🇧🇪 We are now in Belgium for a bit. We travelled down to Dublin Friday last week on the bus - so as promised here is an update on the travel experience. Dublin Express coach continues to be our preferred choice - they currently have a separate bus for the airport and one that only goes to Dublin City so there was plenty of space, these buses are new and the drivers are friendly.

In Terminal 2 it is now all self-checkin. You need to be careful to check the right suitcases with each boarding pass or you will end up having to pay extra or being stuck with missing baggage allocation and having to seek out manual intervention to resolve the mess. Of course this is unfriendly, difficult and slow. I can imagine that all this software is built via "tickets" and contractor programmers write tests to demonstrate that their program works - nobody tests the edge cases, tries to break it or tests for usability.

Airport security remains the useless psyop that it always was - this is just obedience training for the masses and a ritual that they require you to perform. The purpose is to train you to accept ridiculous constraints as normal and to obey instructions from so-called authority. Pro-traveller tip for Terminal 2 is to head left and keep left and you will eventually end up beside the Fast Track. If there is no agent on guard you might accidentally walk into the Fast Track - and if there is an agent there they may well ask "are you on your own" and if you answer "yes" they will let you go through too.

Arrival in Brussels Zaventem was a dreadful experience. Our luggage came in on band 8 behind two other flights, the first of which was from Africa - so all the passengers were stuck in passport control and the band was completely full and no more luggage was coming out. Of course the other luggage bands around us were empty - this would seem to be negligence or incompetence, if not nefarious or malicious planning by the airport. V and I explained to those around us that they needed to make space on the band but only a couple of people could be bothered to help - the rest just stood around like cabbages. So we had a long delay there and missed our planned train connection. Welcome to Belgium!

After all that we had a great week here, visiting Oostende where we even went to the races, bike to Veurne and train to Bruges in addition to plenty of pleasant walks along the beach. We have been staying with V's brother and his partner - thanks for all the hospitality! This coming weekend V and I are in Antwerp so do reach out if you are close and want to meet - slots are filling up fast!

Book, Substack and Interview of the week

This week I have one of the most interesting and informative books that you will find and an excellent interview of the author discussing his book as well as the next one that he is working on. You should subscribe to his substack and this includes a PDF download of his book - absolutely recommended reading. This independently corroborates many of the so-called more contentious points from Jason.

In Hrvoje's interview, Mees Baaijen discusses his book "The Predators versus The People" which delves into the global mafia or "glafia" who have been ruling planet earth for millennia. Over time, roughly around 500 years ago, capital concentrated to such an extent that this merchant and aristocratic class gained unprecedented powers of colonisation which they are now wielding for their global domination project.

Modern "democracy" is based on this hidden oligarchy, all nations have become proxies for their power projection. The world wars were used to break up monarchies and empires. We are already living in de-facto World Government, not yet de-jure - although recent events in UK and France ought to make you think.

Going deeper still

Makia Freeman has been writing about the networks that run the world for many years, and his latest book shines a light on the powerful network ruling the planet from the shadows. It is tempting to believe that the darkest form of evil only resides in Hollywood films, or maybe even Hollywood itself.

Likely Stanley Kubrick really was using Hollywood to covertly explain through his films what is actually happening behind the scenes at the highest levels of society.

More in this issue

• Photo memories - at the Belgian coast this week
• Project Updates - Fedi after the launch and Anna's Archive
• Plenty of useful links - don't say nobody told you!
• Closing out - Hermeticism vs Gnosticism - good to know

🛠️ Project Updates

The following are updates from some projects that I am following, supporting and collaborating with. These are all part of the Parallel Systems that we need to build and use. What are you doing?

Fedi - after the launch

This is a fascinating interview with Obi, the founder of Fedi. He is a most interesting character. Born in Nigeria and lived in UK where he was CEO of one of Europe's largest Bitcoin exchanges. Listen and learn how Obi and the team are driving the bottom-up transformation of payments and how this works using Bitcoin.

Links to specific discussion topics are below - click around and learn. This is such an important app and it is great to have Obi and the team driving this forward.

0:51 - Launch euphoria, 4:04 - Fedi’s purpose, 8:30 - Fedi devs, 13:06 - Interoperability and unleashed chat, 16:55 - Individual community needs, 24:33 - What Fedi replaces, 33:54 - How to improve and expand, 37:34 - Flipping perspective on money, 47:37 - Stability pools, 53:44 - Sapping power from fiat system, 1:00:27 - Managing expectations - What’s next, 1:06:04 - Open source announcement, 1:11:21 - Running on a bitcoin standard, 1:16:21 - Wrapping up

Remember - it is still early days and you will thank me if you get started ahead of the curve and the crowd. Simplest way is to download the Fedi app (links for Android and iPhone in the article below) and join the Bitcoin Principles community. You can send me a message (I am travellr#9746 ) in this app and I will send you your first bitcoin to welcome you and get you started.

Anna's Archive

Recall our discussion last week on the evil of Audible and disappearing audiobooks. Well that cancer is also present in Amazon book services where e-books are just as likely to disappear from your Kindle (or even be altered). Thankfully there is also a solution to that too. This is an even easier project than last week's one - since you do not need to run any software - although you are welcome to do so and this is one way to help the project.

Anna's Archive preserves books, papers, comics, magazines and more by bringing these materials from various shadow libraries, official libraries, and other collections together in one place. All this data is preserved forever by making it easy to duplicate it in bulk — using torrents — resulting in many copies around the world. Listen below as Gabriel explains - you are welcome to join and support this initiative in various ways.

For those who have questions about copyright you should listen carefully to their discussion; this should also be rather familiar territory to all Austrian Economists and anyone familiar with Saifedean's Principles of Economics.

Some shadow libraries already do this themselves (eg Sci-Hub, Library Genesis), while Anna’s Archive “liberates” other libraries that don’t offer bulk distribution (eg Z-Library) or aren’t shadow libraries at all (eg Internet Archive, DuXiu). Anna's Archive gives you EVERYTHING from all these sources in one place.

This wide distribution, combined with open-source code, makes Anna's Archive website resilient to takedowns, and ensures the long-term preservation of humanity’s knowledge and culture. Learn more about Anna's Archive datasets.

🔗 Links for your edification

This week I am sharing with you links that point out rather clearly just a few of the lies that you have been told.

Recall that we have already discussed many of these lies extensively back in my reviews of "180 degrees" and "The Falsification of History" - but the links that follow are short, sharp and free-standing and some of you may find them easier to absorb than the books.

A rather big lie - America faked the moon landing

I have given you plenty of background on this one before - recall Bart Sibrel's "A funny thing happened on the way to the moon". Here Charlie gives you his comprehensive explainer of things that you likely missed. Once awake to this you probably do want to consider the implications - if they lied about this what else might be a lie?

ICYMI: The Hebrew word "נָשָׁא" (nasha) means to beguile or deceive. It is derived from a primitive root that implies leading someone astray, either mentally or morally. Check the biblical references yourself.

UK Mafia - another rather clear example

Thanks to Richard and Veronica for this rather clear example of how UK local councils are behaving as Mafia (organised crime) to extort payment under menaces and threat of force. What is interesting and useful here is that you can see how to use the system against itself and avoid paying. Time to Exit the Matrix.

Click here for Veronica's complete PDF with all letters and emails included.

Looters vs Producers

This is a rather good explainer by Matt. Whilst much of it is US centric a lot also applies to most of the Western World. Ayn Rand has given many related insights in her books - you may also want to check them out.

Producers are inventors, creators, entrepreneurs, craftsmen, farmers, ranchers, carpenters, programmers, teachers, engineers, etc who provide goods and services or work for businesses that provide goods and services that real people actually desire.

By contrast, looters steal things. Looters are people who break into your house or car and take things, or trick you into accidentally sending them money, etc. The looters are much more prevalent than you might expect - Matt helps you see them.

🤔 Closing Thoughts

This week I am closing out with a comparison of two rather important and influential spiritual traditions. These are things that are not commonly discussed and knowing them will likely give you many additional insights and much wisdom.

Hermeticism and Gnosticism share a common emphasis on knowledge and the spiritual journey, they diverge significantly in their cosmological views, attitudes toward the material world, and approaches to salvation. One of the most significant differences lies in their cosmological frameworks.

Gnosticism typically posits a dualistic worldview, where the material world is seen as a flawed or evil creation of a lesser deity, often referred to as the Demiurge. This belief leads to a negative perception of the physical realm, which is viewed as a prison for the divine spark within humanity.

In contrast, Hermeticism adopts a more monistic approach, viewing the material world as a sacred manifestation of the divine. Hermetic texts often describe creation as a process of emanation from the One, where the material realm is not inherently evil but a necessary aspect of the divine plan.

Hermeticism and the Kybalion

Hermeticism is an esoteric tradition that encompasses a variety of philosophical and spiritual teachings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. Its seven core principles reflect a synthesis of ancient wisdom, focusing on the relationship between the divine, the cosmos, and humanity. The most accessible explainer is The Kybalion.

So what is Gnosticism and why now?

This is rather good interview that I came across this week. Gordon White is an interesting character and whilst I do not agree with everything he says he has many interesting, pertinent and relevant perspectives. Dan Waites, the interviewer does an excellent job interviewing and summarising.

Gnosticism, a collection of sects and beliefs that thrived in the centuries after Christ, was suppressed by the Church around the 4th century. The Gnostics believed in two gods - the transcendent supreme Monad, which is the ultimate creator, and the Demiurge, an evil or incompetent deity that created the material world. They believed this world was evil, akin to a prison - but that knowledge of the higher reality, gnosis, could set them free.

Gnosticism lay dormant for centuries - but in our time, it has seemingly returned - so why is that?

In this episode, you'll hear author, magician, podcaster and healer Gordon White explore the return of the gnosis. Topics include the discoveries of the Nag Hammadi Library and the Dead Sea Scrolls during one of the most dangerous periods in human history, Carl Jung as the great wizard of our times, Rudolf Steiner and the Gnostic nature of our technological apocalyptic moment.

Gnostic creation

The Gnostics insisted they were in fact the original Christians and that the Roman church were imposters co-opting and changing their mythology. Gnosticism continued to flourish alongside the Roman church until it was declared heresy and outlawed by Emperor Constantine in 325AD.

This is a most interesting story - it will certainly surprise you. It might well remind you of our discussion on "180 degrees".

For an alternative, and equally excellent, explainer of all this - click here.

So - what do you think? Which is right? Could they both be right or could they both be wrong and if so what else/better/different do you suggest? The truth is out there!

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No one can be told what The Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.
- Morpheus to Neo in The Matrix

I am assuming that you are up to speed by now on the Matrix story and why this is important - so you are ready for Neo's encounter with The Architect. Watch and understand more...

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