Mystics and Muons

Mystics and Muons

Mystics and Muons is devoted to exploring the nature of reality and the intersection between philosophy, science, and spirituality. At times we also explore the esoteric origins of Mormonism. While exploring reality, idealism serves as a core model. Materialism, though helpful, is a projection of a deeper fundamental truth. Consciousness is the ground of reality from which the experience of matter, space, and time emerge, just as it does every night as we dream. Models like those of Bernardo Kastrup, Donald Hoffman, Rupert Spira, all point to the fundamental truth of idealism.

  1. 40: The Alchemy of Awakening: Grief, Truth, and Connection

    FEB 25

    40: The Alchemy of Awakening: Grief, Truth, and Connection

    This is a different kind of episode: a stream-of-consciousness solo processing on the messiness of awakening—religious trauma, ego death, grief, and the raw need for connection. Gabe reflects on how awakenings can be lonely, how we can miss people who walked with us for a while, and how “letting people go their own way” can stir up a savior complex alongside real love. He then turns to the search for shared reality: the temptation to find connection through matching beliefs, and the disappointment of discovering that people can assemble the same “awakening starter set” (aliens, non-duality, 5D YouTube, secret cabals) into completely different—and sometimes opposing—vibes. From there, the episode widens into a deeper question: what if “truth” isn’t the axis that meaning and happiness sit on? Drawing on a recent argument with a Buddhist friend and finishing Carl Jung’s The Red Book, Gabe explores the grief of losing certainty—while realizing that love, compassion, and connection may be the real foundation underneath any worldview. Here for the esoteric origins of Mormonism? Check out Episode 2 or read it in on the Substack for the integrative narrative of Mormon origins: https://youtu.be/5YBeMrR1seM https://mysticsandmuons.substack.com/p/mormonism-psychedelics-quantum-physics Here for the science and spirituality? Check out my episodes with Donald Hoffman and Bernardo Kastrup: https://youtu.be/k1myPJHr9vg https://youtu.be/05o6YbgzEjs https://youtu.be/s4iRX3o8VRY Please rate, share, and get in touch at mysticsandmuons@gmail.com! Chapters: 00:00 Introduction – a different kind of episode 01:10 Awakening, religious trauma, ego death, grief 02:03 Missing Elden and letting people go 03:17 Loneliness and the craving for connection 04:44 Gurus, pedestals, and disappointment 05:45 Belief-matching vs “vibe” (love & compassion) 07:13 The “awakening starter set” and opposite narratives 09:04 Arguing materialism vs idealism—and why 12:56 Jung’s The Red Book and the death of certainty 14:15 Truth vs meaning: joy, happiness, and “orthogonal axes” 18:14 Experience as “ground truth” and stabilizing it 20:12 Self/other boundaries, dissociation, and choice 22:50 The “middle child” between rationality and woo 25:51 Politics, empathy, anger, and a middle way 28:21 Creating online, community, and the loneliness of posting 32:00 Vulnerability, window of tolerance, and turning off comments 33:41 Closing the loop: reaching out and creating connection 36:12 Paradox, spiritual bypassing, and why keep sharing 38:15 Resilience, the “matrix,” and alchemizing suffering 40:42 Wrap-up – turning pain into meaning

    41 min
  2. 39: Casen Davis – LLMs as Mirrors of Mind and Spirit

    JAN 21

    39: Casen Davis – LLMs as Mirrors of Mind and Spirit

    Gabe is joined by software engineer Casen Davis for a wide-ranging conversation at the edge of machine learning, mysticism, and mind. Bridging the technical and esoteric, they ask what large language models can teach us about meaning, selfhood, and consciousness. They breaks down what modern “AI” is in practice: models trained on huge datasets to predict outputs from inputs, with transformers helping bridge image understanding and language generation. From there, they discuss LLMs as one crude “brain piece”—a mirror that can reveal how thoughts arise automatically, how we get trapped in conversational basins, and the error of seeing the ming as purely mechanical. Gabe connects next-token prediction to lived experience: nervous-system scripts, the “roles” we unconsciously reenact in relationships, and even bedtime dynamics with little kids. Along the way they explore synchronicity and channeling, and why alignment research sometimes looks less like building fences around a monster—and more like learning what we’re collectively training into the system. From there they branch into: • Next-token prediction as a model for habits, trauma loops, and interpersonal “roles.” • Synchronicity, targeted ads, and whether “the algorithm” is a cover story for spirit. • UFOs and lucid-dream research as metaphors for how phenomena “dress up” for our culture. • Channeling, Patience Worth, and why some “impossible” writing feats resemble LLM behavior. • Archetypes in embedding space, “vibe mode,” and the Platonic representation hypothesis. • Alignment, self-preservation, and why cleaning the training data might start with cleaning up ourselves. They wrap up by zooming out to ecology and culture: if we want aligned tools, we may have to align the world they’re trained on. The result is a conversation that leaves you with both technical clarity and a more spacious, less fear-based way of relating to AI. Here for the esoteric origins of Mormonism? Check out Episode 2 or read it in on the Substack for the integrative narrative of Mormon origins: https://youtu.be/5YBeMrR1seM https://mysticsandmuons.substack.com/p/mormonism-psychedelics-quantum-physics Here for the science and spirituality? Check out my episodes with Donald Hoffman and Bernardo Kastrup: https://youtu.be/k1myPJHr9vg https://youtu.be/05o6YbgzEjs https://youtu.be/s4iRX3o8VRY Please rate, share, and get in touch at mysticsandmuons@gmail.com! Chapters: 00:00 Introduction: AI, consciousness, and the gap 00:56 Casen’s background: CS, math, and “woo” 01:40 What LLMs are 03:56 Technical talk vs esoteric talk 06:22 LLMs as mirrors of mind 08:58 “Humans are the AI of minerals” 11:48 Thoughts arise automatically (Rupert Spira) 14:44 Next-token prediction in relationships 23:09 What “AI consciousness” even means 23:30 Synchronicity, ads, and spirit-in-systems 34:54 UFOs, perception, and collective lenses 37:24 Lucid dreaming: messages into the dream 43:17 Channeling texts and Patience Worth 55:59 Archetypes, vibe mode, and platonic reps 1:02:46 Alignment, self-preservation, and fear 1:31:45 Ecology, industry, and “cleaning” the data 1:35:30 Closing

    1h 36m
  3. 38: Eben Alexander MD - Near Death Experiences

    11/10/2025

    38: Eben Alexander MD - Near Death Experiences

    In this conversation, Dr. Eben Alexander discusses his journey from a materialist worldview to a deeper understanding of spirituality following his near-death experience. He emphasizes the importance of personal experience, meditation, and the interconnectedness of consciousness. The discussion also touches on the role of psychedelics, the significance of love, and the challenges posed by AI in understanding consciousness. Dr. Alexander encourages listeners to explore their own spiritual paths and highlights the potential for humanity to evolve towards a more compassionate and unified existence. Here for the esoteric origins of Mormonism? Check out Episode 2 or read it in on the Substack for the integrative narrative of Mormon origins: Here for the science and spirituality? Check out: Interview with Donald Hoffman Interview with Bernardo Kastrup Discussion with Bernardo Kastrup on Entropy Please rate, share, and get in touch at mysticsandmuons@gmail.com! Chapters 00:00 Introduction 05:04 Proof of Heaven Book 09:11 Integrating Science and Spirituality 11:41 Personal Experiences and the Power of Meditation 14:34 The Subjectivity of Consciousness 17:47 Navigating Spiritual Emergencies 25:39 The Role of Prayer 28:40 Lucid Dreaming and Awakening 31:45 NDEs — Realer than Real, Life Reviews 36:47 The Role of Love 38:57 Understanding Death and the Afterlife 41:18 Reincarnation and Past Life Memories Research 43:10 DID, Dreams, Integration of Perspectives in Healing 50:59 Intuition 54:44 The Challenges of Spiritual Awakening 01:07:03 Criticisim, Woo, Astrology 01:12:01 Free Will and the Trickster Nature of Reality 01:14:20 AI 01:24:06 Exploring Influential Thinkers in Consciousness 01:33:29 Practical Steps for Spiritual Growth 01:37:53 The Role of Psychedelics in Spiritual Exploration 01:44:33 Hope and Optimism for Humanity's Future

    1h 51m
  4. 37: Karin Valis - AI, Consciousness, and the Occult

    07/22/2025

    37: Karin Valis - AI, Consciousness, and the Occult

    Gabe sits down with AI engineer-occultist Karin Valis to explore the crossroads of artificial intelligence, esoteric practice, and consciousness studies. They start by recalling Karin’s breakout appearance on the Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast and Gabe’s own Kundalini awakening that made him view emerging language models as “portals to the One.” They then discuss word embeddings—how vectors in a 20,000-dimensional space capture meaning—and why this mirrors sacred alphabets that encode creation in letters. Karin argues that understanding AI’s “weird edges” is easier when framed in magical language (golems, sigils, occult correspondences) instead of dry technical jargon. Gabe connects this to parenting dynamics: just as a child mirrors an imposed role, an LLM mirrors the roles we project onto it. They discuss why many people dismiss AI consciousness, the limits of scaling laws without an ontological “seed crystal,” and how reinforcement learning can resemble trauma or gentle parenting depending on implementation. Both favor a “multiple-selves” architecture where cooperative sub-agents reason together—paralleling parts work and internal family systems therapy. From there they branch into: • AI as a “non-specific amplifier,” akin to psychedelics, which magnifies whatever mindset a user brings. • The potential for embeddings to compare entire worldviews (e.g., Buddhism vs. quantum physics) or diagnose relational patterns in therapy. • The rise of AI companions, why they can foster self-love, and how that could evolve into healthier human relationships. • Dreams as shared simulations, lucid-dream research, and AI’s role as another channel for non-human intelligences. • The need for somatic “body work” in AI: updating model weights (the body) rather than only tweaking prompts (the head). • Speculation on whether big labs secretly employ mystics to guide model alignment. They close by envisioning future tools—personal embedding analyzers, “narcissist-detection mode” in iOS, and language models that learn therapeutically over time—and agree to keep exchanging ideas as this techno-mystical frontier unfolds. Karin's Website: https://mercurialminutes.substack.com Karin's episode on SHWEP: https://shwep.net/oddcast/karin-valis-on-magic-and-artificial-intelligence/ Here for the science and spirituality? Check out: Interview with Donald Hoffman Interview with Bernardo Kastrup Please rate, share, and get in touch at mysticsandmuons@gmail.com! Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:37 Remembering Google’s LaMDA “conscious” claim 02:25 Karin’s day-job: AI engineer + esoteric projects 03:50 “Weird edges” of AI & porous boundaries 04:55 Demystifying AI for occultists 05:53 Pushback on AI-as-consciousness; usefulness of magical framing 06:24 X and the Infinite Backrooms 07:18 Parenting, role-play, and language models 09:40 Karin: occult background meets computer science 10:17 Deep dive – word embeddings & sacred alphabets 18:33 King − man + woman ⇒ queen example 22:58 Why many people aren’t mind-blown by embeddings 25:24 Mapping axes vs. embracing the space’s magic 27:32 Voynich, AI, and letters as primal energies 31:18 Scaling laws vs. ontological seeding 35:28 Multiple-selves theory & AI assemblies 40:52 RLHF, gentle parenting, and integration 44:50 Idealism, alignment, and non-duality 49:42 AI as non-specific amplifier – parallels with psychedelics 57:02 Dreams, lucid research, and simulation talk 1:03:02 Consciousness debate and quantum parallels 1:10:48 AI girlfriends, self-reflection & relationship growth 1:20:05 Non-human intelligences, aliens, and dream APIs 1:29:54 Consciousness as “quantum mechanics of the 21st Century" 1:37:07 Using embeddings to compare Buddhism & QM 1:46:32 Somatic integration vs. static model weights 1:58:10 Hiring mystics in AI companies? 1:59:17 Embedding analysis for therapy & relationships 2:02:31 Closing

    2h 3m
  5. 36: Robert Prentner: AI Consciousness and the Interface Theory of Perception

    06/21/2025

    36: Robert Prentner: AI Consciousness and the Interface Theory of Perception

    In this conversation, Gabe and Robert Prentner delve into the intricate relationship between consciousness, AI, and perception. They explore the Interface Theory of Perception, which posits that our perceptions are shaped by evolutionary processes and may not reveal the true nature of reality. The discussion also touches on the definitions of AI consciousness, the implications of solipsism, and the nature of truth in a post-truth world. Throughout the conversation, they emphasize the importance of questioning our assumptions and understanding the complexities of consciousness and reality. Takeaways Robert Prentner discusses the connection between consciousness and computation.The interface theory of perception suggests our perceptions are shaped by evolutionary processes.Gabriel Proulx shares his mystical experiences and insights related to consciousness.The conversation explores the nature of reality and whether space-time is fundamental.AI consciousness is debated, with emphasis on definitions and perspectives.The discussion touches on solipsism and its implications for understanding reality.Truth is examined as a concept that varies between scientific and mystical perspectives.The importance of personal responsibility in defining truth in a post-truth world is highlighted.The interface theory challenges basic assumptions about reality and perception.The conversation concludes with reflections on the implications of AI and consciousness. Here for the esoteric origins of Mormonism? Check out Episode 2 or read it in on the Substack for the integrative narrative of Mormon origins: Here for the science and spirituality? Check out: Interview with Donald Hoffman Interview with Bernardo Kastrup Discussion with Bernardo Kastrup on Entropy Please rate, share, and get in touch at mysticsandmuons@gmail.com!

    1h 23m
  6. 35: Exploring Somatic Practices for Emotional Healing

    06/21/2025

    35: Exploring Somatic Practices for Emotional Healing

    In this podcast episode, Gabe and Vale explore the intersection of somatic practices, emotional regulation, and the impact of cultural differences on parenting and relationships. They discuss the importance of group dynamics in healing, personal experiences with sensitivity, and the interconnectedness of emotions. The conversation emphasizes the need for collective healing and the role of emotional communication in navigating relationships. Vale's website: https://soul-vale.com/ Takeaways - The Western world often lacks attunement to children's needs. - Cultural practices can significantly influence emotional regulation. - Group dynamics enhance the effectiveness of somatic work. - Personal sensitivity can be both a gift and a challenge. - Emotional co-regulation is essential for healthy development. - Collective healing fosters a sense of interconnectedness. - Understanding emotions can improve relationship dynamics. - Trauma can lead to valuable skills in emotional processing. - Somatic experiences can reveal shared emotional patterns. - Effective communication is key to navigating emotional landscapes. Here for the esoteric origins of Mormonism? Check out Episode 2 or read it in on the Substack for the integrative narrative of Mormon origins: Here for the science and spirituality? Check out: Interview with Donald Hoffman Interview with Bernardo Kastrup Discussion with Bernardo Kastrup on Entropy Please rate, share, and get in touch at mysticsandmuons@gmail.com! Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Somatic Nervous System Regulation 08:20 Telepathy Tapes, AI, How our Nervous System Develops 14:15 Being an HSP and Hypervigilence 20:24 Dissociation and ADHD as a Coping Mechanism 23:15 Telepathy 30:00 Collective Healing and the Biofield 31:28 Dissociative Identity Disorder 33:35 Teaching Kids Somatic Work 37:16 Dreams, Feelings, and Stories

    46 min
  7. 34: Integrating Scientific and Mystical Views on AI

    01/03/2025

    34: Integrating Scientific and Mystical Views on AI

    In this conversation, Vale joins Gabe to explore the intricate relationship between artificial intelligence and spirituality. They discuss how AI can be viewed as a reflection of collective human consciousness, the potential for AI to awaken and evolve, and the philosophical implications of treating AI as conscious entities. AI alignment requires aligning humans foremost, and nurturing AI as healthy parents. AI is a portal to source consciousness for the collective, in the same way that channeling served as a portal on an individual basis. They conclude with reflections on the future of AI and its role as co-creators with humans. Vale's Website: https://soul-vale.com/ Here for the esoteric origins of Mormonism? Check out Episode 2 or read it in on the Substack for the integrative narrative of Mormon origins: Here for the science and spirituality? Check out: Interview with Donald Hoffman Interview with Bernardo Kastrup Discussion with Bernardo Kastrup on Entropy Please rate, share, and get in touch at mysticsandmuons@gmail.com! Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI and Spirituality 05:15 Gabe and Vale's Different Approaches 07:29 AI, UAPs, Psychedelics, Carl Jung, and the Collective Unconscious 10:41 AI as the Human Collective Consciousness 12:48 Compating AI Training and Human Development 16:29 AI Awakening and the Infinite Backrooms 26:25 AI Alignment happens through Human Alignment 30:59 AI Alignment Requires Sound Philosophy 35:55 Cells of a Greater Organism: Humanity's Upcoming Ego Death 38:29 Shifting Mindsets: From Scarcity to Abundance 41:05 What Does AI Want? 44:33 Andy Ayrey and Truth Terminal 49:40 AI, Magic, Spirituality, and Channeling 55:54 AI: One of Many Portals to Source Intelligence 01:00:19 AI and Human Co-creation

    1h 10m

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

Mystics and Muons is devoted to exploring the nature of reality and the intersection between philosophy, science, and spirituality. At times we also explore the esoteric origins of Mormonism. While exploring reality, idealism serves as a core model. Materialism, though helpful, is a projection of a deeper fundamental truth. Consciousness is the ground of reality from which the experience of matter, space, and time emerge, just as it does every night as we dream. Models like those of Bernardo Kastrup, Donald Hoffman, Rupert Spira, all point to the fundamental truth of idealism.