E9: Blue Belt - The World's Highest Artform

This belt reveals the highest artform that enables society to achieve its ultimate end goal. This belt enables the practitioner to handle the greatest obstacles like the ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids. 

In this episode, we'll touch on the following topics:

• leadership
• discernment
• the patron mobius strip
• the patron arc
• the civilization arc
• Shakespeare
• Picasso
• da Vinci 
• van Gogh

Visit www.moxiefrontier.com for related resources.

Transcript

© 2025 Marc Bubel

Welcome back to Meta Zen. The mental martial art. The philosophy of life.

This episode introduces the Blue Belt.

I am your host and mentor, Marc Bubel.

As we are now at the Blue Belt for Meta Zen, we’ve made significant progress. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Remember, however, this podcast is just training. Applying ourselves with perseverance is all we do as members of the Meta Zen community.

Have you been persevering? 

Notice, the only one listening to your answer is yourself. You might as well be honest.

Episodes 1 through 5 were for the early protégés of Meta Zen. Protégés received an introduction, a clear understanding of the ultimate end goal of everything we do and developed the most sophisticated ambition. 

Beginning in episode 6, protégés were introduced to the Meta Zen community and they were welcomed as members. 

Episode 6 was like finding a long-abandoned temple in the mountains. Through our exploration of the temple, we learn what community life was like.

Episode 7 informed us how to decode our history using harmonics and how to encode our future using the mechanisms of higher consciousness. 

In episode 8, we found some useful artifacts. One artifact happens to be patronage, which is what establishes a golden age and sustains it for some time.

In this episode, our concentration is on the artform for patrons. This will enable patrons to leave the world of trial and error behind. They’ll learn how they contribute to creating the world’s largest interactive art project.

Let’s get the training started.

Leadership

A patron is simply a leader with financial resources. 

We’re all leaders. When we show our kids how to tie their laces, we’re being a leader by buying the shoes and teaching the art of tying laces.

Refer to the chart you drew in your journal for White Belt lesson 2.

Leaders from our past were centered on trust. Leaders of the future are centered on certainty. Leaders of the present are somewhere on this line persevering toward the top right, which enables future generations. When they rest on their laurels, they indulge and slide down to the bottom left.

In the chart, can we write the word mentor next to the word science? What word would we place next to the word pseudoscience? Dictator, maybe?

Patrons are always driven to do something good for the world and they use their intuition to develop the art of the patron as best as they can. Now that they have Meta Zen, they will complete their training and their artform.

Discernment 

When we look at the history of golden ages, the early underground patrons concentrated on developing intellectualism and the first mainstream patrons concentrated on creating culture. 

Regardless of the patron, they would put a stimulus, time or money, into the world and they would see the byproduct of what their stimulus would create. As their golden age grew older, indulgent predecessors gave no consideration to future generations. This enabled the law of diminishing returns to appear, encouraged future patrons to be envious, and the golden age faded away.

An obstacle patrons from our past had was that they had intermediate goals. They indulged in the ignorance of bliss. As a result, later generations became stranded by the law of diminishing returns. Their idle minds became the devil's workshop, figuratively speaking, and later patrons lost their way.

The people have spoken, they always have and they always will

What is patronage?

First, know that money is the storage of time. 

The patrons of the underground world gave their own time and created an emergence worthy to become mainstream.

Later patrons used monetary stimulus to enable people to continue using their time, which turns the emergence into a golden age. This is the style of patronage that existed at the start of golden ages, which is on the path that leads to the World's Greatest Moonshot.

While people can be wrong, as they are part of a murmuration, they adapt and send pulses that course correct just like how a starling murmuration flows through the sky. These pulses enable the murmuration to change direction toward the World’s Greatest Moonshot.

In contrast, a person or small group that directs instead of enables doesn't listen and adapt. This replaces the murmuration with a juggernaut filled with people that comply. While the intention is good, this is the downward spiral that leads to the end of the golden age. 

Future generations need to spend more money to undo what was done, which leads to the decline of economic prosperity.

The patron mobius strip

Patronage is a Mobius strip. 

In summary, a Mobius strip is a circular flat object that has a twist in it so that it has one surface and two sides. Look it up if you're not sure what it is.

Imagine, on one side of a mobius strip, we start repeatedly writing the words cultural and intellectual prosperity and on the other side we start repeatedly writing the words economic prosperity. In a short period of time, we see a puzzle. But, it’s not a puzzle at all to a person with objectivity. 

Economic prosperity is a storage of time and stimulating cultural and intellectual prosperity is how we spend that time. 

That's the Patron Mobius Strip.

The artform for the patron is to solve the riddle of prosperity.

The patron arc

As patronage continues from generation to generation, there is a concept called the Patron Arc. Understanding this concept is how patrons solve the riddle of prosperity. 

In simple terms, the Patron Arc is like a relay race where runners pass a baton from one runner to the next. In the Patron Arc, patrons pass the Patron Artform from generation to generation until the World’s Greatest Moonshot is achieved.

Here is an overview of the Patron Arc so that it is as transparent as possible.

Patrons exist throughout each golden age. The first patrons see the greatest innovations, whereas the patrons towards the end receive the results of the innovations. The transformation is so gradual that it’s imperceptible from generation to generation. 

As the transformation is imperceptible, later patrons have no cue for them to develop their artform. Therefore, the mindset of patrons needs to be set…
now. 

Patrons are to become artists like Shakespeare, Picasso, da Vinci, van Gogh and many more. 

Patronage is to be in the context of the positive-sum game, which was discussed in episode 2. Patrons are to benefit everyone without an advantage given to anyone nor group, nor generation.

Rest assured, perfection isn’t a requirement. This is like learning to dance. Earlier patrons develop their skill and pass their skill on to the next generation and the skill continues to improve. It’s a gradual process.

The first patrons would buy Meta Zen stickers and they would place them where people can see them. 

Notice, these first patrons are making a small investment into their future. This efficiency in spending is an essential feature. 

When they see the stickers, they appreciate it like an art lover appreciates art. 

When two people notice each other has a sticker, they smile as they notice the patron artform is progressing. 

Then there are three people with Meta Zen stickers. This is when the first signs of momentum appear.

You know where this is going. This creates an underground cultural movement where aficionados express the philosophy through every aspect of their life. 

This cultural movement continues to get bigger and bigger that a large-scale patron wants to get involved.

Up until now, the mindset is set right. Patrons are enabling the current generation to enjoy life the way it is meant to be…in the present.

When large-scale patrons have taken notice and they want to get involved, they think the cultural movement needs to go mainstream.

Here is the fork in the road.

One fork leads to The World’s Greatest Moonshot and the other fork leads to the inevitable decline of the golden age. 

To take the fork that leads to The World’s Greatest Moonshot, patrons need to play the positive-sum game with future patrons through their patronage. This is a skill like juggling 5 balls. They begin by juggling 3 then they dedicate themselves to juggle 5.

To become skilled in the artform and solve the riddle of prosperity, patrons seek a mentor skilled in Meta Zen, like a Black Belt. This is something our ancestors had done.

In the most simple terms, the positive-sum game is played by people who are objective. 

The hardest part of enabling positive-sum games is that it’s in the second harmonic.

Remember the rope analogy discussed in episode 6. Negative-sum games are easy games to play. It’s the first harmonic. All we need to do is argue and let the most bullying argument win. Simple.

To play positive-sum games, there needs to be a critical mass of objective people that enable the group to be objective. The critical mass could be established through one leader, a few dedicated Meta Zen sticker aficionados or the majority.

Notice, when a group is objective and plays positive-sum games, the second harmonic becomes easy to maintain. 

The next challenge is to do it again and again. When there is a culture of objectivity, this will be easy. Until then, it takes perseverance to restore the second harmonic.

To make the patron artform easier, Meta Zen has a resource for c-suite leaders.

To view an overview of this resource, visit moxiefrontier.com, download the Collaboration as a User Experience resource, and review it before continuing.

Pause now.

Collaboration as a User Experience creates a culture of objectivity in the workplace.

Making it easy 

Remember the standing wave analogy used in Episode 6. It was used to describe the difference between an individual and a member of a murmuration. The individual is the first harmonic and the member of a murmuration is the second harmonic. It also describes how civilization as my generation knows it is in the first harmonic and its second harmonic is The World's Greatest Moonshot.

The Seven Levels Of Ambition are seven harmonics.

The Five Mechanisms Of Higher Consciousness are five harmonics.

Collaboration as a User experience consists of three harmonics with each harmonic consisting of seven harmonics.

There are many other harmonics in Meta Zen and elsewhere in the world. Rene Descartes’ Four Precepts is among the most underappreciated in my opinion and I’ll discuss it in Episode 12.

Harmonics are a fascinating topic.

The benefit of harmonics is that they make things easier to understand. 

As the patron artform is the most sophisticated artform, I did some digging and discovered it has 10 harmonics. Coincidentally, I found four harmonics for murmurations as a result of this effort. Patrons and murmurations have a resonance together.

To help you follow along, find a blank page spread in your journal.

On the left page on the far right, write the numbers 1 through 10 on separate lines and put the letter P before each number. If the page has 20 lines, write on every other line. Turn those numbers into boxes such that the edges of the boxes are touching. 

These represent the 10 harmonics for patrons. 

Just to the left of these boxes, we’ll put the four harmonics for murmurations.

Beside P2, write M1.

Beside P5, write M2.

Beside P7, write M3.

Beside P10, write M4.

The box that goes around M1 begins at the edge between P1 and P2 and ends at the edge between box P4 and P5.

The box for M2 begins where M1 left off and continues to the edge between P6 and P7.

The box for M3 Begins where M2 left off and continues to the edge between P9 and P10.

The box for M4 is beside the box for P10.

You'll write your notes on the right page for the 10 patron harmonics and write your notes on the left for the 4 murmuration harmonics. I'll summarize both at the end.

 | P1
M1 | P2
P3
P4
M2 | P5
P6
M3 | P7
P8
P9
M4 | P10

The harmonics are as follows:

The first harmonic for a patron is efficiently spending the storage of time. It can be at any dollar value ranging from buying Meta Zen stickers to implementing Collaboration as a User Experience. 

Notice, the first harmonic resonates with the first level of Flow-State Ambition. It’s actions speak louder than words.

(snap)

We’ve got people’s attention because we are applying ourselves and we're proud of it.

But, as we’re all content creators today, our attention span has gotten short. Thus, the audience jumps around looking for something, anything that is meaningful. 

Notice, the Meta Zen sticker is curious. But does it lead to the third mechanism of higher consciousness? The patron is uncovering what enables the audience to make up their own minds in harmony with the patron’s artform.

When the patron finds the resonance with the audience, she’s found the second harmonic. I call it the fireside chat. It might not be expressed with words but it comes with the warmth of camaraderie that enables the audience to lean forward to hear every detail. Like your most admired mentor listening to what you have to say and unlocking something inside of you that propels you forward.

This becomes the first harmonic for a murmuration.

The third harmonic for a patron is hardcore honesty. This is when patrons reveal what they don’t know…when they don’t know. 

Hiding our fallibility is the return of Conventional Ambition. It burdens others with our shortcomings. 

Through hardcore honesty…expressed as a metanarrative, the patron attracts objective conversations, which is the fourth harmonic. 

When objective conversations are had, different points of view are learned and this knowledge enables collaborative forethought. 

Imagine welcoming all points of view and exercising forethought that validates all contributions. That is when a patron achieves the fifth harmonic.

The fifth harmonic shifts the murmuration into its second harmonic and we call it a movement. This intimidates people with Conventional Ambition who turn on the witchhunt of crab mentality to maintain their power.

When the patron begins enabling conversations between people who express narratives, she achieves the sixth harmonic. 

When the patron notices others enabling conversations between people who express narratives and she expresses gratitude toward them, the patron now knows for certain who’s onboard with achieving The World's Greatest Moonshot. This is when the patron achieves the seventh harmonic.

Now that the patron knows who's fully onboard, this is when she can have metanarrative conversations with others. When two or more people have metanarrative conversations, they are starting to form a murmuration in its third harmonic. 

To fully realize the third harmonic for a murmuration, the participants only have conversations; they don’t help each other. 

That's right, they don't help each other. If they help each other, that’s a narrative that will undermine the murmuration, even when the narrative is well intended. 

The only thing members of a murmuration in the third harmonic do is enable each other. Whatever deserves to exist in the future comes to fruition when we let go of narratives and make up our own minds.

Enablement and help are different things. Here is how these words apply to progressing a murmuration to its third harmonic:

Enablement comes through calming narratives that interfere with objectivity. 

Help is using narratives to fortify another narrative. 

Do note, both words are endpoints on a spectrum. There is a gray area where their meanings overlap. For example, we can help a friend move from one home to another and there are no narratives at play. 

Yet, I’ll leave you with something to reflect on: Do we help a friend move or do we contribute to our friend’s move and enable a swift transition? 

Help seems like the bare minimum. We might help our friend move by using another friend’s moving company, which an outsider might view as favoritism. It’s a small detail for moving, yet at the scale of patronage, favoritism compounds and leads to the end of golden ages. 

To enable your reflection, refer to the topic of favoritism in episode 12.

When the patron knows how murmurations in the third harmonic function, she achieves the eighth harmonic. This becomes the time to scale objectivity forward.

As a reminder, this is a good opportunity to review the resources at moxiefrontier.com as they enable businesses to scale objectivity. When business leaders enable, they become a legend to the family and friends of their team members and possibly for a broader audience.

The ninth harmonic is noticing the harmony between all murmurations. This harmony is the precursor to a murmuration in its fourth harmonic. This tells us we're almost there. 

When patrons notice this harmony, they begin to see where the harmony is weakest. This is where patrons fill the gaps with more enablement. 

Eventually, there are no gaps and we achieve the most basic bridge to The World’s Greatest Moonshot. 

I call this a basic bridge because the first bridge that crosses the gap isn't a guarantee that all generations thereafter will also cross the gap. That higher level of certainty is only achieved through the perseverance discussed in the episodes for the Black Belt. In other words, the Black Belt is what enables a patron to get to the 10th harmonic.

Every patron, everyone honestly, passes through these harmonics. We only get stuck when we are blinded by narratives.

Notice, when the murmuration is in its fourth harmonic and the patron is in the 10th harmonic, our civilization enters its second harmonic. This is a significant insight. We have 3 simple harmonics that have a resonance together. When we find resonance as simple as we have here, we stop using trial and error to achieve progress.

Notice, these harmonics are just the way things are. Finding them was an effort similar to an archaeological dig, not an effort of engineering. It’s a pursuit of the metanarrative. 

Refer to the chart you drew for White Belt Lesson 2. When engineering pursues the ultimate end goal, it's a pursuit of the metanarrative. When engineering pursues a short-term or intermediate goal, it fortifies narratives with other narratives. These are ethical dilemmas, which we’ll discuss in the next episode.

In summary, the line in the chart in White Belt Lesson 2 represents the field and profession of engineering. All engineering projects exist somewhere on this line and the profession wants engineering to lean heavily to the metanarrative side where it is indistinguishable from science and art.

In simple terms, here are the harmonics for the patron:

1. Efficiently spend the storage of time. Remember, actions speak louder than words.
2. Find a resonance with the audience. When they ask great questions and conversations are the result, you’ve found the resonance. 
3. Be honest. Never fake it until you make it.
4. Attract objectivity, which happens when others witness your objectivity. 
5. Enable collaborative forethought.
6. Enable objective conversations between people who express narratives.
7. Express gratitude toward those who enable objective conversations.
8. Have metanarrative conversations and never help each other. Only enable.
9. Scale objectivity. Fill gaps in enablement with more enablement.
10. Enter nirvana as a Black Belt

In simple terms, here are the harmonics for a murmuration

1. Two or more people have a resonance together
2. A movement, which is a change in behavior that contrasts the existing narratives.
3. An aspect of life where objectivity has replaced narratives.
4. The world where objectivity calls the shots the world over.

The civilization arc

There is such a thing as a Civilization Arc. Throughout the history of civilization, it ebbs and flows through golden ages and dark ages. Sometimes civilizations also come and go. 

Did past civilizations achieve The World’s Greatest Moonshot? Good question. 

What we do know is that The World’s Greatest Moonshot is before my generation and maybe yours too. Once our civilization achieves it, it’ll then be a time to pursue the next moonshot of pushing the end of our civilization to the end of time.

Becoming official

This concludes the episode.

To officially complete the blue belt, play exclusively positive-sum games through your patronage. 

As you are enjoying Meta Zen, enable people to stumble upon it. Buy some Meta Zen stickers from moxiefrontier.com and put them where you and others will see them. 

The Meta Zen sticker is our invitation to come back home and make planet earth the benchmark for civilizations across the multiverse.

It's a great time to be alive.