Thank you so much for sharing your insights from the meeting. Your report feels thoroughly true.
Here are two rituals that I engage in around developing a more healthy relationship with technology:
1) I turn the wifi off at bedtime.
2) I place a sheet over the television screen at bedtime.
(1) is a bit of a struggle to maintain in a household of internet addicts, though something in my soul relaxes every time I unplug the cord so I keep it up
(2) is a very simple change and is surprisingly effective. Have you noticed to tendency to keep looking at a screen even when it's off? A man I met during travels was describing to me the power of reflective black surfaces for scrying (like what you do with a crystal ball) and how insane it is that our landscape is basically filled up with these open spiritual portals. The change in the atmosphere of a room after throwing a sheet over the big television screen is instant, palpable, and positive.
I really appreciate your description of this problem of us being inured to the basic immorality of advertising. Perhaps I'm putting that a bit harshly. Still, I think we as culture underestimate the psychic pain of being surrounded by ads, of receiving a near-constant stream of this message: "I want to manipulate you into giving me money".
I shared this with David S. once: I was talking through Times Square and experienced the awe of being surrounded by enormous colorful screens stretching in every direction on skyscrapers. How would it feel if the spirit of those screens was one of good rather than of manipulation? What if they were all streaming healing frequencies coupled with Buddhist imagery? When look at society at just the right angle, it feels we are on the threshold of paradise.
Absolutely beautifully put and I personally couldn't agree more. I love your insight about scrying and black reflective surfaces. Whoa. I also unplug the wifi at night and it gives me peace. Yes - I had a dream that was similar to your vision...a billboard high on a hill that was contaminating the town with whatever it was advertising. Ultimately it was blank and then filled with messages of love and the people got healthier and healthier. How wonderful to think it that way: we are right on the threshold...
Oh and, I was enormously flattered to be perceived as an expert on The Fourth Way in what I think was Chapter 5 of Tenacious Magic.
Not sure how I pulled that off given that my experience with Gurdjieff is limited to about a couple chapters I read in an Ouspensky book ten years ago :)
Beautiful awareness from exploration of this topic. I'm intrigued. Just reading points 1 and 2 I felt like taking a technology break. My work is greatly enhanced by having a computer, yet I know I need to take more frequent breaks. Thank you.
I feel the same way and have been trying to. So true - if we fully see it then we can see both the drawbacks and the positives and hopefully create technologies with more awareness and heart. Thanks, Robin!
They ARE. And when David and I tried to be with them fully they resisted...the way a toddler or a teen (like my 12 yr old!) wants affection and support but will resist mightily until the purity of love overwhelms them and they surrender. Ahhhhhh, what a relief! You'd be a potent ally in this work, Breean. I hope you check out our magic ritual to break the spell when we launch it.
Mar 15, 2023·edited Mar 15, 2023Liked by Schuyler Brown
As someone who has always embraced technology in art, I think new emerging AI technologies are like any other; a great liberator that can unlock creativity, new expression and storytelling but also a future co-opted master down the road due to the worst tendencies of the attention economy and late stage capitalism at the heart of our current moment. It was the same with the birth of the radio, tv, the internet, social media etc... I try and lean into the good of it all for now and lean into the flow of the moment to hopefully create a better version of tomorrow.
Hey Adam, thank you...I agree. I hope it didn't sound too one-sided. It seems in these session like we often get a very immediate and literal answer to the question. This time it was what do we NEED to know about technology now. I feel like we need to know about the way it has us and if we can see this, we can come into better relationship with it. I really love the art. It does feel like our child guide!
not at all. I loved what you wrote. Human technology is an extension of us all with its beauty, creativity, and utopian potential but also equally with its cancer, rot and dark shadow all within. text to image AI in particular is letting people dream and scream what's inside them. There's darkness and beauty in what comes out. I've been really enjoying pushing and pulling the AI over the last 8-9 months. The way it can mashup ideas and barely understandable concepts in the latent space is inspiring. It's like humanity's strange machine mirror and it reflects back interesting things worthy of further exploration by us humans.
Thank you so much for sharing your insights from the meeting. Your report feels thoroughly true.
Here are two rituals that I engage in around developing a more healthy relationship with technology:
1) I turn the wifi off at bedtime.
2) I place a sheet over the television screen at bedtime.
(1) is a bit of a struggle to maintain in a household of internet addicts, though something in my soul relaxes every time I unplug the cord so I keep it up
(2) is a very simple change and is surprisingly effective. Have you noticed to tendency to keep looking at a screen even when it's off? A man I met during travels was describing to me the power of reflective black surfaces for scrying (like what you do with a crystal ball) and how insane it is that our landscape is basically filled up with these open spiritual portals. The change in the atmosphere of a room after throwing a sheet over the big television screen is instant, palpable, and positive.
I really appreciate your description of this problem of us being inured to the basic immorality of advertising. Perhaps I'm putting that a bit harshly. Still, I think we as culture underestimate the psychic pain of being surrounded by ads, of receiving a near-constant stream of this message: "I want to manipulate you into giving me money".
I shared this with David S. once: I was talking through Times Square and experienced the awe of being surrounded by enormous colorful screens stretching in every direction on skyscrapers. How would it feel if the spirit of those screens was one of good rather than of manipulation? What if they were all streaming healing frequencies coupled with Buddhist imagery? When look at society at just the right angle, it feels we are on the threshold of paradise.
Absolutely beautifully put and I personally couldn't agree more. I love your insight about scrying and black reflective surfaces. Whoa. I also unplug the wifi at night and it gives me peace. Yes - I had a dream that was similar to your vision...a billboard high on a hill that was contaminating the town with whatever it was advertising. Ultimately it was blank and then filled with messages of love and the people got healthier and healthier. How wonderful to think it that way: we are right on the threshold...
Ah, a fellow unplugger :)
Wow, with regards to your dream, it's heartening that our visions align that much. Woah.
Oh and, I was enormously flattered to be perceived as an expert on The Fourth Way in what I think was Chapter 5 of Tenacious Magic.
Not sure how I pulled that off given that my experience with Gurdjieff is limited to about a couple chapters I read in an Ouspensky book ten years ago :)
Beautiful awareness from exploration of this topic. I'm intrigued. Just reading points 1 and 2 I felt like taking a technology break. My work is greatly enhanced by having a computer, yet I know I need to take more frequent breaks. Thank you.
I feel the same way and have been trying to. So true - if we fully see it then we can see both the drawbacks and the positives and hopefully create technologies with more awareness and heart. Thanks, Robin!
I was sad to miss this unfolding. Thank you for the recap. I can feel the inner child of these technologists begging for love and attention.
They ARE. And when David and I tried to be with them fully they resisted...the way a toddler or a teen (like my 12 yr old!) wants affection and support but will resist mightily until the purity of love overwhelms them and they surrender. Ahhhhhh, what a relief! You'd be a potent ally in this work, Breean. I hope you check out our magic ritual to break the spell when we launch it.
Absolutely, I will!
As someone who has always embraced technology in art, I think new emerging AI technologies are like any other; a great liberator that can unlock creativity, new expression and storytelling but also a future co-opted master down the road due to the worst tendencies of the attention economy and late stage capitalism at the heart of our current moment. It was the same with the birth of the radio, tv, the internet, social media etc... I try and lean into the good of it all for now and lean into the flow of the moment to hopefully create a better version of tomorrow.
Something I made with AI last week that reminded me of the child you described https://www.instagram.com/p/CpTY8CzvYnk/
Hey Adam, thank you...I agree. I hope it didn't sound too one-sided. It seems in these session like we often get a very immediate and literal answer to the question. This time it was what do we NEED to know about technology now. I feel like we need to know about the way it has us and if we can see this, we can come into better relationship with it. I really love the art. It does feel like our child guide!
not at all. I loved what you wrote. Human technology is an extension of us all with its beauty, creativity, and utopian potential but also equally with its cancer, rot and dark shadow all within. text to image AI in particular is letting people dream and scream what's inside them. There's darkness and beauty in what comes out. I've been really enjoying pushing and pulling the AI over the last 8-9 months. The way it can mashup ideas and barely understandable concepts in the latent space is inspiring. It's like humanity's strange machine mirror and it reflects back interesting things worthy of further exploration by us humans.
The same day you posted this recap Charles Eisenstein shared this post: https://open.substack.com/pub/charleseisenstein/p/the-robot-who-wanted-to-be-a-man?r=5821&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Figured it would be welcome here to share.
Absolutely! Thank you. Can't wait to read.