenty years of my life to find a meditation that worked for me. Having said this, earnest desire is only met with tangible results if one dares not to give up and just keeps going.

Fast forward another ten years and after (by then) practicing different types of meditations regularly, one of my best friends asked me why I would meditate. I knew his question was “rigged”, as whenever a topic came up that was somehow “spiritual”, he involuntarily and subconsciously considered it his duty to challenge me.

In fact, I met many people in my life who have not realized their fear of spirituality and what it sometimes can do to them and their environment. Humans are naturally equipped with seven major types of fears, some which are well known such as death fear or stage fear, and others which are less obvious, such as “Spiritual Fear”. Whilst fears also carry a meaningful purpose (i.e. to survive, to overcome, grow, etc.), the latter one is often a real life theme of the individual.

People with spiritual fear are often brilliant in various areas of their lives, yet they rarely succeed to connect the dots beyond that as they attribute the sanity of their brilliance to not let their mind wander into another domain (i.e. a “spiritual realm”), unknowingly believing that they’d thereby protect themselves and their tribe. Sometimes that’s true, though mostly the opposite is the case which explains the state of science, research and education we have in the world today, where asking for the science beyond the science (“spirituality”) is almost considered a mental crime.

Back to my friend — this exchange of blows between a more spiritual and a more materialistic perspective was a great give-and-take and priceless learning opportunity for me. With him challenging me in anything touching “spirituality”, I knew that I could not reply with my usual “to reach a state beyond the mind” upon his question as to why I mediate, so I simply said: “because I’m not as good a person as you are and I found meditation a suitable way for me to become the best version of myself” — which was perfectly true at the time, for I could be a real jerk in certain aspects of my character.

Indeed, during the course of my life and my “career” in meditation, I would make the case that doing any form of meditation is often linked to personal matters the individual is confronted with at the time, so it’s more of a universal life tool which enables us to tap into an innermost force that we all have natural access to and is not necessarily connected with religion or our modern understanding of spirituality at all. Just as in my case at the time when I wanted to work on my character by pacifying my moods, meditation can be applied to simply calm oneself, gain a better focus or concentration for a task at hand, help with mental disorders or stress and even find relief from emotional trauma or painful memories.

The one common denominator of it all is the quietness — no thoughts, yet pure awareness — the place from which solutions arise to problems that have yet to be born.

Not without reason the old German saying goes “In der Ruhe liegt die Kraft” which loosely translates into:

The Subjective-Objectiveness of Meditation

Given the complexity of the quantum universe, where particles with fundamentally different properties can interfere with each other2 it’s not surprising that different humans’ points of views become entangled as well.

No wonder then, that the subject of meditation is a very personal matter associated with different cultural backgrounds, religious perceptions and contemplated by highly individual experiences. Therefore by definition it’s difficult, perhaps even impossible, to truly objectively assess it.3

That having said and leaving the aspect of spiritual fear aside for a moment (which blocks openings to real objectiveness anyway4), there are some basics that anyone willing can follow by experience, for instance the facts that:

• our mind doesn’t like repetitions and that it feels bored after a while. This technique is used in all major religions one way or the other, whether it’s in the form of repetitive chantings (songs, sounds, mantras, etc.), repeating prayers, benedictions and decrees, specific ritual body movements, etc. — in essence they’re all following the same principle to get the “mind to shut itself off” or at the very least “move into a more passive state”;

• once we focus on something NOT to think or do, it inevitably becomes the center of our attention, or as the modern expression goes: “[don’t] think of a pink elephant” — which then according to the Ironic Process Theory (“IPT”)5 is very hard to get out of your mind;

• normally we cannot control our mind (and with it our thoughts) directly, but only in an indirect manner. Certain breathing techniques (including Pranayama6 and those utilized by professional divers, the military, yogis or tai chi practitioners etc.) however allow us to indirectly control our thoughts, or rather, lose ourselves from thinking by moving over a doing into a feeling stage;

• when exposing ourselves to certain extremes (e.g. ice cold temperatures, multiple days of dry or water based fasting, etc.), involuntarily and in some shape or form a forced natural reset of our physical and mental faculties occurs, thereby allowing us to better penetrate the inside of our minds;

• by simply hugging a tree7 (e.g. during an exhausting hike) we’re provided with an almost unexplainable (yet exhilarating) new found strength whereas the conscious practice of grounding is often accompanied with a sudden but peaceful centered relaxation in our own being;

…and many more.

A more technology-savvy approach to experience meditation and the popular topic of mindfulness (when perhaps focusing on mind-emptiness would yield even better results) include apps such as:

• Headspace

• Calm

• Aura

• Lift

and hardware-driven solutions such as:

• Muse

• Flowtime

• neowake [German]

• Medisend

which not only helps to get you in the mood but some can also measure your progress by hacking various data points, brain waves etc. along the way.

These modern times tools follow the amazing successes of famous mind machines such as the Brainman and the Brain Tuner, or lucid dreaming8 devices such as:

• David Delight Pro

• mindLightz

• Limina

or the Procyon device.

Other (and for many decades) well researched and previously explored techniques to achieve deep meditative states include the floating water tank (sometimes also called “isolation tank”9) which uses sensory deprivation and is recognized as an official therapy called “REST” (Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy)10.

If you don’t have any of those tools available don’t worry, cause neither had Massenet, yet he composed a most marvelous piece of music called “Méditation”, so be sure not to miss listening to it:

Cello: Ekkehard Hessenbruch, Piano: Toby Ruckert, Source: SoundCloud.

History of Meditation

When it comes to meditation I’m more the old-school type and like to appreciate the applied knowledge (a.k.a. wisdom) which has been proven to work throughout the ages, no matter how technologically poor they might be portrayed in history.

The well known and established Vipassana11, Transcendental and Kriya Yoga meditations, and my personal favorite — the lesser known Heart-Soul Meditation of the ancient Mahāsiddha Tradition — are examples where I see the real meaning and benefits of meditation unfold and come to life in its fullest.

Another unique path towards meditation is by identifying, embracing and utilizing your individual personality’s groundnote as established by the Nada-Brahma system of Vemu Mukunda, linked to the ancient Nāda Yoga12 tradition.

“Every human being who has found the groundnote of his individual voice has also found the groundnote and the key to his life. The wonderful part in the study of the voice is that it reflects not only the character of an individual, but also his overall development and stage of evolution. The essence of his personality is expressed in the speaking voice.”
— Hazrat Inayat Khan13

Today’s mainstream concept of meditation unfortunately is a much less holistic and often merely superficial affair, albeit at least addressing how to relax, however with little or no understanding of what really happens14 behind the scenes, i.e. capturing the deeper purpose of certain breathing techniques, the differences between imagination and visualization, or the quintessential consequences that arise out of refurbishing harmony between body, mind, spirit and soul in the context of an increasingly complex world.

Compare this with Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga Principles15 — the Eight limbs of Yoga — in which he explained how Yoga works on different levels of the human being (not just body, but also mind and soul). To him Yoga wasn’t only physical exercise, stretching, breathing exercises or meditation, but indeed all of these and more:

1. Yama – Moral principles related to society. So if somebody lives a successful and harmonious life in society, he is also practicing one part of Yoga.

2. Niyama – Personal principles, such as what to eat, when to eat, when to sleep and so on.

3. Asana – Body postures to enhance the energy flow in meridians by applying proper pressure on different parts of the body (using the principles of reflexology).

4. Pranayama – Breathing exercises to regulate mind and energy.

5. Pratyahara – Controlling the mind from its deviation to the external world through the five senses Sight, Hearing, Touch, Smell and Taste.

6. Dharana – Concentrating internally (here “Meditation” starts).

7. Dhyana – Observing the changes occurring during Dharana.

8. Samadhi – Thoughtless state which is beyond the mind.

whereas “Yama”, “Niyama” and “Asanas” are in physical level, “Pranayama” and “Pratyahara” are in mind level and “Dharana”, “Dhyana” and “Samadhi” are considered to be beyond the mind.

As one can see, during ancient times of meditation history, there was a clear evolution of mastery required before one was confronted with the consequences of meditating. Perhaps this is the equivalent or subconscious purpose of the aforementioned “spiritual fear” in modern times? Or perhaps meditation in itself is nothing but a stepping stone to proper self analysis followed by true self-realization?

In any case nowadays we’re lucky — cause everyone who wants can meditate. In ancient times however, it was a privilege!

Motivation, Uses and Experiences

The reasons why people start to meditate are different, so is the motivation which keeps them going. Everyone has their own states of knowledge, applied at various experience levels, realizing wisdom in their own pace and way.

My personal Harujuku Moment16 to earnestly begin pursuing meditation with the discipline it required for me came, when I had a devastating live piano performance. I had the occasional memory lack when playing by heart and without sheet music but what was worse was that on stage I tended to mess up the piece trying to jump through such gaps by accelerating beyond recognition, only to fail with my own weakness.

Visualizing the entire piece beginning to end, I promised myself that during the next performance I wouldn’t panic or accelerate in the face of a self-induced attack, instead I would do the opposite by slowing down, risking the “danger” of producing a few embarrassing moments on stage. This put my mind exactly where it needed to be as once it had realized that I wasn’t going to be afraid, it didn’t play any jokes on me and knew that if it disturbed my flow, I'd just slow down and focus more on the present moment.

For me the key takeaway from this realization was: I am not my mind. Yes, my mind is a part of me and it also has some kind of personality. But it ain’t me. On the other hand I knew that visualization techniques and centering myself17 on the present moment were just two small parts of the repertoire that meditation beholds, so I wondered, what else could I use meditation for?

Today I’m lucky to have encountered absolutely extraordinary individuals who apply the benefits of meditation in new ways and who explore its many different uses in their daily lives, not just for themselves, but also for their friends and family, nature and their environment as such. They use it for instance to:

• better navigate a world of constant information overload, system designed misinformation and indoctrinated education;

• sharpen their 6th sense, intuition and ESP levels and even sense illegal surveillance (e.g. in industry espionage);

• spot subliminal and hypnotic manipulation and help others remember common sense for everyone’s sanity;

• prioritize work for optimized flow states18 using their own subconscious, thereby producing the most productive and efficient outcomes;

• open their minds and push the boundaries of perception, thinking and execution, thereby creating new innovations and thinking outside the box;

• expect the unexpected, i.e. that AI could be nothing but the foundation of a new religion, or to simply gain a better focus by increasing one’s attention span19;

• grow plants more successfully, heal nature and help others simply by emanating a certain happiness or smile;

…and many more.

Of course these simple (admittedly more modern times) uses of meditation are nothing akin to Himalayan masters’ siddhis20, but they might just suffice facing a real life frequency or chemically induced mind control event, or an outstanding hypnotic adversary encounter as depicted in Jessica Jones’s Kilgrave character21.

For me personally the experience of stilling my mind has resulted in an ability to confidently identify the thoughts and feelings I actually have. I don't believe I would know myself quite so well, if I didn't take time each day to still the worry, the chatter and the mental noise.  

If you’re new to meditation, I would encourage you to take notes on your practice and use those insights, as it takes time to learn bringing memories of experiences encountered during meditation from subconscious levels up to a conscious state and later remember them.

A couple of friends wrote a wonderful small book called “Living Reflections” that I helped with for photography while living in New Zealand. It covers certain insights from their meditation journey, that I’m sharing with permission as follows:

Living Reflections

18.2MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

My personal observations after starting meditation many years ago (other than getting a grip on my moods to help me with character building) were simply that whenever we would leave the house for a while, our fridge would naturally empty itself. There was much less waste in our life all around and things just seemed to “fall into place”.

Health, Science and Being

As mentioned earlier, the Subjective-Objectiveness of meditation is complicated given its entanglements. This quantum mechanical phenomenon in which the (quantum) state of two or more objects must be described in relation to each other (and even if such individual objects are vastly separated in space), will likely leave physics baffled for decades to come, especially with the disparity between classical physics (where in its mechanics such entanglements are absent) and quantum physics (where entanglements are a primary feature)22.

Meditation on the other hand could serve as a bridge to overcome conflicts between our more material world and seemingly less material (nonetheless just as real from a microcosmic perspective) domains. Indeed, considering the practical implication of meditation raises a question: the practitioner simply sits and from the outside (it appears) does nothing — so how can it have an impact on physical or mental health?

If headaches (or pains in general) can clear23 just by meditation (without taking pills or using other remedies), surely there must be a process which explains the working function or underlying principles of the procedure in a more scientific way?

During meditation, the practitioner enters different states of awareness, e.g. from conscious to subconscious (and in some rare practices also other types of conscious levels) whilst all the time remaining both the subject and the object, i.e. the doer and the observer. Perhaps this explains why certain meditations have a profound physical and mental effect on our health and wellbeing and could potentially dissolve the conflicts in quantum24 vs. classical physics (or naturalize the interaction between the creator and its creation) at an inner level before they externally occur.

Luckily, deep meditative states have one scientific fact in common: the brain wave frequencies25 eventually reach the so-called “Theta state”. Today we have five known and well researched brain states covering different frequency bands and fully measurable by modern EEG26 systems as follows:

1. Gamma (γ): > 35 Hz (Concentration)

2. Beta (β): 12–35 Hz (Anxiety dominant, active, external attention, relaxed)

3. Alpha (α): 8–12 Hz (Very relaxed, passive attention)

4. Theta (θ): 4–8 Hz (Deeply relaxed, inward focused)

5. Delta (δ): 0.5–4 Hz (Sleep)

Source: ScienceDirect — Brain Waves.

And then there are those aspects of life which we would normally not even see being meditative in nature, such as breathing in and out or certain professions which can only be carried out by being both creative and reflective at the same time, plus they require skills with keen observation and focus, yet demand detachment from the ultimate outcome. Consider e.g. the work of a sculptor — for indeed we’re all sculptures of our own life’s work.27

By keenly observing our breath and the mode of attention while being immersed with the subjective objectiveness of our activity, a natural evolution of the aforementioned brain states can be followed (i.e. “from being focused and active” all the way to “passive relaxation and inward focus”) and our inner qualities and challenges start revealing themselves.

Regardless of whether “Self” is made or whether it’s unveiled, once we start carving our character (and with it our future), most of us (at least initially) meet with certain obstacles. It’s the irony of progress that with no stones left unturned, some mud also shows and the forces which arose by feeding our own demons, fight to survive.

Adapting to a new physical environment (e.g. a hot or cold climate) is relatively easy for us — we can simply change our clothes. But how to adapt to a new mental environment? When moving from a state of mind to a frame of mind in the context of meditation, we can often hear things like:

“I would meditate, but I just don’t have the time.”

“I simply can’t sit still for long, I get so many thoughts or am constantly interrupted.”

“I’ve tried it, it’s great, I’ll do it more often in future.”

“It’s similar to XYZ which I have tried before/which I already know.”

“When I do XYZ (walking in nature, surfing across the blue ocean) it’s akin to meditating.”

However, none of these are truly real. If you dig deeply, you’ll realize they are mind tricks played by the forces we’ve created around ourselves, trying to stop us from becoming entrepreneurial sculptors of our own lifes. Many people therefore end up with a mixed bag of meditative experiences without really catching the essence of it.

To address these natural occurrences effectively, most human beings need to set themselves some rules and principles when embarking on a journey that could upset their status quo. In my case I simply promised myself that I would meditate daily for a year, without fail, and if I’d miss one day, I’d meditate twice the next, and so on. It worked!

Another (much later) step on my meditative journey was to simply not set a time limit at all. Of course that’s generally unimaginable and highly incompatible with a typical western lifestyle, yet if you wake up really early (say 3 am) or start meditating only at night (say 8 pm), you actually have hours of meditation to fill before you venture back into sleep. The “beyond time space” you then create in your mind is what makes those meditations so effective and rewarding: you’re not projecting expectations externally, instead you’re allowing the meditative force itself to expand and implode within you.

From Mental Chaos to Blissful Calmness

Nowadays many people suffer from so-called attention deficit hyperactivity, a disorder also known as “ADHD”28. From a mere psychological perspective it’s considered a neurobiological disorder but similar to the conundrum produced when comparing traditional vs. quantum physics, ADHD could originate from unresolved internal conflicts, e.g. self-esteem issues or repressed emotions that show up as symptoms.

While genetic and neurobiological factors certainly play a role and ADHD might simply be a sign of a world that is moving ever faster, such “conflicts in the brain” can manifest in the form of attention problems, impulsivity and hyperactivity. Therefore people with ADHD can behave similar to “forward offenders” who have difficulty adapting in a busy society with restlessness symbolizing that they are looking for a deeper meaning and a stronger connection to their inner world.

Meditation is a wonderful tool to explore such deeper meaning and connection as it literally enables us to rewire our brains29 and allows us to train it moving out of stressful mental zones automatically.

It’s also important to reflect upon the natural consequences of meditative states if and when we get them (e.g. increased confidence, the absence of anxiety or an ability to more quickly adapt to different situations) as it helps with better adapting new neurological pathways. This is being explored in the following video using certain audio stimulants (here in the Delta range of 0.5 - 4 Hz) and visualization themes (optional to watch as people may associate them differently):

Even if you’re not suffering with ADHD but perhaps have trouble falling asleep, the above is well worth a try, especially in the evening.

As for the best possible time to meditate — the standard answer which can be found both in old scriptures as well as in the latest writings of popular motivational guides nowadays is “to be always in constant inner communion with one’s self”.

Being more pragmatic though it’s only natural if this changes during your “meditation career”. It certainly has for me. Initially and when I simply wanted to push myself to ensure I would meditate once daily, I fixed a slot for right after lunch which worked perfectly well for me. Later I enjoyed the sunrise and sunset as opportune times for meditation and reflection.

Nowadays I think anything is fine given the priority I want to assign to my life-long carving project as a sculptor. Just get down to business, for meditation is a great way to get into the “zone” — the mental state that is optimal for what you are trying to do.

Risks, Benefits and Rewards

With all the upside meditation can provide us with, I really cannot emphasize the downsides enough as well. In reality, they’re not downsides, but just taking the aforementioned tricks played by the forces we’ve created around ourselves as an example, one has to be mentally prepared to potentially meet with adversity — from within or without — when adopting the practice of meditation.

Not only that, there are actually a number of factors which highly influence the successful outcome of meditations. For instance if done properly, certain meditations can also clear some old left-over memories of past diseases, resulting in seemingly negative effects at first, but with the body ridding itself of the then unwanted stuff, apparently negative effects (i.e. headaches, rashes, phlegm, fever, etc.) can occur. Such a body-mind-spirit detox isn’t something you might have asked for when starting to meditate, but it’s rarely avoidable, so ideally one is ready to accept such natural consequences.

Similarly, if you do anything “wrong” during meditations, i.e. applying more force or feeling during certain visualizations, breathings, etc. or accidentally confuse certain terminology, e.g. consciousness with energy, light with fire, colour with temperature, etc. — then don’t be surprised if you get a corresponding reaction.

I’ve met several people who have experienced e.g. “kundalini syndrome” and other syndromes stemming from their initial steps adopting meditation practices. I’m no exception. One single five minute mistake caused me sleepless nights for nearly three months, so speaking from own experience — please, don’t underestimate this aspect and make sure your have really evaluated the history and background of the meditations you’re going to embark on and ideally have a teacher who can help you fix things in case they go wrong. There is a reason why in the East the Guru is the One who dispels the darkness of ignorance and the one who points the way.

Read more

I’m not an archeologist or historian, but I like to look as such puzzles beyond their mere entertainment aspect, as they can truly help open one’s mind to seeing a bigger world, sometimes full of possibility. Enjoy!

See also:

Underground Superhighways

Across the European continent, an extensive network of 12,000-year-old massive underground tunnels stretching from Scotland to Turkey has been discovered1 just a few years ago.

Whilst hidden underground structures are nothing new (just think about catacombs or the hidden passages of New York), there seems to be a certain historical value associated with such invisible spaces that keeps capturing our imagination.

What was their purpose, who built them and why were they left behind?

See also:

Circular Megablasts

The mystery of the Chicxulub crater (which means "demon of ticks" in Mayan2) is located on the Yucatan Peninsula, partially merging with the ocean. The crater was likely formed approximately 66 million years ago3 with the fall of a large asteroid which could been tens of kilometers in diameter:

The impact most probably released around 100 teratons of TNT equivalent energy or two million times the yield of the largest thermonuclear device ever detonated (the Soviet Tsar Bomba which is 58.6 megatons in TNT).

But there are many other circular arcs which are also intriguing, for instance the Richat Structure in Mauritania (also known as “The Eye of the Sahara”)4, which has been serving astronauts as a landmark for many decades now:

Or meet El Ojo, a.k.a. “The Eye” — Argentina’s Mysterious Circular Island:

Discovered by filmmaker Sergio Neuspiller and his team, El Ojo is located in the Parana Delta and known to be at least two decades old. The water surrounding the island is very green and cold, completely different from the waters in the region and no one knows why it can float like that.

How was it originally formed and why does it rotate on its own axis5?

See also:

Cosmic Architectures

A few years back, a very good friend urged me to visit his favorite place in South East Asia, the Borobudur Temple Complex6 in Java.

There is a lot of mystic symbolism in and around the place but nobody truly knows what this unique architecture was really built for. After all, it was lost to the jungle for almost a thousand years before it was rediscovered.

Note: if you plan to visit this special place, the early morning tour is really worth it!

There are many other phenomenally large and ancient architectures covering all of Asia, for instance Angkor Wat in Cambodia:

What’s the purpose of these huge, extremely complex yet highly accurate structures?

See also:

Fascination Time

Believed to be the world’s oldest “computer”, the Antikythera7 is being revived in the latest Indiana Jones Blockbuster8.

Read more

The third leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2016 was due to medical errors1. Combine this seven year old study with what unfolded over the past three years, and the number could now be much higher.

Whether due to genuin…

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More so — if the weather (and with it the climate) is indeed artificially manipulated (e.g. used as a weapon for gaining an econom…

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Little did I realize how …

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Admittedly — with my own trips around the world over the past two decades and since air travel peaked early 20201, I was mostly looking down rather than up. Only w…

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Perhaps the definition of age itself over time has gradually changed, too. When traditionally it has been quite physical (with a focus on our bodily biology), it is now challenged to become more of a technological mind kind of thing.

However, I would still argue that as human beings we would need to consider our biological age as one of the key criteria when measuring human life and human age as such. With that in mind, I’m asking myself “where did old age” go?

Contrary to our public beliefs, we might have actually become a weaker and more sick species — or when was the last time you heard of a 200 years old woman or man?

Meet Li Qing-Yuen

Allegedly born in 1677 and died in 1933, Li Ching-Yuen1 was a master of martial arts, collected medicinal herbs for the first 100 years of his life and for the last 156 bought them from others and traded them.

He outlived many loved ones, was married 23 times, and became a father about 200 times over 11 generations. Qing-Yuen was a vegetarian, he never drank alcohol, never smoked, and ate only at set times. He went to bed early and got up early. He liked to play cards.

Old grandfathers recalled that he was old when their grandfathers were young.

All this may seem like a hoax if one is unaware of Chinese Taoist traditions and the many legends of immortal Taoists who live in the mountains.

But the article "Tortoise-Pigeon-Dog"2 from the 15 May 1933 issue of Time reports on his history, and includes Qing-Yuen's answer to the secret of a long life3:

Today’s Perception of “Old” Age

Researchers from Boston University and Tufts Medical Center found4 that people who live to be 100 years old or older (so-called “centenarians”) could have a unique composition of immune cells that’s highly protective against illnesses.

“Our data support the hypothesis that centenarians have protective factors that enable (them) to recover from disease and reach extreme old ages,” said lead author Tanya Karagiannis, a senior bioinformatician at the Center for Quantitative Methods and Data Science, and Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts Medical Center.

What did Qing-Yuen know compared to our modern scientists? Perhaps his strong principles, deep knowledge about natural medicines and access to rare herbs were his secret?

I don’t know, but I would argue that aging healthy has become very difficult in a world full of toxins, especially with micro (or nano) plastics being found everywhere from so-called medicines, food and even normal drinking water:

Maybe that’s why a global tech elite is racing to conquer death5, but would you trust their premise of “living forever”6 (which is a philosophical challenge in its own right) — especially when we know that it could exacerbate all the kinds of existing inequalities that we already have in the world today?7

The concept of living forever in the form of a digital afterlife8 isn’t very appealing either:

The Marshall Island Reports

A former UN Executive Director who was tasked with many official reports covering the Marshall Islands9 late last year opened up about the real life expectancy of most humans who used to live in this most beautiful part of the world before nuclear tests were conducted10:

It’s yet another indicator that perhaps we shouldn’t aim for a particular age or health regime governed by doctors, but instead focus on living a harmonious and fulfilled life, based on certain universal principles of humanity.

For me I include a yearly water fast as part of my personal principles, as it greatly helps to refocus and realign our balance and perspectives while strongly supporting autophagy and stem cell production for our body’s own rejuvenation processes.

What are Telomeres and what’s Telomerase?

Throughout history, brilliant minds have tried to figure out the secret behind living longer. Much of the research has credited diet and exercise, but a group of scientists expanded on previous data to suggest another theory. 

This brings me to one of the cornerstone elements and key building block of any modern anti-aging, rejuvenation and life-prolonging research approach — the “Telomeres”:

Telomeres play a major role in our aging process as in their extension lies the secret to turning back the aging clock11. So essentially, you could combat aging by increasing (lengthening) your telomeres.

There are many techniques ranging from nutrition, supplements, technology, wellness treatments and medical procedures which can lengthen telomeres, some which I will cover at the end of the article.

However it doesn’t have to be complicated. The above video is well worth your time and superbly narrated, it also clearly demonstrates how we affect each other’s telomeres in how we’re treating each other and most importantly: how we handle ourselves during difficult situations in daily life. Particularly those under permanent stress or living in fear and with great uncertainties, constantly worrying about something (even if it’s well beyond their control) tend to have shorter telomeres.

On the other hand, those who treat “life’s question marks” as challenges, tend to lengthen and protect their telomeres, just by having a different “mind set”. Attitude clearly matters. The research also revealed that meditation has the power to strengthen your telomeres, and, even after having been shortened, can thereby lengthen again.

The meaning of “Mind over Matter” (in the context of extending one’s life span) thereby gets a whole new dimension. Perhaps that’s why ancient Rishis and Sages considered the development of Consciousness a prerequisite prior to increasing the duration of life by e.g. using Rasayanas12, etc.

Best Ways to Live Longer

As already mentioned, finding the right meditation13 is key to lengthening telomeres safely, as without conscious evolution, extension of life could be futile. It also helps to understand when we act vs. when we react whilst mastering our emotions and not the other way around. These factors are what I think many people often miss out on when embarking on a life-long life-extension journey!

Having said this, here are some pointers to hopefully help you live longer:

1. Live 16 Years Longer By Walking Fast: Researchers from the University of Leicester established a correlation between a person’s walking speed and their age. They discovered that a faster walking pace throughout life could result in a person being 16 years younger biologically by the time they reach midlife, according to an analysis of nearly 400,000 British people from the UK Biobank. So longer telomeres are the result of a lifetime of brisk walking.

2. Ageing process has been biologically reversed: Giving pure oxygen to older people while in a hyperbaric chamber increased the length of their telomeres by 20 per cent.

3. Fasting, Breathing, inducing Artificial Fevers and using Laser Light Therapy are excellent ways to (scientifically proven) strengthen and lengthen your telomeres, thereby reducing your biological age.

4. Enjoy the Cold: Cold is beneficial for healthy aging and has been associated with longevity for more than a hundred years (Loeb, J., & Northrop, J. H. — 1916). The longevity response to warm temperature is neurally controlled via the regulation of collagen genes. Is there a temperature coefficient for the duration of life?

5. Live in Harmonic Resonance, with the right Frequencies: Longitudinal magnetic waves trigger higher ATP-levels and extend the aging process of plants. What does it mean for humans constantly exposed to WiFi, Bluetooth, 4G, 5G, 6G…?

Looking at my own suggestions here, I wonder whether the real old age of human beings started to vanish when “modern” times were born?

Live long and prosper!

Toby

P.S.: For all my Premium Members, here are some additional techniques to enhance your telomeres:

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With this article, I invite you to take part in an experience. Before you continue reading beyond the line below, you may want to view the video above and listen to my latest composition. After, read this article in full, and then listen again. See if the music changes your emotions before and after knowing any details about the composition, its background, meaning, etc.

Following your first listen, I will now explain why I got inspired, how I went about the actual composing process, and what I felt before, during, and after the fact.

Since times immemorial, music has had the power to hold people captive as much as it could release them. Maybe creation itself at its core is musical, or perhaps it’s because no other form of art can both create new feelings and release old emotions at the same time, thus making it an effective agent for change, metamorphosis or even transmutation.

I grew up as a performing artist1, giving concerts as a solo pianist and chamber musician and can only express my deepest gratitude to my parents and teachers for giving me the opportunity to capture some of life’s deepest secrets music has to offer.

Many years ago, one of my teachers shared a remarkable story when her husband Antal Doráti2 in July 1988, together with musicians from 23 countries, undertook a concert tour for peace that is still unique in the history of music: within one week they performed Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis"3 with musicians from East and West in Berlin, Moscow, Dresden and London.4

More than 200 million people in the East and West experienced the performances on radio and television. At a time well before social media and when there was still not a TV in every home or a cell phone in every pocket, just imagine how such a concentrated effort could have impacted the minds of audiences in both East and West.

Perhaps the vibrations of this immense manifestation of intent significantly contributed towards the diplomatic peace efforts leading up to the end of the cold war, the closure of the Iron Curtain, and the reunification of Germany.

Where are efforts like these in the world we live in today? If music has that much power, why do we then not use it (more) as a force for good?

“Composing” Myself.

I always dreamt of composing, but was never a great composer. Though I had a fantastic teacher in the subject at university, I’m embarrassed to admit that I was lazy on that side and never took up the opportunity to really study with him properly. Composition for me, after all, was more of a “side subject” compared to my focus on the performance side and building up companies as an entrepreneur.

Interestingly though, Covid (as one of the great collective crisis all of us experienced in recent years) challenged me to deal with my anxiety, uncertainties, fears and other mixed emotions just like everyone else, and so in music I found my solitude, my ally and, most importantly, a different space-time-perspective. However, having not played piano for a while, I found it frustrating having to re-learn the pieces of the old masters, which a few years earlier I was still able to play near perfection.

Instead, I applied myself at composing and with it, came out of the fear and the uncertainty of the early Covid days, using quotes from those well known musical pieces I used to play, connecting them with each other whilst leveraging an underlying theme out of a science-fiction Star Trek5 movie to capture an unknown situation:

My first realization was that it’s relatively easy to compose variations of something that’s familiar to you and/or using a theme which truly captivates or inspires you. You’ll end up quickly whistling a number of options, and all you need to do then is to bring your inner sound vision on to either paper, your instrument, a computer, or simply hit record and sing it out loud.

Given these are typically “short term memory” captures (sometimes by way of an invisible force or intuitive muse), the challenge I faced initially was to clearly hold the music in my mind long enough, before I was able to actually express it naturally on the piano. There is always this passing moment of time, where if you don’t catch the phrase fully right then and there, it may be gone forever. The other difficulty I faced was to actively notice when to “stop inventing” (i.e. to stop finding other versions of the same motif), because the variant I got was (according to my standards and my feeling) “perfect”. I found this to be one of the hardest aspects in the process of composing as “when do you truly know that something is final the way it is”?

The experience of “composing” literally aided me in “composing” myself emotionally and mentally during the initial lockdowns, but even more intriguing — three years later, much of what I felt the music expressed to me back then (if not all), has actually come true. Perhaps within the musical arts (I would include dance here as well) there is a magical ability to cross into different domains (such as time), simply via feeling.

Realizing “Magic”.

With the advent of 2021, I was less worried about myself or my family, but I got concerned about the divisions in society, which started to run all the way through large nations, small communities, closely knit families, and sometimes even the individual minds of people themselves.

I talked with friends and ended up writing about it, but this didn’t provide much intellectual peace, comfort, satisfaction or clarity. Finally I decided to try put my worries at ease by taking on yet another composition, daring to find answers to the question: “why is there so much dissonance in the world?”6

Meet the “Tritone”

Not realizing it during the act of composing, eventually my efforts resulted in the deeper study of the Tritone, also called “The Devil's Interval”7. Without revealing the entire composition yet, simply listen to the following section which normally sounds dissonant.

However, if we leverage just enough Tritones prior to this normally dissonant tune, you’ll be suprised to suddenly identify inharmony as a welcoming resolution (pay special attention at 0:50 which is when the Tritones are introduced and then again from 1:08 to the end — which is the same tune I’ve just posted as a video above):

Understanding musically what was starting to go on in the world’s mind at large was my way of dealing with the “Cognitive Dissonance”8 we all experienced, and, which some of us are still victims of today.

Finding Purpose.

If music could have that much influence (e.g. when even a simple interval can change our perception from what’s dissonant to what’s perceived as harmonious), and being inspired by Antal Doráti’s success with the concert tour for peace in 1988, I couldn’t help but wonder if I should try to compose something with a clear intention to overcome the recently strong divisions in the human family.

I then suddenly remembered my professor at university whom I had asked at the end of my studies what was the most difficult piece he had come across in his piano career. He said: “The People United Will Never Be Defeated!” — a set of (highly complex) variations by composer Frederic Rzewski9 on Sergio Ortega and Quilapayún’s Chilean resistance song “¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!”:

I recommend you to listen to the original theme right now and try to memorize the melody. The key message of the English version is:

THE PEOPLE UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED.

Now back to our little experiment.

If you go and listen to the video I posted at the beginning of the article again, fully well knowing the background of the piece, its intention, purpose and that you’re ready for your very own participation towards the end — by singing out loud and feeling this message — you’ll have an entirely different perspective and experience with this composition, guaranteed.

Re-Align Yourself

Before publishing this post, I showed the composition to a few friends and started researching the healing powers of music to understand more about its ability to re-align ourselves with what we might have lost, be it health, unity or simply harmony.

In a certain form of Chinese calligraphy, the characters10 for “Music” and “Medicine” are almost alike. Taking the top line (which indicates nothing but “Grass” — depicting the more specific meaning of “Herbal” to Medicine) of the second character away, both become identical:

楽 = Music

薬 = (Herbal) Medicine

In Ancient China music had the power to harmonize a person in ways that medicine could not. One of music’s earliest purposes was for healing. During the time of the Great Yellow Emperor (2698–2598 B.C.E.), people discovered the relationship between the pentatonic scale, the five elements, and the human body's five internal and five sensory organs. During Confucius's time, scholars used music’s calming properties to improve and strengthen people’s character and conduct.11

Pythagoras used intervals of harmonic ratios as a type of medicine for "dis-eases" of the body, the emotions and the Soul. He aimed to “align Souls to their divine nature” and through music performed what he called, "Soul Adjustments". This could explain why music is heavily used by propaganda to create the opposite effect as well.12

Music can bring back memories of events, people and places from our past easily — the experience is known as a music-evoked autobiographical memory. Reconnecting us with these self-defining moments, it could be a perfect tool to re-align ourselves13.

Today, scientific research has also validated music’s therapeutic ability to lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, enhance concentration, stabilize heart rate, and more. With Cymatics now available for research in the form of modern instruments, it’s only a matter of time until many assumptions are proven scientifically.

More Mysteries

After completing my latest composition, I stumbled across more mysteries I need to follow up on. For instance, why did I intuitively choose a “Tarantella” rhythm? I never knew its deeper meaning or even played such a piece before. More on that later.

I also started to wonder whether composers are in-tuned (like a radio to a radio station) whilst writing their pieces, given they couldn’t have known the shape of songs and their visualized structure:

But how would this actually work? Who is the sender (radio station) and where in our physiological and mental systems are the receiving antennas? How come only some of us seem to be able to “tune in”?

The answers to these questions will have to wait. But I hope you enjoyed this piece, will listen to it again, sing it out loud, share it with your friends, and if you’d like the sheet music to play it by yourself, just sign up as a premium subscriber and I’ll be happy to share it with you. There is also going to be a real world concert premiere of the compositions mentioned here to which Founding Members will be invited.

In the meantime I hope you have found your very own creative liberation from the many conscious manipulations out there, whether its in the form of music, or otherwise. Do feel free to share in the comments for the benefit of others, too!

My very best, as always,

Toby

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Subliminal Messaging is a term I first heard approximately 15 years ago. It was explained to me by a graphic designer working in the advertising industry1 where this technique2 is very much en vogue. Its history3 stretches the entire last century and during my travels across different international airports, I realized just how much we’re actually exposed to it on a daily basis — whether we want it or not.

What’s “Subliminal” Messaging?

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