“There are no passengers on spaceship earth, we are all crew.”
— Marshall McLuhan
The other day, I published a ~12,000 word book called Coronavirus, Enlightenment, and the Planetary Transition. In full, free to read here.
Late in the book, I included a list of my top 25 links to make sense of coronavirus.
I had a sense that it would be wise to extract this section and publish it as its own separate blog post, so it can reach more people. Thus, here it is:
Top 25 Links to Make Sense of Coronavirus
“My technique is don’t believe anything. If you believe in something, you are automatically precluded from believing its opposite.”
— Terence McKenna
In the spirit of trans-narrative exploration, I am presently holding space for all narratives about COVID-19, one of which is my own constantly shifting map/narrative/synthesis.
I’ve personally explored many wildly different narratives about COVID-19, and here I’ve prepared for you a smorgasbord of links for trans-narrative exploration.
Note: It’s good to be deliberate about how you learn about this thing.
Aimlessly scrolling social media for hours is likely to corrode your sovereignty and sense-making capacity. Use social media very prudently during this time (and in general).
I recommend spending very little time aimlessly scrolling feeds but rather checking the pages/profiles/sites of individual creators/thinkers who are especially strong at sense-making.
Also, don’t be too quick to latch onto a story or position about what is happening, including the story I’m putting forth here.
Again: I don’t believe my own story.
I hold it loosely as one ever-refining map that inevitably cannot contain the Territory of Reality.
The mind desperately wants to cling to a story or position to create a false sense of control and security.
However, dogma sabotages responsiveness.
By dwelling comfortably in a space of Not Knowing, both now and in general, you remain open to new information and can continually refine your maps and approaches.
All right, with that being said, here are the links I find most useful for understanding what is happening, while also holding space for many different perspectives.
Treat this as a buffet of rabbit holes and pursue the ones that seem most likely to challenge or add nuance to your current map. Do beware of info-overload; take a step back from researching COVID-19 if you’re at capacity.
Again, take what is useful and resonant; let go of the rest.
And don’t fall into the trap of dismissing a given thinker simply because you disagree with one of their points.
Here we go:
1. Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now by Thomas Pueyo
This Medium essay is widely lauded as one of the best synopses of what is happening. It went viral, amassing 40+ million views so far, due to its comprehensive synthesis of a large amount of data and research on the COVID-19 situation. It’s easy to understand and provides a wealth of helpful insight and information. I also highly recommend reading the follow-up.
2. Beyond the Coronavirus — with Charles Eisenstein and Sayer Ji
If I could choose just one conversation for the world to listen to, to supplement their current understanding of what is happening, it might be this one. This is a high-frequency, paradigm-shifting conversation that will likely challenge your views and show you that reality is not . It expanded and opened doors in my understanding of health, biology, sickness, healing/medicine, science/scientism, metaphysics/ontology, and epistemology. I also highly recommend Eisenstein’s brilliant essay, ‘The Coronation.’
3. Early Thoughts on a Pandemic — with Sam Harris and Amesh Adalja
One of the most enlightening pieces I’ve found on coronavirus. In this podcast, Sam Harris interviews Amesh Adalja, an epidemiologist (disease/pandemic expert) from Johns Hopkins. Highly illuminating for me was Adalja’s assertion that the death rate for those who get coronavirus is likely 0.6% or less, far lower than a lot of other numbers being thrown around. Still, though, if the virus spreads exponentially, even a 0.6% death rate could kill millions globally. Adalja also asserts that the panic around coronavirus could be much more destructive than the virus itself. It’s really worth your time to listen to this.
4. Situational Assessment: Right Now by Jordan Hall
I already linked this fantastic piece a couple times at the beginning of this article. It’s the best synopsis I’m aware of that looks at COVID-19 in the context of the larger Systemic Meta-Crisis we’re experiencing. Jordan Hall, a katana-sharp seer, has been tracking the meta-crisis for years. If you want to understand the larger systemic implications of COVID-19, read this. I also highly recommend following Jordan Hall on Facebook for ongoing updates, as well as joining the Game B sense-making community on Facebook (co-birthed by Hall).
5. Covid 19 Situational Assessment, Risk Landscape, and Possible Solutions — with Daniel Schmachtenberger
In my estimation, Daniel Schmachtenberger is one of the greatest sense-makers and visionaries of our age. In this interview with Rebel Wisdom, he lays out one of the world’s most nuanced high-level accounts of what is happening. His Facebook posts, like this one and this one, have been excellent ongoing high-signal reflections on what is happening. I also recommend this thread he started for considering alternative narratives on what is happening. ‘Mind Viruses During a Pandemic‘ is another great short article he wrote on the various fallacies and cognitive biases that are clouding people’s discernment when it comes to making sense of COVID-19. I highly recommend following Daniel Schmachtenberger on Facebook.
6. Processing the Grief of COVID-19 by Mike Gilliland
Mike Gilliland of the Future Thinkers is a brilliant, clear-seeing, high-sovereignty thinker who is worth paying attention to. Here he writes an important piece reflecting on the emotional effects of the crisis and how to deal with them. I highly recommend following Mike Gilliland on Facebook and Twitter, joining the Future Thinkers Facebook group and Discord community, and checking out the Future Thinkers’ courses on shadow work, sovereignty, and personal evolution.
7. COVID-19: The Basics You Need to Know by Euvie Ivanova
Euvie Ivanova of the Future Thinkers, like her husband Mike Gilliland, is a razor-sharp, high-sovereignty thinker/seer who is worth paying attention to. Here she writes an excellent short piece succinctly outlining the most fundamental need-to-know information about COVID-19. I highly recommend following Euvie Ivanova on Facebook and Twitter, joining the Future Thinkers Facebook group and Discord community, and checking out the Future Thinkers’ courses on shadow work, sovereignty, and personal evolution.
For fundamental info on slowing the spread of COVID-19, avoiding getting it, and treating it, I also Naturopathic Recommendations Regarding the 2019 Novel Coronavirus.
8. A Message to Help Dispel Fear by Kelly Brogan
Now for a curveball. Warning: This video will likely challenge your cherished beliefs. Kelly Brogan is an unorthodox, renegade psychiatrist whose worldview was turned upside down when she discovered German New Medicine, the body of work of the late Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer. I don’t presently align entirely with Kelly’s map here, but I find a lot of what she says deeply resonant, and I encourage you to watch this with a wide open mind and let it marinate for a while.
I first learned of German New Medicine from one of the greatest healers/teachers I’ve ever met. Based on her explanations and my own research, I see German New Medicine as containing profound insights into the nature of health, sickness, and healing that massively undermine many fundamental assumptions of modern Western Medicine.
“Too much civilization makes sick animals.”
— Carl Jung
9. Resilience in Time of Crisis — with Jamie Wheal, David Fuller, et al.
I highly recommend following Rebel Wisdom, a sense-making/filmmaking outlet that has rapidly become one of my favorites online. They’re already producing a lot of great coverage of the unfolding COVID-19 crisis, including this film with the ultra-lucid Jamie Wheal, as well as this one on sense-making coronavirus, and others.
10. Coronavirus: Do Not Fear the Bogeyman by Bruce Lipton
Bruce Lipton is a widely-admired renegade biologist whose work seems to keep finding its way to me, via people I trust. Here he lays out a fascinating perspective on coronavirus, noting that the fear of the disease may be more deadly than the disease itself, and that stress is responsible for up to 90% of illness.
11. Claim Your Birthright to be a Wild Being Thriving on Earth by Jiro Taylor
I love Jiro Taylor: A lucid seer and katana-sharp intellect, he has his fingers to the pulse of the zeitgeist and has been dropping deeply resonant truth-bombs consistently since I first found his work ~1-2 years ago. All his recent Facebook updates about coronavirus are worth reading: Start with this one, this one, this one, and this one. I also recommend joining his Facebook group, FlowTribe. Also, definitely watch this other amazing high-frequency video he dropped a couple days ago.
12. Stay Conscious. Stay Sovereign. by Juliet Tang
Juliet Tang has rapidly become one of the humans I’m paying the most attention to. She is a deeply embodied, highly intuitive entrepreneur and psychonaut who is truly in tune with this moment in our planetary history. Her main focus is on mentoring conscious, mission-driven entrepreneurs to step into their power and level up their businesses and impact, so a lot of her content focuses on that dimension of who she is. This powerful post, though, is purely about remembering our power and sovereignty during these uncertain times. I highly recommend following her on Facebook. I also recommend watching this podcast she and I recorded on how to stay Sovereign during these times of great change.
13. A Channeled Message From the Coronavirus by Jeff Vander Clute
This beautiful short read is purportedly a channeled message from the coronavirus itself. In recent years I’ve read and listened to a lot of channeled messages and have found in many of them profound and useful insights. So whether or not you ‘believe in’ channeled messages, it’s worth reading this with an open mind and heart to see if it resonates.
14. About the Coronavirus — An Ascended Master’s Perspective by Adamus Saint-Germain
When someone sent me this link, I had not heard of Adamus Saint-Germain, and I do not know if he is an ascended master. In any case, this is another fascinating mystical take on the potential higher purposes of the COVID-19 crisis. Worth a listen.
15. Coronavirus: The Real Risks and Human Biases Behind the Panic by Mark Manson
Mark Manson is a sharp thinker and a generally funny, good dude. I’ve followed his work for years. Here he wrote a great analysis of the fundamentals of COVID-19 and some of the human biases at play in our response to it.
16. How Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg sees the current Corona pandemic
This punchy 10-minute video succinctly presents some key questions and considerations that challenge the standard view on what coronavirus is and how we should respond to it. Excellent food for thought. To go deeper, check out: 26 Questions to Ask About Coronavirus and 12 Experts Who Question the Coronavirus Panic. And if you’d like to go super deep down the psychedelic-occult-coronavirus-skepticism rabbit hole, read Corona Fear Virus and the Forces of Illness.
17. Message from White Eagle, Hopi indigenous on 03/16/2020
This is a powerful short read from a Hopi indigenous tribesman on understanding these times of Great Transition and how one can either “fall into a hole” now, or “step through a portal.”
18. Finding the Middle Way When a Global Pandemic Strikes by HighExistence
Three of the wisest and smartest humans I know—Jon Brooks, Eric Brown, and Mike Slavin—sit down and have a great conversation about COVID-19, spirituality, and other topics.
19. Note to the World: This Virus Could Save the Planet by Samuel Austin
Sam Austin, another wise and razor-sharp friend, is the founder of Live Learn Evolve (recommended) and wrote a great piece on the world-saving opportunity presented by this Great Disruption of normalcy.
20. Coronavirus Infographic Pack by Information is Beautiful
This is a great set of infographics that nicely capture a lot of the fundamental official data about COVID-19.
21. Humanity’s Phase Shift — with Daniel Schmachtenberger
Shifting now into the deeper context around COVID-19, this 30-minute podcast is a stunningly lucid download from Daniel Schmachtenberger on where we stand as a species and why we must ‘phase shift’ to a higher level of collective wisdom to meet our present challenges. It’s time to birth a regenerative, anti-fragile, omni-win-win global civilization.
22. 25 Podcast Episodes That Taught Me More Than My Entire Formal Education
For more deep context to understand the present global transition, of which COVID-19 is one puzzle piece, here is a list I compiled of 25 of the most illuminating and educational podcast episodes I’ve ever found. Including more from: Rebel Wisdom, Future Thinkers, Daniel Schmachtenberger, Jordan Hall, and Sam Harris, as well as Charles Eisenstein, Pema Chodron, Eckhart Tolle, David Hawkins, Ken Wilber, and Dennis McKenna.
23. Jordan Hall Explains Why Humanity Might Be on the Verge of Global Collapse
Here’s a piece I wrote in which I introduced Jordan Hall’s framework for understanding our present situation and excerpted a long passage from one of his interviews with the Future Thinkers. And here’s one more piece I wrote—The Ultimatum of the 21st Century: Why Humanity Must Level Up or Self-Destruct—to articulate our present global situation. Both of these pieces contain long lists of links for going further down the “save the world” rabbit hole.
24. Collective Sensemaking in an Age of Existential Risk — with Jamie Wheal
Previously a members-only lecture, Rebel Wisdom just made this one public yesterday, and goddamn, it is a humdinger. Amazingly insightful, humorous, eloquent, pragmatic, and more relevant than ever now, in light of COVID-19.
25. Existential Risks: Analyzing Human Extinction Scenarios and Related Hazards by Nick Bostrom
If you’d like to take an ocean-deep dive into the domain of understanding global-catastrophic risks, Nick Bostrom is probably the most canonical, comprehensive thinker on the subject. This paper will pry your eyes open to the way in which we are truly “playing with fire” at this high-tech moment in human history.
Thank You For Being Here
“Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?The Master doesn’t seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting,
she is present, and can welcome all things.”— Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
One thing seems clear: We’re living through a Major Disruption of Business-as-Usual—or a “major liminal event,” as Jordan Hall called it.
This is jarring, though it is also ripe soil for testing our global Resilience, stepping into our Power and Sovereignty, and finding the many other hidden opportunities that undoubtedly exist within this transition.
Destruction breeds Creation.
Rather than giving in to panic or floating away in spiritual bypassing, it’s time to integrate these polarities and find the Middle Way of Sovereignty.
What we are witnessing feels like some sort of quantum leap to a new paradigm.
The pace of change is dizzying and many people are getting sick with it.
There’s nothing to hold onto, and there’s no floor either, so we fall…
Or we swan dive gracefully…
Through the Abyss.
Always it is this way, but usually we don’t notice, spending our lives hiding from the realities of groundlessness and impermanence.
Until something un-ignorable comes along and smacks us awake.
That is what is happening now.
When I drop back from all the human stories and infinitely-reductive mental maps…
When I drop back into the Silence beyond all this monkey-mind chatter…
I feel the presence of God, of an Infinite Intelligence in Nature that dwarfs the conscious monkey mind as an Ocean dwarfs a puddle.
And when I feel that Presence, I know that all is unfolding precisely as it needs to be, now and in every moment, here and forevermore.
And when I channel that frequency, dropping all the stories of the mind, I feel a Trust and Strength and Universal Love in my system that no mental story has ever given me.
A Trust and Strength and Love that will allow me to do whatever I need to do, in my context, in the coming times.
Above all, for me, transmitting that frequency to others is what feels most important at this time.
I am not presently afraid of what is happening.
I am surrendered to it and trusting the wisdom of Nature.
We have been living in a Time of Great Transition for many decades.
This truth is now much more apparent to the great mass of humanity.
I feel Strong, Sovereign, Adaptive, In Flow, ready for whatever comes.
Thank you all for being here and holding space for me, for each other, and for yourselves, as we navigate this odd chapter of human history, in this ever-surprising Dance of Life.
Sending a lot of Love to everyone.
We will make it through this Rite of Passage, and we will learn a hell of a lot in the process.
If you appreciated this, you’ll likely appreciate my (free) book, Coronavirus, Enlightenment, and the Planetary Transition.
About Jordan Bates
Jordan Bates is a Lover of God, healer, mentor of leaders, writer, and music maker. The best way to keep up with his work is to join nearly 7,000 people who read his Substack newsletter.
