Warren Mosler on the Macro & Cheese podcast -- dropping knowledge to combat austerity, unemployment, and privation

Continuing with the gift of podcast ideas, which I started yesterday with a link to a podcast of Steve Keen talking with Michael Hudson on the Debunking Economics podcast, here is another podcast to which you might not yet be listening but which you might consider adding to your lineup: Macro & Cheese, hosted by Steve Grumbine. 

Recently, Steve did two back-to-back episodes featuring Warren Mosler, a successful investment manager whose understanding of how banking works became the paradigm known today as MMT, or "Modern Monetary Theory" (episodes 90 and 91, embedded above and below the text of this post).

Warren Mosler is always worth listening to, but these two interviews are particularly important, because Steve asks Warren to enumerate the contributions MMT has made to our understanding of how the world actually works, and in the process, we get some of the clearest explanations of how "movement of money" actually takes place, and why taxation necessarily creates unemployment. 

Understanding these concepts is critical to preventing the seizure of a nation's natural resources by oligarchs through austerity and privatization, and to preventing the wasting of the gifts and talents given to men and women through the scourge of unemployment and underemployment.

In discussing the first paradigm-shifting contribution of MMT, which Warren Mosler identifies as the "the sequencing idea" (introduced at 0:04:49 in the first of the two interviews, which is episode 90), Warren introduces a terrific metaphor in this interview, one which I personally have not heard him use previously.

By "the sequencing question," he means the question of the "sequence of spending" -- does the government of a nation first tax the people, in order for that government to be able to spend, or does the government spend first in order for the people to be able to have currency, some of which is then taxed? 

This question is critically important, because proponents of austerity regularly declare that the only way that nations can spend is by taxing their citizens first, in order to get whatever funds they want to spend. We can hear a famous example of Margaret Thatcher making that exact declaration in a video I made in September of this year entitled "Money Creation vs Unemployment and Indebtedness," beginning at 6:00 into the video, in which she proclaims:

One of the great debates of our time is about how much of your money should be spent by the state, and how much you should keep to spend on your family. Let us never forget this fundamental truth: the state has no source of money other than the money people earn themselves! If the state wishes to spend more, it can do so only by borrowing your savings or by taxing you more. And it's no good thinking that someone else will pay: that someone else is you. There is no such thing as public money: there is only taxpayers' money.

Clearly, this position constitutes a powerful argument against any increased government spending on anything, and that is exactly how it is always used. I have made another video (entitled "Austerity and Rent-Seeking vs Public Infrastructure and Prosperity") explaining that certain opponents of government spending have an ulterior motive, which is their desire to privatize the public domain in order to give themselves the ability to impose what amounts to private taxation upon their fellow citizens.

However, as Warren Mosler explains and as he and other MMT researchers have shown beyond any doubt, Margaret Thatcher and those who argue that the government must first tax or borrow "your savings" before it can spend have the "sequencing" exactly backwards! 

Warren explains, at 0:06:40 in the interview of episode 90, that -- far from the government needing money from taxes or money from bond purchases in order to spend -- the situation is exactly the opposite:

The money to pay taxes or buy bonds comes from the government or its agents. In other words, the government has to spend first, before the US dollars are there that can be used to pay taxes or to buy bonds.

But where does that money "come from," many will immediately wonder.

It "comes from" changes which are made in balance sheets at banks, which the government authorizes to be made in those account balances based on spending that is authorized by its fiscal authority, which in the United States is a function that is given to Congress to authorize (Congress is given control over fiscal policy in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution). 

Because money actually originates in balance sheet changes, Warren explains that it actually doesn't "come from" anywhere, in the sense of an object that moves from one place to another:

So if the sequence is: first the government spends -- and technically, they're crediting, for the most part, crediting "reserve accounts" at the Fed, which are like checking accounts at the Fed for all the member banks -- so first they spend by putting money in all the member banks' checking accounts at the Fed, called reserve accounts, OK? And, those balances that they put in member banks' accounts can only go to other member banks. They can transfer them between each other, but they can't, like, jump off the balance sheet and run overseas or something -- there is no such thing. It's just an entry on a spreadsheet. They can only debit one account and credit another. There's no independent existence for these balances. OK, so they spend first: some of those balances are used to pay taxes (so that they would then debit your account). And whatever's left over can be used to buy government bonds, so they sell government bonds. When those get paid for, they shift the money from these "checking accounts" at the Fed to government bond accounts where they're just savings accounts -- time deposits. 

OK -- and so the first thing is the sequence: that they spend first and then taxes are paid or bonds are purchased. Well, if that's the case, the whole idea of "where does the money come from" is inapplicable!  It's just the Federal Reserve changing the numbers in somebody's bank account, at the Fed -- another bank's bank account at the Fed. That's where the money comes from. It doesn't come from taxing. It doesn't come from borrowing. It doesn't come from anywhere. 

In order to illustrate that the money doesn't actually "come from" or "go to" anywhere, Warren brings out a very helpful metaphor about so-called "money flows." Continuing from the passage just cited above, which itself follows immediately after the first quoted passage that begins at 0:06:40 in the interview, Warren says (beginning at 0:08:20):

People visualize money as "flowing," so it moves from this account and goes into that account and goes somewhere else. And the analogy I like to give for money is a television screen. So if you look at your television screen today you saw a tennis match between Nadal and Djokovic, and you saw them running around, and you saw the ball going around. But there was nothing moving on your television screen. If you got up really close to your screen [. . .] what you'd see are little dots going on and off. There is nothing moving on that screen. And if you look at money -- at least in the banking system -- what you see is numbers in accounts going up and numbers going down, but you don't see anything moving in-between accounts. All right? It's just accounting -- it's score-keeping. One score goes up and another score goes down, but there's nothing actually moving. 

This is a fantastic analogy, although I think it is even easier to visualize using a video game than a live tennis match, because here (at least in older video games, such as Joust from 1982, which I remember playing quite a lot) you can actually see the pixels which turn from one color to another in order to simulate all the appearance of motion on the screen:

This metaphor is very helpful for understanding the mechanics of balance sheet operations consisting of credits and debits and assets and liabilities which underlie the functioning of a nation's currency, and which become important when you want to understand what is actually going on with fiscal policy and monetary policy. I have earlier tried to explain this concept using the analogy of traffic lights turning from green to red (see my video from October of this year entitled "Money, Credit & Debt: Is Debt-Based Money the Root of All Problems in Society?"). 

It is pretty obvious that in that analogy, a green light or a red light doesn't "jump" or "flow" from one light signal to another: one red light goes off on one panel and the green light comes on, while on the opposite panel a green light goes off, and a red light comes on, without any lights themselves moving anywhere. This action is analogous to the changing of two numbers on one balance sheet, and the corresponding changing of two numbers in another balance sheet.

Another metaphor often used by those who understand MMT is the changing of a score on a scorecard (Warren Mosler actually uses this analogy in the interviews linked), and you can see the score changing on the screen above as well. 

Where do the "points" being added on the scoreboard above "come from"? Obviously, they don't "come from" anywhere! The same holds true of the points in a stadium at a football game, or those on the board above the court at a basketball game. Those points don't "come from" anywhere: they are added by someone who has the authority to change the scoreboard. 

You must have authority within the rules of the game to change the scoreboard, but if you have that authority then it is ridiculous to ask "how many points can be added before we 'run out' of points?" And yet we hear people all the time talking about the possibility of a government "running out" of money. 

This talk of "running out" of money originates either out of ignorance regarding how the system actually works or (as I believe to be the case quite frequently) out of a desire to promote austerity by those who understand very well just how the system works, and who want to impose austerity in order to impoverish the people and in order to seize for themselves the gifts given to a nation by heaven which are intended to benefit all the people of that land (but which are extraordinarily lucrative if someone is able to privatize them, with privatization being a direct consequence of austerity).

That these subjects relate directly to the world's ancient wisdom may not be immediately obvious at first, although during these interviews Warren Mosler makes quite clear that even though the paradigm which has grown out of his observations has come to be known as "MMT" for "Modern Monetary Theory," all money in ancient civilizations followed the same "sequencing" (which he points out using a story from his visit to the ruins of ancient Pompeii).

However, as the previous post discussing Professor Michael Hudson and his work should make evident, the ancient myths and scriptures -- including those included in the Bible, from first to last -- have as one of their central themes the subject of debt and debt-cancelation, as a protection against oligarchy and against the privatization of the gifts bestowed by heaven upon all the men and women of the land. 

And, as Warren Mosler goes on to explain in the interviews cited above, an imbalance between levels of taxation and government spending leads unavoidably to the scourge of unemployment (and its close relative, underemployment), which by its very nature results in the squandering of the gifts and abilities given by the divine realm to men and women, and to a host of concomitant social ills besides.

Indeed, as Michael Hudson's research has shown, the forms of oppression and exploitation and rent-seeking behavior that descended upon western Europe following the dismantling of the world's ancient wisdom during the period of the Roman Empire led directly to the policies which are identified as "neoliberalism" today, which Professor Hudson has said could also be properly labeled "neo-feudalism" (see for instance here and here).

I hope you will take the time to listen to these two important episodes in which Steve Grumbine interviews Warren Mosler, and to think carefully about the implications of the concepts being discussed -- concepts about which, it should be quite clear, we are being kept in ignorance deliberately, by those who (like Margaret Thatcher) want to impose austerity and privation upon the people.

And, if you find that information valuable, consider letting Steve Grumbine know and sending him some encouragement for bringing us these important interviews.

For previous posts referencing the work of Warren Mosler, please see for instance: 

• "In the midst of great abundance, our leaders promote privation"

• "This Labor Day, take a bit of time to listen to Michael Hudson, Warren Mosler, and Ellen Brown"

Amnesty and debt jubilee in the world's ancient wisdom

image: Wikimedia commons (link).

Professor Michael Hudson, whose indispensable perspective has been the subject of many previous blog posts, finds abundant evidence to support the conclusion that a central message of the ancient scriptures of the Bible involves debt and the principle of debt-forgiveness -- and that this emphasis echoes the same focus in the ancient wisdom given to other cultures of the world, including those of ancient Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, and indeed cultures on other continents including the Americas.

In his vitally important 2018 book entitled . . . and forgive them their debts: Lending, Foreclosure and Redemption from Bronze Age Finance to the Jubilee Year, Professor Hudson points to the text of Isaiah 61 which contains the Hebrew word deror, used in Leviticus and other ancient texts to signify the cancellation (forgiveness) of debts during the Jubilee Year (Hudson, 9), and a cognate word directly related to the earlier Mesopotamian concept of andurarum, which also meant a debt amnesty which was typically granted by Babylonian rulers at the beginning of their reign (Hudson, xv).

Of the passage in Isaiah, Professor Hudson writes (on page 10; all inserted glosses in brackets and parentheses as found in the original of Professor Hudson's text):

Isaiah 61: 1 - 2 provides the bridge to the New Testament. Written by the prophet known as Third Isaiah c. 400 BC soon after the codification of the Priestly Laws of Leviticus in the wake of Nehemiah and Ezra, this remarkable passage reads:

The spirit of the Sovereign Lord [Yahweh] is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to preach good news [gospel] to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty (deror) for the captives and release for the prisoners, to proclaim the Year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God . . . 

Many of these phrases have become so familiar that they appear hackneyed today, but they were quite specific in their original setting. The word "gospel" means literally "good news." But apart from Isaiah 61 and its quotation by Jesus in his inaugural sermon (in Luke 4: 18f. and Matthew 11: 6 // Luke 7: 23), the full phrase "good news to the poor" appears nowhere else in the Synoptic gospels. It refers to the deror tradition, the amnesty freeing citizens from bondage and restoring their means of self-support on the land in "the Year of the Lord's favor," the Jubilee Year. The Year's yobel trumpet is to be blown on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement signaling a restoration of worldly order, righteousness and equity. The yobel trumpet, a ram's horn blown on the tenth day of the seventh month, gave its name to the Jubilee. 

Professor Hudson demonstrates that the ancient principle of debt cancelation goes back at least as far as Sumer in the third millennium BC (see Hudson xv) and that it was understood as preserving the order of society, rather than as disrupting it:

These public needs took priority over the acquisitive ambitions of creditors. Cancelling debts did not disrupt economic activity, nor did it violate the idea of economic order. By saving debtors from falling into servitude to a financial oligarchy, such amnesties preserved the liberty of citizens and their subsistence land rights. These acts were a precondition for maintaining economic stability. Indeed, proclaiming amnesty to restore the body politic -- like periodically returning exiles from cities of refuge -- was common to Native American as well as Biblical practice. The logic was universal. xvi.

Professor Hudson's book shows that Old Testament kings were judged as being either righteous or unrighteous depending upon whether they followed the practice of preventing oligarchy by proclaiming such amnesties (which is righteous) or failed to do so and thus failed to stop oligarchs from devouring the blessings bestowed upon the land for all the people (which is unrighteous). 

He also shows that this tension, between creditors wishing to capture the land of others for themselves and the "royal power capable of enforcing debt amnesties and reversing land foreclosures on homes and subsistence land," played out in other cultures as well, notably those of ancient Greece and Rome, where creditors eventually won out, with the result being that "a rising proportion of Greeks and Romans lost their liberty irreversibly" (xii, xiv).

Thus, when the gospel accounts tell us that the first public sermon of Jesus upon returning to Nazareth has him unrolling the scroll of Isaiah and finding the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4: 18 - 19)," this was a radical rebuke of those who had abandoned the ancient principle of debt cancelation, an ancient principle stretching back to Isaiah and to Leviticus in the Old Testament scriptures, and stretching back to the very earliest texts of ancient Sumer that we have available to us today -- and an ancient principle preserved in the original instructions given to other cultures around the world. 

However, as Professor Hudson wryly points out, those who take the scriptures of the Bible literally on all sorts of points where they should not be taken literally somehow refuse to perceive this very clear and central theme of the Biblical scriptures regarding the cancelation of debts. He writes:

Fundamentalist Christians show their faith that God created the earth in six days (on Sunday, October 23, 4004 BC according to Archbishop James Ussher in 1650) by building museums with dioramas showing humans cavorting alongside dinosaurs. While deeming this literal reading of Genesis to be historical, they ignore the Biblical narrative describing the centuries-long struggle between debtors and creditors. The economic laws of Moses and the Prophets, which Jesus announced his intention to revive and fulfill, are brushed aside as anachronistic artifacts, not the moral center of the Old and New Testaments, the Jewish and Christian Bibles. The Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25) is the "good news" that Jesus -- in his first reported sermon (Luke 4) -- announced that he had come to proclaim. xv.

He notes that the very words "redemption" and "redeemer" have to do with the forgiveness of debts, but that "In today's world the Christian idea of redemption has been turned into an analog for amnesty and salvation to heal suffering in general -- almost everything except indebtedness" (16).

Professor Hudson also points out the very important distinction that the debts being described in the ancient texts and traditions are personal debts, owed to private creditors, rather than business debts which were often owed to the palace and which would be forgiven by the king in the event of a war or a drought or a plague (or "pandemic," as we would call it today). And, in an important recent interview with fellow-economist Steve Keen, on Steve Keen's Debunking Economics podcast (embedded below), Michael Hudson and Steve Keen discuss with Steve Dobbie the need for a revival of this ancient concept of a debt jubilee, particularly when governments choose to impose lockdowns in response to a perceived pandemic, as has happened in 2020 and as continues to happen as we go into 2021. A textual transcript of that interview is also available here.

Michael Hudson and Steve Keen perceive that unless we regain the concepts of amnesty and debt jubilee, which are central to the ancient wisdom preserved in cultures literally around the globe, we will continue to inflict absolutely unnecessary misery, unemployment, impoverishment, anxiety, and trauma upon millions or even billions of men, women and children, and our economies and societies will continue to court grave danger and even potential self-destruction.

That concepts we would categorize as "economics" can be found at the very heart of the world's ancient wisdom is a subject about which I have written in many previous blog posts, and about which I have spoken in many previous videos as well. The ancient myths very clearly and directly declare that the bountiful resources of the earth -- the fertile soil and the growing crops, the rolling rivers and the spacious harbors, the broad seas teeming with fishes and the dark forests filled with all manner of trees, the sunshine and the rain so necessary to life, and even the mysterious mineral wealth concealed beneath the surface of the land -- are gifts of the gods (or, if you prefer, gifts of the divine realm), given for the benefit of the men and women that heaven allows to be born into that land. 

And, one step further, the ancient myths and scriptures also demonstrate quite emphatically that the gifts and talents and capabilities given to men and women themselves have their source and origin in the heavenly realm, and that men and women would be wise to remember the source of those talents, and never in their pride place their skill above the source from whence those gifts derive.

For previous posts exploring this subject, or mentioning the work of Professor Hudson, see for example:

• "Olive trees against austerity"
• "Austerity and rent-seeking vs Public infrastructure and prosperity"
• "Privatization vs the gods (and the people)"
• "Collaborators against the gods"
• "Economic trauma"
• "Siphoning-off the gifts of the gods behind a cloak of Orwellian mind control"
• "Blessings, food, economics, and libations to the gods"
• "Transforming everyone and everything into commodities"

The Sage Asita and Self-Awakening

image: Wikimedia commons (left, right, entire series).

The beautiful Nativity account found in the Gospel according to Luke contains this well-known episode:

And there were in that same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2: 8 - 14.

In the Pali Canon of the Theravada Buddhist tradition, a collection of texts said to have been passed down orally throughout the 4th through 1st centuries BC, before being first written down during the 1st century BC, there is an account of the birth of the Buddha or Bodhisattva in which we read the following parallel account (as translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu and available here):

Asita the seer, in his mid-day meditation,

saw the devas of the Group of Thirty

     --  exultant, ecstatic --

dressed in pure white, honoring Indra,

holding up banners, cheering wildly,

& on seeing the devas so joyful & happy,

having paid his respects, he said:

"Why is the deva community

     so wildly elated?

Why are they holding up banners

& waving them around?

Even after war with the Asuras

     --when victory was the devas'

     the Asuras defeated --

even then there was no excitement like this.

Seeing what marvel 

are the devas so joyful?

     They shout,

     they sing,

     play music,

     clap their hands,

     dance.

So I ask you, who live on Mount Meru's summit.

Please dispel my doubt quickly, dear sirs."

"The Bodhisatta, the foremost jewel,

     unequaled,

has been born for welfare & ease 

     in the human world,

in a town in the Sakyan countryside,

Lumbini.

That's why we're all so wildly elated.

He, the highest of all beings,

the ultimate person,

a bull among men, foremost of all people,

will set turning the Wheel [of Dhamma]

in the grove named after the seers,

like a strong, roaring lion,

the conqueror of beasts."

In both cases, we see a heavenly host (angels in the Biblical account, and devas in the Pali Canon) proclaiming the birth of the special child, one whose birth will be a tremendous blessing to all on earth and in heaven.

Upon hearing this news, the Pali Canon tells us that Asita quickly descends and goes to the dwelling of Suddhodana, the king of Lumbini (pronunciation of this king's name today generally omits the final "a" sound, so that it sounds something like "Sood-Odin"). 

The wife of Suddhodana, the virtuous queen Maya (often referred to as Maya Devi, meaning the Divine Maya or the Goddess Maya, or as Mahamaya, meaning Great Maya or Maya the Great), had conceived the child who would become the Buddha after having a dream involving a divine elephant. This story, which is a type of immaculate conception, is discussed in a video I made two years ago entitled "Birth of the Buddha, Birth of the Christ," which I have embedded at the bottom of this post.

Upon arriving at the palace of Suddhodhana and Maya, the revered sage Asita asks to see the child, and is shown to their son, "the prince, like gold aglow," and upon seeing the child, Asita is ecstatic, "filled with abundant rapture," and sees a vision in the heavens of devas in the sky, holding "a many-spoked sunshade of a thousand circles," while "gold-handled whisks waved up and down."

The seer then begins to shed tears, which causes the members of the palace great concern, fearing perhaps that Asita foresees some danger for the prince in his life ahead. However, when they ask Asita about his tears, he assures them:

"I foresee for the prince

     no harm.

Nor will there be any danger for him.

This one isn't lowly: be assured.

     This prince will touch

     the ultimate self-awakening.

He, seeing the utmost purity,

will set rolling the Wheel of Dhamma

through sympathy for the welfare of many.

His holy life will spread far & wide.

     But as for me,

my life here has no long remainder;

my death will take place before then.

     I won't get to hear

the Dhamma of this one with the peerless role.

That's why I'm stricken,

     afflicted & pained."

As I discuss in the video linked above, this visit from Asita to Suddhodhana and Maya Devi has a clear parallel in the gospel accounts as well. Later in the same chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, we read of the visit of the holy man Simeon to the parents of the Christ child:

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,

Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation 

Which thou hast prepared before the face of all the people;

A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.

And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;

(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Luke 2: 25 - 35.

The parallels between these two stories are undeniable. In each case, an aged holy man seeks out the couple and the special child, and declares his own knowledge that he himself will now depart soon, having seen the birth of the promised one.

Also, in each case, the sage declares that the birth of the child will be a blessing for all people, and that he will set in motion the rolling of the great wheel of heaven: in the Pali Canon account, Asita declares that the child "will set rolling the Wheel of Dhamma" (or Dharma), and in the gospel account, Simeon declares that the child "is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel," which describes the turning of the great wheel of the zodiac and its twelve "tribes" or groupings of stars (the twelve zodiac signs).

These two episodes are clearly celestial in nature, as are the stories surrounding the birth of the Buddha and the birth of the Christ. I myself am of the opinion that neither is historical or terrestrial but rather that each is esoteric, designed to convey profound truths applicable to this very present moment -- profound truths intended for great benefit to all people ("for the welfare of many," as described in the Pali Canon, or for "all the people" as declared in the gospel account).

One of the most common questions I am asked is whether the ancient myths (and specifically the stories and characters in the Bible) could be both literal and celestial: in other words, could the stories have happened in literal and terrestrial history, and also be seen in the stars?

Of course, it is possible, although I would say that for all the things in the Bible to have happened in terrestrial history and for all those characters and events to correspond to constellations in the heavens would not be possible without divine intervention. In other words, for their lives to have taken all the "twists and turns" that would match exactly the constellations would require divine intervention. 

For example, we are told that in Samson's life, he goes down to see a maiden and encounters a lion along the way and slays the lion with his bare hands, and then he comes back "after a time" and finding the carcass of the lion with a swarm of bees and honey in it: all these episodes directly line up with the passage of the sun through the zodiac wheel, on its way down towards Virgo but encountering Leo on the way to Virgo, and then continuing around the wheel and reaching Cancer (containing the beautiful Beehive Cluster) just prior to returning again to Leo. 

I would argue that the story is purely celestial and metaphorical and esoteric -- but if someone wants to argue that it is also literal and historical, then it would seem that those events would have to be guided by some outside power in order to line up so perfectly with the stars of the heavens and the cycle of the zodiac. It would be very difficult to believe that the events in Samson's life "just happened" in that particular order and by tremendous coincidence they also happened to line up with the constellations of the heavens, and that this kind of tremendous coincidence kept taking place over and over throughout the Bible, from the events described in Genesis all the way through to the prophesies described in Revelation, matching up with the constellations of the heavens in each case.

Usually, when I am asked this question (about whether these characters could be both literal and celestial), the questioner wants to know my opinion in relation to the figures and events described in the Bible. But, if one wants to argue that the events described in the Bible did happen in terrestrial history and that they all match up with the constellations of the heavens, then we must also ask whether the parallel stories from other cultures -- such as the story of the birth of the Buddha, which has such clear parallels to the story of the birth of the Christ -- also happened in terrestrial history? Or is it just the stories in the Bible that happened in literal history while stories such as the story of the birth of the Buddha are celestial but not historical?

I would argue that it is much more likely that all these stories are based on celestial metaphor, probably originating in some extremely ancient culture predating even the most ancient civilizations known to conventional history (predating ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia, ancient India, and ancient China, since the earliest myths and surviving writings of all those cultures indicate the use of this same ancient world-wide system). 

To me, the power of their message does not require belief that the events of the story actually took place in literal and terrestrial history, although for some reason some people feel that it does, and I personally do not have any problem with people wanting to believe that, as long as that belief does not lead to actions that impinge on the rights of other men and women.

I am convinced that these ancient myths are metaphorical in nature, conveying an esoteric message -- for a discussion of the concept of esotericism and the esoteric, see this previous post. They are not describing the birth of an actual historical baby but rather they are using these powerful stories to lead us to a profound realization of some sort.

What could the myth of the birth of the Buddha and the myth of the birth of the Christ, which we repeat and contemplate and act out at this particular time of the year -- the time of the winter solstice and the year's great turning-point -- be trying to convey to our understanding?

I am convinced that one of the central themes of the world's ancient wisdom preserved in the myths of all cultures concerns the recovery of the indestructible (and thus immortal) Self, a recovery which is associated in many myths with the "turning upwards" that takes place at the very lowest point on the annual cycle (the point of winter solstice). 

According to my reading of the myths, the figure of the Buddha and the figure of the Christ almost certainly represent the immortal and indestructible Self, from whom we become estranged during our "plunge downward" into incarnate life and as a result of the trials and the trauma to which we are exposed during the process of becoming entangled in civilization and human society.

The figure of the sage Asita, and the figure of the holy and devout Simeon in the Christ story, would seem to represent a handing-off of authority in much the same way that we see dramatized in our more-recent traditions surrounding the hand-off to the Baby New Year from the Old Year (represented by an old man), described in this previous post. 

But this episode dramatizes much more than the start of a new year and the hand-off from the previous year! If, as I allege, the figure of the Christ and the figure of the Buddha represent the indestructible and immortal Self, then this hand-off represents the recognition by the "old man" of the authority of that essential Self. 

The "old man" in this case, I would argue, represents the components of what we might call the "egoic mind" or the "lower self" -- but which Internal Family Systems therapy would refer to as the "parts" which long for the leadership of Self (sometimes called in various traditions the Higher Self or the essential Self). 

Pioneering contemporary healer Dr. Richard Schwartz, discoverer of the IFS paradigm of therapy, describes Self and Self-Leadership in the following terms in his book Internal Family Systems Therapy, Second Edition, co-authored with Martha Sweezy:

Everyone has a seat of consciousness at their core, which we call the Self. From birth this Self has all the necessary qualities of good leadership, including compassion, perspective, curiosity, acceptance, and confidence. It does not have to develop through stages. As a result, the Self makes the best inner leader and will engender balance and harmony inside if parts allow it to lead. At the same time, our parts are organized to protect the Self and remove it from danger in the face of trauma at all costs. Protective parts will report having pushed the Self out of the body for protective reasons. Once they do this, the inner system is on its own with the extreme feelings or thoughts we call burdens. 

Nevertheless, the Self remains whole. [. . .] Instead, once parts differentiate from the Self, it becomes an active, compassionate, collaborative leader. And strange though it may sound, as parts gain trust and open space for the Self, clients often say they feel physically as well as mentally present, lively, and centered. 

[. . .] The Self can care for and depolarize warring parts in an equitable and compassionate way, lead discussions with parts regarding major decisions on the direction of the person's life and deal with the external world. Parts do not disappear under Self-leadership, but their extreme roles do [ . . .]. Generally parts will cooperate rather than compete or argue with each other, but when conflicts do arise, the Self is there to mediate. Once the system is operating harmoniously most of the time, each individual member (as in any harmonious system) will be less noticeable, and we become less acutely aware of our parts. In short, when we are in a Self-led state we have a sense of continuity and integration. We feel more unified -- because we are. 38 - 39.

The celebration of the birth of Christ at the turning-point of the year, three nights after the point of winter solstice (see this previous post entitled "The Three-Day Pause") -- and the celebration of the birth of the Buddha in early April, shortly after the point of the March equinox, which also anciently served as the recognition of the beginning of a new year -- dramatize the recovery of the Self (which, as Dr. Schwartz describes above, is often suppressed and "pushed out" for protective reasons, having to do with trauma). 

The parallel stories of the visits of Asita and Simeon, who simultaneously celebrate the arrival of the divine child while also "making way" for the arrival of the promised one (receding into the background), dramatizes the characteristics of Self-Leadership that Dr. Schwartz describes observing in the thousands of men and women with whom he has interacted, in which individual "parts" recede into the background and become less noticeable, when the entire system is functioning harmoniously under the leadership of Self.

The immaculate or divine conception of the child in each of these stories (as with many other ancient myths involving twins, one of whom is almost invariably conceived by a divine father and a mortal mother, such as in the myths of Polydeuces and Castor and of Heracles and Iphicles), indicates not only the immortal and indestructible nature of our essential Self, but also the fact that this Higher Self is not "dragged down" and consumed by the concerns and fears arising from the body and its reflexes and needs.

In the images above we see a depiction of the visit of Asita to Maya Devi and Suddhodhana, carved into an elephant tusk. The entire tusk is shown on the right, in the National Museum of India in New Delhi: the tusk is carved with scenes from the life of the Buddha which begin at the base and continue to the tip. If you look very closely at the image, you can see a carving depicting queen Maya asleep in the "roundel" visible at the very bottom of the tusk, dreaming of the elephant. Just above that, in the next layer of carvings, you can (I believe) see the image of Asita paying a visit to Maya Devi and Suddhodhana and the holy child, on the left edge of the tusk (partly obscured by the curving of the tusk's surface, out of view to the left).

I hope that this exploration of just one tiny aspect of the ancient myths involving the birth of the divine child -- and the recovery of the immortal Self, to whom we all have access at all times, no matter how we have tried to suppress or push that Self away -- will be beneficial for you at this special time of the year. 

This season is both wonderful but also (very often) filled with a multitude of different strains and stresses, even in a normal year -- strains and stresses which can bring forward all kinds of reactive parts and reflexive behaviors. Contemplating the powerful message dramatized in these ancient accounts may help us, like Asita, to recognize the promise of that "Self-awakening" of which he speaks, and to welcome it.

Welcome to new visitors from Bob Nickman's "Exploding Human" podcast! (and to returning friends)

Big thank-you to Bob Nickman for inviting me over to "The Exploding Human" podcast for an enjoyable chat! 

Welcome to anyone visiting for the first time after hearing about my research on his show (and of course to returning friends).

Bob has titled this episode: "Mythology and the Stars with David Mathisen (episode #75)." 

Follow the link (or watch the embedded version above), for an "augmented" video version in which I have added visual charts and artwork (ancient and modern) to support some of my arguments, as well as a bit of extra explanation which I re-recorded in order to replace some of the explanation that was edited-out for the "audio-only" version of the podcast.

This conversation was recorded on 24 November, 2020.

Thank you for listening: I hope you will enjoy the podcast and find some things inside, things of which you might not have previously been fully aware. As always, please feel free to share with those for whom this information might be beneficial for positive ends!

Welcome to new visitors from Spiritual Pathways with Lindsay Foreman! (and to returning friends)

Tremendous thank-you to Lindsay Foreman of Spiritual Pathways and the Spirit Junkie podcast for having me over for a conversation about "Seeing Ourselves in the Stars."

Welcome to everyone visiting for the first time after hearing about my work through Lindsay's podcast or website! (and of course to returning friends as well!)

This conversation was recorded on Friday, 18 December, 2020.

I very much enjoyed our conversation and hope that you will too. Lindsay brought some terrific insights and new perspectives that you have not heard in previous podcasts.

Please check out Lindsay's work and give her some positive feedback and encouragement!

Winter Solstice 2020

 

image: Fajada Butte sun dagger, winter solstice. Don Perry (link).

The earth and sun pass through the point of December solstice in a few more hours, at 02:02 am on 21 December (Pacific time), or 05:02 am on 21 December (Eastern time), which is 10:02 am on 21 December UMT. 

This relationship creates the shortest day of the year for the northern hemisphere, after which days will grow successively longer until reaching the June solstice: thus, the esoteric system of celestial metaphor underlying the world's ancient myths imbue the winter solstice with tremendous significance, including with the recovery or the "rebirth" of the suppressed and buried Self, from whom we become alienated during our descent into this lower realm through which we sojourn in this incarnate life.

Numerous previous posts, many of them published for December solstices in years passed, discuss the ancient significance of this supremely important day in the annual cycle as used in the world's myths and sacred traditions, including:

• "Here it has reached the turning-point: the celestial map of the soul's spiritual trek"
• "The three-day pause"
• "Winter Solstice 2016"

This year, the December solstice takes on even greater significance with the occurrence of a Great Conjunction, an alignment of the planets Jupiter and Saturn with our earth such that the two great orbs will pass within a fraction of a degree of one another, closer than they have appeared in the sky since 1623! Here is a link to a recent video in which I discuss this Great Conjunction of 2020.

While many media outlets and stories are declaring that the Great Conjunction represents a "return of the Christmas Star" (or "Star of Bethlehem") described in the gospel accounts of the Nativity story, I disagree with this interpretation. I agree with the interpretation put forth by Robert Taylor (1784 - 1844) who argues that the star referred to in those accounts is almost certainly the star Vindemiatrix, marking the distinctive "outstretched arm" of Virgo the Virgin, as I have explained in numerous previous posts (see for example here) and also recently in an interview on the Tin Foil Hat podcast with Sam Tripoli, Xavier Guerrero, and Johnny Woodard (see discussion beginning at approximately 0:42:30 of that video).

I have also recently published a video refuting some of the sensational claims by irresponsible persons promoting the narrative that the 21st of December 2020 represents a prophesied "end of the world" (here is a link to that video).

However, as the authors of Hamlet's Mill argue in their seminal 1969 text, the movement of the Great Conjunction through the background signs of the zodiac, through the slow rotation of the triangular pattern of these conjunctions (known as the "Trigon") was anciently seen as a kind of "vernier" or "caliper scale for more precise measurement" which subdivided the much slower turning of the gears of precession, and which served as an indicator for the end of one precessional age and the arrival of the next.

For instance, on page 244 of Hamlet's Mill, the authors declare that the Age of Pisces "was introduced by the thrice-repeated Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Pisces in the year 6 BC, the star of Bethlehem." 

Although Saturn and Jupiter are presently coming into alignment in the space in between the zodiac constellations of Sagittarius and Capricorn (and closer to Capricorn than to Sagittarius), due to the action of precession which "delays" the background of stars and which thus separates the traditional astrological sign from the current constellational setting, most western astrologers would assert that this year's conjunction is occurring in the very beginning degree of Aquarius (for the first time for this point of the Trigon in thousands of years). 

Thus, one could argue that this Great Conjunction could mark the beginning of the Age of Aquarius -- and you can find many astrologers who are arguing just that, pointing to the Great Conjunction of 2020 as evidence -- although note that in the quotation from Hamlet's Mill cited above that the year they argue as marking the start of the Age of Pisces was a year in which a point on the Trigon of the Great Conjunction occurred in the sign of Pisces for the third consecutive time, and they cite a well-known text from the ancient poet Virgil as evidence that the ancients agreed that this particular third time marked the dawning of that new precessional age. Therefore, we could point to ancient precedent which argues that the Age of Aquarius will not begin for another 120 years, when this point on the Trigon brings a Great Conjunction in the sign of Aquarius for the third time in a row.

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the criminal oligarchs who wish to employ the ancient teachings in order to wrongly seize the gifts of nature and the gods for their own enrichment, while simultaneously seeking to impoverish, oppress, and inflict trauma upon the men and women of the nations of earth to whom those gifts are rightly given, place great stock in the heavenly cycles and alignments, and that they may well see this year's significant Great Conjunction as an important turning-point.

For evidence which suggests that previous criminal operations designed to deceive and traumatize humanity may have been timed to coincide with specific planetary alignments, see for example this previous post entitled "The gods are real." 

The dawning of a new precessional age was encoded within the world's ancient myths as the end of one "world" and the birth of a new one -- and as I have explained in many of my previous books including my most-recent book Myth and Trauma, the "displacement" created by the grinding gears of precession is used by the ancient myths as representative of our own displacement, and separation from our Self. The myths can be definitively shown to have as a central theme and message the recovery of the Self and the repair of this displacement.

However, there are clearly forces who wish to invert the positive purpose of the ancient myths and to use them instead to inflict displacement and trauma, rather than to heal those conditions. Such behavior would be akin to a skilled psychologist, having at his or her disposal the tools and skills needed to help other men and women to overcome psychological injury, instead using those tools and skills to inflict more injury and harm.

We are presently witnessing unprecedented actions designed to inflict economic and psychological harm on billions of men and women and children world-wide, under the guise of a "pandemic," alongside calls for a "Great Reset" by well-connected proponents of oligarchy and austerity in the so-called World Economic Forum. For a discussion of the connection between policies designed to impose greater and greater austerity on the people and the seizing of the public domain by oligarchs and monopolists, see this blog post and video from August of this year entitled "Austerity and Rent-Seeking vs Public Infrastructure and Prosperity."

Professor Michel Chossudovsky of Global Research has just published a new online essay in nine chapters entitled "The 2020 Worldwide Corona Crisis: Destroying Civil Society, Engineered Economic Depression, Global Coup d'Etat and the Great Reset," which details the evidence that measures and policies being rolled out this year were planned well before the purported first discovery of a new virus, and which argues that the agenda we are seeing unfold before our eyes must be confronted and opposed for the preservation of life on earth.

I would urge everyone to take the time this December Solstice 2020 to carefully and thoroughly consider the possibility that malevolent actors would very much like to usher in a "new age" of darkness and oppression. In my most-recent book, Myth and Trauma, I argue that these actors are following a playbook which stretches back to the overthrow of the ancient wisdom during the time of the Roman Empire. 

The good news is that the winter solstice itself along with the shifting of the ages-long cycle of precession were both employed in the world's ancient wisdom as pointing towards the recovery of Self and the repair of trauma and separation -- recovery which is urgently needed, both within ourselves and within society at large, and this December Solstice is an excellent time to commit ourselves to both of them.

Calendars & Apocalypses

Here's a new video I've just published entitled "Calendars & Apocalypses" -- I hope you will enjoy it!

Also please share it with anyone who might find it helpful for positive purposes, especially with anyone who may be feeling confused or anxious about the steady drumbeat of "end-of-the-world" proclamations which continue to pop up along the margins of our attention from irresponsible or misguided (or, potentially, malevolent) sources on various media and social media channels.

Lately, we've been told that due to vague and never-fully-explained calendar changes, 2020 is really the year 2012 -- and you may recall that earlier this year we were told that the world would end on June 21st of 2020.

That prediction does not appear to have been borne out -- but now another batch of predictions has popped up regarding December 21 of this year.

This video explains that apocalyptic texts, including the Revelation of John included in the New Testament canon, as well as the description of Ragnarok found in the Elder Edda of Norse myth -- have their foundation in celestial metaphor. Indeed, the ancient myths from virtually every culture on earth can be shown to be based on celestial metaphor, and that holds true for the "end-of-the-world" scenarios found in world myth.

The Maya calendar cycle of 2012 fame almost certainly fits into the same world-wide pattern. A new twist this year comes in the form of researchers who declare that, due to the switch from the Julian calendar system to the Gregorian calendar system, the year we think is 2020 is actually the year 2012.

This video explains where that erroneous assertion comes from, and how you can see for yourself that it is completely wrong. These predictions are being used to inflict anxiety and trauma upon the good people of the earth -- but the ancient myths actually have as one of their most-central themes the repair of trauma. We just have to learn to listen to them in the language that they are actually speaking, which is a metaphorical language, an esoteric language, and a celestial language.

Welcome to new visitors from Sam Tripoli's "Tin Foil Hat" podcast! (and to returning friends)

Big thank-you to Sam Tripoli and team for inviting me back for another conversation at Tin Foil Hat, and welcome to everyone visiting for the first time (and of course, welcome to returning friends)! 

The audio file of the interview (Episode #405) is available at many different podcast sites, such as Stitcher or Podbay. However, as with my previous visit to the show (Episode #342), there is a visual component to this interview (including artwork and star charts) so if you cannot view the video  version embedded above, you can head over to Johnny Woodard's Broken Simulation website where the video is posted (here's the link to the video of this interview).

This conversation was recorded on 09 December 2020.

Below are links to related posts for those interested in more discussion of some of the subjects we touched on during this episode:

• "Here it has reached the turning-point: the celestial map of the soul's spiritual trek"

• "Into their own country another way"

• "There's something big out there!"

• "Simon Shack, Tycho Brahe, Retrograde Mars, and the Vital Importance of our Moon: Exploring the Tychos!"

• "Refuting a null hypothesis for the Star Myth argument"

• "The Pylos Combat Agate among the infinite realms"

• "The Self: the hidden treasure"

• "Arjuna's choice"

• "Freedom from the prison of the mind"

• "A celestial exposition of Revelation chapter 12"

• "The entire Revelation 12 / September 23 flap points to the truth that all of ancient scripture is built upon celestial metaphor"

• "The staggering implications of the Maya Long Count"

• "End-of-the-world anxiety?"

I hope you enjoyed the interview, and that you will visit again soon!

Great Conjunction: 2020

Here is a new video I've just published entitled "Great Conjunction: 2020," exploring the significance of the cycle of conjunctions of the planets Saturn and Jupiter, in light of the upcoming Great Conjunction which will occur in two weeks' time, on 21 December 2020.

This video discusses some of the analysis presented by Professors Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend in their seminal 1969 book Hamlet's Mill relating to the phenomenon of the Great Conjunction, and to the slowly rotating triangular pattern created by these conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn, which is known as the Trigon and which the ancients envisioned as "giving the measures" to all creation, and as generating all life in its varied multiplicity.

I hope that you will have the opportunity to witness the Great Conjunction of 2020 in person for your self, if it is at all possible for you to do so, and that this video will not only help you to see it but also to add to your understanding and appreciation of this significant celestial event.

This year, the conjunction of these two planets is calculated to be the closest alignment for an observer on earth of any Great Conjunction going back all the way to 1623, and astronomers predict that the next two will not be as good as this year's alignment, which means that the next Great Conjunction to rival this one will not occur until 2080.

Please feel free to share this video with others, which contains some discussion of aspects of the Great Conjunction you're not likely to find elsewhere!