from The Meaning of Life: Ascending Jacob’s Ladder by Hazy Notion
The culture of the modern age harnesses Status of Self as the upper Theme of collective consciousness. There are two principal characteristics which identify Status culture. The first is that social power and cultural authority are centred in cities. The second is that the main business of Status culture is to devise methods of arranging humans into hierarchies of social merit.
The cities where it is established act as pressure cookers where agitated humanity rubs together and individuals continually compete and infect one another with the drive for Status. When many people live closely confined in cities it is difficult for any individuals to escape from Status identity by migrating either up or down the Spectrum. Urban culture also requires a complicated machinery of social organisation in order to provide food and other essential services to the population. People can't be self-sufficient when they live in cities and are required to practice specialised occupations. The division of the society into occupational roles provides a convenient mechanism for ranking the population in order of merit.
There are seven underlying principles by which this ranking can be arranged. Contemporary market-based societies utilise the organising principle of Number, which is five sevenths of the distance through the age of Status culture. This means that the mass transportation vehicle has yet to travel through two more Sub-Themes of Status before it transcends the Self.
Solitary individuals who set off for Mind consciousness at this point in history are required, in effect, to leap over the Sub-Themes of Wisdom and Psychic Powers. Unfortunately, these are the very Sub-Themes which provide the most relevant preparation for Mind identity. Early departing individuals must therefore forego the mental expansion that collective experience of these upper levels of Status have yet to offer. As time goes on, and future generations of collective mind get to experience these higher Status Sub-Themes, it will become progressively easier for individuals to make their departure. The shorter the distance, the less hazardous the trip