Just want to give a little
2025 update for those interested.The Universe Is Virtual is going out of print in English—once
existing supplies run out. If there are ever any big, new scientific discoveries
to support the ideas in that book, I might update it and put it back in print.
But short of that, it will only exist digitally going forward. And since in
2025 Amazon still punishes the file size of digital comic books as if mobile
bandwidth was still the scarce commodity it was in 2007, digitally means PDF
through my Payhip store.
Overall, I’ve
completely lost interest in books and all public-figure activities. I haven’t
even logged into social media for two years. Combine the division and conflict
of human subjectivity with the ever-improving art-making abilities of AI and the
reality is that I’m not interested in this stuff anymore. It’s a different
world than it was in 2010.
It’s only
a matter of time before The Universe Is a
Dream also goes strictly digital. There is a condition that I’m keeping
secret that if ever met means I will make all my creations available free
online. But that hasn’t happened yet.
So, you
might be wondering: if Alex has lost interest in this stuff, what is he
interested in these days? A Course in Miracles remains my chosen
spirituality in my personal life. So, I’m still interested in it. But I’ve
realized that, due to human subjectivity, most people aren’t anywhere near ready
for A Course in Miracles. Consequently,
I’ve lost interest in A Course in
Miracles socially. Socially, my interest is in addressing human
subjectivity. If I had to write another book or if I wanted to become a guru
and start publically teaching something, human subjectivity would be my focus. And
I’d teach that ideological self-segregation is the most practical solution for
human subjectivity. Which happens to be the opposite of the diversity hellscape
that has been in fashion as of late.
Fortunately,
I found someone who has started addressing human subjectivity in a manner
similar to how I would and who has been gaining an ample following in doing so.
So, for the time being, I don’t have to try doing so myself. I recommend checking
out this video. He approaches the subject from a Ken Wilber Integral Theory perspective.
Happy New Year! I just want to give a little 2023 update. The
main thing I have to share is that I’m going to let some books go out of
print this year (maybe all). I'm thinking of making 2023 the year of self-canceling. I’m going to let The Undreaming Chronicles books go out of print and the physical book of the English version of The Universe Is Virtual will probably go out of print, at least for awhile. So if you want
copies of those books, they will likely only stay in stock until the end of
February 2023. Regardless, I will keep those books available as PDF purchases through a
link from my website.
Just because I'm letting some (or all) books go out of print doesn't mean they won't reappear if circumstances change. One thing few people currently consider is that books written in the past will likely have a
high premium in the future, because they will be the only books verifiably not
written by AI. AI has only gotten good enough to write believable
books recently, so only books old enough will have the AI-free guarantee. AI writing is at the point where the written word is close to becoming a very cheap commodity. Along the same lines, old comic books will soon be the only comic books to have an AI-free "art" guarantee. Projects like DALL-E open AI are getting close to making digital art a very cheap, very good, and easily-produced commodity.
Although I
have not yet decided on the fate of the English version of The Universe Is a
Dream, I would at least like to overhaul it. I
already got rid of the Kindle version for that reason. I don’t like how that book’s rating has
been dipping in recent years down to 4.4 stars currently. That shows me that
community support for that book has been exhausted and mostly only unsuspecting
normies are buying it. And I prefer not to disturb the sleep of normies, since they throw tantrums when disturbed. Regardless,
the decision on The Universe Is a Dream won’t come until September 2023 if I do anything this year. If I
can figure out a way to overhaul The Universe Is a Dream to divert normies
from buying it and also if I can make it in color, that would be my
preference. But to do that might require making it a whole new book, which would void the AI-free guarantee. So I'll only overhaul the book if I can do it while keeping it the same book. Otherwise, I might just let it go out of print.
This
is a video series meant to simulate taking a walk and hearing me
expound on various topics, usually with a spiritual theme. Sometimes the
video will focus on a location, like I did in all the videos I’ve
posted so far. Other times, I’ll just walk and talk without regard to
location. Incidentally, my favorite video so far is, "The Shawshank
Redemption and the Ego Prison."
Despite
most of these videos being hosted on a censorship resistant third party
video sharing site, I’m only focusing on posting these videos on this
new blog. By doing that I free myself from the “like, subscribe,
comment” social media hypnosis hamster wheel.
I
don’t know how often I’ll post new videos. All I know is that I’ve
already filmed a bunch of videos but have only gone through the editing
process of a few so far.
So enjoy … or
not. The beauty of these walk videos is that I enjoy taking walks and
thinking, regardless of if I’m filming the walk and thinking out loud.
Therefore, any extra person who is able to enjoy my walks by way of me
recording them is a free bonus.
Here are some news updates for the Summer of 2018. It's been a while since I sent out a message to my email list. I have this underutilized email list that I control and that isn't under the direct whim of tech giant algorithms. I really should utilize it more often.
I have a potential book project in draft stage. I still can't say if it will get off the ground at all. As things stand right now, I don't see anything new being completed anytime soon.
It's been almost exactly eight years since The Universe Is a Dream was first released. Unfortunately, the publishing world is just as inhospitable to comics as eight years ago. Printing comics in color and selling comics as Kindle ebooks is an exercise in gluttony for punishment. Everything is optimized for regular books, not comic books. I had it in mind to release The Universe Is a Dream revamped and in color for the 10-year anniversary, but the technological logistics haven't improved enough to justify doing that. Instead, things are going in the opposite direction. Print costs are going up. File size is still greatly punished by Amazon Kindle. And Amazon is becoming so saturated with books that less and less people are finding mine to buy.
Since releasing The Universe Is a Dream eight years ago, I've come to accept that I'm an artist guy who doesn't want to be a guru. But really you have to be a guru to some extent if you really want to sell books, especially in the spirituality genre. You've got to go out there and sell your ideas. And if you're unwilling to do that, there is little point in making books. Because chances are no one is really going to promote your stuff other than you. And to go out there spreading ideas is to jump into a war zone.
When I talk, I talk about three main things. I call those three things my three guiding axioms. And all those things fly in the face of convention.
My Three Guiding Axioms
1) Being: Oneness (Pure Non-Duality Principle)
2) Thought: Quantum Forgiveness (Non-Guilt-Projection Principle)
3) Behavior: The True Golden Rule (Non-Aggression Principle)
I can live by those axioms without directly talking about them. But those axioms are behind just about everything I ever want to talk about, since I naturally want to talk about the things I live. At least the first two axioms are mostly accepted by people who accept A Course in Miracles. But once I get to the third axiom, which is the most pertinent to day-to-day life in a social sense, I don't even have many ACIM people on my side. ACIM explicitly says the Golden Rule is the rule for appropriate behavior. However, people don't take the Golden Rule very seriously. Part of that lack of seriousness is probably the fact that just saying, "Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you," is a bit too vague. When you start studying natural law, Kantian categorical imperative, the non-aggression principle, and even the negative formulation of the Golden Rule (don't do unto others...) you start to appreciate it more.
When talking to all audiences, I have a tendency to want to start with axiom 3, the Golden Rule. Because the Golden Rule is kindergarten forgiveness. Last year I started the blog Forgiving the News to start publicly exploring the minefield of putting people's beliefs up to the test of the Golden Rule; in that sense the blog is basically designed to piss everyone off (lol). Because the problem with getting deep into the Golden Rule is that I invariably have to start telling people that their politics are complete garbage regardless of left or right persuasion (lol). People don't like that, because politics is secular religion full of contradictory garbage that falls apart when exposed to light.
Whenever I start exposing the dark side of people's behavioral beliefs by exploring axiom three, it transitions into axiom two. Axiom two means delving into unconscious guilt and the Jungian shadow. The great thing about starting with axiom three is that the people able to get through axiom three usually have some hope of facing the darkness within when projected out. And those able and willing to face the darkness within have some hope of dealing with axiom one, which is the ultimate abstraction. Oneness is an abstraction so abstract that it cannot be modeled. For that reason, I find working from oneness back into the profane world less useful. The people attracted to the positive love and happiness stuff are too often unwilling to deal with the darkness.
I'm sure there is a much bigger audience ready for the hardcore ACIM-based messages I want to bring. But going the route of talking to general audiences to weed out the people who are ready for my full messages puts me on the radar of lots of adversaries. And I have a hard time believing that such a task is worth the aggravation.
The way I see it, if I'm unwilling to jump into the ideological war zone to help increase the popularity of my current books, there is little point in making more books. So that is my current crossroads. I don't know what I'll do or when.
In the meantime though, check this out. If you haven't heard, I was on the True Forgiveness Teachings Podcast with Jackie Lora Jones twice in the last few months. We got into some good stuff. The main theme was forgiving the First Law of Chaos: the truth is different for everyone. That's my favorite topic since it's one of the few I have lots to say about due to the world providing a constant stream of new material. And at the end I gave seven useful forgiveness tips. So, give that a listen.
Also worth noting, The Universe Is Virtual is being released in Portuguese soon. And The Universe Is a Dream continues to be available in a number of different languages.
And as always, if you've been depriving yourself of any of my books, get them while you can. https://alexandermarchand.com/books/books/
I have two potential comic book projects in draft stages. I
still can't say if either of those projects will get off the ground at all. As things stand right now, I don't see anything new being
completed before 2019 or maybe even 2020.
The Mandela Effect is an internet meme born the same year as The Universe Is a Dream (2010); the effect revolves around people reporting memories of the past that contradict the present. The name of the effect is a reference to large groups of people having a memory of Nelson Mandela dying in prison back in the 80s. He instead died in 2013. Google the Mandela Effect and you'll find all kinds of examples.
Now, to a normal person lacking whimsy and creativity, the Mandela Effect is easily dismissed as people being idiots and therefore believing false memories. However, those with whimsy and creativity consider it to be a potentially authentic phenomenon. Of the people who consider the effect authentic, most generally attribute the Mandela Effect to some variation of the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, and some even evoke the CERN large hadron collider as the catalyst. I take things farther though and see the Mandela Effect as an example of quantum forgiveness in action.
Those who have read The Universe Is Virtual (get smart and do so if you haven't) and understood it, know that erasing records of the past changes the present. True forgiveness is the ultimate eraser. In the virtual model of the universe, what you forgive and don't determines what version of the universe is rendered to you when you observe it. That differs from the standard many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which is an interpretation that tries to eliminate the observer and thus mind. To get technical, many worlds "removes the observer-dependent role in the quantum measurement process by replacing wavefunction collapse with quantum decoherence." In that sense, many worlds is the wrong theory to evoke when trying to explain how the Mandela Effect may be authentic.
Unlike the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which
tries to brush aside mind, the virtual interpretation that I endorse and
teach is a model where there is no universe without a mind making it
seemingly real. At best the universe is a probability. A probability is
nothing unless it is actually rendered to a mind. Conversely, in the
many worlds model, every possible universe actually exists physically,
independent of mind. Mind would have to be more fundamental than matter to retain any memory that contradicts a given timeline.
Many worlds is a cool idea in the sense that it gives credence to the idea of parallel universes and thus multiple timelines. But many worlds is stuck in the materialistic view of the universe. Many worlds plays heavily into what is
currently perhaps the most intellectually adventurous show on TV, the cartoon Rick and Morty.
However, if I were on the Rick and Morty writing staff the show would portray an explicitly virtual universe. Watch the clips
below. The first clip represents the Schrödinger's cat many worlds idea
as is often referenced on the show. The second clip is from a neat
episode about an entity named Unity that is one mind living through many
bodies.
Whether the concept is thought of as many worlds or alternative
renderings of the universe, the basic idea is the same: there are
multiple timelines. Multiple timelines means multiple potential version
of the same thing, such as multiple versions of you or multiple versions
of A Course in Miracles. The script of the universe is written but there are variations
in the script.
As many people probably already know, there is an
ongoing rift in the A Course in Miracles world between the official
Foundation for Inner Peace version of A Course in Miracles and earlier
leaked versions...what is called the Urtext. The word urtext means an
original or the earliest version of a text, to which later versions are
compared.
In case you never noticed, I stay out of Course in
Miracles politics lol. I keep out of the formal ACIM world. I've never gone to any conferences. And I don't
blatantly take sides within the ACIM world. I just do my own art driven things and hope enough
people enjoy what I do to allow me to keep doing my things.
Technically, my stuff is mostly an extension of the Wapnick school of
ACIM. But my own personality rubs off on how I talk about and express
ACIM. That's what happens with everyone.
Ideally, we'd be living
in a world where A Course in Miracles is a perfect book that was
channeled perfectly by Helen Schucman without any need for edits. If we
lived in that world, no earlier drafts of the course would ever have
existed to be leaked. But here's the deal, you and I don't live in the
world where that happened. We live in a world where there are a few
slightly different versions of ACIM floating around. Not only that, we
live in a world where English versions of ACIM exist that are free
domain and thus without copyright. ACIM and the entire universe exists
as it does for you and me right now in a certain way. And that certain
way is presenting us with exactly what we need to forgive.
Perhaps
there is an alternative timeline in which Helen Schucman recorded A Course in Miracles without any need for edits. Perhaps
there is an alternative timeline where the Foundation for Inner Peace
maintained a monopoly on ACIM, which worked fine until all the original
people died and new people took over and ruined the course. Perhaps
there is a version of the course that came with clear predictions of the
future and those predictions came true thus converting most of the
world into wanting to practice ACIM lol. I don't quite know. But the
fact is that the timeline in front of your face is the one fit just for
you.
(Incidentally, if you live in a timeline where stuff like
psychic predictions rarely ever seem to come true, you have to consider
that you've subconsciously chosen such a timeline. Why you made that
choice could have many reasons, but one reason could be just so you can
remain skeptical of the power of the mind.)
I'm personally cool
with the relative chaos of the course at it exists in the current
timeline because even though people will inevitably botch the course
with their own interpretations, no botched version will be able to have a
monopoly on the course. That makes the course more anti-fragile and
able to exist in pure forms despite noise made by misinterpretations,
misuses, and simple watering down of the message.
The world that
is rendered to you is your custom classroom showing you what's in your
mind. A Course in Miracles exists as it does to you because any other
version would either be too clear or too unclear. That's just what you
get in a world where ego is trying to go one way and spirit the other.
When
presented with A Course in Miracles, people go through a process of
rationalizing why they should accept it or dismiss it. And I always find
it interesting to examine how people rationalize dismissing ACIM,
including people who are well-known spiritual teachers and authors. For
instance, the idea that the world is illusory is often too much for
people and it leaves people feeling depressed. And when I personally
call the universe an illusory turd lol, that is too much even for some
ACIM people. Therefore, to dismiss the idea that the world is illusory,
people jump through hoops trying to rationalize why the world is real
and why in essence entropy is wonderful lol. On its own, the idea that
the world is illusory is not of much use, but when you combine it with
true forgiveness and oneness you see why the world is illusory and why
that's great news as opposed to depressing news. So, dismissing ACIM
requires cherry picking and misinterpretation. When people want to
dismiss ACIM they see in it what they want to see. But since ACIM is
such a dense book, the reality is that it lends itself to cherry picking
and misinterpretation regardless of if you want to accept it or dismiss
it.
I personally work off of the Foundation for Inner Peace
version of A Course in Miracles. And I personally accept that ACIM as a
whole is perfect in the sense of the ideas it contains. As far as the
importance of individual words and edits, it doesn't mean much to me in
the big picture. I'm not the kind of guy that agonizes over single words and sentences. If every single word was extremely important, the course could only exist in its native language, English. But the course has been translated into many
languages; there is always some compromise in translation. Overall, I
just think of the course as existing exactly how it needs to exist for
those rendering any timeline in which it exists.
So, anyway, some
stuff to ponder when the subject of the Mandela effect or ACIM Urtext
comes up.
Also, you might want to buy some of my ACIM art, like my new Miracle Mandala, because of, you know, the Mandela Effect.
And check out my experimental spin off websites listed under News. I'm at a kind of crossroads right now figuring out what I want to do next, if anything, in terms of books. I'll likely be posting something about that eventually.
