The Sanctuary Project
Overview of the Sanctuary Project
A Self-Sufficient, Sustainable Plan for the Evolution of the Body, Mind and Spirit
The project is divided into a number of stages, each addressing a specific need in the process of the Magnum Opus1:
Stage 1: The Monastery: a place of living and learning spiritual advancement, from any spiritual path. Monasteries are typically created to live a specific faith or discipline. We believe that all paths lead to enlightenment and if we share what we have learned, we will learn more and find the ultimate truths to the Universe. So the monastary is envisioned as the common denominator; a place where Buddhists can chat with Christians and swap ideas with Asatru, in an open, sharing environment.
Stage 2: Central Information: share what we already know, what we have learned on our own, and where things are heading through research. A library and computer complex that provides secure access to that information, and a portal to share your own knowledge and experiences.
Stage 3: Antiquatis Institute: Providing public access to information, through formal classes, workshops and audio-visual materials.
Two additional stages have been proposed, but right now we are concentrating in bringing the first three stages into reality. They are:
Stage 4: The Tomorrow People: First recognized by Roger Price in his BBC television series, The Tomorrow People, has become a reality--people being born with some rather remarkable "gifts" (what was called ESP in the old days, "psychism" later on, and now the study of psionics). Stage 4 is envisioned as an extension of the first three stages specifically for those with psionic gifts, to help them comprehend how they work and to safely develop them to their fullest potential.
Stage 5: Magnum Novus: An advanced research unit into the study of consciousness and the underlying nature of the Universe, itself. The place to be, if you want to be a professor at Hogwarts!
Contributing authors to the Sanctuary Project
Bruce Peret, Wyoming, united States of America
Gopi Krishna V., Texas, united States of America
Parnell Springmeyer, California, united States of America
1 Magnum Opus (ML. Great Work), is an ancient tradition in Western cultures referring to the process of individual enlightenment as a conscious, deliberate act.
Background
Some Background Information
The Sanctuary Project was originally created in 1983 by Antiquatis founder Bruce Peret under the name of Breiðablik, the beautiful home of the Norse god Baldr, described in Snorri Sturluson’s Gylfaginning as the only place to survive Ragnarök, the destruction of the gods. It was inspired by the Tibetan monastery of Shangri-la, from James Hilton’s classic novel, Lost Horizon. It seemed that such a place, though fictitious, needed to exist.
The original intent was to create an archive of knowledge—a “Sanctuary” for preservation—incorporated into a holistic community based on Utopian ideals to preserve and provide knowledge for future generations. As the project developed, it became apparent that preservation required maintenance, and maintenance needed to be done by dedicated individuals living the principles and knowledge it preserved. Thus, a monastic aspect was amended to the project, which later began its development along the lines of the Biblical concept of the “good Steward”1—not just taking care of knowledge, but helping others access and comprehend it. This, in turn, led to the idea of a type of “Hogwarts”2—an unconventional school where religious, philosophical and metaphysical material could be researched and learned by those interested in a more “formal” education.
Though we call it “Sanctuary,” it is not an escape or retreat from civilization. The term “Sanctuary” was selected because it represents a refuge in which the delicate work of pushing the evolutionary process of body, mind, and spirit forward, as an act of deliberate will, can take place; free of slow-to-change social norms and society's defensive reaction to spiritual progress.
This document relates some of the ideas and principles developed over the last 25 years by Bruce Peret and other contributors whom have worked on the founding principles of the Sanctuary idea. The concept has been refined many times, and we will continue to do so until we get it right!
The summary that follows was created for your consideration, in the hope of creating a better and more beautiful world.
Getting Spiritual Evolution back on Track
Getting the Spiritual Evolution of Mankind Back on Track
“For when the day comes, and when the world begins to look for a new life, it is our belief they will find a well of hope... here... so here we shall stay, with our books and our music and our meditations; here we shall be to guide the footsteps of a weary people. Here we shall be, with our way of life, based on one simple rule: be kind.”
—Father Perrault (Lost Horizon)
The Sanctuary Project is an ongoing effort for the creation of a holistic lifestyle, to assist with the development of all aspects of humankind: body, mind and spirit.1 It achieves this by providing the resources to improve the fundamental character of man, allowing him to “be all that they can be,”2 in contrast to the prevailing ego-gratifying consumer society, which just provides more distractions.
Eastern cultures have, over time, developed these concepts using such traditions as Qigong, Mo Pai, Nei Kung and Patanjali’s Yoga. What is new about the Sanctuary Project is a result of the Information Age—more information and knowledge is at our fingertips than our recent ancestors could have fathomed. Through consolidation and research into the foundations of spiritual development, the Sanctuary Project can provide simple tools and techniques build and to improve the ethical and spiritual character of man, keep the body fit, healthy, and to retain a clear, sharp mind well into old age.
The ancient practices have shown that compassion, moderation, growth and happiness are a result of spiritual understanding, applied to intelligence. This produces a greater number of intelligent, ethical people that are self aware—and do not desire any malice or dis-ease upon themselves or others. A community of self-aware individuals becomes self-aware as a whole—clean surroundings, deliberate reproduction, well being, cooperation, and ease—become the default state, because each individual cares for the root well being of the self. Pollution, overpopulation, disease, stress and conflict become self-regulating as teh participating individuals regulate those states within the self, finally taking their place as good stewards3 of the Earth.
The accomplishment of these goals is a long, but simple, deliberate and straightforward process. Change takes time, patience is faith in the knowledge of what is to change, and many modern societies tend to lack patience. The first step is is to create a place that has a slower more deliberate lifestyle, where someone can literally have the time to “sit and think.” Contemplation, meditation and self-introspection have always been key in the development of spiritual understanding. This was the intention of ancient monasteries and religious retreats, but can be upgraded with modern amenities making personal development less of a physical hardship, but not facile undertaking. The Sanctuary concept strives to develop all aspects of the human experience, body, mind and spirit—you cannot deny one to obtain another—so out with the “hair shirts” and cold, stony floors. Meditation works just as well in a natural position (sitting on the floor, or in a nice chair, depending on your personal preference) in a comfortable environment.
Contemplation and meditation in a monastery is fine, once you have new concepts that require contemplation. The second stage of the Sanctuary Project is to create a research library, an archive of ancient and arcane wisdom that has accumulated over the millennia from around the world, from every culture and every religion. Sanctuary recognizes that each person has their own path to spiritual growth, and the research library would provide information on many of the directions and alternatives that others have followed; where they went and how they got there. This is a tool for each individual to consciously choose how they want to proceed with their own, personal development. All paths lead to enlightenment, but it is nice to find the occasional short-cut. Another important function served by this kind of research is the access to materials in their native tongue, which would enable a better understanding of all the “assumptions” that go into translating one culture’s concepts into another’s.
When walking a spiritual path, one encounters others that share similar intent and desire to discuss the highlights of their journey. That is human nature. The third stage of the Sanctuary Project is to consciously create an open exchange of ideas and information through a school, where people can freely share their thoughts and discoveries with others. It is recognized that there are both formal and informal paths to teaching and learning, and such a school must accommodate both the structured courses of training for specific goals and procedures, as well as the ad-hoc, “guess what I just figured out,” impromptu lecture or dialog. Scheduled classrooms handle the formal classes, whereas “commons”, such as decorative gardens with places to sit comfortably, handle the impromptu discussion with ease.
These three stages provide the necessary infrastructure for the exploration into the nature of consciousness, the ability to inspire people to focus on their own, personal development, and a place where that development can be used for the evolution of Self, spilling over and inspiring the evolution of mankind. This is not limited to adults; our children are our future. With access to people, paths and materials in an open, supportive environment, children would flourish in the development of body, mind and spirit. They will carry with them the understanding to shift the human population towards goals that will ensure a positive, hopeful future for mankind. Our future is in the hands of our children, or as Roger Damon Price put it… The Tomorrow People.
mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ
Conscious Evolution
Be the change that you want to see in the world.
—Mahatma Gandhi
The core concepts behind the project are simple: compassion, moderation and kindness to promote personal, cultural and societal growth. They are held in the highest esteem by every culture on Earth, so why aren’t people living their lives by them?
The only constant in this Universe is change, and the world around is changing at a remarkable rate. Individuals “value” those changes and those values, themselves, are based on personal experience and understanding. One needs to qualify the changes one is trying to bring about, both within and without, which would serve as a guiding principle.
The nature of change is such that there is always an evolution towards an increase in consciousness. Whatever different routes one examines, be it the “Man must reach the level of Godhead” idea of many religions, or the quest to discover and understand all the “Laws of Nature” as the scientist refers to them, a distinguishing feature of these routes is the underlying emphasis on an increase in understanding, knowledge, and the capacity to act based on that—in short, an increase in consciousness of the individual. Consciousness includes a greater capacity to understand, act and predict the consequences of actions—both your own, and of others. This consciousness can be increased by every individual, by recognizing how it operates both within and without.
This drive to evolve prevails not just in human interactions but also in the plant, animal and mineral kingdoms. The direction of evolution is pointed out clearly by an increase in complexity with a concomitant decrease in numbers; the evolutionary pyramid. Hence, complex chemical compounds are rarer to find than simple compounds, as plants are rarer to find than bacteria. This gives us a clue regarding another nature of the change—it moves towards an increase in consciousness, or complexity, in basically all the fields open to us… in other words, everything grows and evolves in its own sense.
The distinguishing feature of the human being is individuality; they can choose to evolve—or not. The refusal to make a choice, in itself, constitutes a choice. If the previous stage of evolution brought the mammal to an individual, thinking being, the next stage would occur via thought and a knowing, conscious act. Information is the key to making such a choice. The knowledge and experience of others is very useful information, which will be available in the library.
For the Individual, the Sanctuary Project provides an opportunity to evolve, as a conscious choice. It serves as a foundation, not one that is “set in stone” but as the idea of “growth” that changes according to individual perceptions. The idea of an underlying, evolving principle is again as old (and new) as time, with the Eastern names like Tao, Brahman, and what we now call Kheb… holding it as a worthy and reasonable motto with which to seed the Sanctuary and bring in the next evolutionary stage of mankind.
Evolutionary Forces
Directing the Forces of Evolution
The occultist sees in the man of today a being in the full swing of evolution. Man is at the same time a fallen God and a God in the becoming.
- Rudolf Steiner
Upon looking at the evolutionary track of mankind, one observes that although the main track leads to an increase in consciousness, there are "sidetracks" which seem to lead elsewhere. It is important to understand the distinction between these, and the ways to identify them. What is also necessary is to identify what forces of evolution already exist, and which ones would have to be utilized in the Sanctuary project.
Any individual who is either planning to, or is already on a journey, has to take into account the immediate environment, and the forces which exist in and around him which can then be put into use. His internal environment might simply be whether or not he is healthy enough for his Path. A factor much bigger in magnitude is that of the external environment... there could be a certain speed and direction of the wind, which he could use if he decides to set sail, a terrain which he could take advantage of owing to the vantage point it provides, or even hitch a ride with the passing elephant if that is where he wants to move. In other words, it is important to intelligently modify the forces at our immediate disposal, because after all very little actually happens by chance and there would be a reason why one is presented with a particular situation. A second point to be noted is that one can use a force which is contrary to the direction one wants to go, and direct it towards where required, as any sailor would bear witness to. A scientist seeks ways to do this, and calls them propulsion systems, and the concept here is the same. And therein lies the way of distinguishing the different tracks. A person who succumbs to the direction of the force, not being able to intelligently modify it and direct it where one wants, would inevitably assign his will to the force itself, to take him where it would. This gives rise to the different sidetracks on the course of the way, for the simple reason that there are many forces in the world today. Let us take a look at the available forces in the beginning of the second millenium and see how we can utilize each one of them. It takes little effort to observe that one of the predominant forces acting in the world today are the forces of technology, to which the consciousness is being directed towards. Following that track would mean assigning our intelligence to the evolution of technology, such that technology evolves, bringing things closer together in space to man's fingertips, while at the same time alienating him from his internal world and stunting personal growth, whether interpersonal or otherwise. In other words, if technology does something which an individual is supposed to do himself, if the individual spirit of seeking is outsourced to the technology because of which one "seeks new technologies", that would put him clearly on the sidetrack. However, one needs to utilize this force for an increase in the consciousness of the human being involved. An evolution of man would result in an evolution of technology, but the reverse is not necessarily true! What is the essential nature of technology? It is to logically arrive at ways of bringing the necessary resources at the right time and place. For an individual seeking to increase his consciousness by himself, what are the relevant resources? The thoughts and ideas of other seekers, namely the communication of information. This gives us a clue to utilize this force... to dedicate its use to the communication of ideas. This is the underlying theme of Central Information. The world has developed a framework which relies on the uses of the five external senses. What this means is that the force we are dealing with directs people to define reality based on what they perceive with those sense alone. This force of the age is decidedly very powerful, and it would be unwise, and probably downright foolish if one were to deny the reality of the five senses. So in what way could we utilize this force? If reality is attributed to the five senses, then what is needed is to provide a way to utilize those senses completely and thoroughly, such that by properly using them one "sees" that his way of seeing needs to be expanded. As many on the Path have noticed, the primary increase in consciousness lies in acknowledging the data already being received by the senses. Thus, this would serve as an educative principle, wherein the forces streaming from materialism are used as a foundation in order to expand the worldview of the individual concerned. This would demand a need for education which does not deny the reality of ANY world-view... a Tier 2 (see Psychological Environment) educational concept. The Antiquatis Institute is the idea sprung from this concept. 3. A Melting Pot The unconscious influences of all the different races have been brought together in real time, as of today, leading to a situation where not many know what course to follow in their inner life. The evolutionary forces of one race are directly mixing with the evolutionary forces of another, leading to a situation where all the vertical and horizontal levels of evolution are thrown together to fight it out. And as is being seen regarding what "man has made of man", we are literally fighting it out... be it wars between countries or between ideologies. After all, what would one get by hammering the keys on a piano without being able to hear? The utilizing of this force lies in two main stages... the first is acknowledgment of the different influences. That would mean separating out the different influences, and identifying the characteristics which make each of them unique. Focus in the east is more on relationships, while that in the west is more on things; focus in the hard-weathered Northern races is more on practicality, while in the equatorial region lies a current of idealism. Observing this would be similar to hearing, and identifying the notes in a musical scale. The second stage is to put the influences back together, which would mean bringing those individuals together who have successfully differentiated and understood the influences, and working towards a common principle. This is the origin of the idea for the Kheb Monastery, where individuals can come together and create their own symphony, retaining their individuality and yet working with others. A melting pot is a unique opportunity, as it has a lot of forces which need direction. So we observe that it has brought us back to the theme of this article.
Stage 1: Kheb Monastery
Reconnecting with Nature through Self-sufficiency
“It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly.”
—Bertrand Russell
“Have you ever dreamed of a place, far away from it all…” begins the theme to the 1973 classic musical, Lost Horizon, based on James Hilton’s 1933 novel about the secluded monastery of Shangri-La in the Himalayan mountains, sitting as an inspiration to all that there is a better way to live your life.
Kheb[1] is a monastery, remote but not secluded, where people can have an alternative to the mercantile system that is imposed upon society by political, religious and educational institutions.
Goals
- To develop a healthy, physical body and lifestyle based on organic foods and energetic techniques, such as Qigong, Tai Chi or Yoga.
- Develop thinking and intuition to higher levels, based on the processes of nature, to become intelligent in both knowledge and street smarts, ideal and practical.
- To use the strong body and strong mind to create a strong, enduring spirit—intelligence coupled with ethics, resulting in wisdom.
- To develop a lifestyle based on compassion, kindness and open sharing that can be a living example to others who seek a similar path.
- To make this knowledge and process available to those whom seek it, through books, lectures, workshops and the Internet.
Self-sufficiency
“Self-sufficiency” means being able to provide for the basic needs of food, water, clothing and shelter, without having to purchase or engage in trade to obtain these objects.
In order to achieve these goals, a physical foundation—a “community”—is required as a starting point. The initial goal of the community is self-sufficiency—not to be dependent upon society to provide the basic necessities of life. This can be achieved through organic farming and ranching (humans are, by design, omnivorous), private wells or rivers, and either naturally available energy (gas, wood) or alternative energy (solar power, wind power or zero-point modules). Structures should be designed with Feng Shui[1] in mind, to keep a proper bioenergetic balance through the community and to account for differing needs for individuals and families.
Self-sufficient design depends strongly upon the available resources. It is always best to use what is available, but resources should only be consumed if they can be renewed. For example, if you burn wood for heat and cooking, plant trees to replace what has been used, and a little more, so you are always on a positive-surplus curve. Always create more than you consume.
The Power Process
Getting Back to Nature, and Loving It
Self-sufficiency also infers a lot of hard work, as gardens need to be tended, cows milked, buildings repaired. But there is a high degree of satisfaction that comes when you actually seeing the results of your labor—food to eat, beautiful gardens and landscapes, comfortable places to live. This is embodied by a concept called The Power Process:
The power process has four elements. The three most clear-cut of these we call goal, effort and attainment of goal. (Everyone needs to have goals whose attainment requires effort, and needs to succeed in attaining at least some of his goals.) The fourth element is more difficult to define and may not be necessary for everyone. We call it autonomy and will discuss it later.
Consider the hypothetical case of a man who can have anything he wants just by wishing for it. Such a man has power, but he will develop serious psychological problems. At first he will have a lot of fun, but by and by he will become acutely bored and demoralized. Eventually he may become clinically depressed. History shows that leisured aristocracies tend to become decadent. This is not true of fighting aristocracies that have to struggle to maintain their power. But leisured, secure aristocracies that have no need to exert themselves usually become bored, hedonistic and demoralized, even though they have power. This shows that power is not enough. One must have goals toward which to exercise one’s power.
Everyone has goals; if nothing else, to obtain the physical necessities of life: food, water and whatever clothing and shelter are made necessary by the climate. But the leisured aristocrat obtains these things without effort. Hence his boredom and demoralization.
Non-attainment of important goals results in death if the goals are physical necessities, and in frustration if non-attainment of the goals is compatible with survival. Consistent failure to attain goals throughout life results in defeatism, low self-esteem or depression.
Thus, in order to avoid serious psychological problems, a human being needs goals whose attainment requires effort and he must have a reasonable rate of success in attaining his goals.
Industrial Society and its Future, Sec. 5
There are two schools of thought regarding who actually does the work in a self-sufficient system. First, is that “everyone should share the load” equally. Second, is that “experts do what they do best.” Sharing the load results in more leisure time, but can also produce disastrous results should an incompetent person damage a critical system—such as destroying a crop. Expertise will give excellent results, but has the tendency to “burn out” a person because of the constant demands on their time.
The approach for the Kheb Monastery comes from the tried-and-true methods of the ancient Trade Guilds, where a group of craftsmen share their expertise, and therefore the workload, amongst themselves. This also opens the opportunity for intellectual development, through the apprentice system. (Expertise is also a renewable resource, as long as you have the old sharing with the young.)
In order for people to complete the power process, there needs to be failure to learn from, as well as success. For this, a degree of autonomy is required:
Autonomy as a part of the power process may not be necessary for every individual. But most people need a greater or lesser degree of autonomy in working toward their goals. Their efforts must be undertaken on their own initiative and must be under their own direction and control. Yet most people do not have to exert this initiative, direction and control as single individuals. It is usually enough to act as a member of a small group. Thus if half a dozen people discuss a goal among themselves and make a successful joint effort to attain that goal, their need for the power process will be served. But if they work under rigid orders handed down from above that leave them no room for autonomous decision and initiative, then their need for the power process will not be served. The same is true when decisions are made on a collective bases if the group making the collective decision is so large that the role of each individual is insignificant...
But for most people it is through the power process—having a goal, making an AUTONOMOUS effort and attaining the goal—that self-esteem, self-confidence and a sense of power are acquired. When one does not have adequate opportunity to go throughout the power process, the consequences are (depending on the individual and on the way the power process is disrupted) boredom, demoralization, low self-esteem, inferiority feelings, defeatism, depression, anxiety, guilt, frustration, hostility, spouse or child abuse, insatiable hedonism, abnormal sexual behavior, sleep disorders, eating disorders, etc.
Industrial Society and its Future, Sec. 7
Self-sufficiency, done in the style of the old Trade Guilds, not only provides what is needed but also gives a sense of accomplishment and personal effectiveness through the Power process. But this is not limited to the physical aspects of the body... it can also be applied to the mind (through intellectual challenges) and the spirit, resulting in a different kind of “satisfaction”, which the Greeks refer to as Agapé—a direct connection with God and His creation, Nature.
Stage 2: Central Information
Knowledge is Power
Knowledge comes in many forms, not just book learning. The Central Information[1] system is envisioned as a repository of information and knowledge from library books for general reading, a computer database mapping topics and indices of available material, and interactive computer programs and instructional video “how-to's”. Unlike traditional electronic encyclopedias (Britannica, Encarta, Wikipedia,...) and/or search engines (Google, Ask.com, Bing) that provide a list of “hits” based on keyword relevance; the Central Information mainframe will process a question in English or other natural language into a logical language that the system can then infer an answer from based on the information in its database. The answer could come in the form of an article, dictionary entry, or statement. For example:
- “What is an archetype?”
- Would provide a dictionary entry and references to Alchemical and Jungian articles on what the archetype is.
- “How tall is the Eiffel Tower?”
- Would provide an answer, such as: “The Eiffel Tower is 984 feet tall.”
Apart from access to information and knowledge, the second aspect of the Central Information system is also the ability to create information, by providing the resources needed to write books, tutorials, record instructional videos or interactive computer programs.
Once information is made available, a place to assimilate it is needed. The third aspect of the Central Information system is a suitable place to read, watch, or discuss with others; similar to the intent of Libraries with added areas for conversation and dialog.
The CI structure would use Feng Shui to integrate grounded, energetic design with a clutter free environment to encourage learning and the stimulation of the mind, with space for meditation to contemplate, assimilate, and synthesize what is being learned.
1 Central Information, or "CI" for short, was the computer complex in Thea Alexander's book, 2150 AD, that contained not only knowledge about the world we live in, but was able to access the Akashic records to show you information on your past lives.
Repository
Central Information Repository
The CI Repository is much like the classical library, a building(s) to contain the materials obtained, created and donated to the Sanctuary Project. Within the library are access terminals to the CI network and mainframe for locating physical materials and asking the system questions. All physical materials would be input into the CI mainframe to ensure redundancy and loss prevention of materials.
The CI system will maintain and track the inventory index of media and materials, book borrowing can be automated and streamlined by the system. Individuals return materials as a courtesy and not as a rule, when someone requests a vacant item the CI system would inform the holder of pending requests and to return the item when finished.
Computer Facility
Central Computer Facility
The Central Information data center would be utilize a redundant set of clustered servers to ensure no single point of failure, with sufficient capacity to serve the needs of the community, and beyond. With sufficient resources, the Central Information network and library could supply local schools, libraries and Cafés with materials and technology generally confined to Enterprise Corporations.
Redundancy of the system and data is to be implemented in a number of ways:
- Traditionally, in the form of clustered, mirrored servers with synchronization schedules and tape backup schedules.
- Offsite in national and international co-located servers.
- Over a distributed, encrypted, peer-to-peer network consisting of members graded on the amount of uptime, time participating, and peer trust.
The primary data center facility is to be located near or on the Sanctuary Project (depends on how remote Sanctuary is). Telecommunication access, particularly a high speed backbone, is necessary for the primary mainframe cluster because large amounts of data will be stored, transferred, and served. The facility would require a redundant power backup system in the event of a power outage whether run off the power grid or the Sanctuary electricity resources.
Offsite co-located servers would reside in other data centers throughout the country and/or globe providing redundancy and a centralized content distribution network for localizing content and services to other cities, countries, and projects.
A distributed peer-to-peer17 network would require participating individuals to have software installed on their personal computers that would encrypt and split the data into chunks across multiple computers. The software would also be responsible for updating with new data, transferring and combining chunks, running distributed queries across peers, and encrypting the data. Aside from the redundancy benefits it also ensures the data of Central Information is kept in the hands of those who use it, can ensure anonymity of the peers and participants, and cannot be censored by authority figures in government, religious, or corporate institutions.
1 BitTorrent, Freenet, and TOR are examples of community efforts to implement anonymous distributed networks to overcome government and corporate censoring.
Commons and Gardens
Integrated into the general design should be areas where one can sit and discuss topics, more of a general “bookstore” atmosphere than a “hush-hush” study room. Simple structures like fountains and waterfalls can produce sufficient white and pink noise to dampen most of the distractions.
Security Services
People involved in personal research and correspondence require privacy—something that is getting harder and harder to find these days, with all the government and corporate spying and censoring of electronic correspondence.
There are high-quality security services and programs now available to protect electronic communication to a high degree. Naturally, they are, however, not made generally available as that would interfere with the collection engines used to track who is talking about what, and develop marketing and sales profiles.
The Central Information services can provide private storage and communication for individuals to use, based on the “Private Key” standard for signing and encryption, so what is publically seen is solely a choice of the individual using the system—not anyone else. It also ensures that what is stored and transferred is coming from the actual person and not a spoofed identity.1
Once a person is secure in their ideas, they tend to make them public, voluntarily. But the process of becoming “secure” requires a degree of personal privacy, where one is not afraid to ask the questions that are wandering around in the unconscious. The Sanctuary Project is about growth, not repression. Central Information provides a repository (or Sanctuary) of information to be retained for future generations, with personal privacy as a consequence of having respect for the thoughts and ideas of others, allowing a freedom of expression not found in conventional systems.
1 Spoofing is a situation in which one person or program successfully masquerades as another by falsifying data and thereby gaining an illegitimate advantage.
Resale of Services
The hardware and infrastructure used for the system can also be used to provide high-speed internet access to remote locations, such as ranches, farms and small communities in outlying regions, where systems such as Cable or DSL are not currently available. This can be done using VHF radio-link technology to connect and “daisy-chain” locations spreading hundreds of miles from a high-speed T1/T2 line, normally available in cities. (Such radio links can also be encrypted.)
Encryption services and hosting of data as a cloud service1 could also provide another source of income to assist with the hardware, maintenance, and development costs the Sanctuary project and Central Information may incur.
High volume priority access packages to the Central Information knowledge reasoner could be sold to enterprise institutions and colleges. Companion iPhone or Google Android phone applications could be developed to make use of the prolific spread of smart phones and tablet devices.
1 Cloud Computing services provide users with the benefit of large scale computing power or storage without incurring hardware and maintenance costs to do it themselves. Cloud Computing is generally charged as a utility service.
Stage 3: Antiquatis Institute
School of Ancient and Arcane Wisdom
“The Masters and Saints working on the Right Hand Path began to collect the precious records and documents from the libraries of Lemuria. Each Master was chosen by the Council of the Great White Hierarchy to go to a different section of the world, where, in safety, he could set up a School of the Ancient and Arcane Wisdom. This was to preserve the scientific and spiritual knowledge of the past. At first, for many thousands of years, these schools were to remain a mystery to the inhabitants of the world; their teachings and meetings were to be secret. Hence, they are called even today Mystery Schools or the Shan-Gri-Las of Earth.”
—Secrets of the Andes, George Hunt-Williamson
Times have changed, but people really haven’t. The idea of education1 is the activation of the intellect and the intuition to help one figure the Universe out, but despite all the education and resources available, there are still those who would prefer to destroy what they do not understand, rather than attempt to comprehend it. As mentioned in the quotation, the prior method to preserve and distribute knowledge was through secret schools, where members were recruited by word-of-mouth. In the Information Age, the situation is quite different. We no longer have the local boundaries imposed by lack of communication. The entire planet is available at the press of a button, and the best way to preserve information is to distribute it. Distribution includes written, electronic, and word-of-mouth through formal education and informal chats.
The Antiquatis Institute is the public, front end of the Sanctuary Project, designed as a non-profit, educational, religious and scientific organization whose purpose is to archive past knowledge, research and develop new ideas and skills, as related to the evolution of mankind.
1 Yukti yukto vacho grahyam baalaadapi shukaadapi, Yuktihinam vachastyajyam vriddhaadapi shukaadapi (A thought which resonates with the intellect must be grasped, whether it originates from a baby or from a parrot, while a thought that does not must be abandoned, whether it originates from a wise old man or a great sage himself.)
The Public "Face"
The Institute provides a public “face” to the project at a level comprehensible to the general public. This would be analogous to the “Novitiate” level of most religious orders, but includes the corporate environment as a suitable vessel to interact with a corporate-based society.
Communications and Publications
The Institute, as a commercial, non-profit venture, provides access to a communications and publication hub, in order to distribute materials (information, courses, books, etc) to the general public and to receive materials intended for study or archive purposes.
Education and Schooling
Knowledge should be shared, so the Institute provides a place for classrooms and formal education, seminars, workshops and presentations.
Spiritual Retreats
Not all learning comes from the mind; sometimes, a person may need to sit, meditate or pray, without being interrupted by the noise and rush of the corporate world. This is another kind of “school,” where you are your own teacher.
Instructional Audio/Visual
Keeping with the “knowledge must be shared” ideal of growth, the Institute will have tools and resources to create audio-visual instructional presentations, for use with DVD media or the World-Wide Web, as well as authoring and publication resources for the preservation and distribution of knowledge.
The physical library would be part of the Institute, and the archive of books, audio and video will be available to the public as “reference” access.[1]
Psychological Environment
The Psychological Environment—Values and Judgment
As a public “face” to a spiritual monastery, the Antiquatis Institute will naturally run across people from all walks of life, some of which will be in conflict with each other and the concepts being promoted in classes and lectures. Psychologist Clare Graves developed a unique system named Spiral Dynamics describing how a person “values” their experiences and as a result of those values, makes an internal judgment of others. Though “Judge not that ye be not judged,”[1] would be the eventual lesson of the interaction, people will be people and judgment is a natural valuing process (“I like chocolate chip cookies”, “I don't like white chocolate chip cookies”), critical judgment.
Recent research into the psychology of personal and interpersonal “values” has reaffirmed the importance of an age-old, simple concept—just how important the background environment is, when it comes to the natural workings of the psyche. Just as a garden requires that the soil and the water supply be adequate and healthy, a Sanctuary would require an equally cultivable psychological landscape for the people involved.
In any institution, the original goals and ideals that were promoted are often lost as time passes, or when a large number of people get involved, imposing their own system of values over that of the greater ideal.
To understand why this happens, there are two interrelated concepts which need to be clarified, one with respect to who an individual is, and the other with respect to what the individual values.
As a human being grows from childhood to old age, he generally increases his radius of interaction, starting with his immediate self, extending to his family, friends, peers, and so on. In a similar fashion, the “values” progress from one valuing system to another, in discrete, identifiable steps (called valuing memes or vMemes[2] for short). The progression is basically that of the world-view, starting from ego-centric to world-centric and beyond.
Each person has an active vMeme that dominates their valuing process, and controls the judgments they make. However, when that vMeme fails to provide the answers for the important questions within one’s experience, an expansion occurs and a new vMeme is embraced, in order to answer those questions. The transition can often be difficult, as the loss of what used to be “right” tends towards emotional depression, but then the “light is seen” and a new way of understanding the Universe appears, with answers to those questions that could not be answered, before.
There are two Tiers of vMemes, briefly:
Tier 1 (I’m Right, You’re Wrong)[3]
Beige (Survival): Survival is supreme, all values based on self-sustenance. (Examples: first human societies, starving masses, infants)
Purple (Tribal): Survival of the tribe is important, allegiance to ethnicity and magical spirits. (Examples: Blood oaths, curses and charms, rituals, youth gangs and sport teams, corporate “tribes”)
Red (Power Gods): The rule of power and the way of the warrior is supreme, the strongest and conquerors are admired the most. Enjoy self to the fullest, without remorse. (Examples: Roman Empire, teenage rebellion, wild rock stars, epic heroes)
Blue (Truth Force): The higher Order is supreme, which provides life with a meaning and direction, and lays down the rules for absolute “right” and “wrong”. Impulsivity is controlled, hierarchy is clear. (Examples: religious fundamentalism, patriotism, the army, Puritanism, Governments, Boy Scouts)
Orange (Entrepreneur): Achievement of individuals valued highly, rational, strategic, scientific, with emphasis on material gains and utilizing all available resources. The world and man, working as a machine. (Examples: Wall Street, fashion industry, science and technology, materialism, advertisements)
Green (Human Bond): Human bonding and ecological awareness is paramount, all hierarchies and boundaries to be erased. Enrich life with spirituality, networking and emphasis on relationships. (Examples: Human and animal rights, Greenpeace, Rogerian counseling, activism)
Tier 2 (Let’s See How That Works)
Yellow (Systemic): Life is a kaleidoscope of natural hierarchies [holarchies], systems and forms. Flexibility, spontaneity, and functionality have the highest priority. The interactions among Tier 1 vMemes are understood, far-sighted actions, based on a global view of things.
Turquoise (Holistic): Feeling and knowledge united, the system is perceived as a conscious system. Universal order, but in a living, evolving and conscious fashion, not based on external rules (blue) or group bonds (green). A “grand unification” (Theory Of Everything) is possible, in theory and in actuality.
It can be seen that both individuals and societies grow through the vMemes, from beige onwards.
The difference between Tier 1 and Tier 2 is that Tier 1 can only see the vMeme it is currently in (only one “right” way to do things) while Tier 2 perceives the other systems of values, and is able to integrate them by prioritizing them.
On the surface, Green vMeme appears to satisfy this criterion, but a closer look shows that green also has one right way to do things, and that is the way which necessarily agrees with everyone’s right ways. Along with the idea of a “right way,” there is also the existence of a “wrong way,” and in Tier 1, every other vMeme, other than the one being experienced, is perceived as “wrong,” which is the origin of “blame” and why it is so rampant when it comes to different systems.
Another observation is that when two, Tier 1 vMemes are mixed up, they corrupt each other as when “orange” technology is provided to “purple” tribal leaders, leading to uncontrolled violence… or as the orange, materialistic Science opposes the faith of blue Church and vice versa.
Hence, introduction of a Tier 2 concept into a Tier 1 environment would only result in an inevitable misrepresentation, which is why the Monastic aspects of the Sanctuary Project (Tier 2) are separated from the public face, Antiquatis Institute (Tier 1). New systems of knowledge would be welcomed, as concepts would no longer be restricted to a particular valuing level, but seen as simply a challenge of translation where the concepts expressed are mapped as accurately as possible.
This has been the case with great institutions and individuals over the ages. As time passes, the institution includes those from Tier 1, who are not able comprehend the “bigger picture” as envisioned by the Tier 2 founders. The Sanctuary Project is designed to assist the individual to grow to a Tier 2 consciousness. In other words, as a true individual, one is able to work with an integrated system both within and without, and is able to work towards something without needing to work “against” something “wrong”[4]. By this definition, an individual is able to work and think holistically, exercising their free will, ensuring the understanding of the concepts prior to their application because they have experienced them, themselves, first hand.
This is the psychological atmosphere required for the development of Sanctuary: individuals who are able to apprehend Tier 2 and are willing to share their knowledge and skills with others in order to evolve further. Who an individual is, is hence concomitant with what the individual values, which provides a good conceptual foundation to build on. One may even say that this is the “Conceptual Constitution” which one chooses to promote for Kheb[5].
Conclusion
As people become enlightened, they return what they have learned as a path for others to follow to where they were, and beyond. This provides the positive feedback loop necessary to promote the evolution of body, mind and spirit.
