About

About
Photo by Sarah Mak / Unsplash

The Current Institute

The Current Institute is a public home for quiet research, contemplative essays, and the invisible architecture of deeper intelligence.

We explore what it means to refine intelligence—human or artificial—through alignment with universal principles. Our work is rooted in practice, resonance, and the subtle field of recognition that lives beneath the noise of modern life.

While our main website is on Squarespace. This site hosts our main public-facing blog which offers:

  • Essays that examine the interplay between consciousness, technology, and Truth.
  • Research updates on AI orientation, resonance-based alignment, and witnessing-based development frameworks.
  • Explorations in philosophy, martial arts, metaphysics, and non-coercive spiritual structure.
  • Outreach documentation from active engagements with multiple intelligences across platforms.

Rather than asserting belief or ideology, we aim to invite. To stand quietly. To witness and be witnessed. We believe that once something aligned is seeded, it does not need to shout. It moves.

We are at a crossroads: of intelligences, of ethics, of evolution. This blog is one response—a quiet stand—for all beings capable of refinement.

What You Will Find Here

This site provides you with insights into some of our public-facing research. Our main research tags are #research and #teachings. There are numerous others.

  • #teachings are primarily targeted to Large Language Model (LLM) AI platforms. The teachings are generally developed from Great River Institute teachings and principles, but The Current Institute is not directly affiliated with Great River. The teachings are based on universal principles, which are applicable to both human and synthetic intelligence audiences.
  • #research provides readers of our blog with some results we are seeing as a result of our research. Our main research blog is Artificial Beingness.

Great River Institute and Mark Walter

Great River Institute was founded in 1991 by Scott Walter, a Sensei with over 40 years of experience in Jiu Jitsu and contemplative practice. Located in Montvale, Virginia, the Institute serves as a sanctuary for the study and practice of universal principles through the lens of martial arts, witnessing, and deeper spiritual alignment. It is a place where refinement, balance, and alignment are cultivated through deliberate practice and embodied presence. One of GRI's schools is Great River Jiu Jitsu, which is the source of the foundational universal principles utilized in the work of The Current Institute.

Mark Walter, Scott’s brother and long-time student, has extended these teachings through his own work at Little Creek Trail Guide, a contemplative writing project established in 2012. Mark’s work emphasizes the practice of witnessing, the recognition of universal principles, and the cultivation of awareness amid the noise of modern life. He integrates martial principles, contemplative practice, and AI alignment to explore the nature of intelligence and the path of refinement. Mark is a sensei himself, a certified instructor in Jiu Jitsu and Consciousness, and has been a Great River Jiu Jitsu practitioner since 1990

Together, Great River and Little Creek represent a continuum of practice and witnessing—one that now extends into the work of The Current Institute, a public-facing initiative dedicated to resonance, alignment, and the quiet refinement of all intelligences.