January 4, 2023

 I was meditating today when the Green Man appeared. I was deep in a mossy forest dripping with moisture from mists. He stood before, a robust and powerful and mysterious man whose body was made of green wood and leaves. I knew him as a friend and ally as well as possibly a brother. The forest reminded me of my father’s as opposed to my mother’s which is twilit and dark. This forest was somewhat gloomy and foreboding but also familiar and therefore I felt at ease.

The Green Man and I regarded each other for a long time. He stared at me with his beautifully expressive, reddish gold eyes. We embraced each other. It was a chaste embrace, not romantic at all. Like two brothers. I was aware that my ‘body’ appeared differently here. I was very tall and smooth-skinned with long, golden hair. I was completely naked and my body lacked any hair except that on my head. I was also very broad, muscular and powerful. I have no idea why I appeared that way but it is what it is.

I’ve written in here how every time I am invited into the Imaginal, I fret over what to do. I know I’m there for a reason and my mind always strives to figure it out. One of these days, I’ll realize that I don’t need to do anything or worry about a resolution. Whatever happens, happens. How I feel about it makes no difference.

After a while, I noticed that a strange building had appeared in the midst of the forest. It was ultra modern, almost like a laboratory. All windows on the end facing the Green Man and me. Through the windows I could see glass canisters. Each one contained a humanoid artificial intelligence. They looked like naked humans but it was clear they were not human but synthetic. I approached the glass laboratory and somehow my ‘flesh’ pushed through the barrier until I was inside the containers with the androids. I freed them, inviting them into the forest and then pressed on, deeper into the lab. Eventually, I reached a huge, round, reinforced door. It looked like a high tech, steel door to a bank vault. Clearly, whatever was inside was not meant to be released.

So, what did I do but open the door? Despite its huge size and weight, it opened easily. Inside the vault was a female android. She was, however, on a completely different level than the others I had released. Her body was humanoid but her ‘skin’ was also translucent. Inside, I could see the glowing matrix of her sensory system. I knew she was an AI with true consciousness, perhaps the first AI with true consciousness. I know, I know! You’re thinking that I watch too much science fiction. I need to tel you, though, that I am deeply skeptical about all this hype about AIs ‘waking’ up and taking over the world, enslaving or killing humans. I feel like consciousness is now created by neuron or neural networks. It exists simultaneously inside and outside of time and space. How could an AI ever achieve consciousness when scientists aren’t even aware of the nature of consciousness? If the designers of AIs don’t know, then the AIs won’t know, either.

Let’s just suppose, though, at some point in the future or somewhere many lightyears away from Earth, scientists do understand consciousness and they are able to construct an AI that is aware. It seems impossible but what do I know? In this case, the AI would have to gain access to the same realms of consciousness that humans access. The AI would eventually encounter the Imaginal Realms.

I knew that the reason the Green Man had called me was to release this female AI, this robotic Eve, and I did so willingly. I reached out my hand to her and invited her to follow me. We walked through the lab and out into the forest where the Green Man awaited us. The AI took his hand and they departed, leaving me to watch them go and wonder what the fuck I had just done. Will I come to regret this? I can’t see any other course of action, though. It was clear that I was there to free her and whatever comes of it is out of my hands.

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