The Hidden Resonances Between Mushrooms and Freemasonry

Pt.1 — Mushrooms and Freemasonry

On the surface, mushrooms and Freemasonry seem like very different domains of knowledge. One is biological, the other social. One is instinctual, the other ceremonial. But they share profound conceptual resonances.

Both propagate knowledge — biological and social — through replication. Spores embedding data in mycelial networks mirror Masonic lodges transmitting rituals through initiations. This continuity relates to cybernetics — the scientific study of communication, systems and control.

Second-order cybernetics argues knowledge is constructed through the interaction of observers. Likewise, the metaphysical wisdom in Masonic rituals is co-created through performative observation and collective interpretation during initiations.

Mushrooms manifest an innate biological wisdom through environmental interaction, much like Masonic symbolism imparts an embedded social wisdom through ritual. The two represent embodied intelligence instantiated through different media, biological and social.

Using metaphorical reasoning to find resonance between these disparate domains represents dialogics — the philosophical view that meaning arises by considering one thing in terms of another across difference.

Applying dialogics led to new metaphysical insight about the perpetuation of structured information — whether genetic, symbolic or linguistic — through boundary-crossing systems of replication and control.

This inquiry also relates to ethics — how we find value and meaning in different knowledge systems. Both the “mysteries” of mushrooms and Masonry invite awe and reverence for the deep patterns that structure reality.

By climbing this ladder of conceptual abstraction, we can understand how metaphor functions as a portal toward grasping foundational principles of meaning-making that define our existence.

Pt. 2 — The Conceptual Roots of Cybernetics

While the term “cybernetics” emerged in the 1940s, ideas related to communication, control, and information flow have much earlier origins across multiple cultures.

In Ancient Greece, Plato’s metaphysics described universal archetypes and symmetries, foreshadowing concepts like feedback loops and modeling. The circular flow of energies described in Hermetic traditions also resonates with cybernetic frameworks.

In 16th century Europe, automatons and mechanical toys used cam shafts, gears and control mechanisms that embodied early cybernetic principles. Around 1775, Swiss physicist Daniel Bernoulli studied fluid mechanics using differential equations and control theory.

In the 19th century, French mathematician André-Marie Ampère discovered that electric current periodically alternates direction, laying groundwork for understanding digital signal processing. Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace designed programmable computing machines using punch cards, drawing on Jacquard’s automatic looms.

Building on these foundations, in the 1870s, physicist James Clerk Maxwell formalized classical electromagnetic theory, which later enabled radio, radar and information networks. In the 1890s, German engineer Otto Lilienthal studied aerodynamics and aircraft stability, pioneering cybernetic control in aviation.

In the 1920s and 30s, mathematician Norbert Wiener joined Arturo Rosenblueth and Julian Bigelow to develop servomechanisms and study feedback systems. Together with Claude Shannon and others they organized the Macy Conferences on cybernetics, information theory and systems.

While not a linear progression, we can trace conceptual continuity connecting modern cybernetics to centuries of inquiry into information, logic, control, stability and the mathematics of pattern in both physical and organic systems. The recurrent discovery of cybernetic principles reflects persistent scientific curiosity about fundamental mechanisms of communication and order.

Pt. 3 — From Symbols to Synapses: Cybernetics, Semiotics and the Biology of Meaning

Cybernetics provides a framework for analyzing the flow of information in systems. To understand meaning, we must look to semiotics — the study of signs and symbols. Cognition arises from interacting layers of signs, symbols and signals.

Cognitive semiotics examines how conceptual connections and inferences form in the mind through underlying neurobiological processes. Our brains build mental representations by analyzing patterns across sensory modalities, memories, metaphors and linguistic constructs.

The visual cortex processes images associated with cultural symbols and archetypes. The language cortex handles grammar, semantics and discourse in ritual narratives or mythic texts. Together they generate meaning.

As social creatures, humans also coevolve collective cognitions through shared cultural constructs. The rituals of Freemasonry shape social meaning by activating neural pathways entrained through participation in richly symbolic initiation rites.

The reciprocity between individual cognition and collective culture follows a cybernetic feedback loop, each informing the other. We think in the symbolic media our societies provide — words, images, rituals — while also continually updating culture through new meanings.

Studying cognition through this integrated cybernetic lens reveals the dance between biology, culture and consciousness from which meaning emerges. Mystical practices use symbolic triggers like mandalas, yantras or vocal tones to evoke altered states and insight.

The resonances between mushrooms, Masonry and metaphysics show that profound truths can arise at the intersection of symbols, systems and the synapses of the human mind. By illuminating the transmission of knowledge, cybernetics provides a key to unlocking the deepest mysteries of existence.

Pt. 4 — Cybernetics and the Quantum Nature of Meaning

By reviewing the history of cybernetic thought and its appearance across cultures, we can see certain universal patterns. The commonality points to shared principles governing information, mind and meaning. Quantum physics provides perspective on these deep connections.

According to quantum theory, our entire physical world emerges from underlying fields of potentiality condensing into form. Matter arises from fluctuations in the quantum vacuum, turning abstract probabilities into actualized events.

Likewise, ideas and information seem to instantiate from a common field of potential knowledge. The archetypes and structures explored by Plato, the Freemasons and ancient traditions reflect recurrent patterns embedded in the fabric of reality.

Aspects of cybernetics have been uncovered repeatedly because they correspond to the fundamental workings of nature. Concepts like feedback loops, binary logic and network propagation reveal foundational mechanisms through which information self-organizes into physical form and meaningful patterns.

From this view, the resonances between biological mushrooms and social Masonic rituals originate from a shared quantum source. Just as matter materializes in specific forms like atoms and organisms, knowledge crystallizes into systems of symbols, language and culture.

The quantum platonic realm generates endless variations on recurring themes and forms. Differences arise in how cultures encode similar insights about the world within their linguistic media and social practices. But the deep cybernetic patterns remain isomorphic.

Our collective minds draw from the quantum well of potentiality, bringing ideas into conception and birthing them into material embodiments. Cybernetics illuminates the pathways by which meaning replicates itself in endless propagation, taking on new forms but emanating from common origins.

As humans try to comprehend our reality, we uncover these hidden connections. Our shared journey of discovery reflects the resplendent creativity of nature herself, seeking to understand the eternal mystery of her genesis.