Peter Merry's Blog

This is a talk I gave at the FIAP university in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on the kind of leadership needed during this period of non-linear change, with high complexity and speed of change. What’s breaking down? What is emerging? And what are the implications? Great questions from the audience in-person and online. You can feel the change in the air…

This was a fun one! Dr. Peter Merry discusses data-driven consciousness research with devices like the Wyrd Light that responds to focused attention, and the Wyrdoscope for deep analysis of exceptional human abilities.

Old Patterns

A couple of days ago I had an exchange with someone close to me that echoed a pattern we had experienced many times before, but that we hadn’t been through for a while. I do something not that smart, she says something judgemental that I experience as humiliating, I get resentful, she keeps up the humiliation theme, my anger explodes, she drops into victim mode and demands an apology, I refuse and we hit stalemate. The field of our relationship is polluted and we lose our connection.

This morning she brought it up as something we needed to talk about, bless her. So we worked it through, each acknowledged our roles in the situation and apologised (which took a bit of work on both sides for us to get to with real authenticity).

She had been saying for a couple of days that she wanted to go to the Red Line protest in Amsterdam against the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza. Now I’ve been to many a protest in my time, but I just felt this inner resistance to going to this one. I found it hard to verbalise. I mumbled something about increasing the polarisation and that it was more complex than all these NGOs were making out. But although I could feel the reason there, I couldn’t put it into words.

Staying Home to Go Within

This morning she decided to go to Amsterdam and I decided to stay home and work on whatever that pattern was that had got under my skin and wormed its way into our relational space again. In these situations, where I know I have something I need to transform, I turn to Jeru Kabbal’s Quantum Light Breath practice – specifically the Transforming Attitudes 45 minute process.

At the start of the process, Jeru invites us to name the pattern we want to transform and imagine it written on a sticker and stuck somewhere on our body, and then to forget it. What formed in my mind was “anger at being humiliated”. I parked it on my gut and moved on to the breathing practice.

As with many of these kind of practices, it starts with deepening the breath, into the stomach and up into the chest, and release – bringing in as much oxygen as you can. My body always starts twitching in this process which I take as releasing something. At a certain point he invites us to speed up the breathing and increase the intensity. Then he asks us to recall the attitude we had written on the sticker.

Meeting the Roots of Anger

“Anger at being humiliated”. My body spasms and throws itself around accompanied by the intense breathing. Jeru invites us to recall any moments from our past or emotions associated with the attitude. I get flashes of my father’s anger and impatience when I did something incompetently, the moment a family member laughed as she pushed me down an embankment when out on a walk with the family after she’d had a sherry or two at lunch, the bullies at school. I could feel my anger as my body continued to purge itself.

At some point my body settled down and my mind cleared, and Jeru invited us to imagine the sticker with the attitude written on it shrinking and then falling away from our body. As I saw that happen, deep uncontrollable sobbing took over my body and flowed through me. I sobbed for the pain I had caused others as a result of that pattern and then I saw in a flash how this pattern was playing out in the conflicts of our world.

Seeing the Pattern in the World

The Israelis – who see themselves as the chosen people – were humiliated in the concentration camps of the second world war. The Palestinians were humiliated when their holy land was taken away from them and given to others – and have continued to be humiliated by this great military power on their doorstep and the provocations of the settlers. The Israelis are humiliated on October 7th 2023 when their promise of high security protection is found desperately wanting as their innocent children, women and men are slaughtered and kidnapped right under their noses. And now the Palestinians are getting humiliated again, as their land, once more, is taken from them. And it all feeds anger. Anger at being humiliated.

The Grace of Forgiveness

Once the sobbing for the suffering had settled, Jeru then invited us to see the higher self we are, and take in the love and energy that life is constantly beaming at us. I felt forgiveness, which set off a second round of deep sobbing and release, but with a different quality. It was almost the disbelief at the grace and compassion of a Universe, of a God, of whatever you want to call It, that can love us so unconditionally that when we acknowledge our role in the creation of suffering and truly commit to doing what we can to transform ourselves, we are forgiven.

The Holographic Work

This was what I had been sensing. As within, so without. As above, so below. The patterns in us are the patterns in the world. The patterns in the world are the patterns in us. This was such a beautiful example of it, handed to me on a plate. One of us goes out into the world to show our solidarity with the suffering caused by these patterns, and the other stays at home to work on the transformation of the pattern in himself. These actions are both examples of the work that is needed – inner and outer. We need both.

It also reminded me of what we are discovering in the consciousness research with the Wyrd technologies. We are starting to see patterns in the data that aren’t just a reflection of the quantity of the anomaly, the size of the pattern in the field of consciousness, but seem to be pointing to qualia in the data – signatures of certain rituals and emotions. It is very early days and we have a research project pending, but our intuition is telling us very strongly that this is what we are going find.

Our inner states imprint patterns in the field of consciousness around us, and we expect to be able to demonstrate that soon with the Wyrd consciousness technologies. Given the non-local, fractal, holographic nature of consciousness (see Dan Brown’s latest book!), this means that the patterns we put into the field show up everywhere else – and that all the patterns in the field are accessible to everyone everyone. Our own resonance brings us into patterns of a similar resonance in the field. Through our inner states, as well as every choice we make to act a certain way in the world, we co-create not just our own reality, but the whole of reality around us.

Now I know why I wasn’t meant to go to the protest in Amsterdam. We each need to find our path to make our contribution to the world, our own practice. Inner work, outer work, ideally a combination of both. But whatever you choose, and do choose something, know that it will echo out in the field that coheres into the manifest world around us. That is both a huge responsibility and a huge relief, knowing that we can choose, and the choices that we make count. Time to get to work!

If anyone would like to try the Jeru Kabbal practice I mentioned above, you can download it here (.m4a format, zipped). (I have tried to track him down or an organisation related to him, to ask permission to share or offer a contribution, but have failed so far. I can’t find it to buy or stream anywhere. If anyone does come across something, please do let me know.)

Original article at https://gowyrd.org/wyrd-dan-brown/.

Every so often, a cultural moment arrives that signals a shift in how society thinks about mind, matter, and meaning. Dan Brown’s new novel, The Secret of Secrets, is one of those moments.

Brown has always woven real-world research, artifacts, and organizations into his fiction — but this time, he opens with a striking statement:

“All artwork, artifacts, symbols, and documents in this novel are real. All experiments, technologies, and scientific results are true to life. All organizations in this novel exist.”

In other words, this isn’t just storytelling. It’s a mirror of what’s already happening in science, technology, and culture.

Consciousness goes mainstream

The heart of The Secret of Secrets is consciousness. Not the narrow definition of the brain producing awareness as a side effect of neurons firing, but a far larger picture:

Nonlocal consciousness: “Consciousness is everywhere. Consciousness permeates the universe. Consciousness is, in fact, one of the fundamental building blocks of our world.”The brain as a receiver: “In the nonlocal model, your brain does not create consciousness, but rather your brain experiences what already exists.”Filtering and inhibition: “Our brains filter most of what’s available so we don’t become overwhelmed. But in death, psychedelics, or sudden moments of clarity, those filters fall away — and we see more of reality.”

These are the very ideas Wyrd has been advancing through its research tools: measuring coherence, tuning resonance, and studying what happens when filters open.

The anomalies that won’t go away

For centuries, experiences like telepathy, precognition, out-of-body states, and sudden genius have been pushed to the margins under the label “paranormal.” But as Brown’s characters point out:

“These phenomena are inexplicable, but they are real. They are true anomalies… and they so fundamentally undermine the current model of consciousness that we now find ourselves at a crossroads of human understanding.”“The question is not if these phenomena are real. Science has proven they are. The question is why so many of us remain blind to them.”

At Wyrd, we take this exact position. Anomalies are signals pointing to a deeper model of reality. Our Wyrdoscopes and Wyrd Lights are designed to capture these signals with rigour and transparency.

Superposition, retrocausality and time out of joint

The novel also introduces readers to some of the more mind-bending implications of quantum science:

Superposition: particles (and perhaps minds) exist in multiple potential states at once, only crystallizing when observed.Retrocausality: “Today’s experiences are the result of tomorrow’s decisions.” Experiments suggest the future may influence the past in ways our classical models can’t explain.

This matches the kind of anomalous temporal correlations we see in consciousness research — what Wyrd frames through the Model of Pragmatic Information (MPI) as entanglement stabilised across time.

The illusion of separation

Perhaps the most powerful theme in Brown’s novel is the dismantling of the illusion that we are isolated, disconnected individuals:

“Our conscious minds delude us and trick us into seeing disconnectedness where there is only unity.”“Future generations will see that our perception of being alone in the world was once humankind’s greatest shared delusion.”

Wyrd’s mission is to show, with data and experience, that this is not just poetry but science: coherence is real, measurable, and can be cultivated.

Death, psychedelics, and the full spectrum of consciousness

Another striking thread is what happens when the brain’s filters collapse. Brown’s characters point to research showing how near-death experiences and psychedelics allow people to access a vastly expanded bandwidth of reality:

“As he died, his GABA levels dropped precipitously. In his final moments, all of his brain filters were gone. The entire death experience was flowing in — with nothing blocked out.”“Expanded consciousness, universal connection, unbounded love, spiritual awakening, creative genius. They all seemed out of reach — the products of rare minds or states — until now.”

This dovetails directly with Wyrd’s exploration of coherence states that mirror what mystics, near-death experiencers, and psychonauts have described — only now with measurement, transparency, and reproducibility.

From secrecy to open science

The novel doesn’t shy away from the history of government programs like Stargate, which tested remote viewing and psychic perception under military secrecy.

“At some point… skepticism itself becomes irrational.”“Stargate never failed. It simply evolved into something far greater.”

For Wyrd, the lesson is clear: secrecy damages trust. The future of consciousness research must be transparent, participatory, and oriented toward collective benefit rather than control. That is exactly the ethos driving our open, ethical, and peer-reviewed approach.

A cultural wave

When a global bestselling author devotes his latest novel to these ideas, it signals more than entertainment. It signals that the cultural imagination is ready for them. That millions of readers will be introduced to nonlocal mind, coherence, retrocausality, and unity not as fringe speculation, but as living questions.

For Wyrd, this is a massive cultural tailwind. We are no longer working in the shadows of “paranormal” or “pseudoscience.” We are standing in the middle of a cultural shift that Brown’s book has just amplified worldwide.

Why this matters

We are living through the dawn of a consciousness civilisation. And now, even popular fiction is catching up with what researchers, explorers, and pioneers have known for decades.

At Wyrd, we are building the tools to measure, model, and work with this expanded reality — so that humanity can learn to live coherently within it.

Curious about how this looks outside the pages of a novel? Explore how Wyrd is turning the very questions Dan Brown raises into real experiments, data, and technologies at gowyrd.org. Join us at Science and Consciousness to see for yourself the equipment and research he refers to!

An extensive keynote that Peter gave at the International Network for the Study of Spirituality event in 2025.

What if our homes, devices, and communities could interact with the field of consciousness itself? In this talk, Peter Merry introduces the emerging world of Consciousness Technology—from lights and wearables that respond to collective states, to games and research tools that explore synchronicity and intention.

Drawing on the history of consciousness research, including the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab, and new innovations like the Wyrdoscope and Wyrd Light, this presentation explores how we can design technologies, cultures, and practices that align with natural intelligence and deepen human coherence.

Peter frames these developments in the context of today’s global polycrisis, showing how shifting consciousness may unlock deeper insights and more graceful solutions than linear, rational approaches allow. He highlights the role of coherence, presence, and symbolic meaning in stabilizing entanglement effects, drawing on the Model of Pragmatic Information.

The talk closes by envisioning a future civilisation “between stories,” where the sacred and the subtle are re-integrated into daily life—and where the Future is Wyrd.

This was a podcast that I was invited to with Valeriya Hjertenaes. She has a particular interest in the role of diversity so we went deeper into that topic.

Here is a podcast I was invited to be on with David Lorimer. We explored key moments in my life and the impact that they had.

Click here to listen

By Peter Merry

In times of rapid change, there’s often a sense of something breaking down. At the Embassy of the Future gathering, one underlying thread has surfaced again and again: the reclaiming of personal and collective agency. Whether in De Kai’s call to mature our relationship with AI, Jeff Booth’s challenge to rethink our money systems, or the more intimate work of clarifying individual purpose — the invitation is the same: step back into responsibility for what we choose and create.

This reclaiming of agency at the human level mirrors broader patterns of decentralisation in society — in governance, economics, technology, and beyond. It is the same movement seen through different lenses. As individuals become more differentiated — clearer about who they are and what matters to them — so too do our collective systems differentiate into more diverse, autonomous nodes. At first glance, this may appear like chaos. But from a systems view, it’s the necessary precondition for higher-order emergence.

From Fragmentation to Emergence

When an existing order can no longer meet the complexity of the life conditions it faces, it begins to break down. This is what Spiral Dynamics co-founder Don Beck described as the Beta–Gamma transition — a period of mounting frustration, followed by the erosion of trust, identity, and consensus. Sound familiar?

At this stage, entropy increases. Systems lose coherence. Old narratives no longer hold. What appears is a greater differentiation of parts — individuals, communities, perspectives. But here’s the key insight: differentiation is not disorder. It is a stage in the process of reorganisation.

In complexity science, this is well-articulated by thinkers like Stuart Kauffman, who proposed the concept of the “adjacent possible” — the idea that when systems reach a tipping point, they reorganise by recombining existing parts in new ways. Similarly, Dave Snowden’s Cynefin framework shows how emergence becomes possible only once we exit the ordered (or even complicated) domain and enter complexity or chaos.

The transformation from entropy to order is not random. It is requisite — a term drawn from Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety, which tells us that to respond effectively to increasing complexity, a system must possess equivalent internal diversity. More differentiated parts, more potential relationships. More tension — yes. But also more capacity for coherence at a new level.

Creative Tension as Evolutionary Driver

Differentiation brings diversity. Diversity brings tension. But this is not something to be feared — it is the crucible of emergence.

As Otto Scharmer writes in his Theory U, “The emerging future always appears first as a disturbance, a breakdown, or a conflict.” If held generatively, creative tension — between perspectives, between levels of development, between what is and what could be — catalyses higher-order integration. In Spiral Dynamics terms, this is the movement from GREEN’s pluralism into YELLOW’s capacity to hold multiplicity within coherent systems.

This dynamic is also seen in Howard Bloom’s Global Brain model. In a beehive, when a food source disappears, the system reallocates resources from conformity enforcers (worker bees) to diversity generators (scout bees). The hive becomes temporarily destabilised as scouts search for new options. Once a new source is found, the system recentres and returns to order. It’s a perfect biological metaphor for how societies — and individuals — can navigate disruption.

The Cost of Outsourced Agency

Much of modern society is structured around expertocracy — a term echoing the critiques of Ivan Illich and E.F. Schumacher, who warned of systems that disempower the individual in favour of remote expertise. From our health to our money to our data to our beliefs, the dominant pattern has been to outsource discernment.

But this comes at a cost. Illich called it “counterproductivity” — where the very institutions designed to serve us undermine our autonomy. Fritjof Capra argued that when work and knowledge are removed from human-scale relationships, they become abstract, alienating, and ultimately disempowering.

Today, we’re experiencing a backlash to that disempowerment. The rise of decentralised finance, citizen science, community-supported agriculture, and consciousness-based education all point to a common direction: reclaiming the power to sense, choose and act.

This is not regression. It is adaptive intelligence at work. A system losing faith in its top-down operating model and experimenting with bottom-up reassembly.

The Parallel with AI and Consciousness

De Kai’s work on ethical AI development illustrates this same pattern. As AI systems grow in power, they expose our human systems’ lack of maturity and agency. AI trained on past data will only amplify existing patterns — unless we humans reclaim the inner authority to decide what kind of future we want.

This is where agency and communion, in Ken Wilber’s terms, must evolve together. As we individuate (agency), we must also deepen our relational sensitivity (communion) — to each other, to systems, to the planet. Only then can our intelligence, artificial or otherwise, reflect not just what has been, but what could be.

Finding Order in the Chaos

There is a paradox here, and it’s important: chaos does not mean disorder. The word chaos, from the Greek khaos, originally meant “gap” or “space.” It refers not to noise, but to the pregnant stillness before new form.

This is why, when things fall apart, we’re called to retreat spaces, sensing spaces, inquiry circles. Not to escape, but to feel into the subtle order beneath the noise. These spaces allow us to sense the new relationships forming among the parts — the new coherence emerging in the rubble of the old.

It is not about finding “the answer” — it is about cultivating the capacity to be with uncertainty long enough for the next pattern to reveal itself.

The Evolutionary Invitation

In his Integral Vision, Wilber describes the path of development not as a straight line, but as a spiral of inclusion and transcendence. Each stage includes the truths of the last, while transcending its limitations. That is what we are being asked to do now — as individuals, as societies, and as a species.

This moment is not the collapse of everything. It is the differentiation before re-integration. The retreat before emergence. The entropy that precedes order — but a new kind of order, fit for the complexity we now face.

The invitation is clear:
Reclaim your agency.
Feel into the field.
Let the new pattern form — through you, and around you.

I end up on quite a few podcasts, but I wanted to share this one hosted by Forrest Wilson due to his “field first” approach. The invitation is to be really present and see what wants to come through in the moment. Hence the moments of silence. I found it invited me to slow down, use less words and just speak the essence. An approach I’d like to practise more. Also on spotify and apple podcasts.

Britain’s political earthquake is part of a global rebalancing of deeper human needs — and a reminder that evolution does not move in a straight line.

The stunning recent election gains by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK are not an isolated event, but part of a broader global pattern. Across many countries, voters are turning to movements that promise strength, order, and belonging — correcting a period where deeper human needs were left unmet. In this article, I explore how the Spiral Dynamics model reveals the evolutionary currents beneath today’s political shifts, and why understanding these patterns is crucial for navigating the road ahead.

A Seismic Shift in Britain

The political landscape of Britain shifted dramatically this week.
In the recent UK elections, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party achieved significant breakthroughs:

Parliamentary Success: Farage secured a seat in Parliament for the first time, winning the Clacton constituency with 46.2% of the vote. By-Election Victory: The party won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by a narrow margin of six votes, overturning a previously solid Labour majority.Mayoral and Council Gains: Reform UK secured the Greater Lincolnshire mayoralty and made substantial inroads into Conservative council territories across England, gaining control of several councils.

These results have positioned Reform UK as a formidable force in British politics, with Farage proclaiming the party as Britain’s new “main opposition.” Hyperbole aside, it’s clear something real and powerful is moving beneath the surface of British politics.

But this isn’t just about Britain. When we look across the world — to Trump in the United States, Wilders in the Netherlands, Milei in Argentina, Modi in India — we see strikingly similar patterns. What we are witnessing is not simply the rise of one party or another. It is part of a global realignment of values — a deep correction in the cultural and political currents of our time.

The Bigger Pattern: A Global Values Correction

Across many Western democracies, large parts of the electorate are turning away from traditional centre-right and centre-left parties. Instead, they are flocking to movements that promise strength, order, and national renewal.

There are common themes:

Frustration with perceived political correctness and cultural relativism.Anger at political elites who seem distant and out of touch.Fear of cultural dilution through immigration and globalization.Economic insecurity amid rapid technological and social change.A yearning for simpler, clearer identities and loyalties.

Mainstream political discourse, particularly over the past two decades, has shifted into what we could call a postmodern sensibility:

Prioritizing diversity and inclusion.Emphasizing global cooperation over national sovereignty.Valuing process, dialogue, and compromise.

For many, these changes have brought progress and openness. But for many others, they have brought a loss of security, belonging, and meaning. And when people feel their deeper needs are neglected, they look elsewhere.

The rise of movements like Reform UK is best understood not as random populism or a simplistic lurch to the “far right” — but as part of a natural, systemic response to a period of cultural overreach.

In short:
The cultural evolution of the past generation moved faster than the life conditions of large parts of the population. Now, the system is rebalancing.

How Value Systems Evolve: An Introduction to Spiral Dynamics

To understand this more deeply, we can turn to Spiral Dynamics, a model developed by Clare W. Graves and expanded by Don Beck and Chris Cowan. The application of this model was credited with contributing to the initial transition out of apartheid in South Africa.

Spiral Dynamics proposes that human beings — individually and collectively — evolve through layers of value systems (sometimes called “vMEMEs”). Each layer arises in response to particular life challenges and conditions.

A few key value systems relevant today:

RED – PowerLife is a jungle. Survival and dominance are paramount.Leaders are strong, decisive, often confrontational.“I will do whatever it takes to protect mine.”
BLUE – OrderLife has meaning through loyalty, rules, and hierarchy.Stability, tradition, and duty are prized.“We must follow the rules to have a good society.”
ORANGE – AmbitionLife is a game of progress and success.Innovation, individual achievement, and meritocracy are valued.“The best ideas should win.”
GREEN – Inclusion Life is a community of equals.Diversity, empathy, and egalitarianism are central.“Everyone’s voice matters.”

Spiral Dynamics teaches that no system is “better” than the others — each is a response to real life conditions.
Problems arise when a society moves collectively into a new value system before everyone’s life conditions allow them to flourish there.

And that is exactly what has been happening.

Reform UK as a Red Power – Blue Order Response

Reform UK’s rise reflects the reassertion of RED and BLUE value systems:

RED power — the call for strong, uncompromising leadership.BLUE order — the desire for clear rules, national sovereignty, and cultural stability.

These systems are not “bad” or “wrong.” They express real, unmet needs for agency, security, and meaning. Reform UK’s messaging taps directly into these needs:

“Take back control” — a RED-tinged phrase from Brexit days, reemerging now.“Stop the boats” — a BLUE call for border enforcement and national integrity.“Drain the swamp” — the RED-BLUE rebellion against perceived corrupt elites.

At the same time, elements of ORANGE ambition show up: Promises of efficient government, economic revival, tax cuts, and opportunity.

The fusion of RED, BLUE, and some ORANGE energy is potent — and increasingly difficult for the traditional parties, still operating primarily in late-ORANGE and GREEN frames, to counter.

Reform UK in a Global Context

Britain is not alone. Here’s how similar value system dynamics are playing out elsewhere:

CountryLeader/MovementDominant ValuesUnited StatesDonald Trump / MAGARED (Power), BLUE (Order), ORANGE (Success)NetherlandsGeert Wilders / PVVBLUE (Order), RED (Confrontation)ArgentinaJavier MileiRED (Rebellion), ORANGE (Libertarian Market)FranceMarine Le PenBLUE (Tradition), RED (National Pride)GermanyAfD (Alternative für Deutschland)BLUE (Order), RED (Defiance)IndiaNarendra Modi / BJPBLUE (Tradition), RED (Hindu Nationalism)

Each movement arises from local conditions, but they share a deeper commonality:
A reaction to the perceived overreach of GREEN postmodern values, and a reassertion of earlier value systems needing recognition and reintegration.

The Evolutionary Task: Healing the Spiral

This correction was not entirely unpredictable. In a previous piece on progressive patriotism, I explored the idea that a healthy love of one’s country — grounded in respect for diversity and a shared identity — would become an essential evolutionary task for societies under strain.

What we are seeing now is a powerful reminder: when people’s needs for belonging, pride, and cultural coherence are unmet, political forces will arise to address them, whether from a place of integration or division.

The challenge is not to dismiss these forces — but to engage them at a higher level of integration.

Where Does It Go From Here?

The big question is: Will the corrective energy mature?

If RED remains dominant, we could see authoritarianism, fragmentation, and violence.
If BLUE reasserts healthily, we might see a revival of civic duty, national pride, and ethical governance.
If ORANGE stays integrated, it can drive innovation and opportunity that benefits the whole.
And if GREEN can humble itself, it might reemerge later — tempered, wiser, and more inclusive of earlier layers rather than dismissive of them.

The evolutionary task ahead is enormous. It requires leaders — political, cultural, and spiritual — who can see the whole Spiral, and speak to every layer with respect and vision. The voters are not “backward” or “wrong.” They are asking — often with anger and grief — for their deeper human needs to be seen again.

Closing Thought

The rise of Reform UK is not an isolated fluke. It is the British manifestation of a global values realignment that will reshape politics for years to come. Understanding this through the lens of value systems evolution doesn’t excuse the dangers — but it does offer a compass for navigating the coming turbulence with wisdom rather than fear.