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Please consult your doctor and other medical professionals before trying ANYTHING in this article or the video that brought you here. I am serious about this, when it comes to the practices listed here you must approach them responsibly.

The Mask of Others

Humans ONLY model, infer or receive behaviors from other humans or the environment for the first 25 years of our life, give or take a few years. This means you never “grow up”, you simply mimic or recreate various patterns you’ve observed or inherited from birth until mid life. By about 25 years of age, the patterns we adopt hardwire into our brain permanently unless we work very hard to unwire them and rewrite new “code” (neural pathways via feedback loops) into the brain. We copy and infer our processing of the world into organized behavior pattern sets known as “personas”. These personas are characters we play in any given situation of life to process reality. You cannot physically act or think without a persona “on” except in extremely meditative or psychedelic states. Everything action you take has a persona as the guiding force behind it to process reality as you perform whatever thinking or acting you are doing. For example, if I step into the gym to train, I cannot do so without activating a certain set of patterned behaviors ingrained mostly within our prefrontal cortex. My brain enters into a reciprocal relationship with the environment unconsciously reacting to the environment to activate these patterns or what we know as personas. The word persona etymologically stems from latin but was widely used in ancient Greece for the name of the masks actors wore during plays. So the word persona literally means mask or character from our personal play we call life. These personas do not simply change our mannerisms or inflection of voice, they actually present a predetermined way to focus and process the world we are engaging. This causes the brain to respond to the outer world through ingrained neural pathways. You can see this if you pay close attention. Walk into the room with your boss or significant other and watch how you subtly shift in the way you think, act, speak and feel.

These personas are entrenched deep into the brain through a feedback loop. Basically in short what happens is:

We exist → something happens → we observe the world to asses how to react → we choose a reaction → The world responds to our action → Our brain receives the response → our brain ingrains a model of behavior based on this response.

These models of behavior & processing reality become organized with other models into various characters known as personas. Essentially every persona you have has specific skill sets or models of processing to it’s advantage and disadvantage. Once ingrained, you may alter personas to very minor degrees however outside of extremely traumatic life events very few people ever change their personas in any meaningful way. This is why older people are so set in their perspectives. We all have that relative who just refuses to see any situation from a fresh perspective. Yet children are extremely open and malleable because they don’t have as many models ingrained into their brains and nervous system. We adopt or “wear” different personas in different situations depending on the tasks at our demand. As we grow from youth into adulthood, we try on different masks to asses how they fit. I am using analogy here because it is much easier for a lay audience to understand. Obviously we do not physically wear personas. Eventually after we have tried on various masks, we start to mold these “personas” into permanent ways of assessing and reacting to reality. While we are young this process happens fluidly and efficiently. We develop skills and knowledge overnight compared to when we’re older due to the lack of neuroplasticity (just a fancy way of saying our brain’s flexibility). This is because our minds are literally more blank in youth with less ingrained neural pathways allowing more flexibility. As you age your mind fills up and becomes rigid with reduced neuroplasticity. This is healthy to reinforce our psychological stability.

However there is a major problem, most of this brain modeling and rigidity happens without our say in how it forms. We never actually get to choose much of who we become. By the time we are wise enough to ask what behaviors are forming in our psyche, our brain is already hardwired. How many of you at 12 years old stopped to ask if perhaps you shouldn’t react to the school bully by becoming scared because of what it might do to your neural networks? Did any 14 year olds stop to notice if the hyper critical nature they were adopting was a byproduct of a overly critical parental figure they were mimicking? How many of you contemplated who you actually wanted to be internally as you aged? The vast majority only think about external circumstances rather than psychological equilibrium. Our minds are literally programmed from youth and this is actually a healthy thing. You cannot tell the open mind of a child, “hey life is your oyster just flow baby!” We need to adapt quickly to survive, thus nature designed the brain to do so rapidly and unconsciously. Yet survival comes at a cost. That cost of rigid brains that cannot think outside of the box.

Most adults are programmed robots and worse, we all secretly know this. We all have seen the outdated grandpa whos a little racist or have that friend who repetitively does things which cause their own demise. However very few people realize we are suffering from the same deficits in our own thoughts and actions. Our attention is literally turned outward. We spend all day processing sense data externally and so we are often blind to our own downfalls. Even when the world pushes back against one of our inadequacies, we use excuses to blame something external to ensure we reinforce our righteousness. This is a survival mechanism of the brain.

That is the tricky part, our inadequacy is just as hard to see as our own face. Without some kind of mirror, we can’t see ourself. Yet there is no mirror for psychology because psychology is invisible. Thus we must do some very specific tasks to notice the evidence of where we are deficient. The key to transcendence and greatness is to become self aware in ways very few people are brave enough to bear. I used Kobe Bryant as an example of greatness achieved from altering brain structures in the video because most people know of his success. Yet he only aimed this transformation process at his basketball skills. You can actually approach this slightly differently and achieve a total transformation of all areas in your life at once.

You, the person reading this, is the matrix. You are convinced of your own ideas, actions, desires, disdains, sexual preferences, romantic ideals, even your physical ability. You think you are a “you” when in reality “you” are nothing more than early life events which coalesced with your brain to unconsciously wire itself as you grew up. Is it not time you took a step back and assessed how you can not just be better, but completely rewrite yourself into whatever story or situation your heart desires? Even your physical attributes and abilities are simply ingrained neural pathways created from this feedback loop system. My mother constantly makes fun of me because I walk EXACTLY like my father, I mimicked him growing up. We actually have scientific data that shows genes which offer advantages in cardio performance are outdone by people who do not have those genes but the researchers lie to and tell them they do. The participants in this study actually end up performing better than people who have genetic advantage over them purely from belief because beliefs changes not just the brain but the body as well. If Every time someone thinks they can’t do something, there is another who believes they can which wires their brain into achieving it. The world then watches this person believing somehow they just got lucky. Nothing to me, nor to you, should be more pathetic then self doubt. Your body and mind are a single gigantic matrix and unless you have some say in this matrix, you will never be able to transcend this illusion you call “me”.

If you want to get better results in life, whether it be physical fitness, career, romance, family, or even artistic creativity you must repogram your mind. It is NOT a matter of better information. It is a matter of how you process reality.

Forging The Mask of Self

The only way to create your own mask is to completely destroy your old masks. I won’t lie, if you wish to completely transform yourself into something truly great you will have to undergo the most arduous process imaginable lasting at minimum 4 years. During this process you will feel unsure and blind. You will not have a clue as to who you are, what you want, and where you are going. Your only light will be at the end of the dark cave of transformation. This process involves a simple yet extremely challenging feat of diligence because you are literally rewiring your brain and therefore creating a whole new identity. After I finished mine these are the areas of life that changed for me:

Completely new relationships and ways of interacting with friends and family.

Lost a lot of friends who I realized were supporting me.

My passions towards fitness, music, movies, books and even fashion changed drastically.

My cognition improved in ways I can’t calculate however it is absurd how creative and abstract my mind became.

My psychological outlook and dispositions changed so drastically that I genuinely question some days if I am insane and just making this all up. Then I look at my life and realize the evidence that it is real is right there.

I am understating how intense this process is if you eat the whole cake. However for those who don’t wish to do that, you can just bite it instead. The amount you choose to change is up to you. Here is the exact process explained scientifically:

The Process

1. Send disruptive stimuli to neural pathways to break down unwanted cognitive models.
2. Create new neural pathways using modeling and observation of “higher sources” (I will explain this shortly).
3. Adapt the new neural pathways into your own “flavor”.
4. Rinse and repeat until dramatic change has set in. Do not stop. Ever lol.

It is a simple 3 step process however when you are dealing with humans everything becomes extremely complex. During this process you can feel ungrounded and at times it will feel as if you have no idea as to who you are. You will question everything because that is literally what starts to happen to your brain. It will reach a state where it doesn’t know itself anymore because you are “emptying” it. You will also become aware of everything you are doing incorrectly which previously you could not see. This awareness is not easy and at times I wanted to stop because of extreme guilt. Guilt towards how I was behaving to others and above all else how I was behaving to myself. I was blind to my bad actions and you will be as well. To be honest the only reason I didn’t stop was because once I started, there was no going back. Yet you will see after a few years of this how much it doesn’t just change your own life but the lives of those around you. I found myself in the midst of my family members, friends and clients asking me for guidance in areas I never would have thought others would ask me for advice on. Their inspiration inspired me and like a positive feedback loop I kept going. I don’t want to make this article about something other than self transcendence however I am not lying when I say this is the ONLY way to world transformation. We currently have a world of humans who are absolutely sure they aren’t the problem, it is just those other bad guys out there! If you truly transform yourself you will see the world around you will transform with you and your life will turn into a mini paradise.

Now for those who are happy with where they are in life but just want some better habits and that extra edge to their already well developed personalties then you are in luck! You can scale this! Brain changes are like anything in life. The more you do, the more you get out as long as it is manageable productive work. However I will say one thing, some of the most rigid people I know are actually very well off humans. Good enough to stand out just enough but never truly great because in some ways they are more blind since their live’s are stable. I am someone who prizes true greatness so I always feel an urge to push others to their highest potential. Here is my protocol, scale it as needed:

Daily Protocol

1. Breath Work: First thing upon waking do breath work, specifically something somatically intense like Wim Hof breathing to create a sympathetic response from the nervous system. Also when I say first thing I mean literally wake up, use bathroom and go right into it. It must be while your brain is still waking up.
2. Meditate daily: Do this directly after breath work. I do both my breath and meditation with eyes closed in a chair. First thing in the morning starting with Samatha and vipassana meditation (pronounced “sha-ma-ta” and “vi-pash-a-na”) 10% happier is an app with great courses from Joseph Goldstein to start. I also will be releasing a meditation course soon. For our members the first episode of that course is on the website.
3. Higher Education: Every single day study. I do not mean college. You must start to fill your brain with people who emanate a style of what you are aiming towards. Fill your consciousness with their consciousness. Choose those who have accomplished something beyond your wildest dreams and learn from them day and night. Get a mentor if you can. This is highly important and the process is useless without extreme learning. As an example, I read 26 books in 2024, all of which were extremely well studied. Not just passive reading. I actually read right after meditation every single morning as I drink tea! Yet it doesn’t stop there, I also read or study at night.
4. Nightly Contemplation: This is different than meditation but done the same way. You sit eyes closed (preferably after breath work) and perform various contemplations. There are many methods here and I mostly use symbolic interpretation through a process known as “active imagination” or “incubation” which comes from Carl Jung and ancient Greece. However this is advanced and usually butchered. Start with just contemplating your life struggles. You will be surprised what comes through after you have started meditating so much. Contemplation is the rebuilding of new pathways. Meditation breaks the pathways down, contemplation builds new ones. Yin and yang. You use the higher education to lead the contemplations which starts to create new improved ways of observing reality.
5. Transformation Days: Once per month I do a ritual of sorts where I spend half or the entire day immersed in meditation/contemplation. I do not recommend psychedelics for you however sometimes I include them myself because I do them legally and under supervision. You should not try this without the help of a licensed professional. However psychedelics are once in a blue moon. Mostly I meditate and contemplate on these days. My goal during these days is to incite high levels of disruptive stress (meditation) to create intense acute malleability in my brain and nervous system.

Extra

1. Altered states of consciousness: Breath work is an altered state of consciousness and for many of you that is where you should stop. However for those with legal access to psychedelics and who have been cleared by a medical professional, you can use psychedelic states to do what takes years in a day. I am not exaggerating yet they are a power tool which has a lot of risk. You don’t give a power tool to a baby. You must be careful here (more on this below).
2. Community: Find a community of like minded brothers and sisters. There is ample research showing that like minded community affects transformation more than therapy. Most indigenous tribes don’t suffer from mental illness because of this very reason. And if you want my honest opinion on therapy, it is like hunting for gold. Whoever is in the therapist’s chair will be sharing consciousness with you and to find someone worth emulating is tricky. It’s the same with personal trainers. It can work but there are many bad trainers. I didn’t personally find much success in therapy however it depends on the individual.
3. Isolation: There is a reason monks run to the Himalayas. Isolation creates a space of inward reflection rather than being lost in the distractions of the world. I literally moved to North Carolina to be alone. I chose an area I would hate to live so I would be tied to my ship. I planned for a 3 year retreat however most can’t do this. Just realize the world is tricky to be in during this process if you are going all in so isolate often. Take days away from the world and be alone with your thoughts.

The Grains of Detail

I want to explain why this method works. I can promise you that if you attempt to truly do exactly as listed out here and develop your own style along the way you will completely transform. Even if you do this at 50%, you will improve yourself hugely. However most believe meditation has to do with becoming calm and breath work is for “energy”… whatever that means. If that were the major adaptations I received from those modalities, I would never waste my time on them. Let me explain what is actually happening in the brain during meditation and breath work as well as these other practices I offer.

Meditation

Meditation when done properly is a disruptive mechanism to the brain, not a calming agent. Although you will become more calm as a side effect. When I say disruptive mechanism what I mean is that you will disrupt your thought process. The first thing you learn when you sit to meditate is to notice your thinking. Most people believe they are aware of their thoughts however you will soon see you are an utter fool in self observation. Your brain constantly buzzes and most of your thoughts are not formed into words but rather impulses. Unconscious impulses that are missed until you train your mind to notice these impulses. This is why the term “mindfulness” became associated with meditation. You are to become “mindful” of your thinking. Originally in the Pali language of the Buddha, “Sati” was a word he used to describe what directly translates as “retain” or “remember”. Yet the common translation “mindfulness” is a poor translation of “Sati”. Sati is a word that derives from the verb: “sarati” which means “to remember”. “Sati” is more a name or label for something that happens after years of meditation which cannot be explained in words. It is a remembering of your true self or true nature which is beyond the matrix of the mind. You can think of sati or “mindfulness” as being in a constant state of awareness that is similar to the flow state. At every moment of the day you are consciously aware and never lost in thoughts or emotions. You are in complete control. Meditation is the portal to gaining complete self autonomy and if I am truly honest with my beliefs, I don’t think anyone can achieve complete self mastery without meditation because it is the only tool to remaining in the present moment completely and unequivocally aware.

When we practice meditation our mind disrupts signals being sent and allows the mind to become malleable again. That is neuroplasticity. Only once the brain is in a malleable state can we start to reprogram it.

Breath Work

Breath work is an amazing tool for creating various somatic (bodily) responses. There are two major categories of breath work. Slow breathing and fast breathing. Slow breath work is great for grounding, dropping anxiety and going into a parasympathetic nervous system state (relaxed). Fast breath work is great for creating a stressful state that jolts the body into a sympathetic nervous system tone (fight or flight response). The reason I recommend fast breathing in the morning is it allows for the CNS to wake up and for creating an altered state of mind and body. This altered state of mind sets a backdrop that allows for increased neuroplasticity. Stress is the backbone of body and brain adaptations. Just enough stress (but not too much) will allow the mind to become more open. During breath work you will lower levels of CO2 and alter your blood pH to a more alkaline state. It also changes your brain patterning which opens the mind up. This supercharges the meditation and allows for deeper states of meditating as well as quicker changes in the brain structures.

Higher States of Education

Humans can only model behavior and thoughts on top of collective behavior and thoughts. What I mean by this is that you cannot think radically different from others even if it seems you do. Your mind is created from language model(s) given to you by the collective so thus you can only think like the collective. Your culture is dictated by societal norms passed down to you from the collective. Your genetics are inherited adaptations, memories and dispositions from the past collectives. Everything about you is collective and that is actually what this process is trying to loosen up. If this were not the case then culture would change rapidly yet obviously cultures remain firm for thousands of years. When we create our identity we examine the world and mimic or slightly alter what is already present to us. The only difference is I am offering you the ability to do this consciously rather than unconsciously. You are always tied to the collective to some degree. Even if we could leap and bound outside of society we would die alone because no one would follow. Our collective nature is what holds together the eco system we call society. Thus at best we can only aim towards those who are better than us and build on top of what they have offered. Humans pass the torch down from generation to generation in an attempt to do better. However most as I mentioned fail to make any meaningful impact which is why horrendous ideas like slavery stuck around so long. It was literally the collective norm and people’s minds were programmed to accept it.

Your best path towards transcendence is through studying the greatest minds of history however you have to aim towards what your goals and gifts are. To do this, simply find whatever areas you want change in and study the best minds within those fields. This does not mean to study the most popular minds, in fact usually when someone is popular it is because they offer what resonates with the collective. Thus you have a problem if you are trying to be greater than the collective because why would you study what everyone else is already studying? Genius is always hidden under layers of superficiality. The greatest minds of existence are found in dusty old books that history glossed over for something easier or mundane. Sometimes though these genius minds are hidden right in front of you. Ram Dass is an example of someone who inspired a lot of wisdom into my early journey especially pertaining to the subject of love. I was highly obsessed with understanding love and why I felt I didn’t love myself or others correctly. When I came across Ram Dass I had never heard of him yet to my surprise thousands of others were watching his old content from the 60s onward. He isn’t world famous but he has a dedicated following. That is always a good sign the person you are aspiring to is of good taste. I would listen to his lectures as I meditated or did house chores always taking notes. Eventually his mind became my own but in a unique way. You keep what resonates and disregard what doesn’t. This part is very important. Not everything Ram Dass says I agree with. In fact a good amount of his ideas I came to later disagree with however the gems he offered gave me access to the idea of love on levels I never would have contemplated on my own. From there though I didn’t just stick with old Ram Dass. I found philosophers like Erich Fromm and his book “The Art of Loving” or cognitive psychologists like John Vervaeke and his series “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis”. I scoured texts like “A Course on Miracles” and the bible. I went to every source known to man to offer wisdom and sought out what was good and what wasn’t. However above all else I cross referenced this to my own life. What was true in my own experience? That is the key with higher education. You must asses reality to see if what you are learning is true. All great truth is self revealing! It will have breadcrumbs scattered all over your life leading you on the journey of understanding.

These are all examples of ONE area I studied, love. However to be transparent I studied metaphysics, psychology, spirituality, philosophy, even fitness which I thought I was already an expert on. To my surprise after over a decade of coaching fitness at the world level I was shocked to see how little I still knew. This was my own matrix blocking me from greater heights. You must study endlessly while your brain is in a malleable state from all the somatic and mental practices!

Contemplation

Meditation is the breaking down of old pathways. Contemplation is the building up of new ones. Meditation is passive and receptive. Contemplation is active and generative. Contemplation should be approached in the same way as meditation (eyes closed in upright posture) however instead of watching thoughts or the breath etc you simply contemplate life or examine your mind actively! Now you can do this in many many ways. Generally what I do is practice active imagination which is a Jungian Psychological practice that mimics the ancient Greek practice of incubation. These are deep states of mind you enter into to engage your psyche in dialogue and imaginal creation to then symbolically interpret your unconscious projections. The one thing you will realize after studying the mind is that every single thought has meaning and a symbolic reality behind it. Your mind seeks psychological equilibrium and these are advanced ways to determine what your mind is trying to tell you. However to start, keep it real simple.

Do some “meditations” (that is what people call them on youtube but they are actually contemplations) where you do thought experiments, “self inquiry”, shadow work or visualizations. An example, this can be the “house meditation” that is common. This is where you imagine yourself approaching a large home somewhere in a paradise you envision. In this home you create doors with different colors to various rooms with each room symbolizing something pertaining to your life. For instance the blue door might be your childhood. The green door might be your romantic life. The red door might be your “hell” or trauma of past bad experiences. You just imagine whatever comes to mind without forcing it and simply enter the room. Inside the room you will find something like your young self from childhood or a romantic partner. You engage them in dialogue and see what they say. What you are doing is probing your unconscious mind which is creating instant symbolic meaning into every color, character, item and word the vision produces. You imagine all of this in the mind while just allowing the process to unfold. Once the vision is done you make sense out of it but not just literally. You must interpret it artistically and ask “why is my romance room red?” “Why did my father appear in my romance room, thats fucking weird” yet when you do this you will see being open and inquisitive will lead you to insanely amazing breakthroughs. You can also keep this simple and just think about something you are having trouble with in life. Sometimes simply sitting eyes closed while contemplating can produce huge breakthroughs. Do these contemplations nightly after a brief meditation. Sometimes just simply think, other times try these visualizations.

Transformation Days

I will keep this section short and sweet. Treating self work with the level of respect it deserves can only be done if you do what you do for others, for yourself. How many days have you devoted to others entirely? You must do this for yourself. Do not be afraid to take a day entirely to yourself and do some deep inner work. It is transformative. I actually align this astrologically on every eclipse, full moon or new moon. I don’t complete it every significant moon phase but I get most. I do this so I am held accountable to a schedule that I don’t decide. It gives self growth the sense of reverence it deserves.

Altered States of Consciousness

This is an article for another time but in short an altered state of consciousness defined is:

“A perceptible change is the pattern of reality.”

Meditation and breath work are both altered states of consciousness however more subtle ones. Psychedelics are extremely vivid altered states of consciousness. I do not recommend anyone do psychedelics without professional help where it is legal. However I also cannot lie and say they were not a huge part of my growth. Yet I have seen many people abuse psychedelics and get nothing out of them. It works like anything in life, the intention and level of respect you put into it will dictate the outcome.

Psychedelics work through extreme brain malleability. When you take psychedelics you brain distorts the default mode network, most of the cerebral cortex, thalamus, hippocampus, and cerebellum. This causes a huge disruption to the brain, Think meditation x1000. From this state you can rewire huge traumas literally in a single day. For instance many people cure their alcoholism with one single psychedelic ceremony. However you can also induce psychosis. With great power comes great responsibility. You must approach these with an expert who is licensed and do this in the correct environment. I will be making an article on this later. I didn’t try psychedelics until years into my own transformation journey and neither should you.

All altered states of consciousness work through the same mechanism. Disruptions in brain patterning. As you learned earlier, your brain is simply learned patterns that have become ingrained. Altered states allow you to break this typical programming and see outside of your matrix briefly. They also cause large amount of trauma stored within the body (subconscious nervous system) to release. It isn’t uncommon for people doing breath work to have lots of emotions or thoughts about life come up during the activity. Always perform altered states of consciousness in a safe environment after being cleared by a professional.

The Butterfly

If you would like coaching during this process reach out to me! I help people with not just transformation but all areas of holism. Body, mind and spirit. I offer detailed programming and guidance through your journey and I can help create the optimal space for transformation. Email me at Brendan@theunitylife.com

The rest of the practices as well as the ones already covered will be captured in greater detail in coming articles, videos, practices and content for our members! If you are interested in more please sign up for our coaching. Anyone who signs up for Prime will receive instant access to Unity on a carry over subscription when I launch the company formally in June of 2025. If you are reading this in the future please check our website for detailed videos on all of the practices and theories mentioned in this article.

Remember my friends, transformation starts with you. It is not a matter of new information or fancy practices, It is a matter of awakening to who you truly are… nobody.

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