Kelly Chase was a materialist and an atheist.

Then on a random Saturday morning in August 2021, something reached into her mind and showed her what she’s come to refer to as The Good — coherence, beauty, truth — whatever it is that allows creation to exist. The experience completely changed her life.

But here’s the problem: she also knows that whatever did this to her could also make her happy about it. And as someone who values her personal freedom more than almost anything, it’s frightening to suspect that something fundamentally rewired her without her consent.

This is the epistemic paradox of gnosis, or, in other words, knowledge that is supposed to be self-authoritative, but that you still have to figure out how to test.

How do you build a life on something you can’t prove? And if you can’t, what exactly are you supposed to build on instead?

Highlights:

Kelly Chase is the host of Inquiry (formerly Cosmos, formerly The UFO Rabbit Hole Podcast) — find her at kellychase.media
Mal couldn’t make it, thanks to business travel and a conspiracy of misfortune
“Semantic anarchy” — words don’t mean the same things across tribes anymore
What turned Kelly into an experiencer: an out-of-body, out-of-time connection to a higher intelligence that changed everything she believes
From lifelong materialist and atheist to a spiritual convert to The Good
Plato’s Republic and the allegory of Er
Experience without consent (does being happy about it make it ok?)
Kelly’s precognitive dreams
The IRVA conference in Mexico
Precognitive dreams vs. regular dreams
The epistemic paradox of gnosis
The preface paradox, the lottery paradox, and the paradox of the knower
The Mormon parallel: revelation is basically the Mormon word for gnosis, and discerning true revelation has been the church’s ongoing problem for 200 years
Are feelings of unconditional love emotional manipulation?
The Enlightenment is an oxymoron
The cultural dominance of the “dead universe cosmology”
If your cosmological foundation breaks down, you’re desperate for a replacement — and there are people happy to sell you one
Control systems
What the elites believe about souls
Brother Richard on human utilitarianism
The Law of One and the left hand path vs. the right hand path — Kelly argues America’s default values are left hand path, along which the ultimate purpose is self-expression
Is there such a thing as a true cosmology?
The imperative to judge for oneself
The missing character in Plato’s Cave — who drags the prisoner out?
“Gnosis is a great starting point. It’s a terrible ending point.”
Tools of Discernment
“It can’t just be vibes”

And in the epilogue…

Is yearning for the divine evidence of the divine?
Worship as technology
Supernatural love (of your enemy)

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