We are at the precipice of a human revolution. Transcending suffering has never been easier, more accessible, and rapid due to advances in psychotherapy, neuroscience, biohacking, psychedelics, and spiritual technology. Now, with the coming age of AI, humanity will have more time and energy to devote to inner work. In fact, this will be demanded of us as AI supersedes the logical faculties of human beings, necessitating us to be more creative, imaginative, artistic, and non-linear in our processing of information to compete. We are approaching the fifth modern age of consciousness.

Before the printing press before the 1500s, achieving enlightenment in one’s lifetime required incredible luck and decades of devoted meditative practice. Great teachers were few and unknown, passing down their wisdom orally. Followers were required to renunciate everything: their desires, aspirations, and even families.

The first age came with the printed word and rapid travel all the way up to the late 1900s. The world gained access to spiritual teachings wide and far. Still, humanity struggled to overcome the base layers of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. People prioritized survival over spirituality in the Agrarian and Industrial Ages. Few had the means to devote time to spiritual pursuits. Who could devote years of their lives to study? Thus, religion and dogma became the only method of transferring spiritual wisdom, paradoxically leading humanity to commit as many atrocities in the name of God as blessings.

With the internet and the Information Age, information became widely available in the second age. Psychotherapy added rigor and science to the process of uncovering protective layers of the human psyche to allow for greater access to Self and presence. Neuroscience honed what worked and didn’t. Technologies of the mind and spirit led to more rapid and greater access to the truth that lays within each of us.

Then, we have the psychedelic revolution. We are in the third modern age of consciousness. Psychedelics have given a direct pathway to temporary states of enlightenment, providing a compass for how to orient ourselves to something far greater than what we perceive to be true. This revolution is still unfolding as access to sacraments like psilocybin mushrooms and ayahuasca become more prolific. What’s more, research and modernization of psychotherapeutic and psychospiritual techniques with entheogens is leading to safer and more durable transformation. For example, Ceremonia leverages the most advanced techniques in psychology and spiritual technology with psilocybin and ayahuasca to accelerate transformation and living one’s Inner Truth, the source of spiritual connection.

But this form of personal development is still inaccessible to most. In our busy lives, how many of us can afford to spend a few months let alone a few days devoted to spiritual pursuits? While we have more means to pursue life beyond base layers of survival, we also have so many more demands of modern living.

This brings us to the fourth modern age of consciousness: the age of AI. We are at the tip of a revolution in consciousness. AI is heralding a future where much of humanity will have enough freedom to explore the depths of their soul. AI will soon represent the culmination of what is possible with linear thinking: logic and computation by computers are already outmatching what humans are capable of in areas like law, medicine, marketing, and writing. Soon, this will be the case for all fields of study.

We are on an exponential trajectory. Many of us may not see it yet. We look to the promise of AI and think: “this will help me save time.” But what will we do with this time? Humanity will soon be gifted the availability to explore non-linear thinking: imagination, creativity, art, and beauty that pours from the soul. In fact, we will be forced into this position as human being will need to compete with AI in something only we can do. The promise of this inevitable future while combined with greater access to psychedelics and spiritual technology will help humanity grow exponentially in consciousness. There is great hope here.

However, this promise co-exists with the likelihood that AI will also generate a great deal of suffering in the interim. Jobs will be displaced. The masses who carry their identities defined by their jobs and skills will soon be challenged to find who they truly are. This challenge will be met with great resistance. There will be poverty, depression, and inequity. There will be suffering.

In Zen Buddhism, suffering is seen as an opportunity for growth. The ability to sit in a place of discomfort and make peace with it is one of the greatest gifts we have. By learning to accept suffering as part of life, we can learn how to use it to our advantage and grow from difficult experiences. At a macro level, this suffering can propel humanity forward to discover ways of finding joy beyond the things we consume or acquire. But it is up to the collection of individuals to want it… to find the courage to grasp at possibilities rather than resist the suffering. Only then can society find a way to progress and create the kind of world we all want to live in.

The initial spark of motivation for the inner work is suffering. There is far more interest in psychotherapy, spirituality, and psychedelics now after the global pandemic. There will be far more interest in pursuing the last remaining bastion of the human experience once AI automates everything externally. We will be challenged to go inwards, or to let ourselves wither away. The grace of this inevitable future is that the inner path bears more peace, joy, and fulfillment that anything external could possibly fulfill. The healing inwards manifests as healing outwards as the energy we have devoted to chasing after desires is applied to pursuing the bliss that only stillness can bring.

Consciousness has been accelerating over the four modern ages. We may not see it yet, but the years to come will make this movement obvious. There is no doubt that the greatest joy and peace one can find is inwards. We lie at the precipice of exponential growth. We will find the singularity of the soul.