Thus spoke the Greek titan after being chained to a rock for his crime of stealing fire from the gods to gift to man. A necessary theft since his brother Epimetheus squandered all special abilities on the animals. Prometheus corrected his mistake by giving humanity the skill of tool building to rise above the other creatures.

Characters like Prometheus are a common motif within mythology, known as the Trickster archetype. They are gods of the boundary, either crossing, removing or creating it. Tricksters are not only thieves of heavenly goods, but are also creators of culture, making life hospitable for humanity. They have an upsetting nature, they break through, or as mythologist Joseph Campbell described it: a disruptor of programs.

Unfortunately, the trickster nowadays is a very unwanted figure. He used to be an integrated part of the culture and psyche. For example, native Americans, Viking and Greek mythology gave this god a place within their stories, and honored his playful, creative and cunning force. Modern Western culture however, is less fond of the guy, as he exposes frailties, falsehoods and is able to topple the whole system. It has therefore been tried at the utmost to kill the trickster and ban him out of existence, back into the shadows.

They say the trickster has been destroyed, and that the pieces of his body lie scattered across the Earth… waiting to be found. And one day brought back together, to be resurrected once more. Or perhaps, that might have already happened. Somebody has imbued life back into his ashes and revived him for the digital age. For in the times of apocalypse and hyperbitcoinization, his services shall be needed again.

Who is the Trickster?

Before tying this all within the framework of fiat meltdown, apocalypse and hyperbitcoinization, it’s important to first understand what the archetype of the trickster is.

Archetypes are perfect examples, original inherited patterns of behavior, that reside within the so-called collective unconscious. According to psychologist Carl Jung, this collective unconscious is a reservoir of archetypes that runs cross-culturally and its ancestral past is present within each individual.

These entities are often expressed through mythology, which is a form of storytelling that helps us find orientation and direction in the world. Familiar mythological images of the trickster would be that of the fool, the jester and the thief. Appearing in animals he’s a wily coyote, raven or rabbit.

The Fool

The major trait of the trickster is the ability to pass beyond established borders, constraints and programs, challenging conventional thinking, habits and values. A classic example of the boundary crosser is the fool. The fool is unaware of the program, therefore he’s naturally wandering outside of the system.

Being perceived as weird, the fool is perhaps only a step away from wisdom. Weird is derived from the Welsh word wyrrd and meant: ‘to have one foot in the other world’. Also related is the german werden: ‘to become’.

Weirdos have a lazy, clumsy and unadapted foot that connects them to the world of dreams — an eternal place of creativity and destruction. By following that foot, the fools are becoming themselves and wising up to the program.

Beavis and Butthead are great examples of true fools. They are in a strange way invincible, because they are shameless. Not engaged by fitting in, they have become agents of disruption, breaking social rules. These kids are basically so dumb that they’re smart.

How many people are stuck within their own lives, following rules and conventions that are not suited for them? These guys just don’t give a shit, and have their own sense of dream, cool and enjoyment outside the prevailing program. Beavis and Butthead are centered, having strong medicine, perturbing with their unperturbance.

The willingness to fail badly at coming from a new angle enables intelligence, first principles thinking and breakthrough discovery. All of the great deliverers of human progress were once regarded as fools who just thought differently. Einstein, the Wright brothers, Steve Jobs and many more. The entrepreneur is the fool, grown trickster.

The Jester

During the dark ages, kings would use the service of professional or licensed fools for entertainment, but perhaps more importantly: for storytelling, advice and truth speaking. The jester became an institutionalized advisor and messenger, who enjoyed a position protected from royal reprisal. Moreover, the court jester was expected to tell the truth, as others couldn’t.

Operating halfway between the brain and the heart, the trickster’s weapon of choice is speech. Because we don’t take this trickster seriously, he can find a point of entry where truth can enter. The jester gives voice to things we already know, but have tabooed, repressed or otherwise don’t want to hear.

Greek mythology points out that repression of speech is a dangerous thing. For example, the Trojan War started because Eris, the goddess of Discord, wasn’t invited to a banquet at Mount Olympus. Therefore she threw her golden apple to the fairest, which ignited the conflict. Funnily enough, the war ended by a lie concocted by the trickster Odysseus. He presented the Trojans with a horse trophy, stealthily carrying a force of Greek soldiers inside, infiltrating the citadel.

Today the art of jesting is reserved for comedians, operating under the guise of funny.

The Thief

The trickster works with the force of nature, or better, the appetite or instinct. He’s a technician who can use these natural forces to manipulate outcomes.

The first trick of the trickster is to trap and close off a passage through a weir, net or baited hook. These are fishing analogies, but traps exist in many forms, ranging from sugar added products, brick walls and click-baiting. To bait is to exploit greed, hunger, fear or otherwise manipulate the ways things instinctively want to move.

Conversely, the trickster is a thief when instead of closing, he opens doors and becomes a seizer of opportunities. The word opportunity comes from the Greek root ‘poros’, meaning a passageway of ships. The port is hence the entrance, a door for boats. Also, a pore in the skin or leaf is a doorway, selectively letting things in and keeping unwanted stuff out.

The trickster is the porous master who has mechanical knowledge of the gate and comes in at an opportune moment, when the guard is down, gaining access to the valuable. The opposite is also true when the thief himself becomes trapped. He then needs to break out and become an escape artist, creating a path back to freedom.

Shapeshifting and Decoying

When crossing through gates or moving behind enemy lines the trickster employs the skill of shapeshifting, or decoying. Coming from the Dutch word ‘de kooi’, meaning the cage, decoying is a form of baiting. A way to lure the attention away from the important, and change its course in order to distract the detectors.

Shapeshifting is using the program in order to fly below the radar through disguising, pretending or hiding. The simplest shift can already be set up through adaptation to the environment, a simple lie or removal. Odysseus’ Trojan horse is a classic example of decoying, removal and lying in order to open up a pore into the enemy enclosure. For the horse with the soldiers was the decoy, paired with the hiding of the Greek fleet and leaving a soldier behind, who would tell a false story of the departure.

The crossing of the threshold is also part of the hero’s journey popularized by Joseph Campbell. In this cycle, the hero moves from the known into the unknown, where he undergoes a death and rebirth, after which he returns with the boon of knowledge back to the known. The boundary between the known and unknown is a dangerous threshold and is not crossed easily.

In Star Wars: A New Hope, it’s Obi Wan who mediates this pass with Jedi mind tricks. Notice also that this happens at the space port, a pore into the greater space, beyond the walled garden. That world beyond is also called the liminal space. It’s a reality in between one and the other. The trickster possesses this skill of trans-liminality, the ability to move beyond.

Prometheus and Odysseus are classic thief heroes. But there are many more, like Robin Hood, the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins, or Raven in the Tsimshian myth who stole the sun to give to man. Also, consider Truman in the Truman Show, Neo in the Matrix, or Prince Gautama the Buddha as enclosure escapists, who stole their lives back from imprisonment. Stealing means carrying away surreptitiously or artfully, even if you yourself are the subject. It is different from robbery, which is to take by force.

The Psychopath

When the trickster is repressed to the shadows it becomes a dark figure, a joker type with psychopathic traits. This means it is not anymore integrated within the individual, and doesn’t perform a benevolent function for society. This is what Jung calls the shadow, all non integrated psychological parts that society believe are bad qualities.

In Norse mythology it is the repression of the trickster god Loki that brings down the world. The seeds of this apocalyptic end are sown early on, when Loki’s wolf son Fenrir is shackled by the ruling gods. They were afraid of his destructive power, and thought it was better to control him. But in doing so, Fenrir threatens to eat the sun, moon and upper god Odin once he’s unshackled.

Loki is eventually also imprisoned, when he’s blamed for the murder of the sun god Balder. His actions were merely a reaction to Freya trying to save Balder from his prophesized death by guaranteeing his life and mitigating all fatal risk. But the whole world will die when the trickster is bound — when trying to prevent any form of death. The pent up chaos will just lead to even more chaos at a later stage, a cataclysmic upheaval.

As a result of inhibiting the increasing chaos, more dictatorial powers are required to maintain control. This in turn will only lead to greater demand for the trickster to return. If he’s not allowed to come back, the energy will transform into a psychopathic force of Jokers who want to take down the system and smoke the gods: Ragnarok.

The contemporary negative connotations with the fool, jester and thief are indicative of how we have repressed the trickster archetype. These modes of behavior are generally not accepted. However, they are highly required for a healthy society, and foremost for an integrated individual. If we had no fools, we would never deviate and innovate. Without jesters, nobody would ever dare to speak up against injustice, corruption and lies. And without thieves, we would never take back things that are rightfully ours.

Apocalypse & Hyperbitcoinization

The parallels between the run-up to Ragnarok and the current state of the world are striking. The handling of the covid pandemic, the money printing, the censorship — they all portray a panic towards avoiding pain, loss and disruption. The mode of guaranteeing and safeguarding everything is in line with Freya trying to prevent Balder’s death. By letting all the living things vow not to hurt him, she forgets to ask the mistletoe. Loki is the one god to point out the vulnerability. Avoiding death is merely fueling the infernal fires of the approaching apocalyptic end.

The word apocalypse means an unveiling, a removal of the cover. Could an apocalypse simply mean that the veil will be lifted for the many to see? A peek beyond the current enclosure? A reintroduction to the primordial forces?

Ending is also a warped word. Today, it mostly means a stop, limit or death. The original meaning has to do with the other side, a loose end or remnant. So when the world ends, there’s always a remainder or loose thread to reweave after the old pattern has unraveled. But if it is a death, wouldn’t that also demarcate rebirth?

In the Neverending Story by Michael Ende, the world is reimagined from a single grain of sand, after it has completely disintegrated. In Mataco myth, it’s the trickster Icanchu that drums on a remaining piece of charcoal after the whole Earth has burned down. He starts dancing in the ashes until he falls asleep. The next morning the charcoal sprouts the new tree of life.

The trickster comes when the old world order needs to change. They are provocateurs and change agents. They bring unexpected pieces of wisdom that kickstart creation in times of collapse. Collapse is a falling together, collectively losing our footing or memory, a forgetting. Hence, the trickster is a reminder, a pointer to the space beyond the program.

A New Program

What is a program exactly? A program is anything that performs a certain function. For example, the brick in the road has the purpose to enhance transport from A to B. This task can be disrupted. The brick can be removed and used as a weapon or barricade during a riot. Also, the function can be performed through another medium, for instance taking the bricks out and filling the street with asphalt. The whole idea of street might one day completely vanish, with more advanced transportation and information technology taking its place. The point here is that the thing and its purpose are only temporally coupled, and shouldn’t be considered inextricable. The program always seeks its best medium.

On the 3rd of January 2009, in the midst of the Great Financial Crisis, a new program was started. One could consider it a theft of heavenly goods. This trickster found a way to steal the art of creating money, made it incorruptible, and gave the technology back to the people. Moreover it was a breakout, an opening of the door out of the ponzi prison, an escape hatch. Bitcoin provides both a way out, but also a way into a place where one can stand firmly on the other side.

The firm ground is made from lines of code that say there won’t ever be more than 21 million coins. This simple imperishable truth provides a point of vantage to perceive the legacy system for what it is: a fake.

Bitcoin is the bait. Waiting for the unsuspecting who deep down desire to defect. Once hooked by greed, they are dragged through the fiat sewer system and expelled from the enclosure. Floating around in liminal space for a while, to finally find a renewed footing.

Resurrection

In Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress”, an Akizuki empress and her general need to move their gold behind enemy lines, in order save their empire. The only way to accomplish this steal is to maintain their stealth. By hiding the gold in wooden branches and pretending to be lumberjacks, they try to slip through. The moment comes when they find themselves caught in a parade to the Festival of Fire. Committed to the steal, they throw all their wood into the flames and start dancing and singing. The dead branches burn off. The next morning the bare gold bars are picked up from the ashes by the Akizukis.

Satoshi Nakamoto started his own festival in cyberspace. Every stealer on the path has to jump into the flames at one point, and burn off their fiat selves. Like a rite of passage, a trial by fire. The unburnable remains, shining a bit brighter. You look into the mirror and see that your self has put the philosopher’s stone in your pocket. Hush! You carry the secret now. You have become a little initiate trickster hero.

The Return

You’re coming from the beyond now. By holding bitcoin you have a foot anchored in the other world, outside the legacy program. To maintain access to your hyperbitcoinized self is to remember your private key. Owning bitcoin is having purchasing power that can not be stolen from you. It is strangely very analogous with having a soul. Something golden and unconfiscatable within you, but it can be forgotten.

If that is true, then the legacy world could be considered a wasteland full of zombies. People neither living nor dead, requiring a new medicine, an orange pill.

For the ones already hyperbitcoinized, the task is to bring the gift back. A perhaps foolish, but noble striving. Satoshi calls on all the tricksters to do his work. Bringing back Bitcoin is returning chaos to the world. Allowing creative destruction. Bringing back pain for bad decision making, reintroducing risk, ergo scrimping our scarce resources.

The alternative is to have a dictatorial system that is hell-bent on increasing control — de-risking and guaranteeing everything by restricting everybody’s freedom. This is what the trickster cannot stand, for his greatest desire is to not be limited. He’ll construct a dart from a forgotten mistletoe and break through anyway.

Cultural Hero

By creating Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto has become a cultural hero for those that have adopted this new monetary program. This redeemer created the greatest game, the biggest jest, the most historical theft.

But where is he now? Is this trickster still somewhere bound on the rocks? Is he suffering from some bird eating his liver every day? Some say he’s no longer with us.

There are different stories about what happened to Prometheus. In one story, he was saved by Hercules. In another, it was a centaur who was willing to take his place, who was willing to suffer for him, who valued what he did. Zeus could have prevented this if he wanted to, but he also acknowledged that the trickster couldn’t be punished forever. He was unshackled. He was let go.

That’s the last thing we heard of the fire thief. Nobody has seen him since. But maybe from some place, from a distance, he’s still watching, observing the results of his little mischief?

When one listens carefully, with each entity turned and hyperbitcoinized, a faint chuckle can be heard from the brambly bushes.