Possible agenda of Bernardo's "daemon"

[AshvinP]

Speaking of analytic idealism's non-meta-cognitive "blind nature", also referred to as "universal mind", "mind@large", and "confused boss" - as per Bernardo's dumbfounded words in the video above - and how higher cognition allows to pierce the veil of those persisting, sad speculations on higher consciousness, I've come across this older post by Cleric, that I believe further clarifies higher cognition, and why it is so difficult to grasp for us present-day humans. The post also contains a slightly different presentation angle of the hysteresis process, including visual, that I'm sure can help others solidify understanding of foundational PoF ideas, as it does for me. One can compare this illustration with the various polar opposites that have been used to evoque the hysteresis: thinking vs. thought; what we are doing with our thinking vs. what we are thinking about; nondualism vs. materialism; Lucifer vs. Ahriman; oneness vs. manyness; thinking without content vs. thinking lost in sensory spectrum, etc. I'm pasting without quoting tags, for clarity.

Great find, Federica! There is endless insight to be gained from revisiting these posts with every higher step we take on our own path of moral-cognitive development. It reminds me how fortunate we are to live in these times with widespread access to inflowing spiritual wisdom, if only we adopt the proper perspective and pay the proper attention to realize that abundance.

I hope zardoz gets a chance to check it out and hopefully makes it to the end, where there is a very interesting angle on living into 'you know who'

[Federica]

Speaking of analytic idealism's non-meta-cognitive "blind nature", also referred to as "universal mind", "mind@large", and "confused boss" - as per Bernardo's dumbfounded words in the video above - and how higher cognition allows to pierce the veil of those persisting, sad speculations on higher consciousness, I've come across this older post by Cleric, that I believe further clarifies higher cognition, and why it is so difficult to grasp for us present-day humans. The post also contains a slightly different presentation angle of the hysteresis process, including visual, that I'm sure can help others solidify understanding of foundational PoF ideas, as it does for me. One can compare this illustration with the various polar opposites that have been used to evoque the hysteresis: thinking vs. thought; what we are doing with our thinking vs. what we are thinking about; nondualism vs. materialism; Lucifer vs. Ahriman; oneness vs. manyness; thinking without content vs. thinking lost in sensory spectrum, etc. I'm pasting without quoting tags, for clarity.

Great find, Federica! There is endless insight to be gained from revisiting these posts with every higher step we take on our own path of moral-cognitive development. It reminds me how fortunate we are to live in these times with widespread access to inflowing spiritual wisdom, if only we adopt the proper perspective and pay the proper attention to realize that abundance.

Yes, really fortunate. Also fortunate that, as you said earlier, "cultural relations have evolved alongside individuating spiritual activity to make this possible. Now many people live in situations where we aren't expected to be in constant physical contact with our family, friends, neighbors, etc. We can spend much time in spiritual contemplation without interruption and with access to many resources at our fingertips." I guess these conditions are disappointing for some of the beings of the Black Lodge Cleric's post mentions.

I'm realizing that the reason my external life has taken the turns it has taken might be to make this development possible for me, because I'm certainly not one of the gifted ones who are able to remain focused and make progress by spending 5 focused minutes a day in moral-cognitive development, as Steiner says it's possible to do. I am very grateful for the favorable external conditions. Surely the worst thing I could do now is to believe they are "my property" and to waste them. Maybe a similar realization has occurred to others reading here, to put in contrast with a prior phase in life when one was wondering "what is the meaning of all this?".

I hope zardoz gets a chance to check it out and hopefully makes it to the end, where there is a very interesting angle on living into 'you know who'

I hope so too.

[AshvinP]

I'm realizing that the reason my external life has taken the turns it has taken might be to make this development possible for me, because I'm certainly not one of the gifted ones who are able to remain focused and make progress by spending 5 focused minutes a day in moral-cognitive development, as Steiner says it's possible to do. I am very grateful for the favorable external conditions. Surely the worst thing I could do now is to believe they are "my property" and to waste them. Maybe a similar realization has occurred to others reading here, to put in contrast with a prior phase in life when one was wondering "what is the meaning of all this?".

Federica,

That is a key insight to take hold of and nourish. As Cleric discussed in that post, perceiving the higher-order intents, the curvatures of destiny, which structure the 'frames' of our lives, really helps us grasp our stream of becoming more and more holistically. Even if we are only conceiving them intellectually at first, it will help loosen the intellectual mask which constantly fragments our conception-perception and prepare us for higher cognitive experience. We could say there are a few interwoven spheres of destiny, or 'geodesics' along which our stream of becoming flows. 

1 - destiny as the fourth hierarchy of humanity
2 - epochal destiny (we are now experiencing the 5th post-Atlantean epoch)
3 - destiny within various communities such as family, nation or 'folk'
4 - destiny within current incarnation

We could add several more layers within each of these, like the rhythmic 7-year stages of development within an incarnation or our daily destiny. Any given intent which steers our stream of becoming will relate to all of these overlapping spheres, but to some more proximately than others. Much of that destiny will relate to our physical body interacting with a physical environment - physiology, geography, climate, etc. That remains the most dim to our normal consciousness. But there are also soul-level factors of destiny, like the communities we belong to, the language we share, the way we feel and think through that language, etc. Then there are more purely spiritual factors like our beliefs and world-outlooks. These can become the most lucid to our normal consciousness (but we are still viewing them from the outside-in until we develop imaginative consciousness which penetrates to deeper soul strata responsible for them). 

What you pointed to relates most proximately to #4, but since it concerns higher cognitive development, also to #2. It is the task of the 5th epochal civilization to develop the spiritual soul which becomes more and more receptive to the inflowing Christ impulse towards spiritual freedom and universal love. In the case of everyone here, our destiny was steered towards the world-outlook of analytic idealism, as expressed through BK. It's interesting how there is no conceivable way we would have met on this forum through factors of purely physical or even cultural destiny, which are largely outside our conscious purview and control. It is in the very nature of these forums that they are reached through the tip of our spiritual activity which is relatively free in its lucid life of ideas-ideals. That is especially true if we had to work through materialistic ideas first and make a solemn commitment to deviate from those towards idealism. But now it also remains in our freedom, and therefore our sphere of creative responsibility, to further harmonize our activity with the higher incarnational and epochal intents by pursuing the portals to the supra-sensory which have presented themselves.

Another way to approach these intents is from the top-down perspective, which Cleric also provided with the metaphors relating to Angelic consciousness and our life destiny. We know about the local hysteresis rhythm - after we submerge our will into the sensory spectrum, we 'step back' and contemplate the meaning of the impressions in thinking. Likewise, we could consider our entire incarnation as our higher Self - who is interwoven with the 3rd hierarchy or 'humanity' of previous aeons - submerging into the sensory spectrum. When we die, the fruits of that experience are 'contemplated' across the threshold by the higher beings of our nature to prepare for the next phase of incarnational and epochal destiny. Steiner speaks of the life tableau which we experience in the etheric body for a few days after death and that is a good way to understand what's happening - it provides an extract of our life which gets imprinted into the astral body and expands with us into the Cosmic spheres for further 'contemplation' (now contemplating not only sensory impressions, but our inner soul forces themselves). Every epoch of civilization likewise goes through its hysteresis rhythm, which manifests as phases of materializing impulses and spiritualizing impulses. We have now crossed over the first third of the 5th epoch, which of course descended deep into materialism where we lost consciousness of the spirit altogether. Now we are back in a spiritualizing phase and we can freely harmonize our spiritual activity with the overarching intent of bringing humanity to a consciousness of what takes place across the threshold of death (which is in a certain sense an inner recapitulation/elaboration of the central intent of the 3rd Egyptian epoch). 

[Federica]

I'm realizing that the reason my external life has taken the turns it has taken might be to make this development possible for me, because I'm certainly not one of the gifted ones who are able to remain focused and make progress by spending 5 focused minutes a day in moral-cognitive development, as Steiner says it's possible to do. I am very grateful for the favorable external conditions. Surely the worst thing I could do now is to believe they are "my property" and to waste them. Maybe a similar realization has occurred to others reading here, to put in contrast with a prior phase in life when one was wondering "what is the meaning of all this?".

Federica,

That is a key insight to take hold of and nourish. As Cleric discussed in that post, perceiving the higher-order intents, the curvatures of destiny, which structure the 'frames' of our lives, really helps us grasp our stream of becoming more and more holistically. Even if we are only conceiving them intellectually at first, it will help loosen the intellectual mask which constantly fragments our conception-perception and prepare us for higher cognitive experience. We could say there are a few interwoven spheres of destiny, or 'geodesics' along which our stream of becoming flows. 

1 - destiny as the fourth hierarchy of humanity
2 - epochal destiny (we are now experiencing the 5th post-Atlantean epoch)
3 - destiny within various communities such as family, nation or 'folk'
4 - destiny within current incarnation

We could add several more layers within each of these, like the rhythmic 7-year stages of development within an incarnation or our daily destiny. Any given intent which steers our stream of becoming will relate to all of these overlapping spheres, but to some more proximately than others. Much of that destiny will relate to our physical body interacting with a physical environment - physiology, geography, climate, etc. That remains the most dim to our normal consciousness. But there are also soul-level factors of destiny, like the communities we belong to, the language we share, the way we feel and think through that language, etc. Then there are more purely spiritual factors like our beliefs and world-outlooks. These can become the most lucid to our normal consciousness (but we are still viewing them from the outside-in until we develop imaginative consciousness which penetrates to deeper soul strata responsible for them). 

What you pointed to relates most proximately to #4, but since it concerns higher cognitive development, also to #2. It is the task of the 5th epochal civilization to develop the spiritual soul which becomes more and more receptive to the inflowing Christ impulse towards spiritual freedom and universal love. In the case of everyone here, our destiny was steered towards the world-outlook of analytic idealism, as expressed through BK. It's interesting how there is no conceivable way we would have met on this forum through factors of purely physical or even cultural destiny, which are largely outside our conscious purview and control. It is in the very nature of these forums that they are reached through the tip of our spiritual activity which is relatively free in its lucid life of ideas-ideals. That is especially true if we had to work through materialistic ideas first and make a solemn commitment to deviate from those towards idealism. But now it also remains in our freedom, and therefore our sphere of creative responsibility, to further harmonize our activity with the higher incarnational and epochal intents by pursuing the portals to the supra-sensory which have presented themselves.

Another way to approach these intents is from the top-down perspective, which Cleric also provided with the metaphors relating to Angelic consciousness and our life destiny. We know about the local hysteresis rhythm - after we submerge our will into the sensory spectrum, we 'step back' and contemplate the meaning of the impressions in thinking. Likewise, we could consider our entire incarnation as our higher Self - who is interwoven with the 3rd hierarchy or 'humanity' of previous aeons - submerging into the sensory spectrum. When we die, the fruits of that experience are 'contemplated' across the threshold by the higher beings of our nature to prepare for the next phase of incarnational and epochal destiny. Steiner speaks of the life tableau which we experience in the etheric body for a few days after death and that is a good way to understand what's happening - it provides an extract of our life which gets imprinted into the astral body and expands with us into the Cosmic spheres for further 'contemplation' (now contemplating not only sensory impressions, but our inner soul forces themselves). Every epoch of civilization likewise goes through its hysteresis rhythm, which manifests as phases of materializing impulses and spiritualizing impulses. We have now crossed over the first third of the 5th epoch, which of course descended deep into materialism where we lost consciousness of the spirit altogether. Now we are back in a spiritualizing phase and we can freely harmonize our spiritual activity with the overarching intent of bringing humanity to a consciousness of what takes place across the threshold of death (which is in a certain sense an inner recapitulation/elaboration of the central intent of the 3rd Egyptian epoch). 

Thanks once again, Ashvin. This draws many vanishing lines in the bigger picture, and builds context around the individual intents. In particular, it helps see our earthly life as an instance of decohesion of the higher self idea tipping into spacetime. And if the ‘tip’ itself, the earthy extension, is inspired to awaken and come to life from within the decohered circling, then the movements of the Higher Self are not only powered from its heart, but also lovingly reciprocated from the periphery of its every perception. So we can spiral along the rhythms of destiny more wholly - in a more harmonized way, as you say.
Pausing and looking at this realization within the context of the present incarnation cycle, it’s as if a vague hope, or a forest of question marks, has been replaced by the solid certainty that every question mark gets captured at some level, and will eventually resonate back with meaning. It’s as if there’s a home to head to. It makes a huge difference compared to wandering in the dark, even if the difficulty of the way ahead is unknown. I think we often overthink the painful seeking and wondering side of our condition. There is also the gravitational, attractive power of that ‘home’ - the same home that BK unfortunately cannot glimpse, which makes him 'scream' so sorely - that calls for our recognition and gratitude.

It's interesting how there is no conceivable way we would have met on this forum through factors of purely physical or even cultural destiny, which are largely outside our conscious purview and control. It is in the very nature of these forums that they are reached through the tip of our spiritual activity which is relatively free in its lucid life of ideas-ideals.

Yes, it's related to the mentioned increased accessibility of ideas and resources. We are the first generations able to cultivate and execute on a considerable share of our intents within the sphere of our ideal and soul life, in relative isolation from physical and group/cultural factors. This seems like a huge evolutionary feature. It reminds me of Jung’s autobiography. He opens it (if I remember rightly) by saying that his life had been overwhelmingly marked by inner events, rather than outer ones. At that time, only a few exceptional individuals could live and thrive in relative freedom within the space of their spiritual activity to such a major extent. Today, only a few decades afterwards, such a possibility is within reach for a very large share of people. If we really want, we can detach our cultural and physical destiny from our soul and spiritual ones, making the latter more free, more conscious, and more leading, if we wish so. In its spiritual bearing, this is probably an underestimated ongoing societal change…

[AshvinP]

Yes, it's related to the mentioned increased accessibility of ideas and resources. We are the first generations able to cultivate and execute on a considerable share of our intents within the sphere of our ideal and soul life, in relative isolation from physical and group/cultural factors. This seems like a huge evolutionary feature. It reminds me of Jung’s autobiography. He opens it (if I remember rightly) by saying that his life had been overwhelmingly marked by inner events, rather than outer ones. At that time, only a few exceptional individuals could live and thrive in relative freedom within the space of their spiritual activity to such a major extent. Today, only a few decades afterwards, such a possibility is within reach for a very large share of people. If we really want, we can detach our cultural and physical destiny from our soul and spiritual ones, making the latter more free, more conscious, and more leading, if we wish so. In its spiritual bearing, this is probably an underestimated ongoing societal change…

That's an interesting anecdote from Jung - it's amazing how much has changed in the last 100 years. At the same time, many younger people today imagine the World has always been about the same as it is now - the perspective on the growing World keeps shrinking as long as people fail to acknowledge the spiritual behind the physical which can only come to life from within. It reminds me of this





Perhaps 'detach' isn't the right word, but 'distend'. We can now lift our soul-spirit heads above the water of our cultural and physical destiny, that we were previously swimming in, long enough to differentiate our core individuality which participates in shaping that destiny across incarnations, so as to gradually and consciously (freely) steer our spiritual activity back through the higher-order intents of the culture and natural spheres. The latter are then rediscovered-reinvented in their soul-spiritual essence.

[Federica]

Yes, it's related to the mentioned increased accessibility of ideas and resources. We are the first generations able to cultivate and execute on a considerable share of our intents within the sphere of our ideal and soul life, in relative isolation from physical and group/cultural factors. This seems like a huge evolutionary feature. It reminds me of Jung’s autobiography. He opens it (if I remember rightly) by saying that his life had been overwhelmingly marked by inner events, rather than outer ones. At that time, only a few exceptional individuals could live and thrive in relative freedom within the space of their spiritual activity to such a major extent. Today, only a few decades afterwards, such a possibility is within reach for a very large share of people. If we really want, we can detach our cultural and physical destiny from our soul and spiritual ones, making the latter more free, more conscious, and more leading, if we wish so. In its spiritual bearing, this is probably an underestimated ongoing societal change…

That's an interesting anecdote from Jung - it's amazing how much has changed in the last 100 years. At the same time, many younger people today imagine the World has always been about the same as it is now - the perspective on the growing World keeps shrinking as long as people fail to acknowledge the spiritual behind the physical which can only come to life from within. It reminds me of this


Perhaps 'detach' isn't the right word, but 'distend'. We can now lift our soul-spirit heads above the water of our cultural and physical destiny, that we were previously swimming in, long enough to differentiate our core individuality which participates in shaping that destiny across incarnations, so as to gradually and consciously (freely) steer our spiritual activity back through the higher-order intents of the culture and natural spheres. The latter are then rediscovered-reinvented in their soul-spiritual essence.

I don't really understand the video out of context, but in general I try to refrain from generalizing about younger people. In the past, I used to do it, based on an inherited idea that everything tends to get worse with time, including education, morality, etc., but luckily I've stopped. Also, I get regular counter examples from the younger people I coach or train. Not that we talk about spirituality, but I am often impressed by their qualities.

And I agree, your rephrasing of our newly acquired degree of freedom to differentiate the layers of our destiny is much more appropriate, as it reconciles all the spheres at a higher level of integration.

[xzardozx]

Yes, that's the whole idea!

Since you are familiar with Theosophy, you may also be familiar with Rudolf Steiner. He was a leading teacher of the Theosophical society before leaving to form Anthroposophy. The reasons for that are complex, but generally we could say that the representatives of Theosophy got more and more absorbed into wishy-washy 'new age' spirituality, Divine communications and what not, and lost sight of the Christ Spirit who is incarnate in our Thinking activity (which is also ignored by analytical idealism, the latter focusing only on the Will i.e. the Father). It is through the intimate experience of the depths of this Thinking activity, which we can foster through focused meditations, strength of will exercises, and living engagement with spiritual science, that the Divine cosmos and its intents on Earth - past, present, and future - are revealed to us in the most lucid way. Then we can freely steer our stream of becoming - spirit, soul, and body - in ever-greater harmony with those intents.

Steiner laid out this understanding of intuitive thinking as spiritual activity in the Philosophy of Spiritual Activity - https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA004/Engli ... index.html

Hi, Ashvin. Yes, I'm familiar with Rudolf Steiner and I'm familiar with the problem of "Spiritualism" (or manifesting paranormal phenomena). I think that Tom Campbells formulation of the "Psi Uncertainty Principle" makes a lot of sense, the idea being that the Universe/Creator wants to keep a measure of uncertainty around paranormal phenomena for the time being. They have been proven to exist at places like PEAR labs and SRI, but it's a very subtle effect on random number generators. It's statistically undeniable but still subtle (see The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin). Just an anecdote - I once joined a betting site and I won 6 out of my first 7 bets, almost all of them underdogs. Each of the 7 bets were on a different sport (it was a little experiment). I would take an hour or so to read about the upcoming contest and then decide who to bet on. I would just try to feel who was going to win. Often I would change my mind at the last moment. After winning 6 out of 7, I sadly felt the need to brag about it to someone and it was all over. Now, I couldn't win a bet to save my life. That's the Psi Uncertainty Principle in action. Ego and Psi Phenomena don't seem to mix very well.

The Spirit became a very personal thing for me leading up to 2016, and much earlier than that, but only sporadically until around 2016. The way I see it, Christ is the Son of God and also the Son/Sun of Man. In that same sense that every plant has an inbuilt mechanism of photosynthesis (metaphor for Christ Consciousness) but requires the sun to provide the energy to activate it, so does Christ Consciousness require the Son/Sun of Man to fully activate it. So I think both exist. Saint Germain usually steers me in the direction of Christ as metaphor for Christ Consciousness, making the same point you are making. At least the voice claims to be St. Germain. I can't be sure who is really behind the voices I hear. Have you heard how good these Deep AI Emulators are? Extraordinary. Check out the website, The Infinite Conversation, if you haven't seen it yet.

[AshvinP]

Yes, that's the whole idea!

Since you are familiar with Theosophy, you may also be familiar with Rudolf Steiner. He was a leading teacher of the Theosophical society before leaving to form Anthroposophy. The reasons for that are complex, but generally we could say that the representatives of Theosophy got more and more absorbed into wishy-washy 'new age' spirituality, Divine communications and what not, and lost sight of the Christ Spirit who is incarnate in our Thinking activity (which is also ignored by analytical idealism, the latter focusing only on the Will i.e. the Father). It is through the intimate experience of the depths of this Thinking activity, which we can foster through focused meditations, strength of will exercises, and living engagement with spiritual science, that the Divine cosmos and its intents on Earth - past, present, and future - are revealed to us in the most lucid way. Then we can freely steer our stream of becoming - spirit, soul, and body - in ever-greater harmony with those intents.

Steiner laid out this understanding of intuitive thinking as spiritual activity in the Philosophy of Spiritual Activity - https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA004/Engli ... index.html

Hi, Ashvin. Yes, I'm familiar with Rudolf Steiner and I'm familiar with the problem of "Spiritualism" (or manifesting paranormal phenomena). I think that Tom Campbells formulation of the "Psi Uncertainty Principle" makes a lot of sense, the idea being that the Universe/Creator wants to keep a measure of uncertainty around paranormal phenomena for the time being. They have been proven to exist at places like PEAR labs and SRI, but it's a very subtle effect on random number generators. It's statistically undeniable but still subtle (see The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin). Just an anecdote - I once joined a betting site and I won 6 out of my first 7 bets, almost all of them underdogs. Each of the 7 bets were on a different sport (it was a little experiment). I would take an hour or so to read about the upcoming contest and then decide who to bet on. I would just try to feel who was going to win. Often I would change my mind at the last moment. After winning 6 out of 7, I sadly felt the need to brag about it to someone and it was all over. Now, I couldn't win a bet to save my life. That's the Psi Uncertainty Principle in action. Ego and Psi Phenomena don't seem to mix very well.

The Spirit became a very personal thing for me leading up to 2016, and much earlier than that, but only sporadically until around 2016. The way I see it, Christ is the Son of God and also the Son/Sun of Man. In that same sense that every plant has an inbuilt mechanism of photosynthesis (metaphor for Christ Consciousness) but requires the sun to provide the energy to activate it, so does Christ Consciousness require the Son/Sun of Man to fully activate it. So I think both exist. Saint Germain usually steers me in the direction of Christ as metaphor for Christ Consciousness, making the same point you are making. At least the voice claims to be St. Germain. I can't be sure who is really behind the voices I hear. Have you heard how good these Deep AI Emulators are? Extraordinary. Check out the website, The Infinite Conversation, if you haven't seen it yet.

Zardoz,

The spiritual path of intuitive thinking (which is a Christian esoteric path at its core), is really something completely unfamiliar and unsuspected for modern people, even if we are spiritualists, mysticists, or otherwise have exotic Psi experiences. We have tried on this forum to point people towards it in small stages which progress through the power of their own independent reasoning, which is of critical importance, but I think that also needs to be stated up front in some contexts. Because, at every stage, we are constantly tempted to only understand it in the concepts and experiences which are already familiar to us. The path is about inwardly experiencing (not through the lens of concepts) the cognitive currents which weave together our normal thinking, our soul-life, and our overarching destiny. Ultimately these cognitive currents are nothing other than supra-sensory spiritual beings, their activity, and relationships (which can get quite complex).They aren't experinced as inner voices and communications, though, which necessarily remain at the level of our current conceptual interface, but as unsuspected imaginations and flashes of insight into our evolutionary stream of becoming, as well as the increasingly luminous power of conscience.

You seem like an adventurous spirit who also has a love of Christ/God. So, with that spirit, maybe you are interested in reading through and participating in the following essays which really get to the core of the Christian esoteric path. There is no doubt we can find relevant ideas in the Christian mystics, modern esoteric writers, theosophists, etc., but ultimately this still keeps us looking from the outside-in unless we also inwardly loosen and transform our thinking capacity. That requires us to become intimately familiar with the living flow of our thinking in a way that most people have never even suspected possible.

The Center of the Central Topic (Part I) - viewtopic.php?t=723

The Center of the Central Topic (Part II) - viewtopic.php?t=726

The Center of the Central Topic (Part III) - viewtopic.php?t=730

[xzardozx]

I personally believe Bernardo knows quite a bit more about the Spirit than he has revealed. It's just not the time yet for those kinds of revelations. This is a time of great testing for all humanity. I highly recommend a movie called "The Box" (same director as Donnie Darko and very similar vibe) which is scandalously underrated. If you take the character Frank Langella plays in the movie and, rather than an alien, make him Satan the Adversary, and his minions, rather than mind-controlled slaves, Indoctrinated system drones, then you have a very accurate reflection of what's going on in the world today with regard to testing your Spiritual "mettle" at the End of the Age of Pisces (Revelation of the Method) and the beginning of Aquarius.

[xzardozx]

I personally believe Bernardo knows quite a bit more about the Spirit than he has revealed. It's just not the time yet for those kinds of revelations. This is a time of great testing for all humanity. I highly recommend a movie called "The Box" (same director as Donnie Darko, Richard Kelly (for which he received $9,000!), and very similar vibe) which is scandalously underrated. If you take the character Frank Langella plays in the movie and, rather than an alien, make him Satan the Adversary, and his minions, rather than mind-controlled slaves, Indoctrinated system drones, then you have a very accurate reflection of what's going on in the world today with regard to testing your Spiritual "mettle" at the End of the Age of Pisces (Revelation of the Method) and the beginning of Aquarius.