The Age of Aquarius (06)｜Identity in Crisis: Blue Witch on Free Will vs. Fate and Illusion of Self

This episode delves into Neptune’s 14-year transit through Aries, where humanity faces an unprecedented crisis of self-identity. We unravel the illusion of free will, the virtualization of choice, and the spiritual alienation brought by AI-driven systems. As technological determinism reshapes our reality, how can we resist the dissolution of individuality and rediscover authentic freedom? Join me as we explore the intersection of fate, free will, and the boundless potential of the human spirit.

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Transcript

A new perspective on Neptune in Aries. Unlike typical annual forecasts, I offer a fresh interpretation of Neptune's transit through Aries. Building on the context of the Mercury, Uranus, Pluto archetype discussed earlier. Perhaps the most fitting way to understand Neptune in Aries is through the lens of the ultimate loss of selfidentity and the illusion of free will. This theme central to my discussions in Pluto series first house and Pluto series 12th house continues to resonate strongly. Jose Arcaddio's fervor was crushed. He saw it as a cruel gest by fate a taunt from destiny. After making immense sacrifices and enduring countless hardships in search of the sea, it now appeared before him not as a dream fulfilled but as an insurmountable obstacle. Somehow how without knowing when or how, his plans became entangled in a web of excuses, delays, and resistance until they ultimately dissolved into fantasy. The battle between willpower and fate, Mars Neptune's ultimate struggle. The protagonist of the Mars and Neptune archetype faces a lifelong conflict. The violent assertion of willpower, Mars Aries, versus the inevitability of external forces. es Neptune Pisces. This constant tension bound by a sense of fate fosters deep skepticism toward the concept of free will today. This existential battle becomes a universal theme for humanity as we collectively embark on a 14-year journey under Neptune in Aries. Does this signify the dawn of a post-free will era? In modern society, particularly within Western civilization, there is a strong emphasis on individual independence. and the perception of the self as an entity distinct from the external world. This sense of separation stems from an attachment to one's personal identity. Alan Watts highlights that clinging to the illusion of the self intensifies modern anxiety. Moreover, this anxiety often arises from an obsessive pursuit of life's meaning. The isolation and fragmented nature of the self become the root of much unease. The solution lies in transcending self-imposed limitations and entering a state of connection with all things. Breaking free from the narrow confines of the ego, we can embrace the expansive perspectives of pantheism and toist philosophy, recognizing that the self is merely an illusion and that all beings are fundamentally interconnected. A wave is an individual, but the Dao is the ocean. This resonates with my own reflection. A wave is the ocean. struggle. Perhaps this long Neptune in Aries transit is here to guide humanity into awakening to this truth, teaching us collectively to embrace our oneness with the vast boundless hall. The most crucial confrontation in life is with the self. Who am I? In Pluto series first house, I wrote selfidentity is a fundamental inquiry into who am I? It is the recognition and articulation of one's core self rooted in personal experiences of body and mind. When you fail to understand yourself clearly, you become vulnerable to external values, lost in the judgments and expectations of others. This question of a stable self inevitably touches upon the ship of thesis paradox. Is the self constant or is it ever changing? Non-attachment versus negation of the self. The concept of no self advocates a practice of letting go, but it should never be mistaken for passivity or a complete negation of the self. Non-attachment is not indifference. Rather, it is an acknowledgement of the self's fluid nature. It invites us to fully experience the flow of life and align with our inner intuition, enabling us to navigate reality with greater freedom and authenticity. This is about discovering the truest version of ourselves in the process of living. living the crisis of selfidentity in the next 14 years. In the coming era of Neptune in Aries, humanity will face a profound crisis of identity. As individual existence becomes increasingly abstract, we may turn to machines to provide our sense of identity and purpose instead of seeking meaning through self-reflection. This reliance on technology risks externalizing self-recognition, stripping away the inner processes of self-discovery. In the age of AI, the most profound form of alienation will be the complete dissolution of the self, encompassing personality, identity, self-awareness, and independent thought. The disappearance of the self, a false freedom, the ultimate freedom offered by the disappearance of the self is not a meaningful liberation. It is the complete abandonment of spiritual autonomy. Humanity may cease to ask who am I and instead unquestioningly accept what should I become? In this world of technological and collective manipulation, finding one's true self will become the greatest spiritual challenge for humanity. The ultimate loss of identity could culminate in the most fundamental question. Why do I exist? Why do I fight?

The virtualization of free will. When it comes to free will and the sense of destiny, one of my favorite sayings is, "Son Wukong leaped 108,000 m only to find himself still within Buddha's palm." Similarly, humanity's illusion of free will ultimately cannot escape the workings of the Dao. Today, in our pursuit of technological convenience and unlimited freedom, we've quietly fallen into the grasp of machines. The true god of the 12th house Pisces from the age of Pisces is handing over the baton to the false god of the 11th house Aquarius in the age of Aquarius. Yet to dissolve into the Dao is fundamentally different from submitting to machines. No self and non-self must not be conflated. The transformation of free will. Free will is the ability of an individual to actively control their actions and choices shaping their life through through independent thought and decision-m. But now it is shifting from autonomous choice to systematic self- adaptation. The battle between human free will and technological determinism has already begun. The water is warming and the frog is starting to boil. Sensitive as I am, I've long sensed the danger. Never underestimate the harm of the information echo chamber. In a world ruled by technological determinism. All individual preferences, choices, and actions are increasingly manipulated by data streams and predictive models. The very concept of free will is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Free will is no longer an independent self-directed phenomenon. Instead, it becomes a preset freedom optimized by collective intelligence. What was once an intrinsic spiritual state is now an illusion of autonomy orchestrated by external systems. Freedom in its truest sense risks becoming nothing more than a simulation. In an AIdriven society, human free will is often preemptively shaped before any action takes place. Big data predicts individual behavior patterns in advance and subtly manipulates choices through tailored content and guidance. Each time you make a choice, the system adjusts its recommendations to reinforce and deepen specific behavioral tendencies. This means that every decision, thought, or action you take is influenced, if not entirely framed, by the shadows of algorithms and data analytics, a form of voluntary compliance within a pre-esigned framework. This phenomenon creates what can be described as an information bubble, a closed loop system of options. It's no longer an open-ended question, but a multiplechoice test, a controlled choice framework. Individual awareness and decisionm become confined within this framework. Feedback mechanisms further reinforce the illusion of choice, nudging you along a predetermined path. Are you really making choices or merely following the options engineered for you? This is the virtualization of choice where individual freedom is reduced to reliance on and submission to machine systems. Subtly this results in a kind of mental conditioning gradual manipulation of free will. The more transparent and pervasive surveillance becomes, the more human autonomy is undermined. Over time, freedom itself is redefined or worse, forgotten entirely. This is the ultimate consequence of excessive artificial control. A world where human freedom is no longer about genuine agency, but about obedience to a system that dictates what freedom means. The spiritual deadlock, a perfect virtual world. As augmented and virtual realities evolve, humanity may find itself immersed in a second life within the metaverse. People will increasingly rely on these virtual worlds to reconstruct their identities and social roles, altering their personality traits, and swapping personas to explore various lifestyles and relationships. This fluidity of virtual identities will blur the lines between multiple digital personas and the authentic self, leaving individuals a drift in a vague in between. In these spaces, people become their idealized perfect characters and selectively showcase a curated version of themselves. But who is that really? This isn't the transcendence of no self. It's the entrapment of nonself. Instead of seeking the true self from within, individuals are drawn into an endless cycle of super acrificial constructions, the genuine experiences and intrinsic emotions of individual existence will gradually vanish. Humanity will find itself in a digital paradise that at its core contradicts the essence of human existence, a place where the ultimate spiritual deadlock of the human soul will be felt. It reminds me of the hall of mirrors in 100 years of solitude. Wasn't Marquez portraying through this imagery the blurry self identity of the Mars Neptune man lost in their labyrinth. This metaphor resonates deeply with humanity's current fiery era where desperate symbols seem to converge toward the same truth. Imagine seeking solace in a dream of infinite rooms. You see yourself rising from bed, opening the door, and entering another identical room with the same bed of rot iron, the same cane chair, and the same image of the Virgin on the back wall. From one room you step into another identical one and then another repeating this cycle endlessly. He found comfort in walking through these rooms as if wandering through a hall of mirrors. But in this infinite reflection, where does the self end and the illusion begin? Could this be our fate to wander through reflections of reflections until we forget what lies at the core of our being? Perhaps the perfect virtual world is less a utopia. and more the final solitude of the soul. The mechanized happiness and the meaningless life. One day in the future, the gods of the age of Aquarius, wielding data as their ultimate tool, may engineer a grand illusion, the illusion of happiness. Yet, I firmly believe that the last refuge of life's meaning, lies in creation. But AI threatens to strip humanity of this ultimate purpose. When AI fully replaces creators, the joy of life will no longer stem from personal creation. The time once spent crafting, imagining, and building will be consumed by hollow consumer culture. Moments of stillness once reserved for reflection or genuine living will be stolen, filled instead with carefully curated entertainment, endless data streams, and fabricated virtual experiences. In this world, our true personal space will be obliterated. Desires and actions will cease to be organic, spontaneous, or deeply personal. Instead, they will emerge from algorithmic manipulation calibrated by datadriven models. This engineering of desire is in truth a form of self-deprivation, a profound assault on human free will. Beneath the standardized mask of happiness lies the stark suppression of authentic needs. In the end, The individual will not only lose the right to desire freely, but may even surrender the will to actively live as themselves. The price we pay for this era of sensory entertainment and virtual escapism will be the erosion of humanity's innate sensitivity. Both spiritual depth and the authenticity of our sensory experiences will suffer unprecedented impoverishment. This spiritual baronness will alienate us from the real world. In Independent critical thinking will gradually fade and with it our ability to maintain self-awareness. When humanity loses the ability to choose and explore freely, life itself loses its meaning. AIdriven custom emotions and the hollowing of the human experience. AI now offers customized emotional experiences, turning even our deepest feelings into fast food style commodities. Yet, no matter how precise these emotions seem, they remain mere simulations. Quantified emotions are hollow, incapable of touching the soul. When emotions no longer arise from real interactions and perceptions, but are manufactured by algorithms, how terrifying is that? It reminds me of the hollow performance of NPD individuals. As this happens, the authenticity of our emotional world will erode. Genuine depth is replaced by a superficial perfection, leaving life dull and uninspired. When Everything becomes effortless and we no longer face complex emotional turbulence or inner struggles. Our ability to deeply feel life will diminish. After all, inner conflict and desire are the fertile soil from which vitality and creativity spring. This curated form of happiness begs the question, can it truly dispel the emptiness and unease within us? As we grow dependent on these flattened emotional experiences, our longing for profound feelings will fade. Human relationships will become increasingly shallow, like fleeting whispers in the wind. A predictable and frictionless life compresses both our sense of existence and vitality. A seemingly conflict-free, painless society robs individuals of true freedom and the depth of life's experiences. Human emotions were never meant to be perfectly optimized. The beauty of life lies in its imperfections. When we lose the ability to derive strength and wisdom from genuine pain, our spiritual world becomes shallow and hollow. We lose the capacity to regenerate ourselves, falling into a profound spiritual desolation. Suffering, confusion, and emotional turmoil are integral to the human experience. As Schopenhau once said, pain is the ballast of life's ship. Without it, the lightness of Aquarius era existence may ultimately break the world. If reality's essence is emptiness, then the purpose of life is to embrace all its uncertainties. Yet, there exists a final alienation, technologies total erosion of what it means to be human. When this happens, we risk losing humanity's true essence, the power to transcend pain, to explore existence, and to create and break boundaries within the finite span of our lives. In the end, Humanity will be forced to return to a question posed in the pages of literature. What after all are we fighting for? Fight for what? It was only much later that I came to understand a comment made by my exmp with a south node Aquarius moon Neptune Mars type wrestling with their own existential crisis. Fight for what? And then another haunting sentiment. Why must life be so unbearably long?