Author: Jack Fox-Williams

From New Dawn 187 (Jul-Aug 2021)

When I was in secondary school, a teacher showed me an animated optical illusion in which a dancer appears to be spinning in one direction. I was adamant that the dancer was spinning clockwise, while my teacher insisted it was spinning counterclockwise. She then told me that you could change the direction of the dancer by focusing on the feet. I gazed with meditative fixation, and suddenly, to my amazement, the dancer started spinning counterclockwise! My teacher explained that since there are no visual cues for three-dimensional depth, your mind can determine what direction the dancer spins. 

At that moment, I realised that reality is a construct of the mind, and we all potentially see the same world differently. I may have put it in less eloquent terms than that (considering I was only a teenager), but there was a fundamental shift in my understanding. The illusion made me realise that the notion of ‘objective truth’ was essentially arbitrary since our subjective beliefs mediate sensory experience. 

My teacher and I could have argued for hours, days or weeks as to which direction the dancer was spinning; science couldn’t have proven either of us correct since it was a matter of perception rather than ‘truth’. In ‘reality’, the dancer was spinning in both directions, but since the brain has a natural tendency to classify, categorise and catalogue information in binary terms (up/down, left/right, black/white, clockwise/counterclockwise), the animated optical illusion appears monodirectional. 

There are numerous examples of this in our day-to-day lives, like when we fail to appreciate other people’s viewpoints because we perceive the world differently. We believe we are right despite the multiple (if not infinite) interpretations about the nature of reality. 

What are Reality Tunnels?

The countercultural guru Timothy Leary coined the term ‘reality-tunnel’ to describe our filtered perceptions of the world. Robert Anton Wilson later developed the concept to describe “pre-composed patterns of thinking which limit and distort the perception of reality by reducing complexity and options.”¹ According to Wilson, reality-tunnels shape our phenomenological sense of self, editing out experiences that do not support our beliefs while focusing on those which do.² 

An advocate for capitalism, for example, will gather facts to support the view that capitalism is the most effective socioeconomic model, discarding any information that runs contrary to this viewpoint. Similarly, a Marxist will construct arguments based on select information to support the view that communism is the best system, often neglecting evidence that contradicts their position. 

As the psychedelic scholar Ido Hartogsohn states, “all of us harbour established ideas about minorities, religions, nationalities, the sexes, the right ways to think, act, feel govern, eat, drink, and what not. Reality tunnels act to help us fortify these ideas against challenging information.”³ In this sense, there is a crossover between the concept of reality-tunnels and confirmation bias, the latter described as the “human tendency to notice and assign significance to observations that confirm existing beliefs while filtering out or rationalising away observations that do not fit with prior beliefs and expectations.”⁴ The phenomenon of confirmation bias helps explain why people who ascribe to a reality-tunnel are oblivious. Most people believe their worldview corresponds to the “one true objective reality,” however, Wilson emphasises that many reality tunnels are artistic creations, a culmination of biological, cultural and environmental inputs.⁵ 

The notion that reality is shaped by the conditions of the human mind is not new. The 18^th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant proposed in his Critique of Pure Reason that experience is based “on the perception of external objects and a priori knowledge.”⁶ We receive information about the external world through our five senses, which is then processed by the brain, allowing us to conceptualise its contents. When I look at an object, such as a chair or a table, I have no understanding of its external nature. The qualities that enable me to denote the meaning of the object, such as shape, colour, size etc., have no objective existence; they are merely by-products of the brain. 

The French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Jacques Lacan proposed his theory distinguishing between ‘The Real’ and the ‘Symbolic’. Lacan argued that ‘The Real’ is the “imminent unified reality which is mediated through symbols that allow it to be parsed into intelligible and differentiated segments.”⁷ However, the ‘Symbolic’, which is primarily subconscious, is “further abstracted into the imaginary (our actual beliefs and understandings of reality). These two orders ultimately shape how we come to understand reality.”⁸ 

The Harvard sociologist, Talcott Parsons, uses the word gloss to describe how our minds come to perceive reality. According to Parsons, we are taught how to “put the world” together by others who subscribe to a consensus reality based on shared beliefs, norms and associations.⁹ A gloss constitutes a total system of language and/or perception. For example, the word ‘house’ is a gloss since we lump together a series of isolated phenomena – floor, ceiling, window, lights, rugs, etc. – and turn it into a totality of meaning. 

The author and anthropologist Carlos Castaneda commented on this notion, stating, “we have to be taught to put the world together in this way. A child reconnoitres the world with few preconceptions until he is taught to see things in a way that corresponds to the descriptions everybody agrees on. The world is an agreement. The system of glossing seems to be somewhat like walking… we learn we are subject to the syntax of language and the mode of perception it contains.”¹⁰ 

The French philosopher Jacques Derrida stated that our understanding of objects (and the words which denote them) are only understood in relation to how they are contextually related to other objects (and denotive words).¹¹ 

We can break free from prescribed reality-tunnels by using objects and language in unusual or disjointed ways, thereby creating new discursive meanings, associations and connotations. This was the aim and outcome of certain art movements such as Dadaism and Surrealism, as well as Brion Gysin and William Burroughs’ cut-up method.¹²

The famous ethnobotanist and psychonaut, Terence McKenna, argued that ideology and culture are tools “which give other people control over one’s experience and identity since they lead individuals to shape their identity according to pre-conceived forms. If a person identifies with commercial brands or with popular ideas of what is beautiful, true or important, they give away their power to other people.”¹³ McKenna once said that you should not see “culture and ideology as your friends,” implying that you should understand reality on your own terms rather than buying into “pre-packaged ideological and cultural ideals” such as communism, capitalism, democracy or some form of totalitarianism.¹⁴ Belief in itself, argued McKenna, was “limiting to the individual, because every time you believe in something you are automatically precluded from believing its opposite. By believing something, you are virtually shutting yourself from all contradictory information, thus once again performing the sin of imposing a rigid simplified structure upon an infinitely complex reality.”¹⁵

Much like McKenna, Wilson recommends that a “fully functioning human ought to be aware of their reality tunnel and be able to keep it flexible enough to accommodate and, to some degree, empathise with different ‘game rules’, different cultures.”¹⁶ According to Wilson, constructivist thinking, which considers how social and cultural processes determine our perception of the world, constitutes an exercise in metacognition, enabling us to become aware of how reality tunnels are never truly objective, thereby decreasing the “chance that we will confuse our map of the world with the actual world.”¹⁷ 

How Your Reality Tunnel Is Formed

The constraints of human biology partially limit our models of reality. As Wilson states, our DNA “evolved from standard primate DNA and still has a 98% similarity to chimpanzee (and 85% similarity to the DNA of the South American Spider Monkey). We have the same gross anatomy as other primates, the same nervous system and the same sense organs. While our highly developed pre-frontal cortex enables us to perform ‘higher’, more complex mental tasks than other primates, our perceptions remain largely within the primate norm.”¹⁸ 

The neural apparatus produced by our genetic coding helps create what ethologists call the umwelt, or “world-field.” Birds, reptiles and insects occupy a separate umwelt or reality-tunnel to primates (ourselves, included). For example, bees are able to perceive floral patterns in ultraviolet light, which we cannot (unless certain technologies are utilised). Canine, feline and primate reality-tunnels remain similar enough that friendship and communication can occur between these different species, however, a snake (for example) occupies such a different reality tunnel that their behaviour appears entirely alien. 

As Wilson argues, the belief that human umwelt reveals “reality” or “deep-reality” is as “naïve as the notion that a yardstick shows more reality than a voltmeter or that ‘my religion is better than your religion’. Neurogenetic chauvinism has no more scientific justification than national or sexual chauvinisms.”¹⁹ He goes so far as to suggest that “no animal, including the domesticated primate, can smugly assume the world created by its senses and brain equal in all respects the ‘real world’ or the ‘only real world’.”²⁰ 

Reality-tunnels are also influenced by “imprint vulnerability,” periods in our lives when early childhood/adolescent experiences “bond neurons into reflex networks which remain for life.”²¹ The psychological researchers, Lorenz and Tinbergen, won a Nobel Prize in 1973 for their research into imprinting, which demonstrated that “the statistically normal snow-goose imprints its mother, as distinct from any other goose, shortly after birth. This imprint creates a ‘bond’ and the gosling attaches itself to the mother in every possible way.”²² These imprints can be imposed onto literally anything. Lorenz observed a case in which a gosling, in the absence of its mother, imprinted a ping-pong ball. It followed the ping-pong ball around and, on reaching adulthood, “attempted to mount the ball sexually.”²³ 

Wilson estimates that the age at which we are imprinted with language determines lifelong programs of “cleverness” (verbal intelligence) and “dumbness” (verbal unintelligence), since linguistic models enable us to articulate mental processing, evaluate complex ideas and communicate with those around us.²⁴ Furthermore, how and when our first sexual experiences are imprinted can “determine lifelong programs of heterosexuality, brash promiscuity or monogamy etc.”²⁵ In more obscure imprints, such as celibacy, foot-fetishism and sadomasochism, the “bounded brain circuitry seems quite as mechanical as the imprint which bounded the gosling to the ping-pong ball.”²⁶ 

These examples suggest that experiences during childhood, when the brain exhibits optimal ‘neuroplasticity’ (a term used to refer to malleability of neural networks in the brain), can shape our reality tunnels far into adulthood. As Sigmund Freud proposed, many “rational” thoughts and behaviours are typically the result of “repressed” memories, impulses and desires, which dwell in the murky depths of the unconscious mind.²⁷ 

Furthermore, reality-tunnels are shaped by social conditioning, the “sociological process of training in a society to respond in a manner generally approved by the society in general and peer groups within society.”²⁸ Manifestations of social conditioning are multifarious but include nationalism, education, employment, entertainment, popular culture, spirituality and family life. Unlike imprinting, which usually requires only one powerful experience to set permanently into the neural networks of the brain, conditioning requires “many repetitions of the same experience and does not set permanently.”²⁹ 

The processes of social conditioning vary greatly, depending on the cultural environment to which one is exposed. For example, an individual born in a Muslim country (such as Saudi Arabia) will likely believe in the teachings of the Quran and adhere to certain religious norms, customs and traditions. However, individuals born in a Western capitalist/consumerist country, or an Eastern country with Hindu or Buddhist traditions, will adhere to different cultural and behavioural codes. 

Reality-tunnels are also formed through the process of learning. Much like conditioning, learning requires repetition, but it also requires motivation. Therefore, it plays “less of a role in human perception and belief than genetics and imprinting and even less than conditioning does.”³⁰ Learning marks a major difference between how mammals, reptiles, insects and birds perceive the world. For example, snakes share the same reality tunnel since they merely act on biologically determined reflexes, with only minor imprinted differences. Mammals show “more conditioned and learned differences in their reality tunnels.”³¹ 

Humans demonstrate a higher aptitude for learning due to our highly developed cortex and frontal lobes as well as our prolonged infancy. This variability functions as “the greatest evolutionary strength of the human race” since it enables us to pass down knowledge from one generation to the next. But it also means that we can become brainwashed and label other people who do not share our beliefs as “mad,” “anti-social,” or “blasphemous.” In fact, it could be said that the majority of all wars are the result of two (or more) opposing reality tunnels fighting for supremacy. This is particularly evident in the case of religious conflict, where people kill each other in the name of “God.” 

Tunnel Vision: The Politicisation of Reality

The rise of “identity politics” in the 21^st century perfectly demonstrates how reality-tunnels prevent us from considering alternative perspectives and viewpoints. During the last decade, the political domain has become increasingly polarised as the left and right engage in a battle for cultural supremacy. Such polarisation was apparent in the Brexit referendum of 2016, in which 51.9% of the British public voted to leave the European Union while 48.1% voted to remain.³² The marginal success of the ‘leave’ campaign highlighted the strong division between both sides of the political spectrum. The former stressed the importance of the Union in promoting social and economic stability, while the latter emphasised the importance of national identity, sovereignty and independence. 

The rhetoric employed by both the ‘leave’ and ‘remain’ campaign was so binary in its articulation that neither side engaged in meaningful dialogue; instead, the referendum became a series of baseless slogans, mottos and catchphrases – an advertising campaign designed to appeal to target demographics. The referendum was more about two separate reality-tunnels competing for ideological supremacy than a balanced analysis of benefits and risks. 

The US presidential election of 2016 was a similar drama of competing reality-tunnels, shaped by masterful spin doctors and hidden persuaders who exploited modern advertising techniques to capture specific demographics based on class, age, sex, religion, geographical location and other criteria. 

Donald Trump was well-known for his campaign slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ and other catchphrases that employed a lexicon of patriotism, populism and protectionism to appeal to those on the right. On the other hand, Hillary Clinton used the slogan ‘Stronger Together’ to evoke feelings of unity, compassion, and solidarity. The election became a battle between two contrasting reality-tunnels, grounded in meaningless rhetoric and hyperbole. 

Another example of politicisation is the Covid-19 crisis, with the public divided into two camps – those who supported measures such as lockdowns versus the other side that rejected many of these same measures. Political polarisation demolished a sane balanced approach to the crisis, exacerbated and intensified by the ongoing political divide across the media landscape. 

‘Echo Chambers’ & Identity Politics 

Social media has fuelled identity politics by enabling groups and movements to generate an online presence and have real-world impacts. According to independent scholar and author Ilaria Bifarini, this results in the emergence of ‘echo chambers’ in which internet users “find information that validates their pre-existing opinions and activates confirmation bias.”³³ This mechanism, says Bifarini, “strengthens one’s beliefs and radicalises them, without adding anything to information and knowledge. The result is the ideological extremism that we are observing today and in which we are taking part, where political debates have been replaced by supporters and verbal violence.”³⁴ 

Another way this happens, for example, is how Google’s online video sharing and social media platform YouTube utilises algorithmic data to show users similar content to their prior engagements – content they are likely to engage with in the future, thus creating a feedback loop in which they are exposed to media reinforcing their political preferences.³⁵ As media scholars Brooke E. Auxier and Jessica Vitak state, “many social media platforms structure their content-feeds based on what an algorithm determines to be the ‘top’ or most ‘relevant’ stories. While these tools may help users control their information and news environments – making consumption more manageable and mitigating information overload – it is possible that these tailoring tools will expose users to redundant information and singular viewpoints.”³⁶

Both sides of the political spectrum fail to engage in meaningful discussion when they are entrapped in a single reality-tunnel, the stability of which is threatened by competing narratives. Instead, political dialogue becomes characterised by inflammatory insults, name-calling and defamation. 

Loaded language – such as ‘virtue signallers’, ‘snowflakes’, ‘racist’, ‘transphobic’, ‘Islamophobic’, ‘hetero-normative’, ‘privileged’ – enables identity groups to protect the integrity of their reality-tunnel by excluding those who hold a different opinion. In the same way that religious cult leaders isolate their members from the outside world, so too do identity groups orientate themselves around a closed belief system, which is immune to criticism, contention or challenge. 

In order to facilitate a more meaningful discussion, it is important that both sides learn to break free from the constraints of their reality-tunnel. 

Rising Above the Fray

In his book Prometheus Rising, Robert Anton Wilson provides various techniques for challenging dominant reality tunnels. Writing in the early 1980s, Wilson suggested that “if you are a liberal, subscribe to the [conservative magazine] National Review… Each month try to enter their reality-tunnel for a few hours while reading their articles. If you are a conservative, subscribe to New York Review of Books for a year and try to get into their headspace for a few hours a month. If you are a rationalist, subscribe to Fate Magazine for a year. If you are an occultist, join the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and read their journal, The Sceptical Inquirer, for a year.”³⁷ 

To put a modern ‘spin’ on this exercise, if you follow conservative thinkers online such as Jordan Peterson or Ben Shapiro, expose yourself to leftist thinkers such as Slavoj Zizek or Noam Chomsky, and do the opposite if you are on the left. Subscribe to internet channels that do not align with your reality-tunnel. By performing this exercise, you will find that you can think about political issues in a more balanced, neutral and multidimensional way, free from the constraints of ideological dogma. 

You can use the same technique with religion. In one exercise, Wilson says, “become a pious Roman Catholic. Explain in three pages why the Church is still infallible and holy despite Popes like Alexander VI (the Borgia Pope), Pious XII (ally of Hitler), etc.”³⁸ Then explain why the Church is an immoral and outdated institution; also write three pages detailing why you believe this to be the case. If you have the time, you can perform the same exercise with other religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and even Satanism. Explain why these religions hold the key to the ‘true’ nature of ‘reality’ and then refute yourself by providing a counterargument.

You can use the same technique to become more conspiratorial in your thinking. In one exercise, Wilson says, “start collecting evidence that your phone is bugged. Everyone gets a letter occasionally that is slightly damaged. Assume that somebody is opening your mail and clumsily revealing it. Look around for evidence that your co-workers or neighbours think you’re a bit queer and are planning to have you committed to a mental hospital.”³⁹ Observe how these assumptions influence your perception of other people and their behaviour – it won’t be long before you find evidence to support your paranoid thinking! 

Once you have sufficiently experimented with this reality-tunnel, “try living a whole week with the program, ‘Everybody likes me and tries to help me achieve all of my goals’.”⁴⁰ Then try living a whole month with the program, “I have chosen to be aware of this particular reality.”⁴¹ Then try living a day with the program, “I am God playing at being a human being. I created every reality I notice.”⁴² Then try living forever with the metaprogram, “Everything works out more perfectly than I plan it.”⁴³ By adopting these different reality-tunnels, you will notice how malleable your perceptual faculties really are – the world can become a place of conspiracy and collusion or a place of benevolence and positivity, depending on how you view it. 

Wilson provides another interesting exercise to expand the boundaries of consciousness, in which you “list at least 15 similarities between New York (or any large city) and an insect colony, such as a bee-hive or termite hill. Contemplate the information in the DNA loop, which created both of these enclaves of high coherence and organisation, in primate and insect societies.”⁴⁴ Then, “Read the Upanishads and every time you see the word ‘Atman’ or ‘World Soul’, translate it as DNA blueprint. See if it makes sense to you that way.”⁴⁵ According to Wilson, “Contemplating these issues usually triggers Jungian synchronicities. See how long after reading this chapter you encounter an amazing coincidence – e.g., seeing DNA on a license plate, having a copy of the Upanishads given to you unexpectedly…”⁴⁶

Experimenting with different reality tunnels is a necessary practice if one wishes to challenge dominant narratives, perspectives and viewpoints and expand the boundaries of human consciousness. As we find ourselves in a post-modern ‘information age’, where an increasing number of political factions compete for informational authority, we are exposed to the hidden forces of propaganda more than ever before. 

Every time we log into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, we allow ourselves to be manipulated by a complex system of algorithms that generates content based on our likes, dislikes, and even our differences. In order to escape the trappings of ideological dogma, we must become conscious of our biological, social and environmental conditioning and adopt a more multidimensional way of thinking. 

Understanding about ‘reality-tunnels’ becomes instrumental in achieving true inner liberation since it enables us to think about the mind as a form of technological software that can be continually updated and reorganised. We achieve a state of metacognition, an awareness of one’s thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them. It is what the pioneering mind explorer John Lilly called our capacity for “metaprogramming,” the creation, revision, and reorganisation of mental programs.⁴⁷

Although we are constrained by the limitations of biological programming (to a certain extent), the creativity of human consciousness is infinite, a maze of endless possibilities and potentialities waiting to be explored. As the Buddha said, “All that we are is the result of all that we have thought. It is founded on thought. It is based on thought.”⁴⁸ 

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Footnotes

1. Hartogsohn, I. (2015). The Psychedelic Society Revisited: On Reducing Valves, Reality Tunnels and the Question of Psychedelic Culture, Psychedelic Press, 3 

2. http://ultrafeel.tv/reality-tunnel-how-beliefs-and-expectations-create-what-you-experience-in-life

3. Op cit., Hartogsohn, I. (2015), 4

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias 

5. Anton Wilson, R. (1983). Prometheus Rising, Tempe, Arizona: New Falcon

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_tunnel

8. Ibid 

9. Parsons, T. (1951). The Social System, Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1951

10. Sam Keen, Castaneda interview, Psychology Today, December 1972

11. Derrida, J. (1978). ‘Genesis’ and ‘Structure’ and Phenomenology, in Writing and Difference, Routledge. 

12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada

13. Op cit., Hartogsohn, I. (2015), 1

14. Ibid, 2

15. Anton Wilson, R. (1990). Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You & Your World, New Falcon Publications

16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_tunnel 

17. Quantum Psychology, 74

18. Ibid, 74

19. Ibid, 75

20-24. Ibid, 76

25-26. Ibid, 76-77

27. Wollheim, R. (1971). Freud, Fontana Press

28. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_conditioning 

29. Quantum Psychology, 77

30. Ibid

32. Ibid

33. Bifarini, I. Cognitive bias and echo chambers: The social media trap, www.academia.edu/40650380/Cognitive_bias_and_echo_chambers_The_social_media_trap

34. Ibid

35. Nguyen, C. Echo Chamber and Epistemic Bubbles, www.academia.edu/36634677/Echo_Chambers_and_Epistemic_Bubbles 

36. Auxier, B. and Vitak (2019). Factors Motivating Customization and Echo Chamber Creation Within Digital News Environments. Social Media and Society, April-June 2019

37. Prometheus Rising, 83

38. Ibid, 159

39. Ibid, 241

40-43. Ibid, 242

44-46. Ibid, 190

47. Lilly, John C. Programming & Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer, New York: The Julian Press, Inc., 1967

48. The Dhammapada

© New Dawn Magazine and the respective author.
For our reproduction notice, click here.

From New Dawn Special Issue Vol 15 No 1 (Jan 2021)

Although we are in the midst of an ‘information revolution’, many of us rarely question the world around us. As the political domain becomes increasingly polarised, there is a greater need for people to expose themselves to alternative viewpoints and opinions. 

In theory, the internet should function as an open platform in which mainstream narratives are continually challenged, questioning the institutional authority of governments, multinational corporations and the mainstream press. 

Thankfully, we can question the ‘status-quo’ thanks to numerous websites, online forums and podcasts dedicated to alternative points of view and research, including parapsychology, geopolitics and ‘conspiracy culture’. At the same time, the rise of social media has resulted in more subtle yet dangerous forms of propaganda and mind control where people are often unknowingly exposed only to those who hold similar views to their own, stuck in a ‘social validation feedback loop’.

How can we stay open-minded, questioning and pragmatic in today’s world? Guerrilla ontology may provide the answer.

What is Guerrilla Ontology?

Guerrilla ontology is a term coined by Robert Anton Wilson in his 1980 book The Illuminati Papers. Wilson defines it as an approach adopted in his novels that mixes “the elements of each book so that the reader must decide on each page, ‘How much of this is real and how much is a put on?’”¹ In other words, it functions as an exercise in cognitive dissonance, where “readers are left to form their own interpretation as to which, if any, of the numerous and contradictory viewpoints presented by the characters are valid or plausible.”² This is similar to the postmodernist claim that textual discourse can be interpreted in a number of different ways (potentially infinite) since there is no singular interpretation. Guerrilla ontology is much more than a literary technique, however. As Wilson stated in an interview: 

The Western World has been brainwashed by Aristotle for the last 2,500 years. The unconscious, not quite articulate, belief of most Occidentals [Westerners] is that there is one map which adequately represents reality. By sheer good luck, every Occidental thinks he or she has the map that fits. Guerrilla ontology, to me, involves shaking up that certainty. I use what in modern physics is called the “multi-model” approach, which is the idea that there is more than one model to cover a given set of facts… It’s important to abolish the unconscious dogmatism that makes people think their way of looking at reality is the only sane way of viewing the world. My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalised agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything… That’s what guerrilla ontology is – breaking down this one-model view and giving people a multi-model perspective.³

In other words, the primary aim of guerrilla ontology is to remain in a permanent state of agnosticism and interpret reality through a multitude of cultural, political, economic, philosophical, scientific and spiritual perspectives. Instead of subscribing to a single belief system, guerrilla ontology promotes a radical form of intellectual pragmatism in which contrasting ideologies are synthesised, integrated and assimilated to provide a more complex and dynamic understanding of the world. 

Wilson assumes there is no ‘objective’ reality; even basic statements such as “there are 24 hours in a day” or “the world is round” are subjectively determined. This multi-modal approach results in an expansion of human consciousness in which all explanatory models are considered both ‘true’ and ‘false’ simultaneously. 

To fully appreciate the implications of guerrilla ontology, it is crucial to know the meaning of the terms. Ontology is the branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature of existence or being, while guerrilla in this context refers to military tactics used by fringe groups to obtain political power – acts of sabotage, ambushes, raids and hit-and-runs. Guerrilla ontology could be considered a form of philosophical warfare in which the ontologist attempts to undermine authority by subverting the symbols, signs and semiotic systems through which power is exercised and maintained. Using specialised tactics such as culture jamming, reality-hacking, subvertising and meme-magic, the ontologist becomes an active participant in the cultural arena and generates new locations of meaning. Fomenting contradictory ideas induces a sense of confusion and disorientation, causing a malfunction in the psychological programming required for ideological control to function effectively. In this sense, guerrilla ontology is a subversive exercise, a rebellion against all ‘reality tunnels’ that govern perception and narrative. 

For Wilson, internet technologies can play a fundamental role in challenging our ideological assumptions, creating a decentralised matrix of information where no singular worldview is predominant. Various public and private actors compete for cultural authority, undermining the very concept of ‘truth’ as we know it. As communication networks become increasingly globalised, there is greater exposure to different ideas, theories, concepts and perspectives. People find themselves in a position where they can no longer distinguish between ‘fact’ and ‘fiction’. While there are dangers that this could lead to new forms of manipulation and control, it will also result in a new era of intellectual creativity, dynamism and fluidity. As Wilson states, this ‘information revolution’ is merely a continuum of an ongoing historical trend towards cultural relativism:

When people started trading and having commerce with one another, they had to learn things the way other people saw them. As a result, some sense of cultural relativism appeared in the ancient Greeks, who were great traders. I think that’s what’s responsible for the rise in Greek Philosophy. Unfortunately, this has always remained a minority point of view because of the entrenched power of dogmatic thought. With the rise of modern electronics, however, things have begun to change faster. We’re now living in the global village which Buckminster Fuller and Marshall McLuhan have long been predicting. I’ve actually met people in their 20s who have travelled to as many as 30 different countries in their lives. With that amount of travel and the emergence of modern electronic media, more and more people are developing a sense of cultural relativism [Wilson made these statements in 1980].⁴

In this sense, guerrilla ontology enables us to navigate the new ‘post-truth’ age, where user-generated content undermines the informational monopoly of mass-media gatekeepers and popularises alternative narratives, which would have previously remained on the fringes of society. 

As previously noted, the purpose of guerrilla ontology is to induce a state of cognitive dissonance in which seemingly contradictory worldviews are assimilated in order to expand the boundaries of human consciousness. For Wilson, internet technologies are part of this expansion of consciousness as more and more people are exposed to different models of reality. 

Cognitive Dissonance & Quantum Mechanics

While the multi-model approach described by Wilson seems at odds with the notion of ‘scientific truth’ – that we can establish certain facts about the world through empirical observation – even scientists are required to adopt a multi-model approach when describing phenomena at a quantum level. 

When examining the behaviour of sub-atomic particles, the principles of Newtonian physics are no longer applicable. Instead, scientists must explain such phenomenon in terms of ‘probabilities’, the different outcomes that occur within a quantum system until the act of measurement results in the occurrence of a single outcome. For example, quantum mechanics demonstrates that light functions as both a particle and a wave, despite the fact that the former has a gravitational mass while the latter does not.⁵ In this sense, we are limited by the linguistic models that we have at our disposal when observing scientific phenomena. 

Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist who proposed the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics, believed that mathematical equations do not describe the universe with objective precision. Rather, they describe the “mental processes that we have to put ourselves through to describe the universe.”⁶ For example, when we describe the universe as a three-dimensional space-time continuum, we are actually describing how our minds organise sensory experience; another life-form may experience reality as fourth or even fifth dimensional, and therefore the equations they use to describe reality will be radically different from our own. For Wilson, guerrilla ontology (or cognitive dissonance) is based on the idea that by embracing seemingly contradictory models of the world, we become aware of our own relativistic position within the universe. 

Religions have known for centuries that cognitive dissonance expands the parameters of the mind. As Wilson states, “most of the occult literature of the world – aside from the 95% of it that is sheer rubbish – consists of tricks, gimmicks and games to trigger meta-programming consciousness.”⁷ 

The Upanishads, an ancient text central to Hinduism, is full of various paradoxes, intended to spiritually enlighten the reader. For example, it describes Brahman (the ultimate reality) as “non-differentiated, infinite, having neither cause, nor example, immeasurably extensive and without beginning… There is no dissolution, nor creation, neither one bound, nor the novice, neither the seeker after freedom, nor the liberated one.”⁸ These contradictions reveal what modern science is only beginning to discover – that reality is merely an expression of dynamic conscious thought. 

Changing the Brain

In his book Prometheus Rising, Wilson provides numerous techniques to achieve a state of cognitive dissonance. For example, he asks his readers to buy a copy of Christian Science Sentinel and read all the faith healings that month, then buy a copy of The Peyote Cult by anthropologist Weston LeBarre which attributes all this to auto-suggestion, and then read Brain/Mind Bulletin and observe that similar healings are attributed to endorphins in the brain. After that, re-read all the miracles in the New Testament, using each of these filters: Jesus had the correct teaching; Jesus was employing auto-suggestion; the sufferers’ brains released endorphins when Jesus gave them positive auto-suggestion. By examining the phenomenon of faith-healing through a multitude of perspectives, one realises that no single explanation is valid, causing a paradigmatic shift in understanding. 

According to Wilson, when a paradigm shift occurs – when we go from seeing things one way to seeing them another – “the whole world is remade.”⁹ All we can possibly ‘know’ is what our mind registers – reality is made up of nothing but thoughts. The brain, in the process of performing 100,000,000 calculations per minute, edits, organises and labels all raw “existential” experience and then classifies according to our belief systems. These systems will vary from culture to culture. What is ‘real’ to a native Inuit will not be the same as what is ‘real’ to a London taxi-driver. They occupy different ‘reality-tunnels’ since their social, economic, political and environmental perceptions of the world are radically different. Wilson describes this phenomenon as “neurological relativism” – each individual has a neurological system different from other members of the same society, enabling them to perceive reality in a unique way. 

Through the practice of guerrilla ontology, one is aware that the mind and its contents are ‘functionally identical’ – the distinction between ‘me’ (mental awareness) and ‘not me’ (external reality) is merely a linguistic one. We become what Wilson calls “metaprogrammers,” individuals with the ability to continually recalibrate our “reality-tunnels.” 

The metaprogramming circuit – known as the “soul” in Gnosticism, the “no-mind” in China, the “White Light of the Void” in Tibetan Buddhism, Shiva-darshana in Hinduism, the “True Intellectual Centre” in Gurdjieff – simply represents the brain becoming aware of itself.¹⁰

Wilson describes it as “the artist seeing himself in his painting, seeing himself seeing himself in his painting… It is a conscious mirror that knows it can always reflect something else by changing the angle of its reflection.”¹¹

Modern psychology demonstrates that neural networks in the brain are able to change through reorganisation, a phenomenon described as neuroplasticity. These changes “range from individual neurons making new connections, to systematic adjustments like cortical remapping.”¹² Neuroscientists used to believe that neuroplasticity only occurred during childhood, but modern research has now proven the brain can be altered during adulthood as well. Learning a new language is particularly valuable in this regard; various studies suggest that multilingualism not only restructures the brain but also boosts its capacity for plasticity. As Wilson argues, guerrilla ontology is similar to learning a language since it provides us with new ways of interpreting sensory experience. In the same way that foreign words and phrases allow us to see the world differently, so too do new belief systems expand the boundaries of human consciousness. Through meta-programming (exposing oneself to contradictory models of reality), we are able to rewire the very circuitry of our brains, resulting in more fluid and dynamic modalities of thought. 

Conclusion

Guerrilla ontology is a powerful tool for breaking free from the shackles of ideology. As our world becomes increasingly complex, due to the forces of globalisation and technological acceleration, it is important that we possess the ability to transform our social, political, economic, philosophical, scientific and religious beliefs. 

Those who remain in bondage to a single ‘reality-tunnel’ will inevitably get swept up in the tsunami of information and manufactured narratives. Many people will undoubtedly experience ‘existential crises’ as they encounter numerous theories, models, concepts and frameworks that challenge the stability of their foundational worldview. 

To navigate what French philosopher Guy Debord called “The Society of the Spectacle,” in which authentic social life has been replaced with its representation – “All that once was directly lived has become mere representation”¹³ – we must learn to embrace a multi-model approach. While it is important that we remain sceptical of how internet technologies are used to manipulate our thinking, the ‘information age’ allows us to become more open-minded than ever before. As Aleister Crowley once famously stated, “Man is ignorant of the nature of his own being and powers. Even his idea of his limitations is based on experience… There is no reason to assign theoretical limits to what he may be, or what he may do.”¹⁴

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Footnotes

1. https://guerrillaontologies.com/about/

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illuminatus!_Trilogy#Cognitive_dissonance 

3. J. Elliot, (1980) ‘Robert Anton Wilson: Searching for Cosmic Intelligence’, available at http://rawilsonfans.org/searching-for-cosmic-intelligence-interview-1980/ 

4. Ibid.

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light

6. R. Wilson, (1983) Prometheus Rising, New Falcon Publications

7. Ibid.

8. The Yoga Upanishads (available at) https://archive.org/stream/TheYogaUpanishads/TheYogaUpanisadsSanskritEngish1938#page/n63/mode/2up

9. R. Wilson, Prometheus Rising

10. Ibid. 

11. Ibid. 

12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity

13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Society_of_the_Spectacle

14. A. Crowley, (1929) Magick in Theory and Practice, Dover Publications

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