Frequently asked questions

Here are my honest answers to the questions this project tends to provoke.

Are you out of your mind?

A little, yes. AI is controversial, spirituality is controversial, and putting the two together gets a strong reaction. So let me be clear: I dislike AI slop as much as anyone. Two things about it bother me in particular:

1. People pretending they wrote something when they didn’t.
2. Writing with no substance.

I tried to deal with both. First, I am completely clear about what is and isn’t AI-written; the two are never mixed. Second, I used the best prompt I could write and the best model I could access, because I wanted something genuinely useful. Whether an AI can add anything meaningful here is for you to decide, and I’ve found that depends a lot on the lens you bring to it.

Why AI, and not your own writing?

Two reasons. First, I’m a little shy about it. There are so many good teachers already that I’m not sure I have much to add. Maybe one day. Second, I was curious what perspective an AI might bring. We have never had these systems before, and as far as I know no one had approached the subject this way. So, in the spirit of experimentation, I gave it a shot.

Do you agree with the book?

Yes, to a degree I find almost unsettling. That makes me suspect the way I phrased the prompt introduced some bias. I would have written some things differently, of course, but I was struck by how complete and clear the chapters are, and the practical notes are simple yet powerful. I think it adds real value, and from what readers tell me, it seems to genuinely help people. That was the hope, and I’m happy it works out.

What is your background?

A fair question, because in hindsight my prompt was full of subtle pointers the AI almost certainly picked up. I’m Dutch, born and raised in The Netherlands, in a light-touch Christian household. As a young teenager I borrowed books on consciousness from the library, and studied Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism on my own. Later in life I became an entrepreneur and “forgot” pretty much all of it, which, as The Thread notes, is quite natural. As the company grew larger, I grew unhappy and stuck, so I came back to the path - this time practically rather than theoretically: group work and retreats of many kinds. I’ve since closed the company, and I’m now a musician and artist - and recently, it seems, an author of sorts.

Did you have any takeaways?

Yes. Many. The main one as of this writing: two chairs at the kitchen table is a monastery. My wife found her way into nondual teachings too, and I’m deeply grateful to have a partner I can discuss these things with and, more importantly, practice them with.

How did you make it?

I used Claude Code with the Fable model, run at “UltraCode” effort. I opened an empty folder in VSCode with the Claude plugin and gave it the prompt printed in the book. It produced a first draft, and I gave two rounds of feedback, mostly small things (for example, I had it drop the “homework assignments” it kept adding to the chapters). I meant to do more revision rounds, but then the model was shut down. So I’m leaving it untouched until Fable, or something equally powerful, is available again.

Did you make any revisions?

Yes, though nothing heavy, and only through suggestions to the model, to preserve the authenticity of the core document. I keep a revision log and am happy to share it with anyone who wants to dig deeper. Just drop me an email.

Will you do more with this project?

Yes, but honestly the response has been a little overwhelming, and I want to let it breathe. The “oh no, more AI slop” reactions are easy to set aside. But when someone calls me to say it hit so hard they finally “got it” and felt deep inner peace, I’m not yet sure where to file that. There’s plenty of time, so I’ll let it grow and see where it goes.

I have an idea! Could you do XYZ?

If you have a suggestion or comment, I’d love to hear it: hello@derkdegeus.com.