The Cost of our Allowing

There is a devouring cancer in this world that wants to leach soul from everything. It thrives on apathy and a lack of discernment.

Artist credit unknown.

The algorithms have already beaten you. But it’s not too late.

We keep expecting the creatives and the guides to work it all out, to find more creative and ingenious ways to find us in the labyrinth of synthetic junk.

There is nothing more they can do. You are not meeting them halfway. You only have to worry about artificial intelligence if you aren’t applying human intelligence.

We kept looking for this moment when mind-blowing artificial intelligence would supersede human strengths and intelligence and missed the earlier moment that already came, where very mind-numbing technology is undermining our human weaknesses. And is taking everything from you that matters: beauty and connection - which is precisely where we derive meaning.

It is time to start questioning your algorithms.

It is time to ask yourself what the world will look like when the cogs and tumblers, of machines that never sleep, have ushered all eyes and ears towards the pedlars of mass produced baubles and cheap shiny tack and away from the deeper wells, that touch our souls and nourish us.

Enjoyment vs. Appreciation

Enjoyment is satisfied with quantity. This is the shallow end of the dopamine cycle. This is also the drain of ’soul’, the birthplace of addiction. The only comfort for addiction is more; Quantity.

Appreciation on the other hand, seeks out quality and has a taste for essence. Social media companies do not value essence, they only value quantity. They are addicted to your addiction.

When sense of purpose wanes, sense of being goes with it. Purpose cannot exist without sense of meaning. Meaning cannot exist without appreciation.

The Matrix of Human Attention

The creatives, the thought-leaders, the guides, we shall call the Generators. The Generators keep trying to be more creative, to pour more of their soul into creating and vying for necessary attention and appreciation, but they have been left doing all the work.

The rest of us do not visit the pages of the Generators that have given us so much beauty, so much wisdom, so much true value. Honestly, we’re too fucking lazy. We have become like cattle that will eat whatever synthetic slop is pumped into the trough in front of us. And social media companies are in an arms-race to see how much shit they can feed us. They are seeing how much artificial engagement and artificial connection they can substitute in with artificial intelligence. They are seeing how little essence and value we will be satisfied with to determine how little they can provide for maximum benefit to themselves. Their ideal environment can have no free-thinking, no pausing to digest, no stillness to reflect and integrate. They just keep the corn-syrup of amusement flowing and their software keeps us monitored, distracted and compliant.

It is a Matrix run on human attention.

Pressing organic fruit yields nutrients and essential oils from the fruit. In this way our food is nourishment and equal to medicine; it can both heal us and replenish us. But this takes time and effort. So they make artificial syrups and sell it for cheap enough to outcompete the makers of nutritive products. And then when they cannot get you to buy enough to satisfy their bottomless greed, they add sweeteners and synthetic colourants and artificial flavours to make you consume more than you need. Enough is not an amount, it is a decision. True need can always find enough. Wanting, always wants more.

They are addicted to our addiction.

This is what is being done to art, wisdom, guidance and beauty on social media, until all soul has been leached out of the platform and all soul leached out of us.

Soul feeds soul.

You have to meet the creatives and Generators half-way. Where is your defiance? Where is your rebellious spirit. Don’t go out like this. Lean in. Make your Will known by making your Will felt.

Soul is everything. The price of it, is defiance. The wages are discernment and appreciation. The more we exercise our discernment and appreciation, the more we grow in this capacity: this is how a Soul grows. Your soul is depreciating and we are depreciating the meaning from creative and inspirational work through our endemic lack of discernment.

Deeper appreciation can open the door to deeper enjoyment, but enjoyment for enjoyment’s sake, enjoyment without a sense of discernment, always and only ever, wants more.

Call to Courage

Try and understand what is being said here.

Try and be bigger than running to the easy comfort of assuming insult and injury. Try and see yourself as an essential part of an essential ecosystem. Your effort matters, your courage matters, your sense of responsibility matters, now more than ever. Your appreciation matters. You matter. You are essence. Either you are essence or you a just a number.

What can you do?

You can engage. You can share quality work, you can promote the people that matter to your soul, you can make the effort to visit their pages, comment on their work, DM them. You can echo their work and their messages in your own voice, tell them what you want more of, less of. You can subscribe to their channels and publications. You can review their podcasts. You can simply notice how easily the platforms drag you into shallow waters by how they block the Generators and by how they keep telling you instead what to watch. You can simply notice the enourmous amount of garbage your are being fed.

You can inspect your own algorithms.

You can sit with the idea that appreciation is greater than enjoyment. You can sit with the truth that your effort matters and your choices have meaning. You can face the truth that discernment is one of the only qualities that defines the growth of a human soul, and that your level of growth is entirely up to you.

Thank you for the courage to listen.

Share this article. Comment. Make yourself heard. Lean in. Make your Will known by making your Will felt.

🧡

Rocco

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If you want to participate in the campaign to bring awareness to this and shift the burden of responsibility onto us as discerning consumers, reach out: info@eyeswideopenlife.org.

Art credit: Unsplash | Prateek Katyal