Gods, Ghosts & UFOs

Jordan was more excited for this movie than any movie in years. A Spielberg film (written by the same guy who wrote Jurassic Park, for crying out loud) called Disclosure Day, about the day humanity finally finds out we're not alone. WHAT ELSE COULD YOU ASK FOR? Both of us are in our happy place doing film criticism, so today's episode was always going to feel like a treat. But...was it any good? You're gonna have to go listen to this very, VERY spoilery review to find out what we thought of it. *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s Jo’s Favorite Fairy Sighting? This week, Jordan finally gets to ask the host of the singular Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast the most annoying question he can come up with, and she does not disappoint. Jo Hickey-Hall has been collecting these stories for years. And the one she leads with is hers: a stick being made of literal sticks, running down a beach in Jersey with a gait so strange it made everyone watching laugh. Years later, a man in northeast England describes seeing almost exactly the same thing. We talk about why these things, these beings, whatever they are, resist being accurately described or depicted. They’re so vivid in the moment, but as soon as you start to try to put words on them, they seem to slip away. But we’re doing our best. You can come judge for yourself. Highlights: Jo Hickey-Hall, folklorist, social historian, host of The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast (also find her at scarlettofthefae.com and preorder her book here) Nerd Critic Jo’s favorite fairy sighting The shadow-cutters A stick being made of sticks The Brazilian Ent (a tree trunk that walked, then tried to become a man, and didn’t quite get it right) The disconnect between perception and description “I can see it in my head, but it just doesn’t seem to translate into words or drawings” Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy Mysterium tremendum and mysterium fascinans Why one guy runs away and the other is filled with awe Conditioning, inheritance, and the holding place we make for the uncanny Orbs in the context of UFOs, fae, and consciousness Conscious plasma :) Different witnesses, different filters/stations/signals How to learn to see auras (try it at a conference with a white screen behind the speaker) The Genius Loci Two strangers see the same being in the same place, twenty years apart “Your daemon is really driving you” How to actually meet the fae Picking up litter is an offering Thresholds: doorways, dawn and dusk, the line where the beach meets the sea, the transitions in your own life Theosophy and the elemental beings — Blavatsky, Steiner, Paracelsus The London flat haunted by goblins (near a crossroads, near water) Are the fae hitching lifts on trains and trucks? Fairies as emergent phenomena of place (this is what humans are, actually) Part two maybe? (with Mal (and Tom???)) And in the epilogue… A disembodied head in a kitchen window Why you can’t tear down a house to make a haunting go away How UFOs are seen so often over a Neolithic burial chamber that locals don’t bother to look up anymore *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientism to Scripture Trevor was deep in the trenches of science—cellular biology, bioinformatics, a PhD in aging research, chasing longevity and the promises of the Human Genome Project. He bought the materialist worldview hook, line, and sinker. Until he didn’t. What started as intellectual disappointment in grand theories of consciousness led him through quantum physics, information theory, and eventually back to the Gospels in the Bible he once dismissed. Along the way: father wounds that shaped atheism, the surprising consistency of the Christian story, and a growing sense that the universe is far more alive than he’d been taught. This week we’re doing a crossover episode with the host of the God’s Eye View podcast to talk about leaving dogmatic scientism, why so many prominent atheists share similar childhood scars, how ghosts are hard to categorize, and what, if anything, UFOs and non-human intelligences might have to do with scripture. They also explore discernment, sacredness versus inerrancy, and why “love your enemy” really is the most radical idea in history. Highlights: A decade-long decline from scientism “science will fix everything” Physical therapist, bioinformatics PhD, professorship Trevor’s growing disillusionment with materialist grand theories of consciousness Quantum mechanics, information theory, and physicists trying really hard not to talk about God Hoping the Gospels are true The correlation between father wounds and atheism Patriarchy, healthy authority, and the revelations of fatherhood (we both have an 8 year old and a 4 year old What are ghosts? Anti-reductionism UFOs/aliens: semantic slipperiness and possible biblical framework (angels, Nephilim, sons of God, ascending/descending beings) NHIs have been communicating with humans throughout history — what does this say about sacred texts? The false dichotomy that undermined 20th Century Mormonism You can’t get away from the need for personal discernment Sacredness and inerrancy aren’t the same thing That time Kelly Chase said “Love your enemy” is the most supernatural statement in history And in the epilogue… A summary of Mormon cosmology The only right way to judge a person’s faith Why theological debate is boring *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pretty soon, we’re gonna have a little summer break. Among other things, it’s because Mal is shooting a movie and Jordan is moving his family from LA to Cedar City, Utah. But that’s not really what this episode is about. What it’s about is what happens when you make things that nobody asked you to make. Mal just finished the first draft of her first solo screenplay. Also, she’s been writing music alone in dark rooms for years and only recently felt like it was time to show anyone. Jordan wrote a novel once by telling himself he wasn’t allowed to write anything for anyone else to read, and rediscovered the passion he’d lost decades ago. Mal says she can’t quit the film industry without trying to make this movie first, and she’s defining success as having genuinely gone for it. Jordan says the thing you create can’t be valuable to other people unless it’s first valuable to you — which is also why AI can’t make art. Because AI doesn’t need it. Well, we sure do. Highlights: What’s coming up… Life on a film set Why Jordan gave up on directing Oscar Wilde on the blessing and curse of being an artist: you never become anything Mal finished the first draft of her first solo screenplay Sandboxes Freelance artist life Stop and Go - Mal’s first feature, made during the pandemic with a friend Writing songs in dark rooms for therapy Writing a novel for the same reason “It can’t be genuinely valuable for other people if it is not first valuable to the person who’s creating it” Why AI can’t make art Jordan’s imminent move away from LA to Cedar City, Utah Mal is operating on spiritual logic right now The podcast “forces me to challenge the more deeply worn grooves” Epilogue topics: Mal’s suspicion that she is a “tongue genius,” modern food science, and why food, money, and sex are the three most embarrassing topics And in the epilogue… Is Mal a tongue genius? The absurdity of modern food science Why food, money, and sex are the three most embarrassing topics *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly Chase was a materialist and an atheist. Then on a random Saturday morning in August 2021, something reached into her mind and showed her what she’s come to refer to as The Good — coherence, beauty, truth — whatever it is that allows creation to exist. The experience completely changed her life. But here’s the problem: she also knows that whatever did this to her could also make her happy about it. And as someone who values her personal freedom more than almost anything, it’s frightening to suspect that something fundamentally rewired her without her consent. This is the epistemic paradox of gnosis, or, in other words, knowledge that is supposed to be self-authoritative, but that you still have to figure out how to test. How do you build a life on something you can’t prove? And if you can’t, what exactly are you supposed to build on instead? Highlights: Kelly Chase is the host of Inquiry (formerly Cosmos, formerly The UFO Rabbit Hole Podcast) — find her at kellychase.media Mal couldn’t make it, thanks to business travel and a conspiracy of misfortune “Semantic anarchy” — words don’t mean the same things across tribes anymore What turned Kelly into an experiencer: an out-of-body, out-of-time connection to a higher intelligence that changed everything she believes From lifelong materialist and atheist to a spiritual convert to The Good Plato’s Republic and the allegory of Er Experience without consent (does being happy about it make it ok?) Kelly’s precognitive dreams The IRVA conference in Mexico Precognitive dreams vs. regular dreams The epistemic paradox of gnosis The preface paradox, the lottery paradox, and the paradox of the knower The Mormon parallel: revelation is basically the Mormon word for gnosis, and discerning true revelation has been the church’s ongoing problem for 200 years Are feelings of unconditional love emotional manipulation? The Enlightenment is an oxymoron The cultural dominance of the “dead universe cosmology” If your cosmological foundation breaks down, you’re desperate for a replacement — and there are people happy to sell you one Control systems What the elites believe about souls Brother Richard on human utilitarianism The Law of One and the left hand path vs. the right hand path — Kelly argues America’s default values are left hand path, along which the ultimate purpose is self-expression Is there such a thing as a true cosmology? The imperative to judge for oneself The missing character in Plato’s Cave — who drags the prisoner out? “Gnosis is a great starting point. It’s a terrible ending point.” Tools of Discernment “It can’t just be vibes” And in the epilogue… Is yearning for the divine evidence of the divine? Worship as technology Supernatural love (of your enemy) *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On March 17th, a seven-ton space rock broke apart over Ohio. A week later, a guy named Jeff had a dream that told him exactly where to go to find a piece of it. Nothing about this meteorite is special other than that Jeff really really wanted to hold a piece of space in his hands, and a dream showed him where it was. But what about all the people who dream about something for years and nothing ever happens? Why do some prayers get answers and not others? We don’t have the answer. But the question gets us to suffering as a teacher, to the Hebrew origin of the word “Satan” (which just means impediment), and to the idea that maybe wanting something your whole life and never getting it is its own form of divine expression. Also: this is Tom’s last episode. He’s leaving the show to pursue something that’s, in his words, something calling him imperiously. He read us the opening of The Wind in the Willows to explain why. He says the show transformed him. Likewise, Tom. And the show will go on. Our mission will be the same: to joyfully explore all the things they said weren’t real. And in the open epilogue… How an abusive inner critic won’t let you accept compliments The relationship between shame, addiction, and problem-solving Why holding two contradictory truths at the same time is the path to a higher vibration existence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Highlights: How the Mexican City Mannequins inspired this episode Ushabtis: ancient Egyptian figurines (2600–2100 BC) placed in tombs to do labor in the afterlife, in place of killing servants The Louvre Doll: a bound female clay figure pierced with 13 needles Kolossoi: ancient Greek defensive effigies designed to contain hostile spirits Victorian mourning dolls: wax effigies made at funerals with the dead child’s hair and clothing What did Mal do to her Cabbage Patch doll? Robert the Doll “It was like a metal bar running down my back... That doll was listening to us” The connection to an apparition of a biracial girl Robert exhibits both Type A and Type B inhabitation, and he might be the only one Thousands of apology letters at the museum from visitors who took photos without asking permission Poppets The Nkisi tradition from the Congo Connection to the movie Weapons How Robert the Doll became haunted (possibly) — he might be a mourning doll? The Free Robert the Doll campaign The Kuleshov Effect Projecting consciousness onto human-shaped forms Tsukumogami and vengeful yokai The Hyakki Yagyō, the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons Djinn in Islamic tradition The etymology of pandemonium Michael Singer on not resisting the snake Knowledge vs respect And in the epilogue… Mallory’s gluten-free experiment Suspicious exercise equipment at the gym Pros and cons of Western vs Traditional Chinese Medicine Some of the grossest words we know To help you share this episode, we picked out three moments we all loved and tied them up with a little copy/paste-able bow. “Mal made herself a poppet” (~9:40) — Mal put a lost tooth into her Cabbage Patch doll’s mouth as a child, and Tom points out she was accidentally participating in an ancient ritual of fixing a part of yourself into an effigy. “Don’t go up the stairs!” (~12:12) — Why Victorian mourning dolls never seemed to get haunted, and how human carelessness drives the plot of every horror movie. “It’s not a monster story. It’s an ecosystem.” (~58:11) — Tom’s synthesis after connecting Mexico City mannequins, the Night Parade, jinn, and tsukumogami: when humans leave, something adjacent that was always there fills the space. And then of course there’s this neat little thing we made, if you want to send someone one of our more popular past episodes: The Sharing Kit *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love this episode and want to share it with someone, we made it easy. Just scroll down to “Share this episode…” and pick a great moment to courageously copy and paste. Highlights: Rabbi Rami Shapiro is the author of nearly 40 books and co-director of the One River Foundation — find him on Substack “Religions are like languages. No language is true or false. The more languages you speak, the more nuanced your understanding of life becomes. Yet it is silence that reveals the ultimate truth.” Rami’s spiritual journey through Zen Buddhism and how he became a “zen rabbi” Why ten years of meditation practice didn’t work You already have it The point isn’t to be enlightened, it’s to be a decent human being Genesis 12:1 in Hebrew is telling the reader to journey inward and free yourself from conditioning “be a blessing to all the families of the earth” Narratives as addictions, Overeaters Anonymous, and Purim cookies “Narratives Anonymous” anyone? “Who’s craving the cookies?” (hint: not the one who’s aware of the craving) Heschel’s architecture of time Space is about having, time is about being “Being is infinite.” Good luck selling The Gospel of Thomas Tom’s researching and writing a book on the suppressed non-dualism running through all Abrahamic religions The divine feminine: wisdom (Hochma) in Hebrew, Dao in Chinese, Mary as Theotokos Rami’s constant mantra How the ego gets in the way writing Rami moved to Nashville and his ego told him to stop playing guitar The spiritual insights of Rami’s 10-year-old grandson And in the epilogue… The true Hebrew translation of what the burning bush said to Moses How your body literally spells the name of God What Jews and Coca-Cola have in common We picked out three moments we all loved and tied them up with a little copy/paste-able bow. “Because it doesn’t work” (~11:00) — Rami tells his Zen teacher he’s been meditating for ten years and nothing’s happening. The teacher says “because it doesn’t work.” Rami: “Why didn’t you tell me that ten years ago?” Teacher: “You wouldn’t have believed me.” “Who’s craving the cookies?” (~25:13) — Rami uses his Overeaters Anonymous experience and a kitchen full of Purim cookies to demonstrate self-inquiry in real time. “We’ll just keep waving” (~58:20) — Rami’s ten-year-old grandson processes the idea that God is like an ocean and arrives at his own theology of death and hope in about thirty seconds. Also, if you want to send someone one of our more popular past episodes, here's a Sharing Kit we made just for you. *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Benedictine monk with training in quantum physics, Gregorian chants, and exorcism claimed to have built a device that could see into the past. This man was Father Pellegrino Ernetti, and he assembled his Chronovisor with a secret team high-profile scientists that allegedly included Enrico Fermi and Wernher von Braun. Fifty years ago, they told everyone they took pictures of Christ’s crucifixion. Unsurprisingly, the evidence didn’t hold up. But that didn’t stop the story from getting stranger. The Vatican itself refused to confirm or deny rumors that it had ordered the device dismantled, and Ernetti died without fully recanting. Maybe the problem with any supposed means of looking into the past is that you have to answer the question of who’s holding the camera, and how. Regardless of whether the thing ever actually existed, the Chronovisor did successfully get us talking about the Scole Experiment, Edison’s spirit telephone, and why the past might be genuinely incomprehensible even if you had the means to look. Welcome to episode 50, everyone. Highlights: An introduction to Father Pellegrino Ernetti (1925–1994), a “Renaissance monk” Ernetti’s music scholarship—reconstructing ancient sounds—led him to believe every event leaves behind energy traces, reminding us of the Akashic Record A secret team of 12 scientists (that makes a quorum, folks) began work around 1952 at the Catholic University of Milan The “chronovisor” was reportedly an array of specialized antennas tuned to “historical frequencies,” combined with cathode ray tubes and oscilloscopes Ernetti even claimed it could pick up thoughts What they allegedly saw Story went public in 1972 in Italy Ernetti presented a grainy black-and-white image he said showed Christ’s face during the crucifixion But the image matched a wooden crucifix sculpted under the direction of a mystic named Mother Speranza When confronted by his friend Father François Brune, Ernetti admitted the published photo was of the sculpture, but never explained why he let it circulate Also claimed he was forbidden to talk about it In a letter before his death, he said “everything about the device and Christ’s passion was the sacred truth” The Vatican has never confirmed or denied the Chronovisor’s existence Comparisons to this now-mythical device and remote viewing Perception is never objective (see: our conversation with Mark Turner in Episode 30) Is this why the sculpture of Christ inspired by Mother Speranza looks like a guy from 1960 instead of a first-century Jew? The tension between mystic technology and material technology: two different means of achieving the same ends, maybe? Tom wonders, offhandedly, Why the crucifixion? Why not the resurrection, or better yet, the Beatitudes? The Cottingley Fairies The Scole Experiment in the 90s (wild) Thomas Edison believed similar things to Ernetti, and also proposed a device “Physics is broken” This is not going to work the way you think it’s going to work An old filmmaker who had his actors wave their arms around nonsensically to represent the incomprehensibility of the past We end with some behavior calculated to baffle far-future audiences And in the epilogue… We’re joined by listener Brendan McKinney to talk about his experiences with synchronicities, which he wrote about here: https://ggupodcast.substack.com/p/authorial-intrusions *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A former analyst for the Bank of England just warned that alien disclosure could throw global financial systems into crisis. Tom and Jordan can’t stop laughing. We’re already in financial crisis, aliens or no aliens. And if there was some official disclosure tomorrow, people would just go back to work and worry about groceries. Unless the revelation materially changes people’s lives, they won’t care that much. But what if there’s free energy technology? The analyst worries that would be a disaster. But, uh, for whom? ExxonMobil? Probably. You and me? No. The materialist scarcity mindset is transactional. If you get something, it must be taken from me. But there’s a more efficient way to structure our communities, and it’s about building for mutual benefit. Not easy, but definitely not impossible. Anyway, we’re still pretty sure we’re headed for calamity, thanks for a broad cultural inability to accept reality, which turns out to not care very much about our ideas about what it should be. The highlights: Helen McCaw, former Bank of England policy expert, warns that revelation of aliens could throw global financial systems into crisis The cases for and against this prediction Tom reads part of McCaw’s letter to Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey urging contingencies for alien disclosure (from The times of London article) How she even came to care about UFOs Internal memo from British Defense chiefs from 1997 discusses “technology acquisition” from alien tech Basically, same as America What if there’s free energy technology? For whom would this be a disaster? Where Lord of the Flies got it wrong (the real life kids who went through it) Materialism leads to scarcity mindsets and zero-sum transactional societies How mutual benefit structures the most efficient social models Buddha in the Dhammapada: “Therefore Ananda, be ye lamps unto yourselves, clinging to no external refuge, clinging to the truth as a refuge” Regardless of anything, we’re basically headed for disaster Why suffering and the acceptance (or rejection) of reality are closely correlated A practice of presence with the expectation of imminent cataclysm The Honey Doctrine Mindfulness and presence are the last words on living the fulfilled life After recording this episode, we did our very first Open Epilogue, which we unfortunately were not able to record. Don’t worry! We’ll do another one very soon. Don't miss the next one! PS - If you want to join us on our no-kill run, we made this for you: The Sharing Kit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most people believe in ghosts. Always have. Always will. EJAE, the lead vocalist from K-Pop Demon Hunters, told a ghost story on Jimmy Fallon and nobody questioned her sanity, because it turns out people who DON’T believe in ghosts are the minority. Tom recorded in one of the most haunted studios in New Orleans in the ‘90s. And boy does he have stories. A distorted face in a window. A badly burned little girl pleading for help. A late night tryst with an apparition… Do artists see ghosts more often? Or does making art make you more sensitive to what’s already there? Regardless, when you make the effort to really say something—to write, to record, to create—there’s magic in it. Maybe you’re more that thing than you are the relentless cyclone of anxious thoughts you live with the rest of the time. Ars longa, vita brevis. Art is long, life is short. We’re here to play the long game. IMPORTANT UPDATE We promised to have our first virtual hang this week, but then we made a scheduling mistake, and so now it will officially be NEXT WEEK. Monday, February 2 1pm PST / 4pm EST. Do you see that? That’s an actual date, and an actual time. Which means it will be WAY MORE EMBARRASSING if we have to reschedule again, which we will not. All paid Substack and Patreon supporters can expect to get the link within the next couple of days. (And a quick reminder that the 1st 100 people get Founder status for $4/month for life — and not all those spots have been taken yet.) Okay, enough of all that. On to the highlights: The vocalists from K-Pop Demon Hunters saw a ghost and told Jimmy Fallon about it People who don’t believe in ghosts are in the minority—always have been, always will be Mal always asks people if they believe in ghosts at parties We love people who say “I don’t believe in ghosts, but I saw a ghost” Tom’s was in a swing band in the 90s and has lots of other recording studio ghost stories King’s Way Studio in New Orleans was (is?) famously haunted by Germaine Cazanave Wells, Queen of Mardi Gras, total party girl from the 1950s/60s who fell, hit her head, died, never left Tom’s friend saw a distorted, glaring face appear in the window Tom made deals with Jermaine in the clawfoot tub: “Listen, don’t show up now—I don’t want to slip and fall while naked” Another band’s bass player (an EMT) was awakened by a young woman badly burned, pleading for help—turned out to be Jermaine’s daughter who died in a fire And, uh, another story, which you’ll have to go ahead and just listen to Tom tell it Creative people seem to encounter ghosts more often—artists, musicians, people in heightened emotional/creative states Are ghosts attracted to creativity, or does creativity make people more sensitive to what’s already there? What it’s like to re-read own old writing Maybe we’re more than the stuff that constantly spins in our brains The more you create, the more you pin down and make substantial, the more that you ARE There’s a magic to making the effort to really express yourself in some tangible way, going on the record, so to speak, even if you’re wrong, even if you’re full of crap Tom loves himself and his friends as individuated people, even while recognizing we’re expressions of Brahman He also talks to his peach trees, so And in the epilogue… What it’s like to prank a prankster That one time Mal got kicked out of girl’s camp A truly horrific story about fried chicken *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most (most!) people report having noetic experiences. Knowing who’s calling before you answer. Predictive dreams. Feeling someone’s presence. Gut feelings that turn out to be true. The Institute of Noetic Sciences was founded by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, and it just released a study about twelve unique “noetic signatures” based on deep survey data from over four thousand people. Some of them know things in their bodies. Others get mental, emotional, or spiritual downloads. Everyone has a different signature. But what are the hazards of personal revelation without coherent social support? And what will happen to us if we keep replacing our latent human superpowers with technology? Still, we have high hopes for 2026. Maybe this is the year we heal from screen addictions. Maybe we’ll finally get some kind of blockbuster disclosure about non-human intelligences. Or maybe, if we all pull together, we can finally break free from the algorithm and move back into our enchanted world. Highlights: The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) was founded in 1973 by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell They study consciousness, human potential, and the intersection of science and subjective experience “Noetic” comes from Greek “noesis” meaning “inner knowing” that transcends the five senses and conventional notions of time and space (Examples: knowing who’s calling before caller ID, predictive dreams, feeling someone in the room, gut feelings that prove accurate) Most people report having these experiences, but they’re still stigmatized The Noetic Signature Inventory is a 44-item questionnaire measuring individual’s unique pattern of intuitive experience Four primary intuitive pathways: body-based (gut feelings), mental (sudden knowing), emotional (feeling into situations), spiritual (mystical experiences) Is “inner knowing” reliable without the support of a community? Why it’s so hard to balance social coherence against mystical experience Robin Lassiter said in the last episode that patriarchy and materialism might not have just been huge mistakes—we got amazing stuff from them, and now it’s time to turn the wheel In what ways are we trying to replace our noetic abilities with technology? Jordan abashedly hopes this is the year UFOs, NHIs, etc stop being laughed at on on CNN Mal hopes we heal from screen addiction (it’s actually possible!) Tom hopes we can free ourselves from the fetters of the algorithm and move back into an enchanted world The real magic is in interaction, intuition, knowing, and the gorgeous unpredictability of ourselves and each other And in the epilogue… How algorithms actually steal your personality A pretty MASSIVE decision about the future of the show Our first progress report on Jordan Crowder’s Law of Probability course *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Norwegian physicist just published a peer-reviewed paper that mathematically describes consciousness as a fundamental field that existed before space and time. She proposes testable predictions—including the possibility that if consciousness differentiated itself into structured reality through something like universal thought, it might have left detectable patterns in the cosmic microwave background. This is ancient scripture overlapping with cutting-edge physics. “Thou Art That” from the Upanishads. “I AM that I AM” from Exodus. The earth was formless and void, then God said “Let there be light.” Consciousness precedes manifestation, thought is a collapse mechanism. Everything happens in cycles. We went out to do science in a universe of strict materialism, and now we’re coming back, changed, to the wisdom of mystery and consciousness. Finally, we talk to Robin Lassiter about her new Mystery School for the Brokenhearted. Here’s to the end of a fraught and beautiful 2025, and a 2026 which promises to be no less complicated. Highlights: Norwegian physicist published a peer-reviewed paper treating consciousness as a fundamental field rather than an emergent brain phenomenon Mathematical integration with quantum field theory Testable predictions involving quantum field interactions, neural coherence patterns, and cosmological signatures in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Tom connects this to the Chandogya Upanishad: “Thou Art That” The Abrahamic analog: “The earth was formless and void” (undifferentiated potential), “I AM that I AM” (consciousness preceding manifestation), “Let there be light” (universal thought as collapse mechanism) From 2nd century BCE scripture to modern testable mathematical physics of universal consciousness Everything goes in circles. Going out into the “billiard ball universe” of strict materialism, now we’re coming back around Robin on discovery through experience itself What is the relationship between us (personality, body, experience) and the unifying field? Evolution of grief in community The healing that can only happen in the presence of others The Mystery School for the Brokenhearted: the mutual capacity to hold grief without trying to fix or rescue What makes this era of human history unique Robin’s “big yes” to the ampersand universe *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices