This Is Not Normal

Unmasking the Hidden Parasites

I’d like to offer you a perspective on what is happening in the United States—and in our world—that you have probably never heard before. It is certainly not the explanation you’ll hear from the mainstream media, politicians, or even most spiritual teachers.

If what follows sounds closer to science fiction than conventional reality, I understand. Truth has often appeared stranger than fiction, and throughout history some of our deepest truths first reached us through myths, scriptures and stories before we were ready to recognize them. I’m not asking you to believe what I’m about to say. I’m simply inviting you to hold it lightly and see whether it activates something you already know somewhere beneath the surface of your ordinary thinking.

One of the greatest dangers we face right now is not simply what is happening in the world. It is that we have gradually begun to accept it as normal. Genocide. Endless war. Extreme cruelty. Massive concentrations of wealth and power. Psychological manipulation. Propaganda. Corruption. Leaders who increasingly embody the lowest rather than the highest qualities of humanity.

Whether we like it or not, we’ve adapted. The volume knob keeps getting turned higher, and because it happens incrementally we adjust. We cope. We go on with our lives.

This is not normal.

It may be common. It may have become familiar. But it is profoundly abnormal.

The deeper question is why.

Why would beings with such extraordinary capacities create a world like this?

Human beings are astonishing creatures. Our nervous systems are capable of perceiving subtle energies and can be trained to accomplish remarkable things. Every cell in our body continually remodels itself through epigenetics in response to its environment. Neuroscientists are beginning to explore the possibility that structures such as the brain’s microtubules participate in forms of consciousness we barely understand. We possess extraordinary creativity, profound compassion, and the capacity to resonate with unconditional love.

Yet those same human beings are capable of unimaginable hatred, violence and destruction. How did beings with this much potential descend into such confusion?

Many spiritual traditions suggest that humanity exists in a fallen state of consciousness. There are many ways of describing this, but I’d like to offer one that has become increasingly meaningful to me.

Some of the ancient writings commonly called the Gnostic texts describe beings known as **archons**. The New Testament contains a phrase that may point toward something similar: *powers and principalities*. These writings describe non-human intelligences whose role is to manipulate human consciousness and keep us disconnected from our divine nature. According to this view, they feed upon fear, conflict, trauma and suffering. The greater the polarization and emotional turmoil, the richer the feast becomes.

An image from Frank Herbert’s *Dune* has always stayed with me. Some of the darker beings deliberately tortured highly sensitive creatures because their suffering produced a substance that was considered a delicacy. Whether Herbert intended it or not, I see that as a remarkably accurate metaphor for what the Gnostic texts describe.

The *Harry Potter* stories portray Dementors that feed upon human joy until people become empty and hopeless. In the Gnostic cosmology, the archons function in a similar way. They are the jailers of humanity whose purpose is to keep us cut off from our own light, making us easier to manipulate through fear, propaganda, division and endless conflict.

If you can entertain this possibility, even as a thought experiment, another question naturally follows. If human beings are such advanced creations, how could these forces ever gain influence over us?

My own answer is surprisingly simple.

We forgot who we are.

We are Avatars—spiritual beings temporarily having a physical experience. Somewhere along the way we became so fascinated with material existence that we gradually forgot our own divine nature. Spiritual life became something we practiced occasionally instead of the very foundation from which we lived. That forgetfulness created vulnerability.

An opportunistic infection cannot overwhelm a healthy immune system. It flourishes only when the immune system becomes weakened. I see the archons in much the same way. They did not create our vulnerability; they simply exploit it.

That helps explain why everyday life often carries a slightly hallucinatory quality for me. Sometimes I feel we’re collectively living inside a real-life version of *The Emperor’s New Clothes*. Everyone agrees the illusion is reality because everyone else appears to believe it.

One of the central themes of my new book is that the first step of awakening is acknowledging that you’re asleep.

Until we recognize that possibility, awakening cannot begin.

This is one reason *The Matrix* continues to resonate so deeply with people. Neo believed he understood reality until he discovered he had been living inside a manufactured projection while something else quietly fed upon his life force. I don’t believe our situation is literally the same as that movie, but I do believe it points toward something profoundly true.

Which brings me to our present political moment.

People often ask why Trump and his regime have come to occupy such a central place in our national life. The most charitable interpretation I can offer is that they are serving a purpose. The archonic forces that once operated largely behind the scenes are now being amplified in plain sight. Manipulation, cruelty, polarization and the concentration of power are becoming impossible to ignore because every week the volume gets turned up another notch.

I do not approve of what is happening. But I do recognize that exposing what was hidden creates the possibility of awakening. Strong medicine often tastes bitter, yet sometimes it saves a life.

Ultimately, awakening is about sovereignty. It is remembering that your deepest source of truth does not come from governments, media, institutions or external authorities. It comes from within. You are not fundamentally a frightened personality struggling to survive in a hostile universe. You are an Avatar—an inexhaustible fountain of love, consciousness and creative power temporarily having a human experience. The more deeply you remember that, the less influence fear, propaganda and manipulation have over your life.

Perhaps this extraordinary historical moment is asking each of us one essential question:

Will you continue living inside the trance...

or will you remember who you really are?

If something in this essay stirred an old memory—something you couldn’t quite put into words—don’t rush to believe it or reject it. Simply let it live within you for a while. Sometimes awakening begins that quietly.

Lighten up and step up.