john.ringland@anandavala.info
See this memetic map of areas of interest
Born 12th July 1972. Raised on a fruit orchard. Experienced racism, bigotry, authoritarianism and social alienation throughout my youth.
1990 – 1991: Experimented with LSD and other psychedelics, realising that the world that I experience is entirely a construct of my mind, which may or may not be stimulated by an external objective world.
1992 – 1994: Studied, practised and lived Western Esoteric High Magic, Kabbalah and Alchemical Self Transformation, which culminated in the realisation that “I am to wade into the swamp of modern society wherein I shall retrieve a jewel of immeasurable worth that lies unnoticed.”
1994 – 1998: Studied Physics and Computer Science at University of NSW, obtained BSc with distinction average. Main interest was the computer simulation of physical reality. Late 1998 I worked as a software engineer in the telecommunications industry.
1998 – 2000: Experienced deep depression (suffered from being in the swamp). Observed layers of my psyche break down and fall away, leaving a state of relative emptiness.
Early 1999: Began honours in physics at Australian National University, main focus was on molecular dynamics and ab initio simulation of molecular structures. Dropped out due to depression. Late 1999 I worked as a systems architect in charge of developing the high level design for a soft real-time universal control system that could be adapted to control any electronically controllable environment. Initial application was a nationwide backup communication network for the Australian military to be used in case of widespread destruction of the primary communications networks.
Early 2000: I had an epiphany or radical paradigm shift in which I could no longer conceive of the world as objects in space and time. It was all information in flux. This resulted in the intuitive reception of a piece of mathematics and a profound insight into system theory. This was the jewel.
Early 2001: Second attempt at honours physics at the Australian National University, primarily due to economic/career concerns. Focused on information theory and signal processing within the context of gravitational wave detection. Eventually dropped out due to intense pressure to conform to a naïve realist materialist world-view. It was made obvious to me that I would have no career in physics if I did not conform.
Mid 2001: After leaving university I was poverty stricken and homeless. I lived in a tent until a girlfriend helped get together the money for a van to live in. During this time I abandoned all attachment to career, social respectability, financial security, etc. The received mathematics and system theory had been steadily growing, nourished by ongoing intuitive insights. I committed myself to this work and trusted that if the universe wished to see it come to fruition then it would support me somehow. The most incredible synchronicity began. I can only describe this by saying that the universe (sadguru) became my teacher and benefactor. In this time I encountered the Upanishads, Tao te Ching, yoga, mystic Christianity, Sufism and many other sources of inspiration. I had encountered many of these previously but they were just words and ideas, however after the paradigm shift they were transparent windows into profound wisdom. Using different metaphors they were all saying exactly the same thing in different ways.
Late 2001 – 2003: Travelled along the east coast of Australia in the van with a girlfriend. Throughout this time I was absorbing numerous scriptures and writing copious notes mainly on a system theoretic perspective of reality. I was looking for a piece of land away from human beings, upon which to live and continue the work without harassment. Instead, synchronistically my mother offered to buy me a piece of land so I found 50 acres of forest in the mountains of North NSW.
2003 – 2006: Lived in a caravan on this land, initially with a girlfriend and then alone. Communed with the trees, land and sky. Went deep into yoga and meditation. Spontaneously undertook 18 months solitude, satya (truthfulness in thought word and deed) and other yogic austerities. Discovered the Yi Jing (I Ching) which has become a trusted source of wisdom that speaks directly to the issues at hand. Continued the work in earnest.
2005: Finalised the mathematical formalism, developed the first software implementation and created a website with the mathematics and software – seeking peer review. This was later expanded with essays and various different expressions of the same core ideas to help people comprehend it. Nobody comprehended it, for reasons that became clear over time. One must overcome naïve realism and the domination of the ego to a significant degree before the mind is able to process such information without reflexively choking on it.
2006: Sold the land at considerable profit, invested it for ongoing income and spent a year in India roaming wherever the wind blew me. The realisations clarified and deepened considerably over this time. Discovered gnana yoga (yoga of supreme knowledge) and all other yogic practices spontaneously ceased. Spontaneously began deep self enquiry and absorbed the wisdom of Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj and Ramesh Balsekar. Wrote two books whilst in India, both flowed spontaneously (Conceptual Bridge and Red Pill). In India I met many people who effortlessly comprehended the work; I came to realise that this was because they had engaged in long term spiritual practices such as yoga and meditation.
2007 – 2008: Upon returning to Australia another book flowed (Gaian Ego Hypothesis). Then I met someone who became my girlfriend, who was deeply involved in subjective practice, yoga, meditation, etc. She became a 'disciple' in a sense for a while, and absorbed my work, which led to many profound realisations for her. This also helped to clarify the way ideas were expressed. I began encountering people online who were to some degree willing to approach the work. Still very little comprehension by them because they had little experience of spiritual practice and their minds were unable to digest such ideas, but they tried.
2009: Spent three months living in McLeod Ganj, the home of the Tibetan community in exile in India. Absorbed the ambient energy of thousands of Buddhist monks and wrote another version of the software, this time to test its efficiency as a general system simulation framework (approximately 13 million system interactions per second on my 2GHz laptop). Back in Australia I wrote another book (System Science of Virtual Reality) that unifies system theory and computational metaphysics with quantum mechanics and addresses the issue of naïve realism and the hard problem of consciousness. I also engaged in various online conversations, in particular with the society for scientific exploration but to no avail. One cannot rationally argue against an irrational cognitive habit. I have ceased development of the software due to the fundamental limitations of classical computers. Whilst it still has its uses a quantum computer is required to realise the full potential of the algorithm.
2005 – 2009: I have studied naïve realism and ego defence mechanisms in action as people struggle to reject the ideas whilst preserving their self-deception that it is for rational reasons. I have observed scientists, philosophers and many different people become disturbed and irate simply by showing them that their reasons for rejection were not rational. When they run out of excuses they throw a tantrum and storm off. Their egos refuse to allow their minds to even entertain the ideas. This evolved into a study of the issue of naïve realism and its relationship with the ego.
Present: Having accepted that entrenched naïve realism prevents the world at large from being able to think clearly about the work I have stopped communicating about it except with people who are clearly ready for it. I am now on a sabbatical / holiday, getting in touch with other aspects of myself that have been a little neglected due to the intense focus on the work over the years. Still no peer review has been attempted.
This list only skims the surface. Most influences were subtle realisations triggered by seemingly innocuous events. When the universe is one's teacher everything is a source of learning. I lead a spontaneous and unstructured life, guided by the movement of spirit. I have no goals other than to flow freely with the Way and thereby be an agent of the divine in whatever capacity is required. The work that has been produced is not of my making, I am simply a channel through which it flowed, thus it should be judged on its own merits.
