Self-talk. Visualizations. Bodily awareness. Unconscious thought processes. In our day-to-day course of existence our minds assimilate, respond and react to any number of stimuli from within – and without. But how often do we stop to consider just how we do this and what faculties of apprehension are actually put to use? And do we even have a framework, vocabulary and level of awareness from which to do it?

Inner speech (inner monologue), inner vision, sensory awareness, emotions and unsymbolized thinking are all categories that, according to psychologist and researcher Russell T. Hurlburt, can help one come to know what one’s "pristine inner experience" is. Along with such a framework and the research inspired by it come many questions. What does it mean to be “in the moment”? Do all people use all categories of inner experience with the same frequency? How are we used to describing our inner experiences to ourselves and to others? Were personages like Gurdjieff on to something when he encouraged people to observe themselves?

Join us this week on MindMatters as we question the many assumptions, presuppositions, and mediations that come between cognizance of individual inner experience, and a relative state of unawareness regarding just what makes us tick.

So you’ve been ‘red pilled’. You're well versed in false flags, deep states, secret governments, and state-sponsored assassinations. You’ve watched documentaries about stolen elections, the New World Order, child trafficking, and mind control. And then when you were through with those, you read extensively on the criminal acts of intelligence agencies, psychopathy among the elite, exotic weapons, and more.

And now you simply know, in your bones, that the reality presented to you on CNN (and most other places) is total B.S. - and have the hours and days of sleepless nights, shocked reactions and chills running down your spine to prove it. But, perhaps, no one ever told you how to assimilate such life-changing information. And, perhaps, no one ever guided your expanded insight of how the world really works - with an equally expanded insight into how you really work. (Or, if you have experienced it, you can stand to have a few reminders!)

This week on MindMatters we are joined by writer and researcher Colin E. Davis whose new book, Transforming Darkness: A Shadow Work Toolkit for the Red Pilled Initiate addresses just such issues. Using Jung’s idea of the Shadow, or the dark side that exists in all of us, Davis not only provides a survey of works describing how this darkness comes to be and is manifested in the world, but also provides references to some of the best modalities that aid in addressing them. Understanding the world we truly live in is a most worthy pursuit, but the balance required to see ourselves as we truly are, and as we live a 'Red Pilled’ life, is no less crucial.

Neo-gnosticism without gnosis. Gnosis without neo-gnosticism. These are just a couple of the frameworks, dichotomies, and strains of gnosticism making their way into the religious, social, and political consciousness and conversation of today’s world through literature, film, and other media. In this follow-up discussion with author and scholar Arthur Versluis, we continue our discussion on his Oxford University Press-published book 'American Gnosis: Political Religion And Transcendence.' We further delve into the profound influence and divergences of an ancient set of spiritual beliefs - made all the more relevant for their lasting power and pervasiveness in so much of what we’re observing on the world stage. (Part I of this discussion is here.)

This week on MindMatters we further examine the spectrum of gnosis, contemporary misconceptions about its tenets, as well as how the political dissidents of today could become the inquisitional forces of tomorrow. If pathocracy, extreme materialism, radical leftism and communism are the ‘enemies’ of gnosticism, then what, if anything, can gnosticism tell us about a way forward in an increasingly complicated world?