ideasthesia

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Ryan Collison

I write about cool science and share it here.

Chariot at center of cosmic battlefield with dharmic paths radiating

Synthesis: The Gita as Coherence Manual for Extreme Conditions

Series: Gita Psychology | Part: 10 of 10 We began with Arjuna paralyzed on a battlefield. Every option violated something essential. His hands went numb. His bow fell. He could not act. This is coherence collapse—when the constraint manifold becomes geometrically impossible to navigate, the system freezes. By the end

Contemporary crisis scenarios as geometric decision points

Modern Applications: The Gita for Leadership, Crisis, and Personal Paralysis

Series: Gita Psychology | Part: 9 of 10 The Bhagavad Gita was written for a warrior facing an impossible choice on a battlefield. But its geometry applies to anyone navigating high-curvature situations where every option seems untenable. That includes: leaders making tragic decisions, professionals in moral injury, activists in collapsing

Two oscillating systems phase-locking

Bhakti Yoga: Coherence Through Coupling to the Divine

Series: Gita Psychology | Part: 8 of 10 Arjuna has learned karma yoga (detached action), dharma (his coherence-preserving path), and jnana (witness identification). But near the end of the Gita, Krishna offers one more path—bhakti, devotion. “Those who worship me with devotion, thinking of nothing else—I carry what

Nested layers with luminous awareness at center

Jnana Yoga: Shifting Identification Through Knowledge

Series: Gita Psychology | Part: 7 of 10 Krishna tells Arjuna something strange: “Neither you nor I have ever not existed, nor will we cease to exist. These bodies are transient—the self is eternal.” This sounds like metaphysical consolation. Don’t worry about killing people—souls don’t really die.

Three distinct coherence states in state-space

The Three Gunas: Curvature Modes in Coherence Space

Series: Gita Psychology | Part: 6 of 10 The Bhagavad Gita describes three fundamental qualities—the gunas—that pervade all of reality. These aren’t personality types or moral categories. They’re descriptions of coherence states: how integrated or fragmented a system is, how much curvature it’s experiencing, how stable

Past trajectory carving grooves in state-space

Karma as Constraint Accumulation: How Past Actions Shape Present Geometry

Series: Gita Psychology | Part: 5 of 10 In popular usage, karma has become cosmic justice: do good, receive good; do bad, receive bad. A moral accounting system where the universe tallies your deeds and issues proportional rewards or punishments. That’s not what the Bhagavad Gita describes. In the Gita,

Luminous trajectory through constraint landscape

Dharma as Coherence-Preserving Path: What Duty Actually Means

Series: Gita Psychology | Part: 4 of 10 Krishna tells Arjuna: “It is better to do your own duty (svadharma) imperfectly than to do another’s duty perfectly. It is better to die doing your own duty than to live by another’s, which is dangerous.” This sounds like rigid moralism