Welcome back to Meta Zen. The Zen garden of ambition.
I'm Marc Bubel.
To get the best experience from this podcast, listen to the episodes in sequence for your first time.

When we look beneath the traditions or techniques that develop Zen, what we find in its core is…spontaneous objectivity…and a desire to have objectivity spread.
Thus, when a topic enters a discussion, the points of view are reflected upon like if we’re solving a sudoku puzzle. Nothing more. Life is brimming with points of view to consider.
In every moment of our lives, when there are different points of view, there is never a need for a dogmatic adherence to a point of view nor narrative. When we say the sun rises in the east, there’s no alternative point of view…
beyond that of a devil’s advocate or an antagonist.
A devil’s advocate might say that the sun rises in the west on Venus, which is true. Thus, the devil’s advocate aims to deepen the understanding.
An antagonist would say the sun actually rises somewhere between north east and south east, maybe even the north, which derails the existing conversation to serve the purpose of some narrative.
Objectivity develops wisdom and wisdom is just the ability to distinguish objectivity from points of view and narratives.
Wisdom is simple. When conversations are had like a friendly tennis match between different points of view, that's the objectivity that turns into wisdom. When arguments happen, that's narratives putting an end to civilization’s intellectual development.

When narratives do exist, which is stubbornness with points of view, they bully us to play along with the façade, we let narratives win and we endeavor to have friendly conversations another day.
As a result, we become pacified by peer pressure, aka crab mentality, aka the witch hunt, which caused the downward spiral in the first place thousands of years ago. This is why mentorship, monkhood, patronage and much more don't sustain their potential.

The skill that unravels the downward spiral is…meta.
For example, my generation thinks space—as in outer space—consists mostly of nothing. We think this because scientists a few centuries ago said space is mostly absent of matter. Then narratives stepped in and said space is nothing.
Space is not nothing. Space is filled to capacity with electromagnetic waves, gravitational waves, quantum phenomena and who knows what else. Our planet is but a dust particle floating in an eddy we call a solar system, which is floating in an eddy we call a galaxy, which is floating in a cloud of matter we call our observable universe. The universe is not spherical either like what some pictures indirectly imply. Our observable universe is just a section of an infinite universe filled with intermittent clouds of matter. Why not?
The reality is that patterns continue beyond our comprehension. There's no point in being stubborn with any point of view, like an earth centered universe, the age of the universe (which is being challenged with more evidence), the size of the universe and more.
When we are fixed with our understanding, we become the obstacle to objectivity.
The more we remain objective, the more comfortable we become at the cutting edge of continuous improvement.
We all know what it feels like at the cutting edge. It feels like an argument is around the corner, which is crab mentality. But, when we take a deep breath and have conversations like friends, this feeling becomes a feeling of something else. It’s a feeling of opportunity. This is also the feeling of meta.

In this episode, we’ll learn how we harness meta.

The Meaning Of Meta 

While the word meta has ancient origins, its modern meaning is new to civilization.
To the ancient Greeks, meta means beyond or what comes next.
To my generation, it means self-referential, which is a tough concept to comprehend.
To help with the understanding, let's reflect on the following 5-word statement:
This statement is a statement.

Notice, this statement refers to itself, which means it’s self-referential.
Everyone expects more from the word meta than what this statement conveys, however. We’re expecting something will make us look at the world differently. We’re not expecting something that makes us feel underwhelmed.

Let’s now reflect on this second statement.
This statement is false.

This statement is also self-referential though this one is different. It immediately makes us wonder if it’s truthful. Write this statement in your journal, pause the podcast and reflect on it.

Did you experience the epiphany this statement can give you?

When we reflect on this second statement, we’ll soon realize it expresses itself truthfully, which gives us an epiphany.
This second statement is meta.
If I were up to me, I’d say meta means information that triggers an epiphany.

Think about it.
When something is meta, it exercises our curiosity and objectivity. When we conclude our reflection and say the second statement is telling the truth, we've left the sandbox of our mind and become a little wiser. We start becoming who we were meant to be.
Ah-mazing.

In episode 10, I shared this third statement:
This statement is true.
At face value, this statement tells us what we need to know. It’s self-referential though it’s as uninspiring as the first statement.

Here’s a skills testing question for you:
What would a statement say if it were lying to us?
Pause now and figure it out.

If you are struggling, that’s okay. It’s a bit of a mind bender.
A statement that lies to us would say the following:
This statement is true.

This commentary of the third statement is meta.
The third statement, looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, but is not a duck.
This third statement is an illusion, a half truth, that encourages people to believe a narrative and dogmatically defend it.
When we realize this third statement is a half truth, we realize how easy it is to enjoy the ignorance of bliss and become like the emperor with new clothes.
Notice, Hans Christian Andersen’s emperor had no one to trust. Like no family member nor friend he knew would be honest with him. He and everyone around him were enjoying the ignorance of bliss. That’s an empty way of living. What do you think?

Here’s another half truth that exists at the time of this writing.
Some people say a Mobius strip has one side and others say it has two sides. Which is it?
Let’s get to level ground to understand this debate.

The word side has multiple senses.
In a geometric sense, a mobius strip has one side. Similarly, in a geometric sense, a ball has no sides.
Notice, both a mobius strip and a ball have a side we cannot see that is seamlessly connected to the side we can see. This is a spatial orientation sense. Like the ball shaped moon had a dark side, which isn’t always dark in the lumination sense though is always dark in the observation sense.
If people who argue that the mobius strip has one side actually argue that it has one geometric side, we would easily understand their point of view. But, because they disregard the other senses of the word side that exist in the dictionary, they blindly promote a narrative like they're doing us a favor, which becomes another feature of the status quo.
That's when many of us think, god help us.

Notice, this mobius strip discussion isn’t self-referential but it sure is meta.
When you seriously reflect on this discussion, you’ll become certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that the word meta means information that leads to an epiphany.

Taming the subconscious mind

When I first came across the third statement mentioned earlier that said…
This statement is true.
I drank the Kool-Aid and risked becoming an emperor with new clothes. A few weeks later, my curiosity encouraged me to figure out what a lying statement would say. That’s when I found its metanarrative.
This is what scientists do. They try to break their theories by playing devil’s advocate. Only pseudoscientists protect their narratives by playing angel’s advocate. Like saying a mobius strip has one side when it has one geometric side.
In summary, pseudoscientists argue whereas scientists welcome having conversations with those that have different points of view.

This is our moment of truth.
We’ve all been here before. This is when we flipped the switch and never looked back. Like our first kiss. Like becoming a weekend warrior or forming a band.
You're listening right now because you want to flip that switch.
To flip the switch, become a defender of different points of view.
Never look down on people with different points of view because that’s the end of objectivity.
Get good at objectivity. Progress through the Mechanisms Of Higher Consciousness. Progress through the 7 levels of Flow State Ambition, and more.
While squeaky wheels will continue trying to upstage objectivity, when we always have a critical mass of people who are skilled at welcoming different points of view like a scientist, objectivity will call the shots the world over.

Let’s all aim to be the change we wish to see in the world.
When we do, we shift from turning a blind eye to alternative points of view to enabling people to return to their innate nature, achieve their full potential and become who they were meant to be.

Conclusion 

This concludes episodes 1 through 16, which defines the scope of Meta Zen. Thank you for joining me.
Everything you’ve heard in this podcast are just points of view. Once they’ve received the consideration they deserve, feel free to discard them. Even when you’ve become a vertuoso, you can discard that label as you are just you.
Welcome to the dawn of our new day.
We look forward to you launching beyond this podcast and coming back to tell the tale.


Much credit for this podcast goes to Zoe, my life partner. In terms of our beautiful innate nature, she's been my muse. She has routinely awakened me when I've been a minion to narratives. She's been my sounding board in many ways without even knowing it. She has enabled me to achieve my potential and become who I'm meant to be. Zoe, I’m forever in your debt. Thank you for giving our children the same as you’ve given me.
Beyond those I’ve mentioned in this podcast, I have a few other notable mentions.
Miyamoto Musashi once said, When you see the way broadly, you see it in everything. You'll find this insight interwoven throughout this podcast.
Bill Watterson from the Calvin And Hobbes fame reminded me of our innate nature and how to ride off into the sunset, which are thoughts equally interwoven throughout this podcast.
Milton Glaser coined the statement, just enough is more as a counterpoint to the narrative that hijacked the statement, less is more. Contemplating his insight helped in uncovering the content throughout this podcast.
Ultimately, there are too many people that deserve a shout out. The best way to thank them is to continue their legacy. Therefore, the coming effort is to cross the chasm, which is a concept from Geoffrey Moore.
This means we’re taking a break for an unknown length of time as I return to cycling through the Black Belt degrees.

As you are enjoying Meta Zen, enable people to stumble upon it. Buy some Meta Zen stickers from moxiefrontier.com and put them where you and others will see them.
The Meta Zen sticker is our invitation to be who we were meant to be.
It's a great time to be alive.