Mind the Shift

152. Gateways to Human Unity – Naina Eira Gupta

“Psychedelics trigger a unitive state, and meditation trains it.” So says Naina Eira Gupta, who researches the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and meditation. Psychedelics work because they disrupt the monkey mind, she asserts. They stop the constant chattering in your head, which is the mind’s MO to perpetuate the story of ‘you’. Everything we think we have is just that, a story. “Psychedelics are assisted mind training, I would call it. They provide mental immunity”, says Naina. Then, meditation trains you to keep that base perception, to see the story for what it is. “You realize you don’t have to be reactive to a particular thought or feeling, because it’s just a story.“ When the ego dissolves, you become so much more of an effective human being. “You can fall in love with the world. Everything becomes lighter. You don’t feel so much distance between what you perceive as ‘you’ and the rest of it.” What Naina hopes for is that more people have access to mind training, “because it’s deeply, deeply transformative”. Different psychedelic drugs work in different ways. Some can trigger negative experiences if taken irresponsibly. According to Naina, MDMA is one of the best for pro-sociality and connectedness, because it produces very little bad experiences. Psychedelic experiences can be so transformative that it can be difficult to know what to do with them. Some kind of scaffolding around their use is needed, says Naina. “Even so, many studies now show that psychedelics are beneficial therapeutically, even just in themselves, even if you don’t have a particular practice around them.” As a practicing Buddhist, Naina Gupta doesn’t hold a certain metaphysics. The middle way means that you accept that reality cannot be framed or pinned down. Something is, isn’t, is both and is neither, at the same time. “It’s just unbelievable potential.” The cause of our suffering is the subject-object duality. Naina has several meditation practices, and she has trained herself to dream lucidly. Is this – learning how to liberate oneself from duality with the help of psychedelics, meditation and other spiritual practices – conducive to achieving a more peaceful world? “If there is any hope, it lies in this.” “I wouldn't be talking to you today if this wasn't needed.” Naina's personal page at the University of Exeter [https://experts.exeter.ac.uk/42826-naina-gupta]Naina on Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nainaeira/]

151. Astrology Is a Science of Consciousness – Dan Waites

Dan Waites displays an impressive depth and insightfulness in the videos on his You Tube channel World Astrology Report, but he actually didn’t start working as a mundane astrologer until 2020 (mundane refers to the use of astrology to understand world events and phases).Dan had studied the subject matter and been mesmerized before that, but when the pandemic happened, it was a watershed moment for him. He realized with stark clarity that several astrologers had predicted the event – not in detail, but that there would be a global event that would shake society.“Then I knew I had to take this seriously. I have to learn this, understand this and devote myself to it”, says Dan.So, how does astrology work, really? Does it even have to do with the stars?“Skeptics often say things like ‘there is no plausible explanation for how astrology works, and therefore it does not work, therefore it’s a figment of your imagination’”.“But astrology is essentially a science of consciousness. It's an interpretation of meaning. And we don’t know how consciousness works! It's a bit ludicrous to expect there’s going to be a simple answer to the question of how astrology works”, says Dan.There are some very interesting astrological cycles that reveal things about the times we are living in. The Jupiter-Saturn cycle, for instance. The two planetary giants meet every 20 years, and during a period of roughly 200 years, they meet in the same astrological element (earth, air, water, fire). ‘Earthiness’ characterized the 19th and 20th centuries, but ‘airiness’ will characterize the period we recently entered.The difference can be seen in the media, according to Waites. In the 200 years of earth, the media was centralized, and there was a sharing of assumptions, even if people didn’t agree politically. Now, in the air era, we have adopted a new communication technology, the internet, which is decentralized, leading to a fragmentation of assumptions and narratives.In one of his essays on Substack, Dan Waites claims that we are in ‘The Hermetic Age’. This has to do with the extremely long Pluto-Neptune cycle. From the late 14th century, these two outer planets (in astrology, Pluto hasn’t lost its planetary status) started to meet in Gemini, the sign of Hermes. They will continue to do so for another 1,800 years or so.As long as the conjunctions took place in the preceding earth sign of Taurus, society was feudal, based on landownership. Then came the printing press, the protestant Reformation and the Copernican revolution. The era of capitalism was ushered in, and power moved away from landowners to bankers.Right now, multiple cycles are suggesting that pivotal events and discoveries are under way in the fields of the UAP phenomenon and of humanity’s deep history. Which is exactly what we are seeing.“An awakening to the truth about ancient history began in the 19th century, such as the interest in Atlantis. It is coming back now”, says Dan.The turbulence on the world scene also has astrological fingerprints. Pluto is currently out of bounds (it exceeds the normal range of declination from the Sun's path) to the south. This coincides with it being in the sign of Aquarius. Both phenomena signify a revolutionary energy.“The last time this happened, we had the French and the American revolutions, and before that we had the protestant Reformation”, explains Dan.Pluto will express this energy until 2035.__________✅ ResourcesDan’s World Astrology ReportWebsite [https://www.worldastrologyreport.com/]Substack [https://worldastrologyreport.substack.com/]You Tube [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0aTKbKUCDvl5Zj3zmCOHsA]

150. The Most Romantic Question in Science: 'Are We Alone?' – Avi Loeb

“Science isn't about showing off. It’s about attending to unusual data, unusual evidence”, says astrophysicist Avi Loeb.“We can only learn new things from anomalies, from what doesn't line up.”Paying attention to anomalies is precisely what he does as head of the Galileo Project at Harvard, whose purpose is to search for evidence of extraterrestrial technology.Loeb is frustrated. Almost all the research money that is allocated to the search for extraterrestrial life goes to projects for picking up radio signals and scanning for molecular fingerprints of microbes on exoplanets.“It’s like lonely people waiting for a phone call. Nobody might call you”, says Loeb.“And personally, I think microbes are boring. I am more interested in intelligent life. Yes, there are more microbes, but it is arguably easier to detect evidence of technology.”Loeb became famous in 2017 when he suggested that the first detected interstellar object traversing our solar system, named 1I/Oumuamua, might be artificial because of its strange behavior.His suggestion was not well received in the scientific community. He was academically attacked by many colleagues.Now, the third interstellar object ever detected, 3I/Atlas, is hurling past the planets in our home system at breakneck speed. This visitor also features very odd properties. It doesn’t look like a comet. It seems to be extremely large, it doesn’t have the classic cometary tail, its glow is preceding it, the composition of its coma is unique, and its trajectory is in line with the plane of the planets.“If you were to construct a spacecraft that were to visit this solar system, you would make it go in the plane of the planets”, Loeb says.Yet mainstream astronomers call it a comet, or more specifically a “black“ comet.“It’s like having only seen zebras and then suddenly see an elephant and go: ‘Look, a zebra without stripes, and with a trunk’.”Loeb has developed a scale for assessing whether a space object is natural or artificial, where 0 means decidedly natural and 10 means decidedly artificial. Loeb has given 3I/Atlas a 4, the same score he gave 1I/Oumuamua.It might drop on the scale – or climb – as more data is collected. By the end of October 2025 we probably know more, because that is when the object will be at its closest to the sun.Avi Loeb has always been an outlier in the scientific community, he says. He would “trade everything” he has of modern life to go back 95 years, to the time of quantum pioneers like Bohr and Heisenberg.“Because they were open-minded and willing to replace an old worldview with something completely new.”Science is more rigid today, he feels. Paradoxically, this may have to do with the fact that there are so many more scientists today. With a large enough population, ideas tend to regress to the mean.Avi Loeb isn’t afraid of airing ideas that would appear outrageous in conventional quarters. Have there been advanced civilizations on earth millions of years ago? Could our species have been genetically manipulated by interstellar visitors a long, long time ago? Loeb is open to both propositions.“We tend to think we are first. But it’s fully plausible that there was a technologically advanced civilization millions of years ago that was destroyed in a major catastrophe.” The Galileo Project [https://galileo.hsites.harvard.edu/]Personal page [https://astronomy.fas.harvard.edu/people/avi-loeb]at HarvardEssays on Medium [https://medium.com/@avi-loeb]The Book Interstellar [https://tinyurl.com/4suws4z3] (2024)The Book Extraterrestrial [https://tinyurl.com/5d7h9vpx] (2022)

149. The Last Days of UAP Cover-Up – Gary Heseltine

It was a pleasure to have Gary Heseltine back on the program, a former detective turned independent UAP investigator. In 2023, after years of research, he released a book, “Non-Human”, about the 1980 Rendlesham forest incidents (RFI), one of the most spectacular and complex UAP events in history.In July of 2025, a documentary about RFI, “Capel Green”, was released (at the time of recording this video, neither Gary nor I had seen the whole film, only trailers). Gary was involved in the early stages of the production, but he decided to walk away years ago because he wanted to get the book out. He knew he was sitting on unique information.“I wanted to get the truth out there.”In the early days, the RFI was to some extent covered in the media, because of a memorandum a commander of the air force base where the incidents took place released. It described parts of what had been seen and experienced. There was also one open witness.But soon, things began to be covered up by the higher echelons. Gary unveils much of it in his book.One compelling category of evidence the new documentary goes more into than Gary did in his book is the scientific proof that something strange happened. Gary had agreed with the film team not to talk about it in the book. But now he can.“There have been background radiation checks done where people said they saw craft or lights. And yes, there’s weird underground isotopic ratios that shouldn't be there.”The film should be well received in the UFO community, Gary thinks.“But there is still a lot of politics around the RFI. The narrative is being controlled.”One thing the controllers don’t want to talk about is the evidence of a conspicuous second UFO landing, where beings were seen – and filmed – by several witnesses (the whereabouts of the film material is unknown).Gary’s book and the “Capel Green” documentary land in a time of unprecedented UAP disclosure activity. Gary closely follows the legislative process in the US congress. He is both excited and frustrated.“We’ve moved forward slightly, but not enough.”The first witness hearing in 2023 (with whistleblower David Grusch) had a profound impact, but the second one in 2024 didn’t. The UAP Disclosure Act has been gutted twice. Hopefully it can pass in full later this year.There are still attempts at whitewashing and downplaying the subject by the Pentagon and its loyal journalists. But at the same time, people in the know are becoming more open, and new whistleblowers emerge.“The Pentagon is hanging on by their fingernails to keep this story down.”Trump has also appointed many people in prominent positions who are surprisingly open about their wish for UAP transparency, like Intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.A pivotal documentary, “The Age of Disclosure”, premiered at a film festival in March but has so far not gotten general distribution. Gary thinks it is meant to be part of a broader, coherent disclosure event.If official disclosure continues to be stalled, Gary believes there is a risk of ‘catastrophic disclosure’, meaning an incontrovertible mass sighting livestreamed by millions before the public has been prepared for it.Finally, Gary drops a bombshell piece of news: A large, week-long UAP conference with major players, including politicians, is in the works. He points out that he cannot reveal all details and that it is not entirely set in stone yet, but it is supposed to happen somewhere in the Middle East, probably in October.“This UAP conference will be the most important conference in the world” Gary's book [www.ufotruthmagazine.co.uk] ICER [https://icer.pt] (where Gary is vice-president)

148. Science Fanatics Try to Drive Evolution – Harald Walach

Humans have always tried to augment and enhance bodily flaws, from eye glasses to prostheses and pacemakers. But something qualitatively different is happening today. The transhumanist movement basically sees humans as biological algorithms.They want to break into the genetic code and the brain and change what a person is into something else. They believe nature has come as far as it can, and now it is we who drive evolution. We are the ones in charge of creating the next version of Homo Sapiens.“It’s a new religion”, says psychologist and philosopher Harald Walach, who has written a comprehensive report about transhumanism.It’s a staunchly materialist, godless religion.Seeing the body as a machine and the brain as a computer are metaphors that can be useful in some instances, like when we have had an accident. But it is a category mistake to take these metaphors to be the whole reality.“It’s like taking the menu for lunch. You can’t eat the menu”, says Harald Walach.A crucial and tricky question is whether the interventions transhumanists envision might mess around with consciousness. Harald distinguishes between psyche and soul.“These interventions can definitely change the mental state of people. But the soul is very likely untouchable.”The transhumanists are a heterogeneous collection of people.“They are various groups with different intentions. Some dedicate their efforts to abolishing death and aging. Some are more on the tech side, connecting human and machine. Others have a more philosophical approach reminiscent of the Nietzschean übermensch.”“A common theme is that they all want to create a transhumanist being with enhanced faculties that are greater than in current humans.”Interestingly, transhumanists aren’t particularly good at science.“I don’t think many scientists are transhumanistic, because scientists generally know about the intricate problems associated with what transhumanists talk about”, says Harald.“Transhumanists are science fanatics who don’t really do science. Many are in the tech industry.”At the core of the transhumanist agenda are medical interventions, in particular genetic manipulation.“We’ve already seen it happening during the pandemic: Genetic prevention technologies masquerading as vaccines”, says Harald.Was there a nefarious agenda?“That’s irrelevant. The thinking, the ideology and the technology were there. As I see it, it is like mushrooms. If you walk in a forest you may not see any mushrooms, but the mycelium is there, under the surface. When the conditions are right, they pop up everywhere.”To materialists, death is the ultimate catastrophe. There are transhumanists, like Aubrey de Grey, who want to abolish it.Ethical and logical objections aside, abolishing death would lead to absurd consequences, Harald points out: The population would quickly increase. By default one would have to prohibit procreation. This in turn would lead to fascistoid governing. Without young people, there would be no new ideas.“Philosophically speaking, life’s finiteness creates meaning. If we don’t die, we don’t need to make any important decisions:, says Harald.He thinks it’s imperative that we have an open discussion about the transhumanist agenda now. The proponents are a minority, but they are influential.“We need to ask ourselves: Are we willing to accept a transcendent realm that is beyond our human grip, that we cannot control?” Harald's website [https://harald-walach.info/]Harald's Transhumanism report [https://galileocommission.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Transhumanism-Report.pdf]