In his books, Ishi Nobu conveys a system of knowledge: a consilience of all that humanity has garnered about Nature and the nature of reality. That system upends the philosophic matterism that has the scientific community in thrall. It also dispels the dogma that religions faithfully cling to.
Spokes of the Wheel is a rich discourse which touches upon every area of natural philosophy. Natural philosophy takes a comprehensive view, as contrasted to the sphinctered peephole science offers by countenancing only reproducible or multiplicative empirical evidence. That said, Nobu relies extensively upon scientific findings to buttress his revelations, as his reference notes abundantly illustrate.
Nobu’s style is to explain a domain by introducing its nomenclature and outlining major principles, often relating relevant historical figures and accounts. Nobu prefers colorful short stories to illuminate his points.
Spokes of the Wheel has a story arc, with early books laying the foundations for later ones. There are 3 realms which Nobu describes: the spiritual, natural, and human worlds.
Spirituality is introduced in Clarity: The Path Inside and culminates with a scientific proof, and further exposition, in Spokes 8: The Hub of Being.
Nature is examined in Spokes 1 through Spokes 4. The genesis of the human world is covered in Spokes 3, with the evolutionary descent of the species. Spokes 5–7 relate how people think, behave, and the results of human endeavor – a story filled with foolery, heading toward a melodramatic demise.
In brief, the classic philosophical tussle has been between dualism, which is how the world appears, or a monism, of which 2 are possible: matterism or energyism (terms Nobu introduces). Though still the most common worldview, dualism is downed by a biological conundrum (the mind-body problem) and is further disputable in the face of much scientific evidence.
Matterists have faith that Nature, composed of matter, is a finality – that material actuality is reality (naïve realism). This monism is the disproven philosophical foundation upon which modern science sits. (As any physicist will tell you, matter is composed of energy. And energy is nothing but an idea.)
Nobu proves that matterism is a mirage. Nobu’s stance is energyism, which was philosophically argued in recent centuries (using different labels) by Baruch Spinoza, George Berkeley, and Immanuel Kant, among others. More saliently, energyism is the creed espoused by gurus worldwide since prehistory, including Buddha, Lao Tzu, Socrates, and Plato, as well as many in modern times (notably Nisargadatta Maharaj and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi). Hence, Nobu may be considered a traditionalist.
What Nobu does that earlier energyists did not is provide a fulsome exposition with scientific backing. Nobu elucidates why actuality is construed as it is. He could do this because of his unique assignment (more on this shortly).
The salient point to be made about Clarity and the Spokes series is that it offers an extensive education that has not been on offer: the college education you never got (because it was not offered).
For spiritual seekers, Nobu offers answers others have not, and gives guidance on how to achieve enlightenment and self-realization. Here, Nobu really is a traditionalist, albeit with an acute appreciation for fathomable explanation. (The basic thrust of Nobu’s spiritualism is a stoic practicality combined with learning to live transcendentally via the practice of meditation.)
Nobu is not finished with his expositions. Further tutelage is forthcoming in a variety of media.
The Last Prophet
Ishi Nobu is not interested in his bodily existence; nor should you be. He might like to think he’s just here for the entertainment, but he knows better.
As stated on his bio on sites selling his books, Ishi Nobu is the last prophet before humanity’s self-extinction later this century. A prophet is a guru who teaches the consequences of ignorance. A guru is a realized teacher.
Nobu is not making a false boast, as his books testify. Coherence, the ordering principle behind Nature, apparently likes a last jest before a species capable of sentience extinguishes itself. Ishi Nobu is that drollery – a man ignorant for most of his life, but given the assignment as a young man to explain reality (the nature of Nature) and promote salvation through personal enlightenment and realization (which Nobu himself eventually acquired).
Slow on the uptake, Nobu took the assignment to heart, despite having accumulated mounds of doubt about its prospects from his misadventures during adulthood. As Winston Churchill reputedly observed, “success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
(Nobu’s stupidity withstanding, his talents, inclinations, and experiences supplied him with the skills to attempt his mission, as well as providing him the fortuitous opportunity.)
To gain historical perspective, a look at some prior prophets. Note that prophecy is not synonymous with being a prophet, as Jesus ben Ananias illustrates.
Jesus ben Ananias wandered Jerusalem, prophesying that the city would be destroyed 4 years before the First Jewish-Roman War began in 66 BCE. Jewish leaders there turned him over to the Romans for prosecution. He was tortured, but then released as a madman because he had shown no concern for his fate while being tortured.
Ananias persisted with his prophecy until he was killed by a catapulted stone during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 BCE. In the moments before he was struck and killed, Ananias uttered, “Woe once more to the city and to the people and to the temple, and woe to me also.”
The siege ended with the city sacked, the destruction of Jerusalem’s famed Second Temple, 1.1 million Jews killed, and 97,000 enslaved.
Also note that gurus are not necessarily prophets, as many realized sages exemplify. Insights abetting individual enlightenment do not address the herd movement of the Collective, and so are not in the realm of social evocation, which is what a prophet aims at.
According to the legend of Abrahamic religions, Moses was a prophet in the early 15th century BCE – a beacon of hope to Israelites, who at the time were enslaved under Egyptian rule. Moses supposedly led the Israelites after their release from Egyptian tyranny (their release came after a series of plagues). At Mount Sinai Moses provided his people with the Biblical 10 commandments from God. Moses continued to lead for as long as he was able, reputedly living to the ripe old age of 120.
Jesus of Nazareth (not Jesus ben Ananias) is believed a prophet by many Christians, though, if given such a designation, he was a false prophet. The substance of Jesus’ teachings was inscrutable to his disciples and may be characterized as monomaniacal. Jesus’ legend was mythologized in the centuries after his death by ignorant, self-serving priests who formed the Catholic church. Christians are an especially gullible tribe.
Muhammad, who came to spiritual and political power in the early 7th century, was a great prophet to his people. Having achieved realization at ~40 years of age through long stretches of solitary meditation in a cave near his home, Muhammad managed to unify the Arabs both religiously and politically. Muhammad’s copious and not altogether consistent writings comprise the Koran (Quran). Inconsistency withstanding, Muhammad must be considered a stellar visionary, and the most successful prophet in history.
In the mid-20th century, Martin Luther King Jr. was a prophet to his people; a great visionary and practical tactician.
In the late 20th century, Maharshi Mahesh Yogi made a backhanded stab at prophecy, in teaching group meditation as creating a positive energy field for improving the social environment. Maharishi’s efforts in this regard were ineffectual, owing to lack of cogent publicity and resultant incomprehension of the potential benefits by those in government who might have sponsored pilot tests and thereby help create momentum. Such disregard for illumination by the Collective is the common response.
While Nobu’s teachings are clearly derivative (how could they not be, when all pertinent gurus point in the same direction), he aims at clarity on how to attain enlightenment, and in explaining energyism as a perspective for comprehending Nature.
Nobu’s quest to influence humanity with scholarship couched in brazen candor comes well past the 11th hour of human history, on the cusp of self-extinction. Nobu considers his effort at education another of his futile gestures, along the same lines as his earlier unbidden attempt to revolutionize computer software with an intelligent vision still otherwise unseen to this day. So it is that Ishi Nobu proceeds, embracing Churchillian success.
To recap, Nobu as teacher is irrelevant. It is his teachings that may have value, and are his hope to enlighten you.