Mark Passio & the "What on Earth is Happening?" website

[Argonaut]

I haven't read anything on the forum about Mark Passio, so I decided to start this thread. He seems to have a good understanding of the big picture. Particularly the nature of truth vs. perception as it relates to tyranny and psychopaths in power.

I was first exposed to Passio through this Youtube video called "History... Solutions: How to Escape the Psychology of Control". In it Passio is being interviewed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atjdCbayxYM The video is an hour and a half long, but the essence of his point comes across within the first 10-15 minutes or so. I wound up watching the whole thing. He conveyed some profound concepts very concisely, and his points seem to dovetail well with our understanding of Ponerology, the Work, and FOTCM.

I just want to alert everyone about him because I've found his insights to be very helpful and valuable so far. I'm starting to listen to the podcasts on Passio's website (_http://www.whatonearthishappening.com) to get a better picture of his ideas. But I admit that I'm fairly new to his stuff and have yet to go through much of his site. If anyone is already familiar with him, do you have any thoughts?

 

[ajseph 21]

I've seen Mark give a decent interpretation of the matrix trilogy.
http://youtu.be/JvKEwr0iNA0
From the list of topics I've seen covered psycopathology is one, but there are also red herrings like dark occult forces, masons, and illuminati. He does seem goal oriented in terms of changing oneself and doing something about the state of the world. Getting the word out and escaping the control system are what he advocates. Something about him rubs me the wrong way though.

 

[H-KQGE]

I've seen Mark give a decent interpretation of the matrix trilogy.
http://youtu.be/JvKEwr0iNA0
From the list of topics I've seen covered psycopathology is one, but there are also red herrings like dark occult forces, masons, and illuminati. He does seem goal oriented in terms of changing oneself and doing something about the state of the world. Getting the word out and escaping the control system are what he advocates. Something about him rubs me the wrong way though.

I just checked out the video quickly to make sure that face matched the name. Yep. I remember watching this a few weeks back & although he made some good points, the thing came off like (& i don't even like saying this but) a "conspiracy theorist" at a time after 9-11 when loads of folks flooded the net with this kind of thing with no real understanding. At least he points out why (probably) the other 2 movies tanked somewhat, & since most people miss the layers beneath the movie (first one) they ain't gonna get the others.
I don't know about the occult stuff, Illuminati etc. That might start venturing into David Icke territories. I know what you mean about something seeming to be "off" about him. Can't figure it out.

 

[Argonaut]

I've seen Mark give a decent interpretation of the matrix trilogy.
http://youtu.be/JvKEwr0iNA0
From the list of topics I've seen covered psycopathology is one, but there are also red herrings like dark occult forces, masons, and illuminati. He does seem goal oriented in terms of changing oneself and doing something about the state of the world. Getting the word out and escaping the control system are what he advocates. Something about him rubs me the wrong way though.

I don't know about the occult stuff, Illuminati etc. That might start venturing into David Icke territories. I know what you mean about something seeming to be "off" about him. Can't figure it out.

I just watched the Matrix one too, and I get the same "off" impression. But I didn't get this feeling from the interview I watched, which took place close to a year later. His interpretation of the Matrix films seems sloppier, not tight and concise like his words in the interview. There were some symbols in the Matrix that I felt he misread, and other large meanings that he seemed to miss completely. I think he was a bit too attached to his particular interpretation of the films, which caused him to shoehorn a lot of things into his viewpoint in ways that were incorrect.

For one example, the Merovingian and the Keymaker. The Merovingian bloodline consider themselves to be the lineage of Jesus Christ. For me this puts a different light on the symbolism of the Merovingian holding the Keymaker prisoner and hiding him away. I've always seen the Merovingian as organized religion, with the Keymaker being the esoteric truths lying behind the ideas of religion. Maybe I'm wrong, but it did surprise me that Passio didn't at least mention the Christ connection with the Merovingian bloodline. He also didn't seem to get that the Matrix symbolism works on more than just the 3D level.

Another thing I picked up: Passio showed a very poor understanding of strategic enclosure. He has that typical "zealous truther" bug of thinking we should speak the full, unvarnished truth to everybody everywhere, damn the consequences. At least this was true of him in Sept of 2012 when he gave that talk. I'd recommend watching the Aug 2013 interview, or at least the first 15 minutes. Maybe his understanding has grown somewhat over the past year.

 

[H-KQGE]

I've seen Mark give a decent interpretation of the matrix trilogy.
http://youtu.be/JvKEwr0iNA0
From the list of topics I've seen covered psycopathology is one, but there are also red herrings like dark occult forces, masons, and illuminati. He does seem goal oriented in terms of changing oneself and doing something about the state of the world. Getting the word out and escaping the control system are what he advocates. Something about him rubs me the wrong way though.

I don't know about the occult stuff, Illuminati etc. That might start venturing into David Icke territories. I know what you mean about something seeming to be "off" about him. Can't figure it out.

I just watched the Matrix one too, and I get the same "off" impression. But I didn't get this feeling from the interview I watched, which took place close to a year later. His interpretation of the Matrix films seems sloppier, not tight and concise like his words in the interview. There were some symbols in the Matrix that I felt he misread, and other large meanings that he seemed to miss completely. I think he was a bit too attached to his particular interpretation of the films, which caused him to shoehorn a lot of things into his viewpoint in ways that were incorrect.

For one example, the Merovingian and the Keymaker. The Merovingian bloodline consider themselves to be the lineage of Jesus Christ. For me this puts a different light on the symbolism of the Merovingian holding the Keymaker prisoner and hiding him away. I've always seen the Merovingian as organized religion, with the Keymaker being the esoteric truths lying behind the ideas of religion. Maybe I'm wrong, but it did surprise me that Passio didn't at least mention the Christ connection with the Merovingian bloodline. He also didn't seem to get that the Matrix symbolism works on more than just the 3D level.

Another thing I picked up: Passio showed a very poor understanding of strategic enclosure. He has that typical "zealous truther" bug of thinking we should speak the full, unvarnished truth to everybody everywhere, damn the consequences. At least this was true of him in Sept of 2012 when he gave that talk. I'd recommend watching the Aug 2013 interview, or at least the first 15 minutes. Maybe his understanding has grown somewhat over the past year.

I've just watched the interview that he gave later, which you linked to originally. Thanks btw. He came off well & seemed "switched on", really knowing & understanding what he was trying to convey. The host was good too. I'm not sure why his matrix presentation was so "sloppy" as you point out, but i can understand the mis-reading of some of it, especially "reloaded" & "revolutions." How many paid attention to the philosophical layers of those, (if they were even aware of the 1st movie's) but i agree about his attachment to his interpretations though, it does happen a lot. I was waiting for the bloodline thing with the Merovingian(s) but that never came, but to be fair, when something like that info comes along & you have to go back in to a part of history that's hardly ever touched, & mix that with a fast-paced action movie like TM then the audience will probably swith off. Maybe an oversight?

Anyway i think that the zealot vibe might be what i picked up on, (dunno about ajseph, it seems that way for me now since you used the words "zealous truther") which might be what the movie does to people who want to communicate truths to others in a large room of people. Group energy dynamics, osit.
When you said the 1st 15 minutes i settled on dipping in for that amount of time, when i finally looked at the time after starting the video, it was 40 minutes in! I took that to be a good sign. I do think he could benefit from some books by Red Pill Press though, even if he did cover stuff that meshes with this forum. Maybe he's been a "boardlurker?"

 

[ajseph 21]

Argonaut what you said about this interview is pretty spot on including sitting through the whole thing after the initial 15! From a personal opinion I like his views on the sacred masculine or self defense as well as his emphasis on the trivium method and taking responsibility for your own education before any attempts to spread knowledge. It would take more time for me to form a real judgement or opinion about him however simply because of the masonic symbolic leanings he has. While I'm not completely sure about him the interview was very well put together IMO.

 

[Argonaut]

I've just watched the interview that he gave later, which you linked to originally. Thanks btw. He came off well & seemed "switched on", really knowing & understanding what he was trying to convey. The host was good too. I'm not sure why his matrix presentation was so "sloppy" as you point out, but i can understand the mis-reading of some of it, especially "reloaded" & "revolutions."

It may have partly been due to the format of a classroom lecture vs. one-on-one interview. I also picked up possible nervousness/anxiety during the Matrix lecture which he didn't seem to have in the interview. That nervous energy might have contributed to the "off" feeling too, osit. But I definitely think it's important to keep in mind the time passage between the two videos. A year can produce significant changes in thinking when one is sincerely trying to align his mind with objective Reality. Which apparently is the case with Passio, based on what he said in the interview.

Argonaut what you said about this interview is pretty spot on including sitting through the whole thing after the initial 15! From a personal opinion I like his views on the sacred masculine or self defense as well as his emphasis on the trivium method and taking responsibility for your own education before any attempts to spread knowledge.

I liked what he said about the Trivium method, too. I started reading up on this more extensively and I like what I'm finding so far. One thing I've read through is this 5-Page Summary of the Trivium Method. Passio's emphasis on educating yourself before trying to spread knowledge indicates that he has come a long way since that Matrix lecture. I also noticed that in the interview, he uses the term "occult" correctly, as simply meaning teachings/truths which have been deliberately hidden (he actually describes these things as having been "occulted"). He does not use "occult" in the stereotypical way that he did in the Matrix lecture.

[quote author=ajseph]
It would take more time for me to form a real judgement or opinion about him however simply because of the masonic symbolic leanings he has. While I'm not completely sure about him the interview was very well put together IMO.
[/quote]

Definitely. I feel positively towards him at this point, but there is far more digging to be done before I'm willing to say for sure.

 

[Ca.]

He claims to be a devoted vegetarian, so i just of kind of moved on. FWIW

 

[Argonaut]

He claims to be a devoted vegetarian, so i just of kind of moved on. FWIW

Yeah, that does strike a sour note. I was unable to find any details about this, but I did learn that one of his podcasts explains why he is vegetarian (#111 "Carnism and Natural Law"). I will listen to this soon to see how he justifies it. I do like the concepts of the Trivium Method. So at the very least I'm glad I was introduced to that through Passio.

 

[H-KQGE]

Hello Argonaut.

It may have partly been due to the format of a classroom lecture vs. one-on-one interview. I also picked up possible nervousness/anxiety during the Matrix lecture which he didn't seem to have in the interview. That nervous energy might have contributed to the "off" feeling too, osit. But I definitely think it's important to keep in mind the time passage between the two videos. A year can produce significant changes in thinking when one is sincerely trying to align his mind with objective Reality. Which apparently is the case with Passio, based on what he said in the interview.

I agree, a year can produce a lot of significant changes & some people can learn pretty quickly. The nervous/anxiety point is sound, i have those issues (less now) & they can only grow during public speaking and just a thought, he might've been anxious about giving a good show/account of himself if the audience was a paying one.

He seemed to be a off-base in that he painted the Matrix problem as purely involving the 3D control system, although his proposed solution did involve higher aspects. But some of that he flubbed a bit (I always cringe at the term "Christ Consciousness"). He also failed to deal with the difference between the humans trapped in the Matrix and the individuals who were purely programs, whether good or evil (Merovingian, Smith, The Oracle). He treated them like they were all basically the same thing. And I found it odd that he left out any mention of the little Indian girl program named Sati. I think she is very significant. She indicates the "evolution" of the relationship between the humans and the machines - the growth of empathy from within the structure of the control system, causing the whole psychopathic dynamic to start breaking down from the inside out. Which is a very important idea. The system is not JUST made up of psychopaths. It's largely comprised of regular humans held in thrall to them. Government officials, police, military, etc. If their hearts can be activated, the battle would essentially be over. Sati was also the union of the Oracle (machine empathy) with the Architect (power to control the Matrix). Not sure how deep the symbolism of that runs, but I found it curious that Passio just skipped over the whole thing. He did briefly discuss Sati's A.I. family being able to feel love (without mentioning Sati at all). But he saw this as symbolizing people who use their emotional attachments to justify loyalty to the system. Which I feel was way off the mark. I also think he glossed over a large part of Smith's signifigance. But I'll just end this here; we're discussing Passio, not analyzing the Matrix. :)

I didn't understand that either. He seemed to take a "blanket approach" to the humans in the matrix & the programs (some people may have agreed reasoning that he knows more, so his interpretations are infallible, that also happens a fair bit) & that's where he started to lose me. The matrix he basically got, the next two as said earlier, is "fuzzy" interpretation-wise. The Sati program (& her parents) was fairly obvious if the movie is watched to completion & as you say, the "evolution" of human-machine relations was evident. (i swear they actually discuss this at various points)
The dad even had to point out the difference in the understanding of the word love to the "Christ consciousness"/ (sorry!) saviour Neo. Yep, people are "spellbound" alright, which is why a great sacrifice had to be made by those "in the know" collectively ("Zionists" fighting the machines) & those who knew & did more as a "minor collective/network", (Morpheus & co) & agent Smith's significance never arrived.

I've been meaning to watch V for Vendetta again (seen it once years ago & fell asleep) in light of the forum's info. I was ignorant of the meanings of it probably more than my first viewing of the matrix movie. I'm still trying to get "Cloud atlas", even more so since people are turned off by the karma-time thing.

My point is that the natural reaction to The Matrix is an overzealous drive to "spread the word" - unless one takes it in context with the other Wachowski films. This is just my take on it all, and it makes a lot of sense to me. But maybe I'm seeing connections that aren't really there.

I get what you're saying, if you want to make the world better when you first begin to "see" you can get this way (especially without a network like this) but as stated at the beginning, a year can make a significant change in knowledge & understanding. I was hoping that he'd touch on "The Animatrix" (easily as good as TM) as a great background for his presentation, which was after all, about the matrix.

Definitely. I feel positively towards him at this point, but there is far more digging to be done before I'm willing to say for sure.

Agreed. Thanks.

 

[Argonaut]

The Sati program (& her parents) was fairly obvious if the movie is watched to completion & as you say, the "evolution" of human-machine relations was evident. (i swear they actually discuss this at various points)
The dad even had to point out the difference in the understanding of the word love to the "Christ consciousness"/ (sorry!) saviour Neo.

Yes, it was spelled out pretty blatantly. I have trouble understanding how Passio could've flubbed it like he did.

[quote author=H-kqge]
I'm still trying to get "Cloud atlas", even more so since people are turned off by the karma-time thing.
[/quote]

There is a lot to it. I've only seen it once and should probably watch it again to see if I can pick up more. One thing that really stuck with me was the declaration given by a few different characters to the evil authority figures: "I will not be subjected to criminal abuse!" It's like the point Passio made with the Matrix: our real power begins when we can stand up and say "No."

I was hoping that he'd touch on "The Animatrix" (easily as good as TM) as a great background for his presentation, which was after all, about the matrix.

The Animatrix does add a lot to the understanding of the surface story, for sure. My favorite Animatrix segments are the ones explaining how the Matrix began; this story really puts the whole situation into context. And it does make its own statement about humanity and society, but one very different from the statement made by the films. I'm not sure if the two sets of messages can even be put together as a whole or if they each must stand alone. Symbolically speaking, it's hard to imagine how the movie message of waking up to an artificial world controlled by machines (3D/4D STS) can reconcile with the Animatrix "origin" message, which involves humans oppressing and discriminating against those machines. It's not like there was ever a time when normal humanity enslaved and abused the psychopaths (or 4D STS for that matter). :)

The other segments of the Animatrix may offer some good extra insight on the films, though. I know there are a few stories dealing with the power of the human will in relation to waking up and fighting our programming, such as the one about the runner, and the story of the kid who got out through his faith in Neo. The segment about the "haunted house" can also be a good symbol for how such things may sometimes be due to "glitches in the Matrix" for real. Although that wouldn't jibe too well with Passio's interpretation.

 

[ajseph 21]

The theme that I saw in the animatrix seemed to be a cautionary tale about our abuse/attachment to technology and matter. Our desire for comfort and ease, which isn't evil in small doses, actually gets us to construct our own prison. It's like we hand ourselves over to manipulative forces by not being responsible and now it's at the point where we almost can't function without the system. We just can't give up though since we have the ability to free ourselves seemed to be the redeeming quality of the film.

 

[Argonaut]

The theme that I saw in the animatrix seemed to be a cautionary tale about our abuse/attachment to technology and matter. Our desire for comfort and ease, which isn't evil in small doses, actually gets us to construct our own prison. It's like we hand ourselves over to manipulative forces by not being responsible and now it's at the point where we almost can't function without the system. We just can't give up though since we have the ability to free ourselves seemed to be the redeeming quality of the film.

That does make a lot of sense. Thinking back on it, this does seem to be a strong theme running through the Animatrix. Taking the Matrix + Animatrix as a whole, there are also the twin themes of karma and "the victim becomes the victimizer." If the humans had respected the desire of the machines to be treated as sentient beings and equals, the Matrix situation would never have happened.

There is also the segment where humans create their own "Matrix" for the purpose of brainwashing machines into becoming loyal to the humans. This carries the message that the humans and machines are essentially the same, each capable of committing identical atrocities against the other.

 

[wmu9]

This is really weird, but I think I used to work with Mark Passio in Philadelphia in 1999-2000, he was in a death metal band and very, very deeply and enthusiastically into the philosophy of death metal (which is not that far from where this Mark Passio is philosophically). But my google search is turning up no death metal band in his past, so perhaps a different Mark Passio that looks and sounds like him. The 'deja vu' is his deep and confident enthusiasm shown in this youtube video (although not for death metal or macs, this time).

 

[Argonaut]

This is really weird, but I think I used to work with Mark Passio in Philadelphia in 1999-2000, he was in a death metal band and very, very deeply and enthusiastically into the philosophy of death metal (which is not that far from where this Mark Passio is philosophically). But my google search is turning up no death metal band in his past, so perhaps a different Mark Passio that looks and sounds like him. The 'deja vu' is his deep and confident enthusiasm shown in this youtube video (although not for death metal or macs, this time).

Hm... I did find this short bio for Passio:

Mark Passio is an independent researcher, public speaker, radio talk show host, conference organizer and freedom activist from Philadelphia, PA. Mark has undertaken the task of assembling vast amounts of research in the areas of metaphysics, occultism, spirituality, symbology and consciousness studies. In 2007, Mark began presenting this information in the form of a presentation series entitled What On Earth Is Happening, with the intention of bringing the implications of this body of knowledge to greater public awareness. In 2010, Mark began hosting his own weekly internet radio show, also called What On Earth Is Happening, which is now broadcast live every Sunday on the Oracle Broadcasting network. Mark is also one of the co-hosts of Free Your Mind, the Philadelphia-based conference on consciousness, mind control and the Occult.

So unless there are/were two Mark Passios in Philly with nearly identical traits, I'd say you might be onto something.