 
Selected thoughts on human development

Vladimir Poklad

Published by Vladimir Poklad at Smashwords

Copyright 2012, 2013 Vladimir Poklad

This book examines the proverbial meaning of life, which I take to mean developing individual self-awareness and self-sufficiency. It also addresses the role of temptation in the process of this development, as well as becoming conscious of the near boundlessness of one's opportunities. The book also analyzes the five main conditions of the human mind (slave, Servant, Master, Warrior, Priest) and behavior typical of people in these conditions as they go through life participating in various organizations, societies, and their own families.

The book is intended for people interested in philosophy, psychology, sociology, management, and esotericism, as well as those looking for self-improvement. Don't think of it as a treatise on spirituality; rather, it's a systematized collection of thoughts that I would have been appreciated hearing in my youth, or maybe even in my childhood.

Disclaimer: the content of this text represents the author's own thoughts and opinions, drawn from his personal experience. Author assumes no liability for any action taken by the reader based on this content.

©Vladimir Poklad

Translated from Russian by Anna Zaigraeva

Moscow – Novaya Kakhovka, 2013
Table of content

1. Foreword

2. The meaning of life

2.1 The birth of the Universe: self-sufficiency as the primary Creative attribute

2.2 What is good, and what is bad: the Earth as the playground for mankind's development

2.3 The Regulator of man's Creative development

2.3.1. Who is the Regulator?

2.3.2 "Sweetness" of sin: choosing development consciously

2.3.3. The role of the Devil in religions

2.3.4. Motivational mechanisms of the Devil and his Servants

2.4. Why vanity is the primary sin, and how the Devil plays with "chosenness"

2.5. Self-sufficiency and self-awareness: East vs. West

3. Human's state of mind

3.1. Foreword

3.2. Defining the states of mind: slaves, Servants, Masters, Warriors, Priests

3.2.1. The slave

3.2.2. The Servant

3.2.2.1 Mechanisms for creating and maintaining the state of Servitude

3.2.2.2. Revolutionary and evolutionary roles of the 'meroplankton': the Servant avant-garde

3.2.2.3. Meroplankton's pathways of development

3.2.2.4. On current social ideas

3.2.2.5. Some more on meroplankton's possible evolutionary role

3.2.3. The Master

3.2.4. The Warrior

3.2.5. The Priest

3.3. How to spot slaves who mimic other states of mind

3.4. Romantic relationships between people in different states of mind

3.4.1 Commentary

3.4.2. Possible romantic relationship dynamics between people in different states of mind

3.5. States of mind considered at macro level: community and society at large

3.5.1. Introduction

3.5.2. The Servant - the state of mind created by contemporary civilization

3.5.3. Contemporary economic theory: "limited" resources for slaves and Servants, boundless world of creative opportunities for all others

3.5.4. The struggle: the Priests and the Warriors versus the Masters

3.5.5 The real meaning behind social structures: creating the conditions for development of the creative human mind

3.5.6. Alternative social systems

3.5.7. Social structures in USA, China and Europe, in brief

3.5.7.1. USA

3.5.7.2. China

3.5.7.3. Europe

3.6. State of mind considered at micro level: the workplace

3.6.1. Master-centered workplace

3.6.2. Priest-Servant workplace

3.6.3. The problem of slaves in the workplace

3.6.4. Competition: busywork for slaves, training and review for Servants, unlimited creative opportunities for higher states of mind

3.6.5. Workplace management and states of mind

3.6.5.1. Some thoughts on how workplaces function

4. How to cease being a slave: personal experience and thoughts

4.1. Introduction

4.2. External plan of action

4.3. Internal plan of action

5. Conclusion
1. Foreword

Why doesn't higher education, even one obtained from an elite institution, guarantee success or happiness? Why do jocks often succeed in the world of business, and nerds fail? Why is modern life the way it is? In fact, why does mankind exist at all? And why can't anyone - neither science, nor religion, nor any purveyor of esoteric teachings - help me answer these questions? Where do I turn?

Like many other people who strive to think things through, I've asked myself these questions for years. I sought answers in my college education in Russia but found none. I began to study philosophy and religion; they gave me some glimmers of insight but no answers and no thorough understanding of any issue. Then I entered the Masters of Business Administration program at the University of Chicago. I learned a lot there but left with more questions than I came in with, chief among them being 'Why do things that work in America not work in Russia?' After getting my MBA, I returned to Moscow and joined McKinsey, a leading management consulting firm. Working there also saddled me with new questions, ones that insisted on being addressed more urgently.

For a while I began to look for answers in conspiracy theories. However, upon closer examination the 'theorists' themselves turned out to be even more unpleasant than the 'conspirators' they were decrying. Some of them did impart tidbits of useful knowledge to their followers, but they still communicated by instilling fear rather than teaching joy or promulgating any real understanding of life. I joined some esoteric circles, with similar results. One heard a lot more about joy and happiness there, but the gurus themselves often didn't follow their own teachings and were neither especially happy nor successful.

As I collected these tidbits of useful knowledge wherever life took me, I began to examine and aggregate them, piecing together a large-scale picture of the world. I was also starting to discover answers to a lot of the questions that bothered me. Initially, I worked only to advance my own understanding, but after attracting some attention and curiosity from acquaintances, I decided to write this book. I do not consider my beliefs to be one hundred percent accurate, and I certainly don't fancy myself any kind of guru or prophet. Rather, I'm looking to share some personal thoughts in order to learn what other people think about them.

This text contains a fair amount of religious and esoteric terminology, which I used where scientific language proved inadequate. I consider myself an advocate of the scientific method, i.e. learning about the world using facts and logical reasoning. Nevertheless, I believe that there are some important aspects of our lives better described by the language of spirituality.

I will be the first to admit that the book is rather raw and unpolished, and that it might put some readers off with its categorical statements and peculiar concepts. Nevertheless, the thoughts relayed in it are the product of many years of personal experience and reflection, and I hope that they provide you with some fresh perspective on a few fundamental questions.

2. The meaning of life

2.1. The birth of the Universe: self-sufficiency as the primary Creative attribute.

One recent gray October morning, I was sitting in a Moscow Starbucks waiting for yet another pointless interview with yet another so-called "successful manager", and I began to wonder just what I was doing there All around me, things were not working out, and projects were going sideways. The people around me rubbed me the wrong way, and the work was not agreeing with me. Suddenly, I had a vision of the birth of our Universe. Imagine the gray concrete morning and all the office drones around you disappearing, and there is nothing at all left, just empty vacuum at absolute zero. And now imagine Someone (or Something) becoming so overfull with energy, and what I would call joie de vivre, that in one instant, they transformed all that icy void into a gigantic and beautiful living world! Obviously, in order to do that, it was necessary for this Being or Thing to separate Itself from the void around, i.e. to become self-sufficient. They had to first create the Universe within Themselves; only then could They project it outward.

I am not at all a religious person – you'll see further ahead why – but I do agree with the main precept of almost every religion: we are all children of the Creator of the Universe. One can suppose that as a part of Their own self-actualization and expression of Their love, the Creator desired to make and raise Their own equals, Creators in their own right that might even eventually surpass Them. In any case, I am certain that our life here on Earth is an opportunity given to us to develop divine, Creative qualities. And the foremost of these qualities is, in my opinion, self-sufficiency.

I believe that self-sufficiency is existence within the specific boundaries of one's own personal internal space, through which the person interacts with the outside world. That space and the extent of those boundaries determine both the completeness and the uniqueness of each individual. Establishing self-sufficiency is the first step towards creating one's own personal mini-Universe, which we can develop as we experience more and more of the world.

Self-sufficiency is the ability to interact properly with the outside world. By acting properly, I mean taking only what we require for our ongoing evolution and giving back to the world the results of our Creative development. It does not mean that we must live in material poverty – after all, developing one's own mini-Universe, expanding its depth and fullness and variety, requires its material enrichment as well. But this enrichment must be considered a set of tools, a means to further one's creativity rather than an end goal.

I consider any desire to take something from the outside world just to satisfy a desire rather than to develop as a person a sort of "stretching out" of one's own space. This "stretching out" deprives people of their self-sufficiency. One can "stretch out" for many things, not just material wealth but also emotions or experiences. I want to stress one important point – desires are important! I consider desires as the first identifier and attribute of life. However, desire should stay inside of self-sufficiency boundaries, pushing human to self-development and act to get the desired object. If desire tears self-sufficiency boundaries and goes out, it becomes parasitic and so makes human not self-sufficient. We'll examine this crucial point a bit further on.

It's also unwise to let anyone into your inner space – this also deprives us of self-sufficiency, as well as our creative primacy. This does not mean that one shouldn't have friends and loved ones. On the contrary, spending time with other people is the best path to mutual improvement and creative development. One just has to keep in mind that every person carries their own mini-Universe inside them, and its boundaries must be respected.

In my opinion, true and genuine joy can only be achieved though self-sufficiency. Only when we are self-sufficient do we get to experience moments when we feel that primal, divine energy bestowed on us by our Creator. When we don't feel that way, it means that we are not self-sufficient, that we are wasting our divine energy on someone or something outside of ourselves, often without even realizing it. I learned from personal experience that being in this joyful state can enable us to exert a positive influence on events around us with the power of our thoughts and our will. The concentration of divine energy in those moments seems to reach a certain maximum and allow us to improve our surroundings. The Creator permits us to do this in his Universe, because during these moments of true joy we discover our own inner Creator and can thus be permitted to exercise and train our event-shaping faculties. This condition is best reached through occupying oneself with some kind of enthralling creative work. Just don't forget, once you reach that state of truly Creative joy, the demands made of you will be incomparably higher than before, and the punishment for giving in to base and insipid desires will be much harsher.

Many religions accept attaining self-sufficiency as the ultimate goal of a human life. The example is supposedly set for us by ascetics and holy hermits who spent their lives in prayer, subsisting only on bread and water. Their endeavor was genuinely noble; their example shows the rest of us what it means not to 'stretch out' of ourselves towards desirable things. However, that is only half the task at hand. Imagine how much more noble it would have been for them to lead full lives in that state, making the world a better place and enriching the Universe! Certainly that would be the kind of examined life truly worth living. However, that would require not only self-sufficiency but also self-awareness, which one must employ to choose pathways of development and Creativity. We will examine this further on.

2.2. What is good and what is bad? The Earth as the playground for human development

Many thinkers, esoteric philosophers and religious activists agree on one fact: God the Creator is Love. I decided to make this vague definition more specific and came up with the following: God is Love, and Love is the desire to increase the beloved object's depth, breadth, and variety in the long term. Therefore, God is ultimately a Thing or Being that has actualized Its will to augment, multiply and diversify the entire Universe. And as children of the Creator who are continuously learning, we also measure all actions in Love, most of the time perhaps unconsciously. We do this by checking whether these actions, ours or other people's, increase depth, breadth, and variety within ourselves and the world in the long term.

For this reason, I disagree with those who say that there is no such thing as "good" or "bad" in the world. "Good" means Love, i.e. enhancing and expanding ourselves and the world in the long term. "Bad," therefore, is destroying or degrading ourselves and the world in the long term. Telling them apart is not always easy. Sometimes we must do "bad" things in the short term in order to Create in the long run. And sometimes we do a "good" thing, only to discover that its long-term effects are destructive. To tell them apart effectively, one must develop personal awareness, which we will discuss a bit further on. This will teach us how to tell creative pathways of development from destructive ones.

One can state with some certainty that humanity's current activity on Earth decreases depth, richness and diversity of the Earth itself and of the Universe in general. I.e., overall, we act as parasites. Nevertheless, in the course doing this, we are still learning and developing our Creativity. One can suppose that the Creator suffers our stupidity in hope that, in due time, we will come to our senses and begin to use our skills and knowledge for better ends. I am, however, afraid that if we don't learn how to tell creative pathways from destructive ones soon, the Creator might cease to put up with us, and our whole civilization might crash and burn. And should we transition to a higher level, a new playground awaits us, as more mature Creators: the solar system, where some planets are potentially suitable for habitation and thus further Creation.

2.3. The Regulator of man's Creative development

2.3.1 Who is the Regulator?

Cultivating inner divinity requires a mentor who would discipline the learner for incorrect and unCreative activity. This is why a Regulator was created to monitor and punish our behavior when we act inappropriately. The more highly developed a person, the more attention they get, and the greater the demands placed on them. They are also put to harder tests and subject to more intricate trials. When and if they fail, the level of their punishment is determined by how consciously they choose to exist as parasites rather as Creative individuals. They also gets punished more and more severely each time they commit the same mistakes, even if they do it unconsciously. This control is exacted most strictly at the cutting edge of human progress, in the worlds of science and art. Every scientific or artistic innovation gets tested for Creative content; if there is none, the person responsible is punished. This is how the Regulator works. I think you will agree that he is, indeed, a man of wealth and taste. I hope that by now you've guessed his name.

Some people who come to realize the Devil's role as a divinely inspired Regulator choose to worship him as the actual deity. It's an easy mistake to make: taken in by the Devil's cleverness and erudition, as well as his developing role in the modern world, they simply don't see the forest for the trees. There is no need to deify the Regulator as though he were the Creator. He is neither good nor bad; he is simply doing his job. Using IT lingo, he's a service function – perhaps the best service function ever conceived. And even though we owe this function our respect and understanding, we shouldn't forget that one of its primary duties is to delete excessively buggy souls.

The Devil is always around at the cutting edge of thought and development, doing his best to pervert every new idea. Ultimately, his task is to try and put it to some destructive purpose, then punish mankind itself for implementing his plans. His mission has only two possible outcomes: either humanity will actualize some of their divine starter attributes and ascend to a new level of development, or he will deprive humanity of consciousness and self-sufficiency entirely. (I heard someone conjecture not too long ago that perhaps the apes we see today did not descend from our common ancestors but are actually atavistic remnants of failed civilizations before ours.) It is up to us to decide in which direction to move.

2.3.2 "Sweetness" of sin: choosing development consciously

What makes destructive things so attractive? Why is sin so sweet? Is it some kind of a bug in the human code? Coordinating this inquiry with the question about the meaning of life and the various paths of human development, I realized that besides the sweetness of sin, there is also the sweetness of creation. Let's take a simple example. If I drink beer and watch TV every day, it makes me relaxed and happy. In the long term, however, I will start noticing that every day I get a little heavier, a little dumber, and a little more sluggish. But now let's say instead of watching TV and drinking beer I hit the gym. Working out isn't easy – I have to get to the gym, put in a fair amount of time, work out muscle groups systematically to achieve the results I want. It's hard, sometimes even painful, but after a while I become slimmer and stronger, my head gets clearer, and I have more energy.

This example highlights two different kinds of rewarding happiness: the short-term happiness of sin (in this case indulging in TV and beer) with destructive long-term effects, and the challenging but constructive happiness of getting in shape. Thinking further, I realized something: if the challenging happiness of long-term improvement were the only one available to us, then no one would sin: everyone would act constructively, unconsciously as well as consciously, in order to be happy. But since the indulgence of sin provides such a quick and easy substitute, constructiveness, or Creativity, must always be a conscious choice. To act constructively, a person must affirm to themselves: "I am making the conscious decision to be Creative rather than destructive and to develop the divine within myself and the world." Many people never actually make such conscious choices, wasting their lives instead in petty destructive activities which undermine both themselves and the world.

Therefore, the second key trait for development of inner divinity is to seek out and consciously follow pathways of long-term constructive development, both within ourselves and out in the world. Of course, this is not as simple as it sounds. Any action, even if it seems essentially constructive, can also have destructive results; for instance, exercise can lead to injury, etc. This can happen if the person doesn't see the big picture of what they are doing and does not pay close enough attention to signs indicating whether they are on the right track. Here are a few such signs, both tangible and intangible; the list in not exhaustive, but it can be useful in indentifying the extent to which an action is Creative, i.e. constructive.

• An intuitive sense that you are doing the right thing. Keep in mind that intuition works correctly only when you are devoid of fear and your thoughts are calm and settled

• Favorability of external circumstances. Despite the fact that any Creative action requires not only willpower but also an intellectual and often physical effort, external circumstances tend to favor it. If you feel 'stuck', then you are probably not heading in the right direction, or you are heading there without a truly Creative purpose. Often, when you are doing something destructive, even unconsciously, your life becomes difficult in a hundred different ways: things break, people argue, flights get delayed or cancelled, etc. The more you delude yourself and the more stubbornly you persist in your error, the less favorable the external circumstances will be

• The rational basis for your actions. There's a certain acerbic question that one hears occasionally which serves as an excellent test: "And you're doing this in order to... what?" It quickly calms down the buzz of inane intellectualizing in your head and focuses your thoughts on figuring out whether your actions are truly Creative

• Relationships with family, friends and colleagues. The better they are, and the better they become, the more likely it is that you are headed in the right, i.e. Creative direction

• Physical condition – health, energy level, mood. Just as the relationship factor, this indicator really makes itself known in the long term

You can find more detailed descriptions of these indicators in self-help literature. In any case, it should be mentioned that self-aware and well thought-out actions should lead to physical and mental health, a contented mood, creative achievements, and good relationships with friends and loved ones. Watch out: the Devil will invariably try and lure you off the right track with empty promises of a glorious future, all the while making you suffer in the here and now. The Regulator is very apt at making pointless suffering look like the natural hardship of self-improvement. It is up to each of us to learn how to distinguish between the two.

2.3.3. The Devil's role in various religions

Ask yourself this simple question: what would be the easiest way for the Devil to earn humanity's trust? The answer is simple: by pretending to be God. This is why there is such a swarm of religious teachings out there, each one claiming to be the truth and nothing but the truth and promising its followers eternal life and boundless bliss. This multitude of religions accomplishes several very important educational goals:

  * People learn to get in touch with God from within themselves rather than run around looking for Him in the physical world outside. Although a lot of people understand this intuitively, many also make the mistake of attaching themselves to one particular religion and one specific notion of God.

  * The people get tested once more for self-awareness and self-sufficiency. Any religion or dogma can make a slave out of a person if used improperly. Some religions, like the Russian Orthodox faith, are not even ashamed to admit it; they declare man openly to be a "slave of God". But God has absolutely no use for slaves; He wants us to be His children, healthy, happy, and free. Interestingly, in the English Bible, the same phrase is translated as "servant of God" rather than "slave." It may be in part due to this cultural heritage and self-description that English-speaking cultures became Servant-based, whereas Russia remains essentially a society of slaves.

  * People receive tidbits of divine knowledge. However, each such tidbit contains a sort of 'fish hook' cleverly hidden there by the Devil. For instance, the concepts of humility and asceticism have great Creative meaning if used to reject 'stretching out' towards vain and pointless worldly pleasures. Then they can make one's soul feel light and unburdened. On the other hand, the very same humility can be interpreted as voluntary self-enslavement. It is therefore up to you whether to adopt humility without subjugating yourself to some religious institution or tradition, or to descend deeper and deeper into spiritual slavery, well-meant though it may be.

Let us try to elaborate on this logically. If the Creator wants us, Their children, to develop the divinity They bestowed on us, then They must give us the conditions required for this development, as well as an opportunity to be entirely self-sufficient. Imagine if there was only one religion, and the Creator revealed Themselves to its members directly. Everyone would immediately lose all sense of responsibility for their own actions. It would be like forever remaining in spiritual kindergarten, where you can count on the big Adult to think of everything through for you. Even in this world, devoid of direct and immediate revelations by the Almighty, some people manage to live their lives in this way. If the Creator were to suddenly appear to us, everyone's self-sufficiency would immediately go out the window

The people most inclined to organized religion are those who have lost touch with their inner divinity. It is not an accident that 'religio' in Latin means 're-connecting', restoring touch with something. And as people look for something to connect to, they find the Devil at their service, ready to lead them on to full loss of self-sufficiency and self-awareness, i.e. towards spiritual slavery.

This is why "God", as the Devil portrays him, is so accessible: the true path to developing Godhood within oneself is long and arduous, full of difficult Creative labor, whereas it's only one small step towards the Devil, i.e. degradation. Contemporary religions, like mass-produced fast food, is advertized on every corner and often leads to the same enslavement and degradation. The Devil is always ready to supply you with goodie, be they chips and beer or religious sentiment. The pay is, as always, the same: your vital energy.

Satanism, when considered as just a religion among many, is a curious case. With other religions, the Devil has to play God in order to gain followers. In Satanism, he gets to pan his own performance. As a result, some people take his often well-reasoned critique as a cue to worship the Devil, who is simply wearing his own mask for a change rather than that of "God". Paradoxically, those who attempt to analyze and critique God-centered religions for themselves get accused of "Satanism" by the Devil attired in his God mask. This leaves mankind perpetually oscillating inside a sealed-off spiritual space between the Devil wearing a "God" mask and the Devil wearing a "Devil" mask. If you think about it, all conflicts stem from this false dualism. First the Devil goads one party into taking something from another party, perhaps disguising the act as somehow virtuous; then he reveals the first party's intentions to the second party, which stirs them to hatred, and therefore brings on even more reasons for the first party to be an aggressor. In this way, the Devil plays every side in every conflict; his only intent is to inspire confrontation and destruction. The only way out of conflict is inward: finding the Creator within, developing the Creator within, and offering the fruit of this development to the outside world.

It's worth commenting on some contemporary New Age teachings, in particular those prophesying the end of the world in this or the other year. Admittedly, new spiritual movements as well as revived ancient ones often bear useful information about how to reach harmony with oneself, Nature, and the whole Universe. However, they tend to forget that no one's fired the Devil from his job yet, and that his job is to cleverly test their teachings with his entire bag of tricks. As a rule, the Devil ends up leading adherents of these new movements astray towards fruitless pseudo-spiritual self-seeking, making them ascend fake ladders to non-existent 'levels' of consciousness or enlightenment, or else he creates ordinary slave cults window-dressed with love and harmony. With regards to the so-called end of the world, I hope you've realized by now that it's a rather straightforward case of 'stretching out'– in this case, towards some supposed Savior who will suddenly appear among us and either fix everything we've screwed up or destroy us all. Either scenario absolves us of all responsibility for our actions and need to think of the future.

It doesn't really matter for the Devil which name to call himself, be it God's name, or maybe just "enlightened teacher" or "indigo child". From that, I consider the scientific approach towards investigating the world the only divinely favored, because it develops both a person's self-awareness and their self-sufficiency. It also designates them responsible for their own actions. But even here the Devil takes things to absurdity – after all, scientific materialism denies the very concept of divinity. Still, to quote Albert Einstein, science without religion is blind. Unguided, it becomes nothing more than a soulless instrument used by mankind to exploit the world and each other. If science could be somehow imbued with an understanding of the divine, it would be a great impetus to its development, as well as that of mankind in general.

More and more people begin to awaken and gain self-awareness, and I hope that this positive development will continue. Perhaps the Devil and his assistants have taken their game a bit too far, like Agent Smith in the "Matrix". They are creating conditions that make development way too difficult, and God might yet give people a handicap in the form of access to additional knowledge, so that our civilization might not perish. Still, I doubt this will be done openly: the purity of the experiment in developing mankind's self-sufficiency must be preserved.

I consider it a very positive thing that we are surrounded by so many religions. Each one carries within it crumbs of God, which we must work to collect and use to develop our own inner divinity. That is one of our methods of development: to consciously select bits of the Creative, assemble them into a coherent Universe within ourselves, and then work to reCreate it out in the material world. I am also certain that many religious leaders honestly try to carry knowledge of the divine to the people, and that they are not blind to their own religions' faults of their own religions: they simply see no other way of bringing God to others, or others to God.

2.3.4. Motivating mechanisms of the Devil and his Servants

It seems to me that the most likely thing motivating the Devil and his assistants to control and punish humanity is vital energy. One can conceive of life as such as a certain kind of vital energy present within each of us. This energy can be developed with Creative activities; we can also absorb it or share it voluntarily with others. Many people simply waste it. It seems that energy is also the currency in which we often pay for our mistakes in development. And it is this energy that the Devil seems to be after. After all, he has none of his own.

In general, I have a feeling that that's all anybody ever wants from us is our vital energy. This is the only real currency in existence, in today's society, at least - and I suspect perhaps in the entire Universe. Today's consumer society is built around the various ways of pumping vital (divine) energy out of us.

For instance: as soon as you 'stretch out' towards something you want, the Devil will grasp you by the stretched-out hand and begin to pump vital energy out of you. When I talk about a 'stretched-out' hand, I don't just mean something as straight-forward as trying to steal something you like. One can 'stretch out' towards unhealthy emotions, vivid impressions, or ego-stroking praise. Even things that don't appear to involve 'stretching out', like malicious gossip, are really that: you build yourself up by tearing others down. If we look at the main sins listed in the Bible, they all involve an act of 'stretching out' towards something. This is parasitic, an intentional refusal to Create and develop. I want to point out, by the way, that the Devil loves to catch us when we are utterly overjoyed at something, since at that moment, everything seems wonderful and beautiful, and we are quite suggestible.

Naturally, the Devil is motivated to push us towards wrongful action; he has no vital energy of his own, so he has to feed on our mistakes. And so, after you've stretched out your hand, the Devil grabs you and pulls energy out of you in direct proportion to your desire to be a parasite on the world at large. Given that he is devoid of his own energy, the Devil will avoid direct action at all cost. Instead, he will try to lure you down the wrong path, so that he can consume your wasted energy and possibly even that of other people. Don't you think that the pointless hustle and bustle of a typical office cube farm is an excellent illustration of this?

One of the functions of prisons is to limit people's access to objects of possible 'stretching out' and to teach them, gradually, to find contentment within themselves. Monasteries serve much the same function. It would be wonderful if these places also instilled a sense of self-awareness. Of course, the Devil is also greatly interested in correctional facilities; they are precisely where he works to bring out the worst in people who are most vulnerable to sin and most in need of correction.

Not every parasite is pumped dry by the Devil directly. The Regulator requires assistants to serve as collection channels for mankind's vital energy. These human channels remain in use as long as the Devil needs them; he might even let them keep some energy for themselves. Still, sooner or later they too are abandoned and replaced, and before that happens, the Devil is sure to empty them of all that they have collected.

The second reason for why punishment for parasitic behavior doesn't catch up with the transgressor right away is obvious: the principle is the same as behind the "sweetness" of sin. If parasites were punished quickly and decisively, then people would learn not to "stretch out" of themselves (by sinning or through parasitic intent) simply out of fear rather than out of a conscious choice to stay on the wholesome creative path of development.

2.4. A specific case of self-sufficiency. Why vanity is the ultimate sin. The question of whether any group of people can be "chosen".

I've long been preoccupied by the question of vanity. Why is vanity the Devil's favorite sin to exploit? I believe I have figured it out. When a person takes a step up in their development, they rise above those around them and become aware of the difference between themselves and less developed people. The Devil then tests the person by whispering to them: "You are better than these folks – that entitles you to take whatever you want from them." Recall that the meaning of self-sufficient development for a person is giving, sharing with the world all the abilities, knowledge, experience and skills they have cultivated. Vanity may not be the most widespread sin, but it is the main roadblock on the path to development. Since it tends to entrap primarily more developed and cultivated people, it is also punished more severely than other sins.

This sin and its consequences get expressed most vividly with groups. For instance, some people gather, united by personal success and a common drive towards global Creative development and progress. Because a group has more opportunities than a single individual, and its intentions are relatively noble, the group will readily attract the Devil's attention, and he will do his utmost to bait and hook them with the following thought: "Since you are so much better than others, why don't you just use them? It's your prerogative as their betters. It will be for their own good."

Of course, in reality the process is much more complicated, but the aim and principle are the same: to distract people from developing themselves and giving back to the world and to lead them towards devouring resources under the guise of exercising their natural right as everyone's betters. The Devil can sometimes hook entire nations this way: Germans were once hooked on the idea of racial superiority and therefore absolute right to control and rule other lands and peoples; Americans are hooked on trying to bring democracy to 'oppressed' nations; Russians and Jews are both obsessed with the idea of their ethnicity's special relationship with God. The explanation is always the same: "We are the best; we're surrounded by enemies, so we have to defend our stuff and also teach others how to lead better lives." The result is always the same: conflict, war, destruction, and a well-fed and satisfied Devil.

We should all assist each other in developing rather than let ourselves get baited by enmity of any kind. It may well be that different nationalities somehow stand in different proximities to God, but those who consider themselves closer ought to understand that this means more must be asked of them. The only way to prove this proximity is to work on increasing depth, breadth, and variety of the world.

Based on everything said above, I formulated something crucial: a person has as much Divine in them as they had Created themselves, and there is as much Devil as they claim to have God. To take a simple example, if a person did 10 units of Creative work but claims to possess 100 units of God, then they really have 100 units of the Devil and only 10 of God. I.e., the person remains almost entirely destructive and then wonders why nobody loves them. It follows that one ought to Create and not claim more credit than is due one, and this is advisable not just for individuals but also for whole nations.

One should also not try to ambush and confront the Devil. He has no existence outside of man's destructive actions. However, if we catch someone engaging in a destructive activity, we ought to remember that this is still a human being and not some incarnation of Universal evil; everything they do is done in an effort to attain divinity. It is worthwhile to help each other understand our mistakes and correct them, rather than simply punish each other.

2.5. A specific case of self-sufficiency and self-awareness: East vs. West

Eastern religions examine the concept of self-sufficiency in great depth. A prime example of this is Buddhism, which considers the optimal state of the human mind to be one where it rests content within itself, not reaching out towards anything and not letting anything inside itself. This brings it into harmonious balance with the outside world. At the same time, these religions lack the concept of Creative development. For instance, the Hindu Vedas spend a lot of time treating the questions of harmony but almost none on the questions of Creation.

Western religions, in contrast, regard active Creative development as one of mankind's main purposes, so in countries where these religions predominate, this attitude shapes both their domestic and their foreign policies. However, their lack of focus on harmony often leads to harsh and often aggressive actions. Humanity should work to combine the positive aspects of both Eastern and Western religions for optimal guidance.

3. The five states of the human mind

3.1. Foreword

The classification given below is based on whether or not a person has either of the two main divine qualities: self-awareness and self-sufficiency. The names of these categories intersect in some ways with the Varnas of Hindu Vedas, but their meanings are fundamentally different. To give the analysis more dimensionality, one can also factor in the scope of a person's self-awareness rather than only its presence. A Servant who works at a global level will have greater awareness than, for instance, a Warrior who is only active at regional level. It is this broadened scope that leads so many young people to become Servants, and it is up to the Devil to get them to trade in all their self-sufficiency for it. More on this later.

Every state of mind starting from Servant and up is essentially Creative. Any self-aware person will always try to be Creative. If a person acts as an outright parasite, they are almost certainly in a slave state of mind – even if they occupy a position that presupposes a higher state of mind and resembles a Master, a Warrior, or a Priest on the outside. They might have even been in a higher state of mind previously, but they failed the Devil's tests and slid back down to a parasitic existence, becoming a slave but still retaining some aspects of a higher consciousness. The people most susceptible to such degradation are Priests, because the highest state of mind is always subject to the strictest demands and toughest testing by the Devil. Perhaps the Priests can also become slaves to even higher-developed entities themselves, gradually putting the entire society into a state of enslavement.

Keep in mind that practically every person has the opportunity to develop themselves to heights whose loftiness we cannot even imagine yet, and to do it from every current state of mind. Also, this classification ought to be used primarily for defining one's own state of mind and not for accusing others of being slaves or 'sheeple'. That sort of behavior is one of the main hallmarks of a truly enslaved mind. The best way to make your spiritual and mental development apparent to others is to help them develop their own self-awareness and self-sufficiency.

3.2. States of mind and their definitions: slaves, Servants, Masters, Warriors, Priests

3.2.1. Slave

Slaves are neither self-sufficient nor self-aware. They define themselves and their well-being entirely through outside factors: job, religion, country, other people's opinions, various dogmas and theories. Because they lack self-sufficiency, this person tends to acquire a lot of long-lasting addictive behaviors: work, some aspect of their daily routine, alcohol, cigarettes, various fears, etc.

A slave never considers the long-term consequences of their actions, and they neither see nor want to see connections between events, neither on local nor on global scale. In consequence, the person acts like an inside-out gastro-intestinal tract, always out to absorb as much as possible and give back as little as they can. This state of being 'inside-out' dooms them to consume without end on one hand, and on the other hand to seek ever more elaborate explanations for why they are never satisfied with what they consume.

The slave does not realize that they should live to increase long-term breadth, depth and variety within themselves and in the outside world. Instead of aiming towards that goal, the slave either acts altogether unthinkingly, or they pick some specific idea and follow it blindly. As a result they either waste their time and effort in useless pursuits, or they attain some goal prescribed by their dogma but without improving either themselves or the world by it. Furthermore, a slave who blindly follows any idea will never be happy, because happiness is born from within, and they will be firmly attached to the idea, which exists entirely outside and apart from them.

A lack of capacity to imagine and understand other ways of life leads the slave to reject and despise everything different from themselves. However, once the slave realizes the ease of consuming things that are different – cultural phenomena, material goods, modes of behavior, - they will accept them as their own and protect them with wild fervor.

One of the slave's main problems is that they don't understand that other states of mind exist and treat everyone they encounter as other slaves. Any deviation from their own mindset, especially manifestations of joy or self-sufficiency, elicit from them intense hatred and attempts to return the person back to the "normal" state of enslavement by any means necessary. It is pointless to argue with a slave; they have no self-awareness. They are like programs running entirely from code written by other people.

The most telling signs of a society or an organization peopled by slaves are fear, hatred, and lots of pointless activity. If one thinks about it, hatred is an emotional declaration that we want to take something from someone, and fear is the declaration that we are afraid of having something taken from us. These emotions accompany slaves practically everywhere they go, because they either try to take something from the outside world or live in fear of losing something they're attached to. Neither development nor Creation is possible in a society or organization with such an atmosphere, because all green shoots of Creativity will be immediately devoured by insatiable slaves.

Creation is possible only in an atmosphere of love, in its divine sense rather than its widely understood and overused one. Divine love is nothing more or less than intent to deepen, broaden, and diversify the world. In other words, hatred represents intention to take something away, and love represents intention to give something. It is therefore pointless to try and get Creative processes going in a society ruled by an enslaved hive mind. No amount of good intentions, innovations, or investments will yield any result until a thorough job is made of inculcating at very least self-awareness within the given organization or society.

With regards to pointless activity, it is brought forth by a veritable maelstrom of micro-desires and micro-fears constantly swirling inside a slave's head. Any hurried, fussy activity betrays an atmosphere of enslavement; nothing produced in such an atmosphere can be Creative in the long run. A person can work hard and fast when they are inspired, but inspiration comes from within; it requires self-work and focus. Bosses with slave mind-sets, on the other hand, try to emulate inspiration in their employees simply by hurrying them along. This makes the employees lose all self-awareness and makes it impossible to become emotionally invested in what they do. Consequently, the result of their work will necessarily be short-lived.

Society's main error with regards to slaves is the supposition that if a slave is given outward "freedoms", they will in fact become free. But freedom is an inward rather than an outward state. It rests on an absence of dependencies. Declaring slaves to be free merely leads them to find new dependencies to adopt and nurture. One such dependency prevalent in our day and age is ever-increasing consumption – a vain attempt to fill an inner void.

To bring analysis to the next level of details, I would distinguish slaves into ones having and not having desires. Slave full of desires – is a king of the hill, if the society loses its guarding mechanisms. It is not so vivid in America, a Servants' society, but, for example, in current Russia, neither self-sufficiency nor self-awareness are important. What is important – unrestrainable desire to capture everything around for oneself, while absence of self-sufficiency and self-awareness just helps, as they do not hold back this slavish desire. The other type of a slave – the one that does not have desires at all. Unfortunately, decent people often fall into this state of mind losing desires, disappointed by meaningless slavish noise around. It is impossible to live in such state of a mind, one needs to change it as soon as possible. The only way out – to find out personal "stretching outs" not being afraid to lose even the "right" ones, they may cost your life. Stop accusing surrounding world; it is also type of "stretching out" and start working on yourself, not paying much attention to the surrounding noise. Ability to bring back your self-sufficiency will also help to get back desires, the main identifier and attribute of life. Bur remember, your desires should stay inside of your boundaries, motivating you to act and develop yourself, and not to "stretch out" again.

The most terrifying slaves are those who don't think of themselves as slaves – usually, they consider themselves Priests or Warriors – and undertake to teach others how not to be slaves. This is often cleverly used by the Priests themselves: if you just convince a slave that they have learned a higher 'truth', and then on top of that initiate them into some special society, the slave, in their ignorant state, will demolish everything in their path, good or bad, trying to enlighten the whole world with the 'truth' newly bestowed on them. The trick works best when the slave is sent forth armed with genuinely good and Creative ideas. In that case, two goals are reached: first, the ideas themselves are compromised by such a messenger, and second, the slave destroys the very spaces where he attempts to use them.

By the way, a common problem with trying to attain knowledge of fundamental "truths" is demotivation from continuing to work on oneself - why bother, if the "truth" has already been conquered? Naturally, this breeds stagnancy of thought and impatience towards others, especially others who have attained a different "truth".

3.2.2. Servant

The Servant state of mind is artificial, created by the modern civilization. A Servant is a person who has self-awareness but no self-sufficiency. It's clear enough why this state was created: a person like that is easy to manipulate, plug into various organizational structures and set to all sorts of crucial tasks, which they will do well. The difficulty lies only in maintaining this state of mind in a subject.

There are not that many Servants in the world, precisely because it is such a difficult state of mind to create and sustain. There is a direct correlation between a company's workplace atmosphere and the percentage of people employed there who are Servants. For instance, a waiter at a good restaurant is probably a Servant, whereas a waiter at a bad restaurant is probably a slave. Note the difference in their behavior. In a good restaurant, the waiter does not rush, carries themselves with dignity, and is extremely accommodating. In a bad restaurant, the waiter always has their hands full and still manages to never be around when they are needed; they might be rude to customers, etc.Think back to your own workplace and apply the waiter analogy to it. You will understand right away where you are working and who you are working with.

The contemporary socio-economic system is built in such a way that when a slave who wishes to become free and develop further announces their intentions to the world and begins to take action, the system does everything to help that person make the next step, but only in the direction favorable to the system itself - namely, towards Servitude. In this context, a Servant is understood to mean simply a person who works with great awareness and skill, lives better than a slave, and is more content with themselves. Unfortunately, the system tries to keep their inner state maximally close to that of a slave, weighing them down with debts, obligations, bureaucratic red tape and other clever methods of control.

3.2.2.1 Mechanisms for creating and sustaining a Servant

The development of a slave into a Servant and the contraction of a Master into a Servant both involve a rather simple to understand but difficult to execute sleight-of-hand. The person is encouraged to develop their workplace skills and, parallel to that, they are saddled with a thorough discontentment with their social status. Today this is done through the creation and promotion of "desirable" social archetypes, i.e. tycoons, models, actors and actresses, successful athletes, etc. These archetypes have the outward appearance of Warriors, and their war-paint appeals greatly to Servants and slaves. Of course, these archetypes are not real, nor do they carry any real promise of happiness. But they are highly attractive and, most importantly, impossible to attain.

The Servant receives a powerful subconscious message: you too can be like this, if you work hard enough. In a futile effort to obtain all this glamorous material wealth, the Servant finds themselves smashing into glass walls and ceilings, and after a while develops an instinctive sense that they can't achieve anything on their own.

This is a sort of social "breaking-in" of a Servant, which allows the system to instill in them submission and a lack of confidence in their own power. At work, the Servant will be similarly devoted to the system and unsure of themselves. They will act exactly as directed, and act not only with perfect obedience but also a perfect understanding of what is required of them. Therefore, the system's ideal Servant is a slave socially, un-self-aware and un-self-sufficient, and also a slave at work, at least when it comes to obedience. However, they execute their work tasks well, because they are armed with logical thinking and fact-based analysis. Creating such a person is tremendously difficult. The vast majority of contemporary social sciences and management research is aimed towards developing precisely this kind of an ideal Servant. Parallel to this, society creates an educational system which develops the pupils' mental capacity only within a closed informational field whose scope is determined by Priests.

Despite a lack of self-sufficiency, being a Servant has a lot of advantages over being a slave: there are real opportunities for self-work, and one can choose one's own Masters. On the other hand, the Servant is so entangled in the system that it might be even harder for them to escape into the next state of mind because of all their financial and social obligations.

3.2.2.2. Revolutionary and evolutionary roles for the Servant avant-garde: the meroplankton

I would separate out two parameters by which one classifies Servants: their place of employment and their age. Workplace determines their level of self-awareness: the larger and more successful the organization that employs them, and the more sophisticated the tasks required of them, the more deliberately the Servant probably chose that job. They were likely checked for this intentionality during the hiring process. Besides, a large well-run organization will support and develop a Servant's awareness, whereas a bad and poorly managed one will quickly return him to a state of enslavement.

Age correlates well with the degree of attachment to the system. The older the Servant gets, the more hooks the system sinks into them. Additionally, as the years go by the Servant creates their own private space, which they don't want to lose. Therefore, an old Servant combines a slave's full dependence on outside attachments with a Master's desire not to lose what they have acquired. Younger Servants, on the other hand, are full of energy and ambition but have far fewer attachments, despite the fact that they are often already self-aware. It is these young Servants who present a fertile field for new, Creative social ideas to germinate and take root in.

Even rather self-aware and self-sufficient young people will often voluntarily join the ranks of globally-oriented Servants in order to broaden the scope of their development, even if it means forgoing the opportunity to be a regional Master, Warrior or Priest. Since Russians often call urban office workers 'plankton', I would separate out the young and the most self-aware of the Servants into 'meroplankton' - creatures which only form a part of plankton masses in their larval stages but are destined to develop into larger animals higher up on the food chain. They are a new class who may well lead the way down a new pathway of development for our entire civilization.

Meroplankton possesses a mix of characteristics typical both of the proletariat and of old-fashioned intelligentsia. Its main proletarian trait is that it's exploitable and, indeed, exploited, mercilessly so. However, like the old intelligentsia, it is also the incubator and bearer of progressive ideas. Meroplankton's self-awareness pushes it towards a search for meaning in its current condition and further paths of development. An important thing to keep in mind, and this goes double for the post-Soviet bloc, is that often meroplankton gets exploited by slaves occupying high social places. It's always been hard for me to understand how one could get a degree from, say, Stanford, and then go off to work for some oligarch whose business acumen basically amounts to embezzling and hoarding a vast amount of public money and property. Yet it happens, and not infrequently.

The meroplankton is rather well-informed and often makes efforts to become conscious of the world and its own place in it. Its numbers around the world are already significant; these people make up a noticeable, numerous, and rather homogenous social layer. Unlike the proletariat, the meroplankton is supplied with many more attachments to the system and somewhat better living conditions to compensate and placate its self-awareness. The meroplankton is dependent and scared into submission; it is not unified as a social class in a classical Marxist sense, but it is highly interconnected through social media, and crucially, its members already past their first stage of development from slave to Servant. Just like the Priests who nurtured it, the meroplankton is essentially cosmopolitan. Also, because of its higher level of awareness, the meroplankton is not entirely ignorant of the rights being denied it and instinctively seeks a way to win them.

Pondering the revolutionary role of plankton, I had a thought that I would call a new formula for the revolution: the product of the general development (including self-awareness) of the exploited persons multiplied by the total volume of energy pumped out of them by the exploiters yields the degree of their revolutionary readiness. In other words, the more evolved the person, the less energy they are willing to surrender for nothing. This is why the plankton's life is so much easier now than the life of the proletariat was a hundred years ago. However, having considered the product of the plankton's development multiplied by the energy being sucked out of them, and comparing the result with the proletariat's indicators from a century ago, one can see that the current situation is even closer to revolutionary levels. It might actually be approaching revolutionary levels for other classes as well, but that's a subject for another book.

One of the plankton's great weaknesses is its remoteness from nature. The proletariat drew strength from its proximity to nature, having just moved to the cities from the villages; it was nourished by its relationship with the earth, which gave it strength and vitality. This deficiency is one of the tools that allows Priests to manipulate the meroplankton like they do.

The meroplankton is probably very useful to the Devil. Their lack of self-sufficiency, coupled with a high level of self-awareness, provides the Devil with high-quality energy in bulk. The current state of civilization, with its ever-swelling ranks of meroplankton, seems to be the Devil's compromise with himself. He is no longer degrading us to the level of animals or leading us to immediate self-destruction, as this would kill him as well. Nowadays, he seems to be trying to set up massive farms of sustainable spiritual energy. It is now up to us to come up with a creative solution which will both increase self-awareness and self-sufficiency and deny him this opportunity.

3.2.2.3 Pathways of development for the meroplankton

There are two main paths that the meroplankton can choose to follow.

The first is sabotage: corporate employees undermining their colleagues and their bosses, exploiting their subordinates, and trying to assert themselves at everyone else's expense. That is precisely the dynamic the Priests want to develop: the meroplankton 'stretching out' towards new things, creating tension both for themselves and for those around them.

Here is what tends to happen. During their transitional step from slave to Servant, member of the meroplankton is visited by an illusion of freedom and boundless opportunities. However, reality very quickly re-asserts itself, and it turns out that freedom has in fact diminished, demands have increased, and opportunities are severely limited by the system. The familiar sense of enslavement returns, often followed by despair. Without any idea of what to do with the newly revealed truth, the new Servant begins to unconsciously deny their enslavement and assert their own freedom to themselves and the world around them. This is usually done through activities that seem to signal freedom – for instance, ski trips, mountaineering, and scuba diving. Just as they emulate the Creative process at work, they emulate the process of R&R and personal development of a free person, all the while remaining enslaved bores in their social life. This also extends to acquisition of outwards attributes of hipness and individuality, e.g. iPads, professional-grade cameras, Mini Coopers, etc.

The second path is to try and "find" oneself in esoteric teachings or start up a business. This is an intuitively correct path to follow, because it represents a well-intentioned attempt to look into oneself and develop oneself towards a state of a Master, Warrior, or Priest. However, the system knows how to deal with this as well. It gets in the Servant's way covertly. The business gets tied up in bureaucratic red tape, and the Servant's mind get bombarded by admonitions and warnings designed to bring up and out all their subconscious fears of failure.

Servants have a hard time understanding that the tools they were given in the course of their education form a Servant's toolset, not a Master's or a Warrior's, and that is why using them doesn't yield the result they want. Esoteric teachings, meanwhile, provide only vacuous concepts like 'spirituality' and 'secret truths'. They offer no liberation from Servitude and actually put the Servant in danger of becoming a slave to that particular teaching, which is usually officiated by some Priest propped up by the Devil himself. Of course, even these attempts might eventually give fruitful results and further a Servant's development, but all in all, meroplankton shouldn't try to content itself with trying to engineer a perfect sheltered life inside each separate heavily mortgaged apartment.

The meroplankton needs to become aware of itself as a social group capable of acting as a unified force, albeit with a greater degree of individualism than many other groups. And this unified force can not only make known its own rights and demands but also direct the development of society as a whole. The meroplankton is precisely the group aiming most purposefully towards self-development rather than exploitation. They are already armed with the experience of transitioning into the next state of mind and the desire to keep moving further.

This desire is a unique identifier of the meroplankton as a whole, since all the other groups in other states of mind are content to remain as they are. Those who are already on top, even though they may inwardly be slaves despite their high social status, have no desire to develop further and attain new states of mind, since they can already do whatever they please, and slaves, regardless of their social standing, don't want anything in principle besides superficial stimulants (bread and games, alcohol, pornography, luxury items, etc.) – the only thing that varies is the type and scope of the desired stimulation.

The meroplankton is already active in bringing about social change - consider the various youth uprisings and colored revolutions taking place around the world. However, it is not acting independently but being manipulated by unCreative Priests, which sometimes steer it down destructive paths. However, I believe that meroplankton could be active and creative on its own. It forms precisely the environment where a new approach to independent individual human development could crystallize – an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary approach, tasked with developing self-sufficiency, self-awareness, and recognition that both one's own and other people's abilities are nearly infinite. This approach will likely require the wisdom of past centuries, contemporary experience with Creativity, and something altogether new. It could potentially yield a new, more Creative societal structure, as well as a new mental gestalt, more stable in its self-sufficiency and broader in its awareness.

3.2.2.4 On current social ideas

Today, more than ever, society needs new approaches to development. These approaches require both creators and a nurturing milieu. Currently, both global politics and global ideologies are in a sort of suspended animation. Ideology and social sciences in particular are supplanted in turn by either rejoicing over globalization or decrying globalization as an evil, but mainly by unending panic over its various crises. Social development and creation are displaced by some kind of saccharine surrogate talk any-minute-now coming of democracy, punctuated and interrupted by the sounds of explosions from never-ending armed conflicts. Humanity needs something different: a creation of a new environment, conducive to self-sufficient development of every individual, not ever-changing tales of the coming of the new Golden Age. If that age is here, it's only here for the forces that control the largest world corporations. And I doubt their current activity could bring any kind of joy.

One of the symptom's of the degradation of our culture is the fact that a century ago, intellectuals took part in discussing and shaping of new theories, new ways of development, new directions for the civilization. Nowadays, new large-scale ideas for development, even theoretical ones, are non-existent, even as concepts to be discussed. The most intellectually and creatively developed members of society simply regurgitate the same old cud from a century ago or retreat altogether into their own everyday concerns.

It is extremely surprising to see the vast majority of people, including plankton, assume various ideological positions: pro capitalism, pro socialism, pro democracy, etc. Strangely, almost no one asks themselves why they bother. After all, the ultimate goal of any given ideology is not the ideology itself, not achieving some transitory democracy or communism. In my opinion, the purpose of a person's life considered individually is to increase the depth, fullness, and diversity in themselves and in the surrounding world. To nurture this understanding in a person requires both positive examples set by community leaders and role models and a system of fundamental values in the society which would indicate what kind of interaction with the world at large constitutes "stretching out" and what kind does not; what kind of activity is creative, and what kind is not. Therefore, society is tasked with providing maximally favorable conditions for all is members to realize their life's purpose. At that point, it ceases to matter greatly whether these conditions will take the shape of democracy or communism or some new organizational pattern altogether.

In addition to this, a precise system of control and suppression of parasitic pull is required. By "parasitic pull" I mean the desire or the attempt to take from the surrounding world things that are not required for subsequent creative action. Since people naturally tend to "stretch out" outside of themselves for things, the methods of control must be well-delineated and severe. At the same time, it should not suppress a person's freedom of development, which is what happened in the USSR. Meaning that the society must, on the one hand, restrain parasitic behavior by a variety of means, and on the other hand provide every tool needed for personal development. This is the essence of the social order. If these conditions are met, the label attached to that order become irrelevant, a secondary consideration. Especially since any societal organization can degenerate and become self-destructive. Various forms of organizing society become more or less appropriate at different stages of the society's development.

Creativity can only be coupled with total permissiveness if we are dealing with a perfect human being, who will only take from others what they themselves will need to develop themselves and the world around them creatively. Educating and forming this kind of person is a matter of properly setting boundaries for activity and delineating access to the means of personal development. That is the most important thing. How control correlates with access is then determined by the person's given stage of development.

3.2.2.5 Some more on meroplankton's possible evolutionary role

Imagine a work-bench with a lathe 100 years ago. For the average person back then, it was the equivalent of a robotic assembly complex for iPads. Back then, the man who used that machine had to have development intellectually to tackle cutting edge technical issues of his time. Therefore, that man could carry within himself cutting edge ideas of social development as well -- a fact which was noted and used by the revolutionaries of that time.

Nowadays a lathe operator would be far behind today's most advanced technological ideas; therefore, it would be more difficult for him or her to accommodate advanced social ideas as well. They can't compete with people who, in their everyday lives, communicate on a global level using highly complex systems, and especially with the people who create these systems. A change of guard has occurred with respect to cutting edge technological ideas. The new techies are therefore the potential new class of revolutionaries, capable of nurturing within themselves and producing new ideas of social development.

Since such advanced technology creators are objectively few in number, they should be joined by the people who use their technology, namely the office plankton. I would also like to note that when I say "technology", I also mean technologies of management and technologies of working with information.

Plankton is already spontaneously organized into various communities and societies connected by modern means of communication like social networks. However, since they have no direction or specific goals, the plankton's youthful creative urges become exploited for personal gain by persons currently in positions of power, regardless of who they might be: capitalists, the government or the secret services.

The idea of the plankton playing an advanced role in the development of new social ideas might seem completely utopian to the majority of readers. But think about it: a hundred or so years ago the proletariat, as a group, was just as fragmented, frightened and crushed. However, once they rallied around a single idea, this group was able to use its oppression and fears as additional motivation to fight. In my opinion, the struggle of the proletariat has paid huge dividends to our entire civilization. The social safety net and high standards of living that the West is so proud of today were born of the struggle between the socialist and capitalist system. There was a time when the capitalist class had to sacrifice its own interests and raise the standards of living across the board in order to compete with successfully with socialism.

One expects new and revolutionary ideas to acquire a fair number of enemies, the powers that be as well as regular 'Joe schmoes' who are a priori uninclined towards any kind of development. One the other hand, the old class approach that was used a hundred years ago is no longer required. I believe it had been inherently flawed. People shouldn't be defined by where they work, but by their level of spiritual development and the creative potential of their desires.

The plankton possesses huge flaws which might end up being the downfall of all its efforts to invent and promulgate the conceptual basis for a new society. These are first and foremost its attachments, but also the virtual creativity of their work. Young plankton is not as burdened with these flaws, and it is they who must become the main vehicle of change. Older plankton is, in general, an altogether counter-revolutionary force whose hard-set ideas and fear of losing their 'prestigious' service rank will try to nip in the bud any and all new and vibrant ideas.

We can observe this happening even today, although ideology does not come into play - the situation is purely transactional. Young men and women join offices at entry-level positions. They are bright and full of energy and desire to grow and develop. Older plankton socializes these new workers by indoctrinating them with rules and behaviors acceptable in that office, and what's worse, inculcating into them various fears and images of aspirational attachments. These fears are unconscious; they descend deeper and deeper into one's mind, fostering a background radiation of anxiety and choking off everything vibrant and vivacious within a person. One would need people at the first stage of their careers as office plankton, while they are still full of energy and self-awareness but already conscious of the big picture. The old plankton, on the other hand, by and large forms a reactionary "fifth column".

From this background of young plankton inclined towards revolutionary activity, the brightest and the most spiritually unchained people must step forth and develop new social ideas. The rest of the young plankton can serve as a solid base of the further development and promulgation of these ideas.

Currently the most active, freedom- and growth-seeking part of the plankton is preoccupied with moving up through the ranks at work, and addition to that also takes part in this or that internet community engaged in seeking "the truth". This "truth" is, in the majority of cases, either prefabricated by the secret services, in cases when the plankton is used by them to generate social unrest and revolutionary activity, or it is a collection of threatening conspiracy theories and fantasies. Each of these "truths" has a grain of actual truth in it but it lacks the most crucial thing: an idea of the individual role to be played by each person. Only on the basis of this individual approach can they then unite into groups for the purpose of furthering the social development of the whole civilization.

Plankton in Russia is probably going down the same fated path as the Russian proletariat a hundred years ago. Only our contemporary 'Pope Gapons' are some of the oligarchs and "liberals". What's most ludicrous is that these contemporary "leaders" don't even promise anything to the plankton. They simply speak their language better than the government, although the government also attempts to make overtures to the plankton, pronouncing their language with audible difficulty. To me, this indicates the growing importance of the plankton as a class. Only the plankton has no idea whom to follow, so they follow those who can communicate with them the best. It's clear what the plankton wants: acknowledgement of their status and importance at state level.

The plankton is not angered by some vague indefinite corruption that their employers run into, or the lack of any specific "truthful" information; it is angered by the fact that neither the state nor society at large treats the plankton the way the plankton treats its own clients. Since Russia has long been renowned for treating its subjects like slaves rather than citizens, the plankton's discontent is measurably higher than it is in other countries. The most important skill for the plankton to master would be to think for themselves rather than blindly follow whoever can pronounce the words "modernization" and "capital investment". The plankton also shouldn't expect to reap any substantial benefits even if their society does follow some kind of Color Revolution scenario. The servant class will remain as they were, servants to the Masters of the Universe.

The Russian government's current attitude towards the plankton shows its clear underestimation and incomplete understanding of the plankton's role. The primary and most fundamental problem lies in the vast difference between the state's mode of thinking and that of the plankton. The "power vertical" is an openly feudal construct, whose members are not self-aware in their actions or self-sufficient in their thinking. The bulk of all effort is expended on satisfying the desires of their superiors and endless questing after freebies and grift, so characteristic of the slave mentality. This of course gets concealed behind empty words about "statesmanship", but the words themselves have no meaning and get rearranged according to the latest trends. On the other hand, the feudal power vertical is firmly welded together by fear and greed, which makes it rather stable.

The plankton has a more "advanced" state of mind; they have already taken certain steps otwards becoming self-aware in their actions, even if only within the artificial sphere of the "business world". Self-awareness is a prerequisite for the plankton to execute their "service" functions; it gets instilled in them throughout the course of their education and professional activity. Since the very concept of "service" came from the West, all the methods towards creating a servant have Western roots. It is therefore no wonder that the entirety of the plankton is weighed down by the Western service economy.

3.2.3. Master

Masters are both self-aware and self-sufficient. They are not necessarily Masters of something so much as, first and foremost, Masters of themselves and their own lives. A Master is characterized by their unshakeable faith in themselves and their own capabilities, i.e. the hard inner core around which the Master builds their private sphere. Because of their manifest self-sufficiency, Masters absolutely do not tolerate other people interfering with their affairs, and often have a hard time even taking other people's opinions into account. This is, incidentally, one of the Master's strategic flaws: because they are so fixated on their own immediate sphere of influence, the Master can lose sight of the long-term.

The preferred method of action for a Master is to extend the boundaries of their private sphere, which in the majority of cases involves starting and developing their own business. The Master does this through applications of their own energy, which due to their self-sufficiency they have in spades. This energy expands the boundaries of their space, while simultaneously creating and controlling everything that happens within. Frequently, Masters make the mistake of letting a process or an event out of their sight, hoping that the work will be seen to adequately by slaves or Servants. I believe this happens because they underestimate the crucial importance of their own energy to the process. No slave or Servant, no matter how well-trained, can initiate and direct significant events on their own. An experienced Master structures their space to be transparent and accessible only to their own understanding and oversight, directing their attention and energy where it's needed most.

A Master's space differs radically from that built by a Priest with the help of Warriors and Servants. This explains, for instance, why Servant consultants cannot understand how a Master-run organization works, and why experienced Servants who transfer into such an organization from one run by Priests and other Servants almost never succeed in their new workplace. We will examine these questions in greater detail in the following chapters.

The Master's energy-filled sphere is very attractive for the Devil, who tries to tap into it through his favorite method: by luring the Master outside of his sphere, usually with an offer of some freebie. If the Master allows himself to be pulled out of this self-sufficient state, it can lead to two kinds of destructive consequences:

  1. The Master gets involved in some dubious scheme in pursuit of easy money, attempting to sponge off someone and thereby giving the Devil every right and opportunity to leech away their energy and material resources

  2. The Master gets distracted by some insignificant opportunity or event and loses control over their own space. The result is similar: without the Master's energy, Servants and slaves either pilfer or squander resources

The best advice for a Master is to keep in mind that the greater their success in developing their own space, the sneakier the Devil will be in trying to lure them out of it. He will offer more and more tempting "ventures", or even just pleasant ways to pass time that have nothing real or constructive to offer. The Master's success is guaranteed only through gradual, Creative self-improvement which, as a consequence, will also improve their sphere of activity. And most importantly, they require that stubborn unshakeable faith in themselves.

Even if they avoid making those mistakes, the Master can lose self-awareness, cocooning in their own space. To prevent this from happening, the Master needs to maintain constant contact with the outside world, taking in the best of the new things they discover. However, another mistake lies in wait here: the Master might start pulling everything into their space without giving anything back. In that case, they turn into a sort of super-slave colloquially called a yahoo. One must remain aware that true development is impossible without and giving back.

3.2.4. Warrior

The Warrior is someone who has realized that they can do just about anything. Like the Master, they are self-aware and self-sufficient, but their main distinguishing characteristic is their ability to ignore the distractions and noise around them and to focus on their Creative output. Being able to concentrate helps Warriors to look and see farther than others, to make paradigm-shifting discoveries and world-changing inventions. They further their creative development by constantly setting new goals for themselves, which they reach because they can block out the noise and pointless activity around them. A prominent violinist, a talented actress, a boxing champion, an engineer tinkering in his garage - all of them can be described as Warriors.

As a rule, Warriors are either highly masculinized or highly feminized. It is likely that their ability to concentrate on their inner development and focus helps them accumulate a lot of vital energy, which has a prominent sexual component. However, because of this surfeit of energy, Warriors are prone to burning out. For this reason, they often leave this world much sooner than other types of people, and they often have no one but themselves to blame.

Warriors tend to be conscious of this flaw, which is why they connect with Priests, who assist them in controlling their own energy by planning out a life-long development scheme and helping them adhere to it.

3.2.5. Priest

Like the Warrior, a Priest is someone who has realized that they can do just about anything; however, they have also realized that the same goes for everyone else. Priests are not only conscious of themselves but also of other people and of what unites them. A Priest re-writes the rules of the game, testing the boundaries and pushing the envelope. The difference between them and Warriors who make ground-breaking discoveries is that the Warriors are focused when they act, even if they have to be focused on several unrelated things at once. A Priest, on the other hand, will try to develop an all-encompassing system of everything. Ideologues, philosophers, social reformers, or founders of religions can all be Priests.

Priests need their own special atmosphere, their own space. Outside of it, the Priest looks very strange, if not outright silly. The Priest's path of development has many twists and turns. As they look beyond the boundaries of the present moment, the Priest is in danger of confronting strange and unknown forces and entities, and possibly even becoming enslaved by them.

A truly Creative Priest must be socially successful while remaining ascetic, and they must help preserve and develop self-sufficiency and self-awareness in others. In many cases Priests lack social standing, and this is acceptable if all other conditions are met. However, I wouldn't consider such a Priest fully actualized, since they have not yet passed the trial by glory; they have not had a chance to show their true inner nobility through continued asceticism and readiness to assist others despite their own success.

3.3 How to spot disguised slaves

Driven by an unconscious drive to evolve, a characteristic desire to consume more than they create, and sometimes just by the need to survive, slaves often attempt to mimic other, higher states of mind. This mimicry testifies to the fact that the person really does have some elements of the state they are imitating; it's just that they are trying to reach it through copying outer signs rather than improving their inner selves. Below is a list of typical mimicry techniques used by slaves:

How to spot a slave masquerading as a Priest

Some slaves can mimic Priesthood. Although this requires learning a certain unusual and complex array of tricks and sayings, the prize at the end of the rainbow is rather attractive. A Priest, even a fake one, has many opportunities to sponge off others, which is all a slave's heart really desires. As a rule, slaves only discover this path after talking to other pseudo-Priests, since discovering it on their own is not easy. Often even real Priests become unconscious slaves to some other, much more developed entities, and some of them don't even bother hiding it. Still, it's pretty easy to tell them from true Priests: a slave-Priest will try to take away your self-sufficiency at any cost, to pull you into their sphere of influence, and to submerge you into their own energetic field, or the field of their patrons. You will be told of great 'mysteries' and other numerous reasons why your submission is required, but the meaning will be the same: to make you dependent and pump you dry of everything you have to give, from vital energy to cold hard cash. As we have already seen, it all comes down to the same thing: the Devil is in the wings. A real Priest will point out right away that you and your will are fundamentally in charge of setting your own goals for development, and all they can do is point out a possible way to get there.

How to spot a slave masquerading as a Warrior

The best identifier for a slave mimicking a Warrior is their attitude towards the opposite sex: arrogant, disrespectful, and trying to show their superiority at every turn. A real Warrior treats the opposite sex with great respect, no matter how much of a 'player' they are.

A second possible 'tell': a slave-"Warrior" is surrounded and circumscribed by incredibly complex secret agencies and services to which they seem to belong in some capacity. This is often seen with those who really did serve or still serve in various government and law enforcement agencies. Remember, today's society rarely correlates social position with states of mind, and a person with the duties of a Warrior might well be a slave. As a rule, when a slave is nominally declared to be free by their government, they will try to mimic a Warrior at first opportunity, since they are convinced that this state is the 'alpha'.

How to spot a slave masquerading as a Master

It is quite difficult to mimic a Master, since they tend to do real work, and therefore talk about real business and possess real material wealth. Even if a slave manages to obtain some of the latter and show it off, any attempt to 'talk shop' will give them away. Slaves talk about 'big business' out of turn, in inappropriate settings, and obviously without any real understanding of the subject. If a person does this on regular basis, one can diagnose them as a mimicking slave with almost total certainty. The remainder rests on catching them screwing up the details. Usually they won't try to take the discussion beyond trying to show off in front of other slaves. Another clear instance of mimicry is an egotistical yahoo who takes everything they can from the world and gives nothing back. That isn't a Master but rather a super-slave of sorts.

How to tell a slave masquerading as a Servant

If slaves mimic the higher states of mind in order to sponge off others and assert themselves, being a Servant is mimicked only out of base necessity. As a rule, this concerns low-level employees both in the private and in the public sector. They are easy to tell by their perpetual grumbling. A real Servant is very valuable, because they work well and are appreciated by their bosses (unless the bosses themselves are slaves). If a real Servant is displeased with something, they don't waste time complaining and conspiring with others – they just find something better and more useful to do.

3.4. Romantic relationships

3.4.1. Commentary

The suggested classification is rather subjective and shouldn't be used as a single determining reference. However, it can be rather useful in evaluating one's current relationships and forecasting their development. Since the theme of gender relations is touched upon, it's necessary to explain the concept of love and its role in building relationships.

Love, which is the only atmosphere that makes possible Creativity and development, is not at all the feeling instilled in us by the Devil, who surrounds us with his own interpretations of "love". Since love is an expression of divinity, the Devil puts maximum effort into distorting our understanding of what this state is like. Love is not a state of super-attachment and lust; it is not a desire to take over and possess. Love is a desire to increase the breadth, depth, and variety of the beloved object, multiply their joy and create the right environment for them to flourish on their own.

When we interact with the opposite sex, we look for signs of successful self-work in the other person, albeit sometimes without being aware of it. It can be genetically determined outer beauty, signaling a great deal of work done by their ancestors, or acquired outer beauty as a result of regular exercise and self-care on the part of the person themselves. It can be social status, either inherited or achieved, intelligence, positive character traits, etc. Naturally, sexual interaction is a fertile field for the Devil to cultivate in his efforts to make us 'stretch out' of ourselves.

We tend to pursue members the opposite sex who exhibit better results of self-work (or inherited work) than we ourselves possess rather than developing ourselves to the level of those we desire. The process is complicated by the fact that the Prince of Lies creates a great variety of deceptive romantic visions, which have no real life of their own but compel us to chase them, expending energy. That quasi-love, filled with lust and torment, plunges us into a maelstrom of meaningless suffering and self-destruction. Various courses, like those catering to wannabe "pick-up artists", teach us how to 'score' with those we do not yet deserve, since we haven't improved ourselves enough to merit their attention. In the long-term this leads to even bigger disappointments and disillusionments.

How the opposite sex relates to you is a great indicator of your state of mind and direction of development. Keep in mind that the romantic visions sold to us by the media tend to be those of Warriors, while the prevalent mode of behavior around us is that of Servants. The Servant mode is not self-sufficient and it's also by definition not particularly attractive, to say nothing of the slave mode. One might suppose that this situation was engineered specifically by Priests to make people self-conscious and spent more time fretting over attaining the impossible. Take even one step in the direction of attaining self-awareness and self-sufficiency and becoming conscious of the boundlessness of your opportunities, and you will immediately begin attracting more positive attention from the opposite sex.

One should keep in mind that the point of interaction is to exchange experiences and positive, Creative energy, not to use each other. This is all the more relevant when it comes to searching for one's better half, a process that ultimately culminates in creation of whole new Universes, i.e. children. As parents, we become even more like the Creator, raising and leading out into the wide world children who, just like, us, also learn how to become Creators of new Universes, and so on.

My advice is simple: develop higher states of mind within yourself, or invent the condition you want to attain. No one likes slaves, but very few people put in real effort to stop being one. Gradual self-improvement, self-sufficiency, self-awareness, joy in your heart – and success is guaranteed!

One final comment – I mention later in the text that the `Priest` state of mind is rarely encountered in women. I think this is a representation of an imbalance of opportunities for women, which leads to problems for the society as a whole. Women tend to be more diplomatic and careful in their actions, whereas men often don't think policy matters all the way through.

3.4.2. Romantic relationship dynamics between people in different states of mind

Slave man and slave woman

These two "prizes" make quite a pair: non-stop squabbling, recriminations, further degradation for both, etc. However, evolution is also possible, because from where they are, there is practically no way to go but up. If the couple awakens to their true state, then they might pull each other upwards. In any case, this couple can be genuinely happy together, because they have nothing important and fundamental to argue about – only day-to-day stresses.

Slave man and Servant woman

This is quite bad for the woman, since the man will quickly pull her down to his own enslaved level.

Slave man and Master woman

Might work out, if the woman decides to raise the man up to her own level. In that case, there is a danger that once he develops, the man will leave her to explore his new options – or that he might not develop at all. At the same time, if the gamble pays off, the woman stands to gain a lot from the relationship with her newly-awakened man.

Slave man and Warrior woman

Just about every man's secret dream, and one that almost never comes true for 'slaves'. Any woman who has transcended spiritual enslavement recognizes a slave man from a mile off, especially if she is a Warrior. The only relationship possible between them is a one-night stand which the slave man will brag about to his friends for the rest of his life.

Slave man and Priest woman

Possible only if the woman sees potential in the man and builds him up into someone useful to her, most probably a Servant.

Servant man and slave woman

Possible, but the man will always be dissatisfied and on the lookout for a more suitable match, a Servant or perhaps a Master, all the while dreaming, of course, of a Warrior. The slave woman's odds of happiness are worse, because the man can't help her rise to the next level; he's much more likely to berate her, and not without some cause. But since most women are by nature Masters, as soon as the woman sees beyond her Servant mate and beholds a Master or a Warrior, she will quickly reach that state herself and will then contemplate her Servant from above.

Servant man and Servant woman

This couple can go the distance. A Servant woman is quite aware and conscious of Master and Warrior men, and of course her own Servant does not compare well. However, she chooses, correctly in my opinion, stable mutual development. The Servant man might possibly permit himself an occasional "conquest" of a slave woman, but he will also value the stability of mutual development, particularly the chance to attain the state of "Mastery" – or else, as it tends to happen, a content domestic existence for a couple of contenders in the rat race. This dynamic is common among office workers.

Servant man and Master woman

A very lively and workable structure. To the man, the union promises convenience and opportunities, if he's ready to keep in check his male ego, which is sure to grow right along with those opportunities. The woman will also find it handy to have a domesticated but thinking man; the main thing is for her to keep him within certain boundaries, or he might escape.

Servant man and Warrior woman

This can happen sometimes, but the relationship is unlikely to be long-lived. For the woman, it will be a period of rest between new 'battles' with Warriors and Masters. For the man, the relationship can serve as a push in development, an invitation to do more self-work and bring himself up to a Warrior or Master level. On the other hand, it can also drive the man insane and break him.

Servant man and Priest woman

Could work out, if the woman decides that she'd rather settle for a Servant than constantly go through more evolved men. It might in fact be the only option for a Priest woman. The man has nothing left to do but surrender to her wise, powerful, and often unnoticeable guiding hands.

Master man and slave woman

A transactional one-night-stand for the man, and a shot at being Cinderella for the woman.

Master man and Servant woman

A relatively sound union. The man is comfortable, and so is the woman. Of course, the man will keep eyeing Warrior women, who attract all kinds of men with their boldness. It's important for the man to value the union – its success rests on him doing so.

Master man and Master woman

A potential tinderbox of a relationship, because there can't be two "masters" in one house: they simply won't get along.

Master man and Warrior woman

This relationship probably won't last, because it can only happen when the woman gives up on finding her prince on a tall white horse, whom she imagines to be a Warrior, and settles for a Master instead. She will be bored, and her energy will cut the man to shreds. And even though this relationship is a dream come true for the Master man, he won't last long either once reality sets in. The only way it could work out is if the Master man also has some "Priestly" traits.

Master man and Priest woman

One can suppose that the woman would be quite comfortable in such a relationship, but the man will not understand her and his "Masterly" attitude will make living together rather oppressive for her.

Warrior man and slave woman

A transient connection for the man; for the woman, a colorful impression to cherish for the rest of her life. The union can persist for some time, if the man has not fully actualized himself as a Warrior yet. As soon as he does, the relationship is doomed. There is, however, a sliver of possibility that the Warrior man might ignite the woman's next stage of development.

Warrior man and Servant woman

A very convenient relationship for the man and a very interesting one for the woman. Could last, but the man will still eye Warrior women, or else find an even warmer union with a Master woman. But, just as he might with a slave, the man might inspire the Servant woman to further development.

Warrior man and Master woman

Could be a rather stable union, interesting for the woman, convenient and also interesting for the man. He might occasionally get distracted by Warrior women and seduced into brief flings, but after the "battle" he will come back to the Master's cozy home.

Warrior man and Warrior woman

A high-conflict relationship at the onset due to massive amounts of energy in both partners. This energy will lead to incredibly intense emotions, negative as well as positive. The couple might even potentially waste all that energy in fighting each other. In the end, the union will not last long, but even in the short term it will be strong and memorable.

Warrior man and Priest woman

Because there are practically no women Priests and very few men Warriors, this combination is very rare. In any case, it could be quite productive, if the woman directs the Warrior man's irrepressible energy well.

Priest man and slave woman

The man will be bored, so this relationship can only last if the man sees some potential in the woman. For the woman, it will either be a revelation or a strange, incomprehensible episode in her life. It's likely that the Priest man will help the woman enter a new stage of development and move on.

Priest man and Servant woman

Not very interesting but quite convenient for the man, because he will be adored, revered and serviced. But the relationship will probably be temporary. As in the previous case, the Priest man will help the woman reach a new level and move on. However, if the man has a more parasitic mentality, he will simply use the woman.

Priest man and Master woman

Convenient for the man, incredibly interesting for the woman. However, there might still be tension in that the woman might underestimate the importance and scope of the Priest's mental state, in which case she will consider him a moocher and constantly eye Warrior men. However, if the relationship is strong, the man will lend the woman a hand in her quest to add holdings to her "Masterly" dominion and assure a comfortable existence for himself as well.

Priest man and Warrior woman

The power-couple. The Warrior woman is the Priest man's muse; she will nurture him with her feminine energy, pushing him ever onward towards further development and supporting him. She might occasionally get interested in Warrior men, but if she gets a really good feel for her Priest, she'll still find him more captivating. The trickiest moment for the Priest man will be to convince the Warrior woman that he is genuinely interesting, and what his "Priesthood" is all about, anyway: women in general are inclined to see Warriors as the pinnacle of male evolution. Getting her hands on a well-actualized Priest man may be the Warrior woman's only chance at real happiness; if he is still in the process of actualization, she is more likely to inadvertently break him.

Priest man and Priest woman

A rare situation, as there are quite few Priest women Priests. If a man meets such a woman, odds are that they will get in each other's way, although it might also potentially be an exceptional artistic union.

3.5. Societal aspect of human states of mind (macro-level)

3.5.1. Introduction

Contemporary governments, like companies and organizations, can be divided into two types: Master-centered and Priest/Servant. There may have been other ways of structuring society, but unfortunately little is known about them. The Master-centered societies are, for instance, true monarchies, some of the small and mid-sized democracies, and various totalitarian regimes. Large countries which are regional or global leaders tend to be Priest/Servant states.

3.5.5. The real purpose of societies: to create suitable environments for man's Creative activity and spiritual development

I believe that the main function of societies and governments is to create favorable conditions for man's independent development and Creative activity. As we know from studying history, societies used to be caste-based, dividing people according to certain traits. The main trait was heritage: who the person's parents were, and so on. This may have been partially justified, but the main point of castes is to separate people by traits signaling their own current states of mind and to provide social and caste mobility for those who develop into other states. Freezing people, and especially families, within one specific caste leads to degradation for the entire society. At minimum, it means halting the person's development and depriving them of motivation to evolve further. Of course, contemporary societies, all claims to "democracy" aside, are also flawed: everyone is simply declared to be equal, despite gross inequities in personal development.

I am absolutely certain that a healthy society requires equality of opportunities for development. But equality of opportunities for everyone is not the same as declaring everyone equal a priori. The primary issue with this is that it leads to slaves coming to power. And the slaves' two main problems are that they treat everyone else as slaves, and that they are prone to embezzlement. It isn't easy to create equal conditions for people to evolve. But it is the only way for a society to maintain its vitality and develop.

3.5.2. Servant: the artificial state of contemporary civilization

I would say that the contemporary Priest/Servant style of society is somewhat similar to a corporation where ideally the majority of employees are Servants, the leading positions are occupied by Warriors, and somewhere at the top and slightly to the side, out of sight, are Priests. A society structured along these lines should have no slaves – there would simply be no niche for them. I suppose that Priests intend for globalization to merge the pyramid-structured societies of various countries into a single global pyramid.

The key moment in this process will be the setting up and fine-tuning the system for creating and maintaining Servants. Servants are needed to fill out the social pyramid and also to perform various government functions. Servants also furnish the raw material for corporations, which then need to invest less to train slaves into Servants. "Compressing" Masters to Servant-level tends to happen in the government rather than the private sphere; to do this within a single corporation would be too tricky.

Maintaining someone in the condition of a Servant is not easy. Servants require a positive and constructive atmosphere maintained at state level, including a well-organized system of education, motivation, and attachment formation. If this system crashes, then Servants turn into slaves, because they lose self-awareness, even though their old attachments are still there and new ones get added to them. But most importantly, the Servant state is unnatural and painful. To be self-aware and at the same time to be socially enslaved is very oppressive to one's psyche, and it is a condition that does not lead to real spiritual development.

3.5.3. Contemporary economic theory: "limited" resources for Servants and slaves, a boundless world of Creativity for others

Contemporary economic theory, which forms the basis of all economics and politics within specific countries and the world at large, has as its first postulate that resources are limited, and that they are necessarily objects of competition. This postulate serves as a perpetual motive for wars, confrontations, and general commotion. At the same time, science tells us that the Universe is practically infinite and constantly expands at great speeds. As far as I can tell, these two facts are in direct contradiction: on one hand, the Universe is nearly infinite, and on the other hand, resources are limited. I believe that scarcity of resources exists only for slaves and Servants, due to the scarcity of their own awareness and understanding. People in higher states of mind will arrive, perhaps even unconsciously, at the knowledge that the Universe is boundless, and their own opportunities for creating little "sub-Universes" are as well.

As we can well imagine, new paths for human activity are forged by either Warriors or Priests. Masters, in my opinion, are more inclined to fill up and fill out already existing dimensions rather than create new ones. I suppose that it would be wiser to build an economic theory not around motivating people to compete for resources but around developing their own abilities and tools for using and recreating the almost limitless resources of the Universe. I examine a similar point about competition in the "micro-level" section.

The science of economics is devoted entirely at use, division, and tracking of resources. Management science is aimed at planning, leading, controlling, and correcting economic activity. These issues also partially concern questions of Creativity and Creation. But where is the science that would set Creativity as its cornerstone? There is currently no science that studies how humans Create, and what motivates them to do so. Philosophy and religion touch on these questions tangentially, but they are not investigated with scientific rigor. Establishing such a science would pay off a hundredfold for society as a whole and for every person individually.

3.5.4. Priests vs. Masters: the struggle

In the last decades our civilization has been seeing a direct attack on self-sufficient and self-aware people, i.e. Masters. This attack is sometimes done through direct physical annihilation, as it was in Russia during and after the Revolution of 1917, and sometimes through more "humane" economic and social methods, like those used in America and the rest of the rapidly globalizing world. The global crisis, financial instability, the rise of mega-corporations – all these factors lead to the destruction of the environment suitable for the development of self-sufficient and self-aware Creators of their own spheres of activity.

In principle, it's clear why this is being done. Masters are somewhat inclined to "cocoon" in their own spaces; rapid development is not profitable for them, because it changes the rules of the game and forces them to either alter or re-build their own sphere of activity. A brutal but clear example is the "dekulakization" or collectivization in Russia in the 1920s. Kulaks, or well-to-do peasants, were very much Masters by nature. They did not want any changes and presented an ideological roadblock on the way to industrialization. They also consumed a large part of the resources set aside for industrialization because they raised grocery prices for workers. The Communists therefore decided to get rid of the problem by getting rid of well-off peasants altogether. Similarly, small private businesses and enterprises currently stand in the way of globalization, which is why they are being pushed out of the market by corporations.

It's also worth it to examine the global struggle specifically against Master-centered societies, where one person or a family rules and in many ways owns an entire country. As we can see from both historical and current events, such societies get declared undemocratic, and their rulers get deposed. These accusations are well-founded; however, overt tyranny tends to get replaced by more elaborate and concealed governance by Priests. After these Priests create a great number of hooks and entrapments for the population, the people caught up in their system may end up even more miserable. One should note that Master-centered countries, depending on the specifics of the Master's state of mind, sometimes offer decent average living conditions, while Priest-run countries offer greater availability for advancement but also much bigger risks of ending up entirely indigent. In other words, a Master mostly needs Servants and slaves, while Priests also want an occasional Warrior. Priests also have no particular need of slaves, although they find them convenient to rule.

3.5.6. Possible alternatives to organizing society.

When we talk about a caste-based society, or even a contemporary democratic society, we tend imagine its structure as a pyramid. Today this pyramid mostly nominal, since a person's position in it rarely coincides with their state of spiritual development. However, in order to create and maintain a healthy and vibrant society, the two must be brought into accord.

The structure itself merits some thought. A pyramid is an ideal way of collecting energy and resources into a single point of access. Who might benefit from such an arrangement? Clearly, the Devil, who needs human energy to survive. The thought of the societal pyramid has worked its way so deeply our minds that it's hard to even imagine a society organized along some geometric alternative. However, there is an old Russian word "kolo", or "circle." This term was used to describe governance in small communities, where men would gather in a circle to decide important questions. Of course, this couldn't work in a large society. But something else could act as a "circle" for that larger society: a harmonious distribution of people according to their states of mind.

The small top segment of the circle would be occupied by Priests; the next, slighter wider segment, by Warriors. The widest segment would belong to the Masters. The lowest and ideally smallest segment, to the slaves. These are the people who used to belong to high states of mind but slipped up in their behavior and mindset and are undergoing re-education so that they can move back up towards self-sufficiency and self-awareness. Thus the society is dominated by self-aware and self-sufficient Masters, who are primarily Masters of themselves and their own lives.

There is merit to the Priest/Servant society structure as well: it disseminates information with great speed and assists the development of individuals, because no one exists entirely within their own separate, self-sufficient and therefore somewhat opaque spheres. If the top of this pyramid is occupied by truly Creative Priests, then the society will develop faster. However, the Priests' great responsibility before the public also heightens the risk of them making grave mistakes, and also makes them more susceptible to the Devil's attacks. The Priests' aggregate mistakes could eventually subordinate them to the Devil altogether, which would re-organize the entire society around parasitic exploitation. Society can also degrade if there is a 'palace revolt', and the Creative Priests get deposed by parasitic ones.

A circular society is more harmonious, whereas a pyramid-shaped society is more stable and encourages quicker development. It's worth giving some thought to a new way of organizing society which would give more opportunities for both self-sufficiency and development, while also retaining a fair degree of stability. Of course, the people comprising this new society must also be in a new spiritual state, some kind of a harmonious amalgam of the three highest conditions with divine facets never encountered in mankind before.

3.5.7. Social structures in USA, China and Europe, in brief

3.5.7.1. U.S.A.

Previously, the United States were more of a Master's society. This was needed to set up frontier homesteads and cultivate the country's rich plains. Now, however, it is being converted into a textbook example of the Servant society. This did not happen by accident, nor is it a result of degradation of the Master-centered culture. Rather, it took creating an educational system geared specifically towards raising self-awareness. On the other side, massive individual indebtedness and pop culture with its fake visions of "successful" reality-TV stars and other non-entities prevent Americans from attaining self-sufficiency and keep them firmly in Servitude. Control of politics through corporate money and limitations on civil and personal freedoms are signs that the country is turning into an ideal Priest-Servant pyramid.

As the most powerful country in the world, America gets a lot of attention from the Devil, who tries to pervert all of America's accomplishments. Take for instance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were started under the best of pretenses, or America's support of the recent Arab Spring revolutions, where a great deal of blood continues to be shed in the name of freedom. It seems that in all these cases, the American military was simply used as a tool by the globally prominent Priests in their war against similarly powerful Masters.

Instead of bombs, America should export its brilliant system of consciousness cultivation. As for the freedom, which in some respect can be considered a synonym for self-sufficiency, America's concept of what it means to be free is quickly moving from the freedom of a Master to the artificial and limited freedom of a Servant. This latter freedom is a tough sell when you are dealing with Master-run countries around the world, but trying to close the deal with explosions undermines both America's credibility and the very concept of freedom, which can't be given by force to anyone. It's true that many despotic Master rulers keep their people in slavery, but this should be dealt with gradually, using more sophisticated and Creative tools oriented towards long-term success.

America's strength rests in part on its multiculturalism, with each race and ethnicity teaching others their own ways of Creative living and showing each other the various hooks used by the Devil. However, because multiculturalism is such a great asset, it attracts that much more interest from the Devil, who does his best to sow fear and hatred between ethnicities and races by using his favorite hook of "chosen people vs. inferior people". The only way to avoid getting caught on it is to remember that the only way to show superiority is working creatively on oneself and helping others do likewise.

I want to share some thoughts on how the Devil can attempt to degrade America. He will play his favorite trick of introducing groundbreaking positive changes, and then putting them in the hands of slave-minded people. This trick went down really well in Russia. American voters should be extra careful when they choose their leaders; more is at stake than they might think. Another one of the Devil's favorite tricks is sowing hatred, often backed by very plausible reasons. Hatred between family members (the youth is predominantly liberal, the older voters more conservative), social classes (1% vs 99%), and different races (e.g. all the dog-whistles regarding President Obama's 'alien' and 'un-American' origins). "Truth seekers" and conspiracy theorists should understand that their Devil-chasing comes from the Devil himself, and that they are simply being used to make society more hateful and backward. America should manage its mass media carefully, as its power can and will be used by the Devil as a tool for promulgating hatred.

3.5.7.2 China

China, despite its many successes, is in a difficult situation right now. Being basically an empire of Servants, China allowed a great many Masters to develop in order to further rapid progress. On one hand, it worked; on the other hand, it created a significant number of spaces subject purely to those Masters, which do not mesh very well with the Empire's precise mechanism. For now it might be unnoticeable, but very shortly, the symptoms of the "Master syndrome" will begin making themselves known. Chinese society is held together by a bureaucratic Servant-oriented system. The private spaces created by Masters are bending this bureaucracy out of shape. When these self-sufficient and self-aware people start feeling genuinely cramped, they will simply tear through it. The hegemony of Communist ideology already being weakened, China will have to think of new ways of strengthening itself.

3.5.7.3 Europe

The prevalent state of mind in Western and Central Europe is rather unique: people there are so self-sufficient that they are beginning to lose self-awareness. A great deal can be learned from the Europeans about valuing and protecting the private sphere, but at the same time we should note how they tend to cocoon in it, which leads to poor coordination between copuntries, self-lobbying disrespectful of the EU's long-term goals, and loss of developmental drive on the individual level. Many current problems within the European Union are in large part due to this misguided cocooning.

3.6. The human states of mind and organizations (micro-level)

3.6.1. The Master-centered organization

Just like governments, private organizations have two main types of structures: the Master-centered and the Priest/Servant. The Master-centered organization can be imagined as a sphere where the Master directs and controls all internal processes from the center, simultaneously pushing out at the boundaries to extend them. The benefits of this structure are its self-sufficiency and stability, as long as the Master is present. There are, however, several drawbacks:

• Total reliance on the Master; if they get distracted or leave the organization, the whole thing will probably go under

• The Master is more inclined to develop the organization outward from their own 'core' rather then move it forward. This slows down the rate of the organization's development and makes it less adaptable

• The Master is inclined to make company workings transparent only to them, which assures that the enterprise will remain safely in their hands. However, this discourages development in its workers, because it severely limits their participation in running the company

• The Master is not inclined to aid his workers' development, unless the development of the company itself requires it. But if the organization is staffed primarily by slaves, the Master will see no reason to change that. In general, Masters are not inclined to monitor and encourage their workers' development

• As a rule, the Master-centered- organization can't grow beyond the point where the Master's energy and attention will no longer suffice to keep it going

One should point out that despite their significant drawbacks, Master-centered organizations play an important role in society. They restrain the ambitions of parasitically inclined Priests and the Warriors directed by them. They also provide for a certain level of self-sufficiency in the society, fill in empty Creative niches, and give an opportunity to self-actualize at least for the Masters themselves.

3.6.2. The Priest/Servant organization

The second main organization type is that of Priests and Servants. It is a pyramid, usually headed by a Warrior who has focused their energy surrounded by a tightly knit group of other Warriors. This energy, which in Warriors is a truly wild force, must be tamed in order for the Warrior to become truly self-sufficient and lead the organization forward. They are as self-sufficient as the Master; however, should it remain unfocused, the Warrior's tremendous energy will rip up their self-sufficiency from the inside. If focus is acquired, however, untorn self-sufficiency will bring with it a touch of Masterly control, and eventually, experience will bring also some Priestly wisdom, without which the Warrior will be stuck in 'I came, I saw, I conquered' mode, and never install any new systems or start any new processes in his conquests.

The Priests of the organization are somewhat above and outside of the pyramid. Their traces can be found in the complex proprietorships of corporations and convoluted hierarchies of responsibility in government agencies. The Priests really don't like showing their face to the public. Occasionally, they will sit on Boards of Trustees or review boards, but sometimes they choose never to reveal themselves at all but simply direct the development of a certain organization, or even several organizations, from the comfort of their privacy.

The base of the Priest/Servant organizational pyramid is formed by Servants. Servants are created and maintained both through government–run processes and through Priest/Servant organizations directly. During the hiring process, interviewers select specifically for people with signs of self-awareness. Further on, this self-awareness is allowed to develop, but only within the parameters of the job. Beyond that, the Servant gets tied down with a great number of attachments. These will first and foremost consist of fears, insecurities, and persistent visions and descriptions of how a "successful" person ought to look and behave. If the Servant shows sufficient self-awareness and submissiveness, they can count on being promoted up the company ladder and potentially being entrusted with molding new Servants.

The Priests' overall plan rests on some of the Servants realizing at some point in their career that they can have more power than they've been told and evolving into Warriors. This is even more likely to happen when a born Warrior intuitively manages to dial down their usually uncontrollable energy and make their way through the system thanks to their natural modesty. Then, after reaching a high enough level in the company, the Warrior can showcase their abilities and take the wheel. As I remarked before, Warriors lack self-sufficiency because their energy burns them up from within and does not let itself be channeled effectively. For this reason, Warriors need Priests to help control this energy and set their life plan. This creates the Priest/Warrior work team that can effectively direct huge corporations.

3.6.3 The problem of slaves within an organization

The struggle against slaves forms a very important aspect of a Priest/Servant organization. In a Master-centered company everything is controlled by the Master, and whether it's staffed by Servants or slaves tends to be determined by the overall development of the country the company is in. But to a Priest/Servant organization, slaves present a great danger. They are usually either turned away during the hiring process, or quickly pushed up to the level of Servants after they are hired. Otherwise, they can infect those around them with their lack of self-awareness, and if they are given even nominal power, they will actually begin enslaving their subordinates. Since a Servant's state is artificial and therefore unstable, Servants regress easily back into slaves; this can start a hive-mind chain reaction within the company. At some point, the company's activity loses all touch with reality, at which point it needs to be either reformed or dismantled.

This problem becomes most pressing when society degrades as a whole. The inflow of slaves into the organization begins to overwhelm the company's own safety barriers. Servants then begin sliding quickly back into slave states of mind, Priests simply abscond, and Warriors burn out in empty intra-company struggles. No amount of company investments or innovations can help return slaves into higher states of mind. It would require an enormous government-overseen educational effort, set up and directed by truly Creative and actualized Priests and Warriors.

A partnership company is a special case. When the partners are few, it resembles a Master-centered company; if there are many, it resembles a special form of the Priest/Servant model. Typing this paragraph, I recalled the nickname given to the consultants employed at McKinsey, one of the most famous and valued partner-run companies in the world: "insecure overachievers". The professional grapevine has managed to correctly formulate the definition of the ideal Servant.

3.6.4. Competition: rat race for the slaves, training and review for Servants, boundless Creation opportunities for the higher states of mind.

The point of human interaction is mutual development. We test our own actions for Creative content by comparing them with successful Creative activities of others in our industry. But competition, in the form currently accepted in the business world, encourages friction and mutually destructive micro- and macro-battles rather than comparing notes and exchanging experiences with those around us. So we begin to act the opposite of how we ought to: instead of focusing on our own development and bringing the results out into the world, we waste energy fighting those around us and trying to bring them down rather than help them up. We make the typical mistake of 'stretching out', wishing for someone's career to take a nosedive or trying to appropriate something we did not ourselves create. In fact, we become doubly destructive. This situation is exceedingly profitable for the Devil, because our endless struggle provides him with oodles of energy. We should focus on competing with ourselves rather than those around us and pay more attention to developing the company as a whole. If we self-actualize, then even our competitors will gladly come learn from us, particularly how to be constructive and Creative within their own companies and the world around.

3.6.5. Management and the states of mind

Successful new enterprises are usually started by either Warriors or Masters. Businesses dealing with developing new technologies or markets are a Warrior's game, because Warriors are focused and fearless, and they can see past the current state of affairs and quickly forge a path ahead for the new company. They can even awaken and develop the Warrior state of mind in their employees. They refuse to be hindered by the complex hierarchy created to oversee Servants. Such a "battalion" organization can then march ahead quickly and in step. However, there is a crucial moment when the "battalion" must get joined by a Priest-investor, who can help with the resources and also chart long-term development goals.

During the process of expansion, the young Warrior company needs to avoid hiring either slaves or Masters. Slaves will be difficult to re-train due to a lack of corresponding educational infrastructure within the company, and Masters are apt to try and center company activity around themselves. The energy and will of the Warrior and the wisdom of the Priest are key to keeping the Warrior spirit alive in the organization for as long as possible. It is also important to try and predict the moment when it becomes necessary to install traditional Servant-oriented hierarchical mechanisms within the organization. In any case, the more Warrior discipline and focus stays with the organization, the better.

If the type of activity demands attention to a great number of details rather than moving ahead and developing quickly, then the business would be better founded and developed by a Master. The simplest example would be a café or a retail store. After securing a small space, the Master will begin to expand and deepen it. It will be important for the Master to correctly determine the appropriate boundaries of their 'domain' and to be able to control them. When a Master-run organization grows, several issues come up:

• Employees. The Master-centered organization would be ideally suited by advanced Servants, but the Master does not have enough self-awareness to attract such staff. Other Masters will be difficult to subordinate, and Warriors who are on the level of a Master just starting out are not self-aware enough

• Control. The Master must understand from the get-go that they have to be personally involved in all company activity requiring any thought. Sometimes they neglect to do so, perhaps because they mistake their company for a Priest/Servant system, not understanding that those companies have an unnoticeable but complex set of attachments and controls which their own company lacks

• Competition. The Master can quickly find themselves pressed up against the boundaries of other Masters' domains. If they try to go to war with them, from sheer inexperience, it will almost always end badly for them

Every new step taken by the Master in the development of their enterprise will run into these and some other problems. At some point the Master might face the question of gradually transforming their business into a Priest/Service structure. As a rule, this happens as the company prepares for an IPO. Here it is important for the Master to find their correct position within the reorganized business; no matter what it ends up happening, they will need to adapt their state of mind to the new situation. There are not many choices: they can become either a Priest or a Warrior, depending on their own strengths and weaknesses. One alternative may be to create a chain of relatively independent Master-centered enterprises, headed, for instance, by their family members. But in any case, the founding Master will then have to transition into a Priest, or else they will not be able to keep control.

A Priest in business tends to be an investor, a theorist policy maker setting down new business approaches, or a Board member. Priests must also oversee HR, in order to bring up new Servants and seek out and develop new Warriors and Priests from their ranks.

3.6.5.1 Some principles of organizational operations

Within a Priest/Servant organization, it is critical to create mechanisms for selection and development of Warriors, since without them, the organization cannot evolve and forge ahead. If the company is headed by a true Warrior, they will attempt to turn their subordinates into 'brothers in arms' by instilling in them discipline and focus. In other words, they will teach them not to 'stretch out' towards unattainable things, not to get distracted by noise, and most importantly, to become conscious of their own power and the near-boundlessness of their opportunities. The HR, which ought to be curated directly by one of the Priests, must assist the Warrior heading the organization in finding these new Warriors.

Occasionally, the Warrior-CEO inherits a Servant-oriented tool set; sometimes, they also attempt to act like Masters. The picture becomes especially grotesque when Servant-minded consultants "impart" their slave-and-Servant-oriented schemes to such a Warrior CEO. When this happens in Russia, the reaction of the old 'war horses', who remember the top-down Master-centered methods of the Soviet days, is understandably dismissive. They find the consultant's mumbling silly, but that mumbling has the whole Priest/Servant system behind it, and the old Soviet-minded Masters don't have the kind of swift and systematic thinking needed to refute it.

Within diversified holdings it is critical to give Warriors heading specific sectors the conditions and freedom to develop themselves. Masters are not well-suited for these duties, because they will turn their sectors into calm but opaque ponds, where they will fish out what they can for themselves . To reform such a pond will require a great deal of effort; one would need both to re-train the staff and to institute new transparency.

I've already mentioned that in my understanding, hatred means wanting to take something from someone and love means wanting to give something to someone. Therefore, Creating in an atmosphere of hatred is inherently impossible. Your divine "I" will refused to Create anything if it knows that their Creation will be uselessly consumed by a parasite. So the environment in an organization can't bear down on the worker intending to squeeze something out of them; it must promote their development from within. Any outside pressure will simply degrade the person into a slave state of mind, with predictable results.

Business is something that can take into account the level of development of those around it: in a society of slaves, business will be that of slavery; in a service society, it will revolve around service, etc. Some types can be conducted in multiple environments: for instance, service pyramids can, with some fine-tuning, be adapted to an environment of slavery, and even yield superior profits.

There is no point in giving slaves service instruments, neither dealing with the society as a whole nor within separate organizations. One has to first create a program to re-educate slaves at very least to the level of Servants.

4. How to stop being a slave: personal experience and thoughts

4.1. Introduction

Let's be honest with ourselves: many of us are in the slave state of mind. At the same time, I am confident that within each one of us sleeps divinity, and all of us are capable of being more. So here are some thoughts on how to free one's enslaved mind and open the door to a boundless world of Creative opportunities.

First of all, one must genuinely want to transition to a new, higher level. Each one of us houses both a potential new Universe and its Creator. Our mistakes may enslave us, both as individuals and as societies, but we have many chances to either Create anew or return to ourselves a higher state of mind. One just needs to let go of the fear of failing.

4.2. The tangible aspect of growth

After one decides that it's time to transition to the next level of consciousness, they should first of all examine their physical channels for possible 'hooks' they might have swallowed. This includes all matter that enters our body: air, water, food, drugs of every kind, cosmetics, etc. The biggest physical hooks are of course narcotics, ranked in order of magnitude of their addictive effects. If you take drugs, there will be practically nothing divine either in you or the spaces around you.

Almost everybody drinks alcohol, and up to a certain point its consumption is considered socially acceptable. But even moderate intake makes a hole in your self-sufficiency, which then lets in other hooks. Any substance that gives us intense momentary pleasure is a hook. Don't confuse such substances with naturally tasty things like strawberries and mangos. They are tasty and sweet because they are full of life, which they graciously give us. Substances like coffee and cigarettes, on the other hand (to say nothing of drugs), are not that pleasant to consume, but they provide an immediate high. Then they drain us of energy altogether.

As long as you are full of heavy hooks like these, you cannot stop being a slave. Even if you use them rarely, they will still leave holes in you that let in new addictions. They will make you un-self-sufficient and open to deeper enslavement. Physical hooks begin to affect our mental and emotional state as soon as they enter our bodies. When these physical addictions take hold of us, they resonate with various negative energies outside of us and drain us, making us even more un-self-sufficient and un-self-aware. If you get rid of the most physically compelling hooks like drugs and other addictive poisons, you will begin to notice other, smaller ones – quality and quantity of food and drink you consume, the cleanliness of the environment around you, etc.

There is a great deal of literature out there about how to eat a balanced diet and maintain proper hygiene, so I won't talk about it here. Personally, I would suggest taking everything written in these books with a grain of salt, picking out bits that make sense for you and building your own methods. Also, don't rush to rid yourself of all hooks at once; do it gradually. Don't force yourself into anything. First and foremost, you must become fully conscious of your need to change your life. If you are forcing yourself to do something, then you are still doing it without self-awareness, and you can fall right back into the bad habits.

4.3. The intangible aspect of growth

Intangible hooks can be much trickier and more varied than the tangible ones. Tangible hooks are more or less constant throughout our lives. Mental and emotional hooks, on the other hand, are prepared for each person by the Devil anew with every step they take in development. These hooks can be attractive freebies, enticing visions, or even a destructive activity camouflaged to look Creative. Of course, before he casts a new line, the Devil will first test the tried and true lures and bait. Returning to the simple example of alcohol and sports, let us suppose that you finally quit drinking for good and took up an athletic activity. At first, the Devil will keep trying to ply you with alcohol, perhaps improving his pitch (e.g., "an old chum came to visit, you haven't seen him in ages, you can't refuse to raise a glass with him!") If that doesn't work, then he will try something new, another weak spot in your self-sufficiency: lust, greed, vanity, etc. I would separate intangible hooks into three types: code, visions, and thoughts. I believe they are all interrelated and layer on top of each other, but let's keep them separate for the sake of analysis.

Let's start with code. Since our childhood days, in school and at university, we have been programmed by our educational system to pay attention whenever someone speaks to us in a voice of authority. Note that "attention" comes from Latin attendere, "stretch towards". Recall also that to "attend" on someone means to wait on them, to serve them.

When we listen, we are wide open. We do not analyze what we hear. The habit of "attending" in our childhood and youth turns us into listening and attending Servants later in life. Even if we actively participate during some particular lesson, we tend to sit quiet and downcast at the others, learning to "attend" to the person placed by some third party in front of us. We have no input in deciding who speaks at us or what they say; then we get tested by that person on that subject, which we often find inherently uninteresting or come to find uninteresting because of bad instruction. And then we are taught to feel guilty for not learning the lesson well enough. We also get in the habit of thinking about things within a specific academic sphere only with the words given to us to navigate that particular sphere.

Afterwards, this "attention-paying" reflex transfers to our relationship with our boss. This is especially applicable to Russia. When someone addresses us in an imperative tone, we become downcast and listen quietly, all the while feeling guilty for either not understanding what is being said or not agreeing with it. I don't advocate either destroying the current educational system or not educating our kids until we come up with a better way to do it. But we should at least try to gain awareness and short-circuit this submissive reception of speakers and of the things they tell us. We shouldn't look at someone who pontificates in front of us as though they were an evil and all-knowing boss; rather, we must look at them with clear and conscious eyes. In the great majority of cases, we will see a Servant caught up in their own weaknesses, or a slave unconsciously mimicking a Warrior. Of course, this isn't an excuse to be rude, just to become more conscious of what is really happening, especially within us.

The other programming we receive in childhood is lessons in obedience. As a rule, children get punished for being proactive and rewarded for passivity. We are praised and encouraged for following our parents' wishes and punished for doing something against their desires. It's important to understand that this is done to inculcate basic moral and societal values, which ideally should also dictate how to safeguard and develop one's self-awareness and self-sufficiency later in life. But if the child simply obeys without understanding why this is done, their education runs the risk of simply turning into programming and perhaps even enslavement.

Visions of what a certain kind of person ought to look like – a "successful manager", "a star", a "loser" – are an excellent contemporary method of enslavement. It reminds me trying to stage a Shakespeare play in elementary school: an adult shows up, gives everyone plastic swords and helms, teaches everyone strange new words to repeat, and assures everyone that it's all for their own good. So kids walk around on stage, waving around their swords and mispronouncing their incomprehensible lines, and wearing their best 'serious' faces. Only kids in this situation are fully aware that they are in a silly play; they might even guess that life in general is a silly play as well. Adults, on the other hand, are prone to forgetting this. The Priests who act as their super-adults, under Devil's direction assign roles as well, and they also assure that playing these roles is just the thing to do - divinely inspired, Creative, joyful, etc. Note, however, that all this is implied: no one ever promises any of this outright, so when you don't get real joy from your expectedly "cool" role, there is no one to blame, just you, since you are the one who accepted it.

One shouldn't part with one's self-sufficiency for the sake of getting to play an assigned role, even if you get to play a tough guy, or a cool guy, or the leading lady. Society-assigned roles are a mechanism of enslavement. Of course, if we refuse to conform, the Devil will be ready to catch us, pushing us further towards refusing other things, like society or morals in general. That's when our self-awareness is most needed: to avoid being cast in someone else's play without ceasing to develop connections with others around us.

Many of us are enslaved by ideas or beliefs. A good way out of that is to learn about as many other ideas and belief systems as you can. The more you learn, the freer you will be from any particular one. A great way to free your mind and develop is through interacting with people from other countries and continents. As we get to know them, we see hooks left in them by the Devil, which were not calibrated to us and thus remain visible to our eyes. At the same time, we will notice that these people are free of the hooks that we ourselves have swallowed. Even unconscious observation of their particular freedoms and attachments will make us much more self-aware and self-sufficient.

It is very important to be able to recognize people who are in the slave state of mind. This is to avoid wasting time and effort in arguing with them and trying to convince them of anything and of course to avoid "attending" to them. It's an absolute fact that if you are being taught by or supervised by a slave, then you will not develop beyond that state yourself. If you are in the constant company of slaves, they will never let you escape. A way to tell if a company is staffed by slaves is whether the employees spend their time in idle and malicious gossip, especially about their own co-workers. It is best to leave such a company.

You can try to awaken the slaves, but if they don't want to wake up, the effort is doomed to fail – you'll only make enemies. At the same time, those who've already gained some awareness start taking an interest in listening to self-aware people. Remember though that many of those who fancy themselves "awake" are just slaves who have listened to a lot of esoteric nonsense without gaining any actual self-awareness. The results of dis-enslavement make themselves clearly visible in intellectual, physical and social development. Also, dis-enslavement should lead to a steady state of joy and inner ease. If you don't have this, it means that you still feeding your divine energy to the Devil. Don't go far for the culprit: the fault is yours and yours alone. You must identify where else you are stretching out of yourself towards vain and deleterious objects and objectives.

Another very simple but very crucial piece of advice: don't identify fully with anything. You are your own unique Universe, and there is no point in trying to make it identical to any other. Identification is a very strong attachment. The Devil will immediately try to take away from you the very thing you are most attached to. Don't even get attached to your successes – they are only reflections of your development, and that's what makes them important. Let yourself be guided by the scope of your self-awareness and self-sufficiency, and by what you are capable of giving the world. A Creative result is not a goal but an indication that you are on the right track.

One of the most important results of working on oneself ought to be good mental and physical health. This is the foundation that allows for psychological stability. Establishing and strengthening psychological stability means, above all else, having a calmer and more weighed reaction to everything that happens. It also means the absence of that brain fog that keeps most people from being able to concentrate. This in turn allows the person to assess themselves and the world around them with more awareness, objectivity, and big-picture thinking. It is this psychological stability that allows us not to bend under the strain of outside influences, to process them calmly, and sidestep them if necessary. It also gives us the inner strength not to "stretch out" of ourselves after various harmful temptations and consider the opinions of others with more sensibility. I believe that without psychological stability, it is impossible to build a happy and creative life for oneself, since one risks being constantly brought off balance by petty nonsense and distracted from truly important and constructive undertakings.

I won't carry on describing all the types of intangible hooks and 'out-stretchings' – that is a subject for another book. There exists a lot of literature touching on how to free yourself from every manner of hook and attachment. All of it revolves around seeking your true self, awakening, becoming aware of yourself and the world around you. Look for them on the internet, ask around in bookstores; you may find some of them quite useful. But always remember that if God is present in something, so is the Devil, and the more of the former, then more of the latter as well. Here you must judge for yourself which is which and how to tell them apart. I hope the principles I described in this work will help you.

As for the reaching higher states of mind, everyone should choose their own way. Reaching any of them will always take slow, gradual self-work, broadening one's understanding of the world around and always giving back. Of course, the Devil will watch you every step of the way armed with new subversive teachings. A solid understanding of what it means to be self-sufficient should help you greatly when that happens. Don't aim at molding yourself into some particular type of mind, a Priest or Master or a Warrior, just because you want to be like that. Every person is indefinitely unique. Just use these categories as a broad guide.

5. Conclusion

I would like to thank you for reading this far. In this little book, I tried to touch on a great many things across a very wide spectrum. Your opinions and commentary can help me understand what errors I might have made and also set my thoughts on a course of development that would be most useful and interesting to others.

Please address your comments to me at Vladimir.Poklad@gmail.com
