This moonth two large projects are approaching completion – namely our house refurbishment and my ‘paving’ of the Path to Overstanding.
When you come to the end, or near the end, of a project a certain melancholy can tend to set it.
Firstly, you might wonder what’s next and even if it’s your last project?
Secondly, you might feel it was a waste of time or it didn’t quite meet your objectives.
Thirdly, and perhaps most crucially, you realise that the ‘real work’ could just be about to begin.
With the house refurb, we are weathertight, glass is in, 1st fix done and awaiting plastering to dry out so decorating can begin. Then it’s 2nd fix and a phased move back in. In 2024, we’ll tackle making the outside as good as the inside and bringing the home and garden to each other.
At the same time, my explorations of the Path to Overstanding are virtually done and dusted. The main body of work comprises of 100 or so audio modules which are a mix of explanations, explorations and overtasks. This ‘magnum opus’ is augmented by 22 meditations on the keys of the Major Arcana and 22 ambient tracks which are similarly inspired.
There’s a bit of content yet to be generated which I plan to do early in 2024.
I am faced with a quandary though about what to do next. It could just be converted into a book and sent out into the world, at relatively low cost, in order to reach a wider audience. This involves a considerable amount of marketing effort and none of my previous 18 books has ever gained wide reach or commercial success.
The other option I am mulling over is to train up Tour Guides to take others around the path. This again will take a considerable amount of effort. I did try doing this over a decade ago to no avail. I hadn’t of course developed the materials for the path then.
Such negative thinking can hold any artist back from really enjoying and celebrating their achievements. So I am going to pat myself on my back for completing what essentially the third in a trilogy of metaphysical tomes and my magnum opus.
Then the next thing I am going to do is nothing. The next move is to simply move back into the house, spend some time making it liveable and enjoying a new room with a spectacular view.
p.s. The ‘lungs’ of the house are being installed today – our MVHR system will help the house dry out by reducing humidity and introducing some distributed heat
p.p.s. The ladder to the new extension has been removed and we now have a staircase
You may have picked up a theme in this moonthly blog where life and art emulate each other.
So, after looking at plans for 12 months and a set of wide gaping holes in our new extension for five months, the windows have been fitted. We are now watertight and can really appreciate the views we have to enjoy once the refurbishment is finished.
We’re also out of our moho now into rented again. The moho is going up for sale and our roving adventure is coming to a close.
So these are the two main things happening in my life right … first world issues I know but what’s happening in my art is of more cosmic significance, I hope and feel
In art, a new clarity is emerging, as I come to the end of the creation of the Path to Overstanding materials. Someone asked me where the Path fitted in with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It made me realise that the Path starts where his triangle of needs finishes.
So it takes a person who is self-actualised to an entirely new level again. In the last section of the Path – around the Cube of Overstanding – ‘travellers’ will undergo 10 levels of initiation above the self-actualised state. Of course, this is not the limit but it’s pretty transformative nonetheless.
I’ve just got three more moonth’s worth of materials to generate and have now got a new clarity of where to take it from next year – both with mentoring individuals and trainers.
The video below tells the story of how I came to this place and where it leads from now. If you are ready to step up, get in touch. I would be honoured to guide you along this path.
After a blip last moonth where my voice left me and I had five days not eating or drinking much, the last orbit of the Moon has seen a return to form.
So my voice popped back and the muse came back to my door. This all happened all around the time Insight Timer finally launched Premium tracks (well sort of). You have to dig deep to find them so I’ve created a page on this site to curate them and give you direct access. Note that they are only available to Insight Timer Premium subscribers. This will be the place where I share serialised audiobooks and series of meditations and albums of music from now on. I will of course keep posting free tracks monthly.
This has a knock on effect. It means I don’t have to use Soundwise to host this material anymore but I will leave the content there for existing subscribers and purchasers.
What I will be doing is using Soundwise is to host, manage and support those walking along the Path to Overstanding with me. I am now just a moonth or two away from completing these materials. It has been a really engaging and rewarding project for me personally and I know many have already benefited from it.
When it is completed there will be over 100 audio steps of guidance in the Path to Overstanding and Cube of Overstanding soundcasts. There will be 23 Meditations on the Keys as well as 23 ambient tracks in the Arcanum album. All complemented by around the same number of Uberstanding conversations – along with a few explainer videos.
Next year will see the publication of the Tarot Deck of Overstanding, for which we are testing out an amazing platform called Deckible, which seems to be the answer to our prayers. More on this over the coming moonths.
What I am most excited about is what I have planned for 2024.
I will be writing to current subscribers shortly to tell them to cancel their subscriptions. They have helped me immensely by funding the platform and giving me feedback on the materials. They will continue to have access to the materials.
In addition, they will be invited to take part in a completely new and exciting initiative.
From today, the Path to Overstanding is available for self-study for a one-off investment of just $444.44. How do you set a price for something that is priceless and that works across multiple lifetimes?
Now that my house refurbishment is coming to an end, I will be taking on personal clients once again.
Firstly, I will create space to personally mentor around four clients a year, guiding them along the Path and supporting them in fulfilling their dreams.
Secondly, and most excitingly, those who have already walked the Path will be invited to train as ‘tour guides’ or ‘pathfinders’ to assist and mentor their clients along it too. There will be an investment of time and some money for this which I plan should come back many times over. So, as well as charging your own mentoring fees, we will share revenue from your clients who invest in the self-study pack.
If you are interested in personal mentoring or getting involved with this exciting initiative, get in touch here …
I have been blessed, on the whole, with good health for most of my life. Last week though, I was somewhat dealt a curved ball that really upset my apple cart when I came down with a sore throat.
It was so bad that it was painful to swallow anything so my liquid and food consumption went down to virtually nothing. What it also made me review was my ability to function with my life’s mission without a voice that could record audio.
Now I am sure there are many with much more severe afflictions of the throat, and other areas, that send their lives into a tailspin. I seem to be on the mend now and can catch up with my monthly commitments.
It did lead me to look at other options. I have already been playing with a kind of, but not quite, AI-based ambient music generator called Wotja. You can listen to something that it generated with minimal input from me here.
And here’s the dramatic effect the track that I named ‘Dreaming in Indigo’ had on one listener on Insight Timer :
“I have been meditating with you for a few years now and it’s been amazing to see how you have transformed your meditation practice. This was such a beautiful experience and a magnificent piece of work! So much detail, vibrations, movement, even color to this piece. I could feel movement and flight and peace, and relaxation. I think this is your best ever! Thank you for your creativity and for sharing. 🙏🏻💕”
The lack of a voice though lead me to investigate British AI text to voice engines. I found an intriguing one called Play.ht that even had a voice with the name of Thomas.
Then I dug a little deeper and discovered they can even clone your own voice from a 30 second sample. Here’s the 30 second sample I used to seed the engine.
[Note that this is a sample from my latest meditation on Insight Timer recorded while I had my voice intact]
What’s more, I then found it had a plugin for WordPress that allowed you to convert a blog post from text to audio. One of the benefits of this, of course, is to help create an alternate way for visitors to a web site to absorb content.
The two technologies together could of course be used for nefarious purposes to create deep fakes and even breach copyright. I have been a little sceptical about AI but I realised that they could be used to give a content creator a kind of immortality.
The lesson, of course, is a simple one. In all adversity lies opportunity. My condition is the inability to speak which I hope is temporary. What if more severe conditions visited a content creator’s door such as stroke, dementia or ultimately shedding this mortal coil?
In the meantime, let me share with you a synthetic audio version of this mindfully short moonthly blog.
P.s. and here’s the cloned audio version of this blog. I am very impressed it pronounce the non-English product name Wotja correctly though and, if you listen closely, you can hear the odd retention of breath in between sentences.
Just when everything was going so well with our refurb project, our builders discovered a layer of asbestos between the walls of the ground floor and the roof joists. Apart from an unexpected emptying of our bank account, it’s put the project back by a good moonth.
Fortunately, the hard part of the project and construction of the new extension was virtually finished before this happened. It means, once the asbestos is removed by the end of July, it is more like a conventional project with 1st fix, 2nd fix, decoration, followed by a phase move back in.
A big hiccup like this though pulls the rug from under your feet. The delay means that we will only just be in for Christmas so we are looking for a short term, out of season holiday let from October. We also made the decision that the motorhome is going as, after living in it for five months, we think we will want to see the back of it.
Hopefully, selling the moho will more than fund the asbestos hiccup and still allow to decorate and furnish the interior of the house as we envisaged it.
It does however make you take stock and check in on what you are doing elsewhere in your world.
The Path to Overstanding
Although the noise of band saws and hammers has meant it’s been tough to keep up with the recordings, I still have managed to hit every delivery date – aided my Sister Moon, of course. I am about two months ahead with the writing of the scripts and 2-3 weeks ahead with recording and production.
More importantly, I can see the end of this section of the path now and I am chuffed that I have expanded upon, and contemporised, the seven levels of initiation in the classic Cube of Space. More importantly, I have created an 8th and 9th level of initiation which, as far as I know, is a first in the recent history of humanity.
Onwards and Upwards !
Insight Timer Premium Content
I hear that launch is imminent, this month even, so my current 8 bits of premium content will go live soon. There will be a lag but it means that monthly income should start to increase from September onwards. This is important as it funds my creative output. By the end of the year, I’ll upload a new track each month to build a considerable archive of metaphysical wisdom
In the interim, each month I create and upload a new ambient track and a new guided track that I upload to the app with free access.
Keeping Plates Spinning !
Plans for 2024
Plans are forming for next year.
First and foremost, the Path to Overstanding audios will be converted to a print and ebook.
Second, I’ll be starting a new project to create a fully immersive audio version of my novel, Soulwaves : A Future History. At 100 chapters long, I will create 10 parts each of 10 chapters and upload one a month to Insight Timer Premium. My muse and inspiration for this is the radio version of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
After 10 months, I will then segue straight into the serialisation of the third book in the trilogy, The Duadex. Incidentally, the 1st part of which is already written and recorded, so writing can start in Spring after the Book to Overstanding is being readied for publication.
So it takes a person who is self-actualised to an entirely new level again. In the last section of the Path – around the Cube of Overstanding – ‘travellers’ will undergo 10 levels of initiation above the self-actualised state. Of course, this is not the limit but it’s pretty transformative nonetheless.
What I am most excited about is what I have planned for 2024.
The lack of a voice though lead me to investigate British AI text to voice engines. I found an intriguing one called 
Plans for 2024