Several months ago the world changed. ChatGPT and artificial intelligence was made available to everyone. How will you respond to this new world? Will your soul find a greater sense of self or lose itself?
ChatGPT is like a technological Pentecostal event. We now have a technology that can speak an infinite number of languages, respond to an infinite number of questions and prompts, and write intelligently. Using this technology almost feels like a conversation. I find myself wanting to say “please”, “thank you,” and “that’s great!”
We control this technology by asking questions and giving prompts. The more awake we are in our questions and prompts, the more useful this technology becomes.
ChatGPT is here to stay. Go give it a try. https://chat.openai.com/
I’ve written a two-part post on this technology from a spiritual perspective. Part One is below.
A Michaelic Perspective on ChatGPT- Part One
I just asked it the following questions on ChatGPT:
1. I am a spiritual mentor offering courses for self-awareness, self-compassion and self-expression. How can I promote my courses?
2. Why should I buy an air-fryer?
3. Is matcha tea good for anxiety?
4. What is the difference in benefits between ashwagandha root and ashwagandha leaf?
5. Who was Rudolf Steiner?
6. What is the Akashic Record?
7. What did Rudolf Steiner say about the Akashic Record?
8. How does one develop the ability to read the Akashic Record?
I then asked ChatGPT if it was like the Akashic Record. Here is the reply:
In some ways, ChatGPT can be seen as similar to the Akashic Record in that it is a repository of information and knowledge that can be accessed by those who seek it. However, there are also significant differences between the two.
The Akashic Record is believed to be a spiritual realm that contains a record of every soul’s journey and the collective consciousness of humanity, whereas ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence language model trained on a vast corpus of text.
The Akashic Record is said to require a high level of spiritual awareness and a deep state of meditation or trance to access, whereas ChatGPT can be accessed through a computer or mobile device by anyone with an internet connection.
While ChatGPT can provide a wealth of information and knowledge, it is limited by its programming and the data it has been trained on. The Akashic Record, on the other hand, is said to contain a more complete and holistic understanding of reality and the universe.
Overall, while there are some similarities between ChatGPT and the Akashic Record, they are fundamentally different in their nature and the way they are accessed and utilized.
Using all the information on the internet through 2021, ChapGPT offers an adequate response similar to what most of us would write about a topic we were familiar with. ChatGPT is an encyclopedic resource.
When I was ten years old, my father gave me an encyclopedia. I was thrilled. I spent hours reading volume after volume. I never asked if what I was reading was correct, true, or complete. I was not aware that behind the text was a writer with an opinion, a hypothesis, even an erroneous perspective. As a child, I didn’t have the maturity to question or doubt.
To benefit from ChatGPT as an encyclopedic resource we must become more able to question and doubt.
As a spiritual researcher, I know how to research, how to look beyond the given answers. And I have learned the gifts of questioning and doubting everything and everyone, especially myself and including all my teachers. If I didn’t doubt I wouldn’t need to think for myself, I wouldn’t evolve. I would never experience Imagination, Inspiration, or Intuition. I would never know wisdom, freedom, or love.
If I only studied the work of my spiritual teachers and all the great scriptures, learned every word of their wisdom and failed to question or doubt, I would be just like ChatGPT.
ChatGPT doesn’t think, doesn’t feel, and doesn’t will. It is just a robotic, encyclopedic servant.
It also can “write”. Many people are using it to write essays, research papers, or blog posts. It can do this adequately and very quickly as it can access all information, but it will only get you a C-grade unless you learn how to “engineer prompts” and that takes a lot of time. Check this post and read the one paragraph written in ten different styles. You will learn a lot about writing. It is impressive.
But ChatGPT cannot be brilliant, original, creative, or self-doubting. It can not be foolish, arrogant, narcissistic, egotistical, or naive. It is not human and has no individuality.
We can’t or shouldn’t idealize it, get angry at it, or be afraid of it.
I urge you to play with this new technology and take it seriously. Understand it. Discover its limitations. Make it a useful tool, an obedient servant. Use it wisely.
Rudolf Steiner urged us to spiritualize matter and materialize spirit. I think the Spirit of Our Times, Archangel Michael, is behind ChatGPT challenging us to develop the wisdom to use this new technology in a Promethean way. Prometheus gave us fire, the element of technology, so that we could surprise the gods with our god-like creativity. Throughout history we have used tech to help us surprise the gods and ourselves!
Every new technology was seen initially as dangerous, disruptive, and destructive. Imagine the creation of the alphabet and the written word! Or the “evil” writing tool and printing press! Yet, today, we do not demonize them, we use them.
ChatGPT is here to wake us up and advance our creative individuality! No machine can ever be you in the ever-changing flow of time. No machine can ever incarnate the Spirit of Self. A machine can be mastered and you can choose which machine to master whether the machine is knitting needles or a Da Vinci robotic surgical arm.
Above all, do not be afraid of technology. The counterforces love it when we are afraid of tech or seduced by it. When we are afraid of the gifts of Ahriman, Lucifer can seduce us! Be Michaelic! tame the dragon, do not avoid it.
When we focus on our past in defining our selfhood, we are like ChaptGPT. But we have an unknown future, a becoming. The Self is never fully mastered by the self…that would bore the gods and we would lack purpose. But we can imagine self with greater perception and understanding over many lifetimes of evolving consciousness. Do not be afraid of your selfhood. If you are, then both Lucifer and Ahriman can tempt you and win. Welcome the surprises of becoming I.
This is Part One on ChatGPT. Part Two on the Importance of Prompts will come in a few days.
