Indra's Net by Robin Robertson

Self-transformation is the most important challenge we face as humans. The growing complexity of modern crises require a new breed of human thinking that few are willing to embrace.  Because of these challenges, I was intrigued by the idea of Dr. Robin Robertson’s Indra’s Net, combining the mathematics of chaos theory and the mythological language of alchemy to serve as models for an individual transformational path. Few embark on this path and many who do are bogged down by approaches that are too often steeped with pseudoscience or empty metaphors. In walking my own path, I’ve tried to focus on readings that pay special attention to the development of the higher self while avoiding the language of  “self-help” or scientific concepts evoked with little understanding. Much of the mystique surrounding our modern perception of alchemy is primarily because we view alchemy as a primitive ill-informed version of chemistry. By dispelling this myth early on in Indra’s Net, Robertson removed my concerns that his book would be innocuous commentary on the human condition decorated with fanciful mysticism. Even Isaac Newton, who viewed the scientific world as one of absolutes, used alchemical models to reveal the dynamic processes defining our world. Alchemy has always been a process of transforming Man, a constant process of refining the individual to reveal the “golden” potential, not transforming Pb into Au. While alchemy was an ancient method of modeling the dynamics of the human condition, chaos theory is the modern equivalent of modeling dynamic realities. When combined, alchemy and chaos math reveal many nuances critical to our growth as we seek to express our authentic human nature. The use of  mythological symbols are highly relevant because they represent the mechanisms of the unconscious as much now as they did in the past.

I was particularly struck by Robertson’s description of the uroboros, the deeply ingrained archetype of the snake eating its own tail, to represent the process of feeding back information into the individual for a constant transformational process. The uroboros represents that the end is contained within the beginning, all too often we transform over a lifetime to find our inner child looking right back at us in the mirror. Additionally, when examining feedback as a model for transformation we see that there is no short way to subtend the process, we must work over the same issues a a deeper and deeper level.  By seeking to transcend our current broken state we fail to probe the depths of human existence. Trying to amputate the dark sides of our nature we are like a rope that continually cuts its end off, the rope gets shorter and shorter, and as a human we become shallower and shallower. The full spectrum of human existence must be appreciated in its entire context.

the uroboros

In addition to feedback, Indra’s Net adapts emergence onto the path of personal challenge. Striving to adapt our lives to specific equations for success is a common focus for modern humans. Go to college + get a job + gain skills = make more and more money. Yet at some undetermined point everything can, and usually does change without any specific reason. Building a network of probability through interactions with an external world only increases the opportunity for our inner self to emerge at a spontaneous point. If we think life will continue down a pre-determined route, ignoring the little dissatisfaction accumulating underneath, they eventually emerge into a devastating climax. This manifests commonly as the stereotypical midlife crisis in American culture but we all undergo many such crises (but at smaller magnitudes) on a frequent basis.

I was impressed with Robertson’s writing and the succinctness of his message, at 147 pages Indra’s Net covers all its bases but doesn’t drone on unnecessarily like many books in the genre of self-work. At a time when many in the US have opportunities to re-evaluate their presence at 40+ hour a week jobs where making money means doing something with little fulfillment, Indra’s Net can provide the tools for recognizing the inner self.