Random Thoughts On Living Authentically In Artificial Times
“To hell, to hell with balance! I break glasses; I want to burn, even if I break myself. I want to live only for ecstasy. Nothing else affects me. Small doses, moderate loves, all half-shades, leave me cold. I like extravagance, heat. Letters which give the postman a stiff back to carry, books which overflow from their covers, sexuality which bursts the thermometer! I’m neurotic, perverted, destructive, fiery, dangerous – lava, inflammable, unrestrained.”
-Anaïs Nin
I have been completely absorbed in the works of Anais Nin for the past week or so, finding huge amounts of inspiration and resonance with her words.
While I am not one for New Year’s resolutions, it just so happened that my desire to recalibrate certain areas of my life coincided with the turning of the calendar year. Maybe it was the extreme frustration that the holiday season dumped onto my head, but I started feeling very caged by the constructs I found myself participating in -constructs which fly in the face of everything I believe in. Social media, email, distance, the severing of authentic interaction. I am talking about the irony of a technological grid which we feel connects us even as it is causing enormous disconnects. I am talking about the “social media” which is rendering most human beings into antisocial zombies. I am talking about a general lack of passion and the voracious, blind embracing of passivity. And I’m not speaking from a pulpit here; I am guilty of falling headfirst into the trap.
For example, how did I find myself near-addicted to social media when I absolutely detest it? The core of my being views social media as perfectly antithetical to everything I believe in. Yet, there I was in the middle of it. So, I ditched my last social media account: Twitter. After I left, I went back to view it with an objective eye and was flooded by observations of the loneliness, the narcissism and the disconnection inherent in the platform. I watch brilliant poets photographing their afternoon coffee to share with strangers. I see people with beautiful thoughts distilling them down to fit 140 characters. I see lonely people reaching out in the middle of the night saying basically “Hello? Is there anyone out there?” and waiting for a stranger to appear on the screen with a clever response to a witticism or random observation. I see photos posted that seem to say “Look. I was here. I am alive. I am important. Notice me. Instead of expanding our minds and enriching our forms of communication, we are basically all trying to fit into a culture of small talk and senseless prattle. I strongly believe our minds and hearts are shrinking as fast as our perceptions are dissociating. See, I am an avatar, an icon, a girl in a box who is surrounded by words. How real am I to you? In this space, I am a character, a voice, an object. I am a ghost. (Insert tangent about online bullying and how it relates to all of this here).
Afternote: I did eventually return to Twitter, but with a different eye. I cannot cut myself off from this new world entirely, but I can try to work with it in a way that feels authentic to me.
To put it bluntly, it’s fucking sad that our modes of connecting with other human beings have been so extensively whittled away. The big problem is that it is easy. It’s convenient. It’s safe. We desperately want to connect with each other, but the mechanisms for doing so authentically, richly, deeply -they are frayed. We are working with what has been given to us and with what has become easy. Shallow becomes normal if it is easy and convenient; Everything does. I miss all of my friends who have disappeared into their computers and smartphones. I miss the potential deep communions that get traded for split-second soundbites. I miss relationships that have been replaced with attention spans only capable of tourism (I have had my fair share of tourists). I am not interested in soul tourism. I want passion and engagement, not passivity. Anais elaborated on this best.
I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy. -Anais Nin
I truly believe that the degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free. It is my goal in this life to constantly evaluate where I am and am not free. Where I am not, I am not resisting enough. We are constantly being pulled into participating in myriad levels of bullshit which are being dictated by the popular culture. For example, I do not participate in any holidays because I refuse to participate in bullshit. This means that I have to rearrange my life around the holiday season in order to avoid participating in the slightest. I have given in and participated in social media because it is almost impossible to connect with people if these shallow platforms are abandoned. Now, I am realizing that the goal of my life is to stop making concessions to my convictions and to stop making concessions based on how dramatically the culture is devolving.
I have never married, never had children, refuse to adhere to monogamy, refuse to accept a sexuality label and never followed the path of least resistance because resistance is not futile. I have not made any exceptions when it comes to my personal ideas of freedom and the desire to live as authentically and as passionately as possible. It is not the easiest path to travel, because this space can often be a lonely one. Most people are conforming in some way and I constantly feel like I am talking to people from behind the glass of a prison visit. Enter Anais Nin: I am completely on fire. Her words rush through my veins like kerosene, place the spaceless and name the faceless. She lived authentic freedom and understood the great beauty that occurs when we refuse to make concessions. This one piece sums up everything I fight against and the fluctuating awakening which truly saves me from death.
As I have been diving in and out of the works of Anais Nin, I am finding that she is helping me find the inspiration to stick to my resolutions and to stop making concessions. I firmly believe that human consciousness is devolving because our connections to depth are wearing away in the tide of what is “easy” and “convenient”. It is easier not to care. It is easier to tour each other than to truly get to know each other. It is easier to send an email than to pick up the phone. It is easier to die a slow cerebral and spiritual death than it is to live. Dying is easy. Living is hard. I want the beautiful, complex difficulty of being human.
The frenzied passion that drives my art is seen less and less in the external world and I have found myself frantically scraping the bottom of every tiny pool to try and find it. Where are the people who don’t spend all day on Twitter? Where are the people who are so intoxicated with living that they can still weep at a sunset? Where are the people who can take the time to write a beautiful letter instead of sending a Facebook message? Where are the people who are not afraid to love, fuck and dream? Where are the people who refuse to participate in what they do not believe in? Where are the people who are not afraid to jump into each other? Where are the people who remember what they were before the world came in? Where are the people who are not trapped behind a screen, a wall, a face? Where are the people who are truly living out their passions? I know there are many of you. I want to know you. In my dreams, I am surrounded by libertines. Let’s make a planet where the only rule is that you must live life.
Living never wore one out so much as the effort not to live. -Anais Nin
This is an incredible read! Well written, I loved it. Thank you.
January 8, 2013 at 10:32 pm
I am in love with you. In love.
January 8, 2013 at 10:37 pm
Irony: My Twitter account is still open because I logged into it to post my email address and respond to some messages the other day. WordPress automatically tweets links to my new blog posts. So, this post just got sent to Twitter. Agh!
January 9, 2013 at 12:10 am
Hysterical, forgive me. Gfaw
January 9, 2013 at 10:36 pm
Hahahaha. I know right! Too funny.
January 10, 2013 at 1:46 am
the ultimate irony! Your post is beautifully written – I agree that we are in danger of sliding into that abyss of nothingness – which is the exact antithesis of who and what God created us to be – alive! Thanks for visiting my blog, by the way – it lead me here.
May 1, 2013 at 10:06 am
I’ve been reading Anais Nin lately myself and being so drawn to her authenticity and fearlessness. Love your post – wonderful!
January 9, 2013 at 12:35 am
Social media and the Internet is a paradox of epic proportions. I met my wife – the person with whom I’ve had my deepest connection – on LiveJournal. We spent four years reading each other’s blogs and fell in love having never met each other. We’ve been happily cohabitating for five years, forging a deep alliance in an infuriating and superficial world. So, I value the capacity of social media to connect people who otherwise might never know each other, but it is indeed folly to live perpetually in that initial spark of connectedness. Relationships worth having must grow and that is what I find frustrating wiht the modern world – relationships generally don’t grow beyond these sparks.
I made Anyone Want To (https://www.anyonewant.to) as social infrastructure to help people meet each other in real space and time. The rest is up to us – social media solves some social needs but doesn’t create culture. In a world where culture is sold as a commodity we must *create our own culture* to be healthy human beings. It’s a call to arms. It takes hard work and… grit.
January 9, 2013 at 12:57 am
Thank you. What a great site. We need more things like this! I agree with you on all points.
January 9, 2013 at 1:08 am
Also, I should note that I do value the connections that can be made, but like you said, the modern world often inhibits the growth of the spark. It is too easy to “dehumanize” each other…to render each other unreal. And of course, I would be ignorant to not acknowledge the way that my own personal experiences contribute to these realizations and make me so vehement about them.
To be clear: What I am lamenting is not the presence of social media, but the way consciousness is changing because of it.
January 9, 2013 at 2:38 am
A little bit of an aside here, but I like the way you put it – “unreal”. There’s a real danger in all relationships of having a relationship with unreal people, even face-to-face. People tend to build up facades of people in our minds over time and without maintenance we can end up having a relationship with these imaginary people only to wake up one day and realize we don’t know the flesh-and-bones people anymore. This is just more acute on the Internet because we have so much more curational control over the identity we offer the world.
That was one of the most unique aspects of LiveJournal – it was a medium in which the writer was encouraged to be 100% authentic – a journal – and yet was read by others on the Internet. I haven’t known anything quite like it since.
January 9, 2013 at 9:38 am
Thanks for sharing this inquiry. My first thoughts: “amen sister”. There are so many ways that social media is used, I have to reflect on my own engagement. I don’t spend a lot of time there, maybe an hour a day. (Is that a lot of time?
It’s how I start the day, and do little check-in’s throughout. I use it to collect news from diverse sources (which I usually read later), to be sparked by different perspectives, and to offer little pieces of myself to larger numbers in hopes that I might in some way stimulating homeopathic healing effect in the world.
There’s no doubt, these medium dehumanize and reduce our dimensions to soundbites when considered at face value. I think it important, also, to consider them in context.
For myself, I lead a very busy life. I’m not busy with things I don’t love, on the contrary, I’m very busy with love. Nonetheless, this leaves less time for simply lounging about with friends (a marvelous pastime), lingering in the coffee shop for spontaneous conversations with strangers, walks on the beach… Anywhere I might come in contact with new faces and new ideas.
I use social media to retain contact with these encounters when they do occur. To stay connected to those I’ve enjoyed the privilege of creating with, even after the task has ended and our energies have turned in new directions.
Social media is one dimension of a radically new world, one that is new from yesterday, and will most likely change by tomorrow. As long as the masses are embracing social media, I feel it’s up to those of us who care, and are paying attention to the ways in which it heals and hinders us to steward the field in hopes of creating a more vital existence for all of us on the ground where we do meet.
Forgive me if these sound like answers, they are really more questions. The world has embraced social media, for now, how do we love the world where it is?
January 9, 2013 at 10:48 pm
I wish I knew the answer. I think that the potential is there for it to be healthy, connective platform but I don’t see how it is possible on a large scale. I think there are people (like yourself) who are not getting lost in it. I have had the unfortunate experience of seeing SO MANY people get lost in it, to the point where they cannot communicate outside of it. The huge amount of negatives is what worries me.
January 10, 2013 at 1:49 am
Terrific…:) Thanks…!!! You made my day…
January 10, 2013 at 2:16 pm
Are you familiar with Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death? A popular introduction to a world of people who see the same detriment happening all around us… Thank you for your personal reflection on this continuously expanding issue.
January 10, 2013 at 2:19 pm
I am not familiar with it, but I will definitely check it out. Thanks!
January 10, 2013 at 4:59 pm
i like it.
January 10, 2013 at 2:40 pm
Outstanding! Your interpretation and well written words are amazing! Thank you!
January 10, 2013 at 2:43 pm
Wow! What a powerful post, and beautifully written too. Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed.
January 10, 2013 at 2:43 pm
lovely thought
January 10, 2013 at 2:50 pm
I too enjoy the works of Anais Nin. I appreciated your post immensely, and have been experiencing these same feelings lately regarding social media, too.
January 10, 2013 at 2:58 pm
I love this post. Keep living, loving, fucking, and looking for people who want to do what you want to do…you will have to search for them because most people by and large are unconscious followers. It’s not their fault, it’s just the way things are. I’ve been doing my own thing forever and it is lonely, no denying, but mostly it’s lonely when I focus on trying to get others to live the way I want to live. People will do what they want to do.
I think social media may be keeping people from going deeper, but then again when did many people ever go very deep.
January 10, 2013 at 3:02 pm
Truth! Thank you.
January 10, 2013 at 4:59 pm
Fantastic!
January 10, 2013 at 3:02 pm
Reblogged this on voguehill and commented:
Loving this!
January 10, 2013 at 3:15 pm
Hey I really dig your perspective on the antisocial world that we have created. Also thanks for introducing me to the thoughts/words of Anais Nin, I have to research more of Nin’s material as time goes on. Check out some of my material on my WordPress account I’m sure certain posts will spark thought within you.
January 10, 2013 at 3:50 pm
one word – splendid!
January 10, 2013 at 3:58 pm
Interesting
January 10, 2013 at 4:16 pm
the irony of social media is that for us to stay connected in it we have to part ways with real people, we go to quiet places and find ways to express our thoughts in 140 characters or less.
social media is best viewers a tool to help us connect with those we would otherwise have been unable to reach, but as a replacement for real, organic connections it is much worse than a failure.
above all people should seek to live, try out their limits visit the edges of human existence and see what lurks in those far off places.
some lines though were quite memorable;
“dying is easy living is hard.”
“where people are not afraid to love, fuck and dream.”
…and Anais Nin, i’d read about her.
January 10, 2013 at 4:16 pm
You have so beautifully put down on paper, i.e., computer screen, exactly what I’ve been thinking, feeling that I sit, still riveted in my seat. Your writing speaks to my soul and i can’t wait to read what you write next!
January 10, 2013 at 4:33 pm
Thank you for visiting. So glad to hear people resonating!
January 10, 2013 at 5:00 pm
What a well-written post. I love your urging to get people to live more passionately. I agree that social media should work to initiate relationships or introduce people who might not otherwise find each other. The man who found his wife on LiveJournal is a positive example of what can happen. I think like most things in life, social media is what we make of it. But it doesn’t work when we allow it to shape us, which it sometimes does. I’m glad I followed your blog.
January 10, 2013 at 5:01 pm
Reblogged this on Stephanie Grace Long.
January 10, 2013 at 5:25 pm
This post seriously needs some Idea Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AXIAM7dTTg
Both great and relevant videos on Twitter and changing realities.
January 10, 2013 at 5:26 pm
Great choices with the quotes and also tying them all together.
January 10, 2013 at 5:31 pm
I’ve also wondered about this when it comes to blogging. Do I spend too much time on my computer writing to my followers, many of whom I have never met face to face, and not enough time with friends and family in the flesh? Then again, we live so far apart from one another now. We work. We have obligations. Ironically, the very things that have made life seemingly easier (cell phones, computers, etc) have also increased our workload. I guess there are no easy answers.
Interesting and thought-provoking piece.
Alice
January 10, 2013 at 5:42 pm
I extracted myself in the tar pit that is Facebook about six months ago. I had withdrawal symptoms, but they passed.
What I miss is connection with distant family members, whom I see once or twice a year.
What I do not miss is the Tyranny By Volume of those who are willing to share every minor irritation, bowel movement and triumph by their children.
I happened upon wordpress a few weeks ago, and find that it’s an environment where people are willing to share thoughtful insights as well as conversations.
Although it’s still a place where we are who we say we are (to paraphrase Dennis Green,
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=dennis+green+chicago+bears&mid=B7D9583D076F1A93E6ACB7D9583D076F1A93E6AC&view=detail&FORM=VIRE2 )
Congrats on FP!
January 10, 2013 at 5:46 pm
Thank you. Yes, I am glad I discovered WordPress too. It really is a wonderful community of thoughtful people.
January 10, 2013 at 9:39 pm
Thank you for this.
January 10, 2013 at 5:49 pm
It’s beautifully written. We really have to explore, live on the edge and embrace new challenges sometimes. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post of yours!
January 10, 2013 at 6:01 pm
Hi Jim,
Thanks for stopping by. Glad you enjoyed your visit.
January 10, 2013 at 7:14 pm
Hi. the pleasure is mine! Continue writing about insightful ideas!
January 11, 2013 at 6:16 am
I understand this all too well. Something that took me aback when I worked in the leisure industry, part of my job was talking to customers. I realized many people didn’t know how to communicate with each other properly, people would talk ‘at’ each other rather than have a real conversation, and when you asked them direct questions they seemed confused. Manners were void in a lot of people too. I think the internet allows people to just say whatever they like and just randomly declare things rather than have a real conversation with anyone.
Agreed, we must LIVE life!
Take care, xx
January 10, 2013 at 6:15 pm
Agreed! That’s the thing that makes me sad. The fact that these things are actually changing the way we interact, absorb and process information and relate to others with empathy. Thanks for visiting!
January 10, 2013 at 7:14 pm
Social media has gifted me lovely moments of connection to old friends and family whose lives extend beyond the routine of my days; for this I am immeasurably grateful. Still, I am ever saddened by the hollow sharings and broken connection of individuals lost to convenience over community.
Congratulations on a beautiful and important message.
January 10, 2013 at 6:16 pm
Thank you and thanks for stopping by!
January 10, 2013 at 7:11 pm
Reblogged this on cftc10.
January 10, 2013 at 6:22 pm
Agree 100%. I having been wanting to ditch my facebook for a long time because when half the “friends” you message dont reply, whats the point? Whats the point of having facebook or having any of those people as friends? The only reason why I keep it is because my friends are scatttered all over the world.
Thank you for this post and putting my thoughts into words. Great read
January 10, 2013 at 6:23 pm
Thank you for visiting. It took me a long time to ditch Facebook.
January 10, 2013 at 7:11 pm
Amazing post! I just kissed it good bye as well…. Congrats on being Freshly Pressed and love love LOVE your photo! I’ll be back
January 10, 2013 at 10:38 pm
I used to claim that I would not conform to the constraints of monogamy, until I began defining myself within “my monogamy”. My monogamy is not your monogamy, and no one else can define it for me. Once I began defining my monogamy, I realized a degree of fulfillment that the single life could never achieve. I realized that there was an inner core to monogamy, a beauty that could never be defined by anyone else. That cliché that when you fall in love, you think you’re the only person that has ever been in love, is so true, because you define it month by month, day by day.
Why does this girl love me? I have no idea, but the inquiry constantly challenges me. I, like most people my age, think of myself as a little child unworthy of love, and that she will eventually unzip the zipper in the back of my neck to realize the monster that I really am. The truth is that she has defined me in certain ways, and I have evolved myself to meet our standard. She has deprived me of that sense of emptiness I used to feel every day, that angst that drove me to write beautiful, provocative prose, but in its place is this sense of completion that only I can define.
I used to abhor holidays too, and though I didn’t go so far as to not participate in them, I saw all of them as false and conformist. I wanted something out of holidays and relationships that no one could give me…until I started giving to them. As they say, “it is far more rewarding to give than to receive.” Therein lies the key, once you start giving to a relationship, you start down the road to completion. Once you sacrifice that portion of yourself that used to define you as a single, strong rebellious person, you start to realize who you really are, and what you can be. The single life seems so rewarding in the rock star, Hollywood light, until that light exposes the underbelly of your empty existence.
I would never claim that my solutions are for everyone, but I can say that you’ll never know yourself completely until you are involved with another person long term. The “constraints” of monogamy actually freed me up more than anything else I’ve ever experienced. Trying to get another person to love me, every day, changed me in ways I never understand, until I experienced them for myself. I realized that my definition of the constraints of monogamy were wrong once I began defining my monogamy with “the right person” to assist me through a life of consistency and normalcy.
January 10, 2013 at 7:00 pm
This is really beautiful. What I am trying to express is that I think it is wonderful when we can embrace our own personal ideas of freedom. For me, my personal idea of freedom is encompassed in what I have written here. For you, it is in monogamy. The spectrum is huge and all inclusive. I think the key is to find what truly makes us feel free and to do everything possible to follow that path. My life is richer from being in open relationships, for others they may feel empty in them. We are all so complex and varied that freedom really can only be defined by the individual.
January 10, 2013 at 7:09 pm
Of course, I agree with you. This is the land of the free, and we are all able to explore what makes us beautiful, and what can make us more beautiful. I thought your piece was so provocative that I had to comment on it. I thought it was one of the best pieces I’ve landed on randomly. I was honestly surprised by how well written, and well thought out, it was. You’re a really good writer, and I look forward to your next post.
January 10, 2013 at 7:16 pm
Social media is such a perfect example of this but the same problem invades other aspects of our lives. That which is of great benefit in aspect of our lives is a detriment in others. Consider our cars, they allow us so much freedom to move about and interact with the world and its denizens. Yet what do we really use them for? Going back and forth to the same places on the same schedule day after day, week after week. In fact cars inhibit us from experiencing the world in many ways. We don’t stop and say hi to people on the way to work like we might if we walked or biked. We don’t interact with strangers in any social manner. We isolate ourselves from the outside world while in our cars to the point of controlling the temperature and sounds in the our presence.
The same goes for our jobs. They provide us with the means of survival, entertainment and in some ways freedom to enjoy the world by giving us the resources to get out and do things. Yet our jobs isolate us from the rest of the world. We interact with the same small set of people day in and day out. We maintain shallow friendships with coworkers but frequently we don’t have any real connection. We spend all day focusing on the same things all day every day thereby narrowing what we can experience in the world.
My point being that those things which bring us great benefits are the ropes we bind ourselves with. We trap ourselves in our comfortable routine and forget to live.
January 10, 2013 at 7:17 pm
Thanks, Tracy. You bring up some very true and important points. The labyrinth becomes more and more complex the more we look into it. There truly is no way out of the maze…I think we just have to navigate as happily and truthfully as possible.
January 10, 2013 at 9:41 pm
Just what I was looking for and just what I got. A brilliant read, indeed !!!
January 10, 2013 at 7:53 pm
Reblogged this on Anchoring Hope.
January 10, 2013 at 8:33 pm
You have written something stunning and life-provoking! I am especially struck by these owrds of yours: “Dying is easy. Living is hard. I want the beautiful, complex difficulty of being human.” I so much agree with that
And for what is worth to you, it stuck a cord with someone on the other side of the world!
January 10, 2013 at 8:35 pm
So glad to hear this!
Thank you.
January 10, 2013 at 9:41 pm
Very well written ideas and a necessary rant. People do need to think about what is driving them and whether they are living authentically or not. In terms of social media specifically, I see it as a tool, like a knife, which can be useful or dangerous and damaging depending on the intentions of the user. Perhaps the real problem is that people are looking in all the wrong places for love and purpose because they were never taught their value or how to live authentically.
January 10, 2013 at 8:50 pm
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. It’s true. We really are just a bunch of fragile creatures trying to make our way. It’s so easy to look in the wrong places for sustenance.
January 10, 2013 at 9:43 pm
I feel very much the same and love how eloquently you explain the lonliness we think we are missing by being attached to our thousands of social media friends. A month ago I left my apartment after selling all of my belongings to get out in the world and stop touring photos and romanticizing dreams of ‘one day’,
I don’t have a plan right now but God, anything was better than that sadness of knowing I was behind a revolving door of predictability and a life I didn’t love. Its a discovery in progress each day that we look for others that want to live from the heart. I am finding many beautiful things…
Please visit my blog to read about my story? Thank you for writing this post!
January 10, 2013 at 9:00 pm
Congratulations, Jess! Stories like this make me so happy. I look forward to reading your blog and will check it out soon!
January 10, 2013 at 9:44 pm
My thoughts are so well reflected in your post here. Actually I am someone that has kept myself away from the social media for so long for the same reasons that you have beautifully described here. Just a month ago I had a curiosity to see what the blog world is all about, tried to just begin blogging. But I think I am glad to have taken a step ahead to peep into this world, for now I could read posts like yours and feel happy that I am not the only one in the world having such thoughts about social media and its effects.
January 10, 2013 at 9:17 pm
Thanks, Hope. Even though I have swing back and forth on it, I really feel that blogging is perhaps the most authentic of the tools that we have.
January 10, 2013 at 9:45 pm
So insightful and so true. And i love the term “soul tourism”, those are just the perfect words to describe that concept. Thank you.
January 10, 2013 at 9:37 pm
Thank you for visiting. I am glad you were able to take something from this.
January 10, 2013 at 9:46 pm
Reblogged this on .my.blind.world. and commented:
I really enjoyed reading this blog entry. So much truth in it.
January 10, 2013 at 9:46 pm
Reblogged this on Thoughts from a Tin Woman and commented:
She puts this much better than I could have …
January 10, 2013 at 9:59 pm
Reblogged this on getting lost in skylines; trying to forget and commented:
Yeah, I realise reblogging is just feeding into the ‘expressing yourself through an online medium’ thing, but it’s definitely worth taking on board. Certainly a better way of being, even if it does seem challenging compared to just pressing a button.
January 10, 2013 at 10:29 pm
Reblogged this on Coming Out Crooked and commented:
Amazing! and bless you Anais Nin! I am so tracking your shit down, pulling up a couch and sinking into the read
January 10, 2013 at 10:43 pm
I once read: “We spend more time watching people on TV making love than we spend time making it ourselves.” That was before the Internet exploded with all the social media potential. I’m sure our lovemaking is now in the basement with TV AND social media. Yet, if you put some effort in, there is a sense of community online – something you don’t get through a TV. Does it improve our chances of reconnecting?
January 10, 2013 at 11:28 pm
I am really curious as to what the cumulative effects will be 10, 20, 30 years from now. I would love to be pleasantly surprised.
January 11, 2013 at 12:34 am
Oh my…. You are plain awesome!!! I adore you in all of your lovely splendor. You brain waves reach far beyond. Nin… An amazing woman and the queen of contemplation!
Felicia
January 10, 2013 at 11:39 pm
Reblogged this on bconcepts's Blog and commented:
Interesting to have sch freedom.
January 10, 2013 at 11:43 pm
This post got me into Anais Nin. And your thoughts are convicting. Keep writing please!
January 10, 2013 at 11:48 pm
Reblogged this on My Voyage Through Time and commented:
January 10, 2013 at 11:52 pm
Thanks so much Felicia. Appreciated
January 11, 2013 at 12:31 am
Excellent post ~ wonderfully written and inspiring!
January 11, 2013 at 1:10 am
Pingback: Sunlight |
I haven’t read Anais Nin since I was in my early twenties and now the only place I can find it is online…talk about irony!
I’ve only been active in social media for about a year now and couldn’t agree more with everything you say. It doesn’t take long to learn. My main purpose was to broaden exposure for my art, as I’m completely unknown.
I’ve just started blogging and it already makes much more sense than social networking, and I do see a difference, big time.
Incidentally, ‘social’ media is more of a marketing term more than anything as what it’s really computer networking, though sometimes something nice happens socially, such as the example of the couple above.
The kind of passion Anais Nin describes goes against so much of what we call civilization, and as much as I like her outlook, in absence of living in such a passionate environment, pouring myself into art has been in many ways a savior of sorts, and social networking can never come close to that experience.
Anyways, I can see I’m beginning to rant, so once more I’d just like to say thanks.
January 11, 2013 at 3:49 am
So true. Art is indeed the savior. It is the essence of all of the passions. If you are immersed fully in your art, you are touching and tasting life at it’s most beautiful places.
January 11, 2013 at 7:04 am
Anais Nin sets me on fire, too. Beautiful, thank you for sharing this.
January 11, 2013 at 4:56 am
Your post made me want to read Anais Nin. Such good quotes, I can really connect with them. And yeah..the whole internet “connection”..One of my new years resolutions is no more LDR.
January 11, 2013 at 5:13 am
You’ve elegantly put into words a thought that’s been gnawing at me for quite a while. Social media, when it’s used as a facilitator for real-world interactions, can be wonderful. But in recent times, it’s been acting more as a replacement. Some people live their entire lives online – as though if something isn’t posted on Facebook or Twitter, it doesn’t count – and it’s such a shame. There’s such a beautiful, exciting world out there full of real relationships, and so many of us trick ourselves into thinking that we’re living it when we’re really just coasting by in shallow waters.
January 11, 2013 at 5:38 am
I loved reading this. As a stay at home mother of two babies under 4, I AM that mom who posts every milestone of their lives. That’s because it’s my connection to the world and family far and wide!
I understand the perils of this dehumanizing social media craze, but I need it so. I have tried to give up Facebook and have succeeded for days at a time. But the loneliness kicks in and it’s back to fb I go. I have tried to make phone calls for adult interaction, but no one answers their phone or calls back. Instead I get a text asking what’s up. It drives me batty. I am with you on all those points. The loss of social skills amazes me…like if it can’t be done from your phone, it’s not worth the effort.
Until my children learn a bit more independence, I will revel in my social media and continue to use it as one of my few outlets. My husband works many long hours so I can stay home to raise our children, and my family is an hour away, so in many ways, this is all I have. I will get back to writing and expressing myself as wholeheartedly as you do. Your words are an inspiration for me. You have eloquently stated how so many of us feel. And your Nin references will drive me to my storage unit so I can reunite with her books and rekindle some of my own lost flames and dreams.
Thank you, Kalliope. Thank you.
January 11, 2013 at 6:17 am
Thanks so much and it makes me so happy to hear you will be reuniting with Nin
I think many people are in situations where there would actually be too much of a disconnect if they did NOT have social media. As with everything, we can’t get too lost if we are aware. I think as long as we stay aware, as you are, the participation will not have the ability to be blinding. Because of this, my concern sits with the generations that are being raised solely in screens, behind screens, in front of screens. That, I believe is the most dangerous milk.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and perspective!
January 11, 2013 at 7:12 am
Such a refreshingly different kind of post, it made my morning, thanks! And exactly, why does nobody take the time to write a meaningful letter or create anything significant anymore but instead sends tons of virtual utterly dispensable sentences? It seems like the practice of efficency has conquered every aspect of our lives, regrettably.
January 11, 2013 at 7:37 am
Hey Kalliope,
an indeed post. Liked it
January 11, 2013 at 8:00 am
Pingback: Random Thoughts On Living Authentically In Artificial Times « energeia
Reblogged this on energeia.
January 11, 2013 at 4:42 pm
Kalliope~
I have been exploring connection and disconnection for many years. You can look under “voyage interests” on my site now that you are follower.
The psychological and physical effects of true connection and complete disconnection can be exhilarating or utter poison (depending on the needs of an individual at a particular moment in time). Last night I read the comments on your post. It is amazing that most people simply miss your real message. You are calling for an awakening. We need to make time to fulfill the sincere connectivity which is essential to humanity.
Social media is just one way we can disconnect if we are not mindful, but for artists and writers, digital networks allow us to connect in unique ways. It can allow us to learn from one another. There is nothing like meeting someone face to face, and I must say I would love to meet you one day. I could probably talk to you for hours.
Last night I posted I Am Here Kalliope Amorphous on my site because I believe I am awake. You asked if anybody was out there. I am here. It took me many years to wake up, but I have started to fulfill myself as a writer and artist in ways that I never thought possible.
I Am Here Kalliope Amorphous
http://myvoyagethroughtime.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/i-am-here-kalliope-amorphous/
Have you ever heard people speak of the death of the letter? I think you should read an old post of mine I linked to below. Let me know what you think of it.
Sincerely~ Felicia
Are We Killing Intimate Expression
http://myvoyagethroughtime.wordpress.com
January 11, 2013 at 4:57 pm
Hi, Felicia. I am looking forward to exploring your blog. “The Death Of The Letter”….I have been lamenting it for awhile. Thank you for connecting and sharing.
January 11, 2013 at 6:04 pm
Sorry~~~~~~ wrong link up there!
Are We Killing Intimate Expression?
http://myvoyagethroughtime.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/are-we-killing-intimate-expressions/
January 11, 2013 at 7:12 pm
Beautiful & inspiring post! There are still a lot of people out there who are connecting in person, following their passions, and keeping the social media black hole at bay, though they may use it as another tool at their disposal. I see it every day, but I’m lucky enough to work one-on-one with people as a social services advocate. Anyway, keep looking, you’ll find them! It always makes me happy when I go in my local coffee shop and see little groups of friends talking, debating politics, knitting and laughing together, whatever. Enjoy your Anais Nin! Her writing is so incredible.
January 11, 2013 at 7:14 pm
Every generation battles with the need to assert themselves in the world, i think you are right to some degree about the effect on the consciousness that the new methods of communication are having – there will be change, but some will be absorbed and a new method of expressing what it is to be human will emerge. Our species adapts, and will continue to do so in wonderful and unimaginable ways. Good to think about, keep strong in the world.
January 11, 2013 at 7:23 pm
This post made my day. Absolutely perfect post!
January 11, 2013 at 8:30 pm
Reblogged this on Avani's blog.
January 11, 2013 at 8:31 pm
Reblogged this on jbrookea12.
January 11, 2013 at 8:49 pm
Reblogged this on soulchocolatelove and commented:
awesomeness
January 11, 2013 at 11:08 pm
Reblogged this on Dissolve Me.
January 12, 2013 at 1:34 am
I am a high school student without a cell phone and even without that I still feel sucked up in the vortex of social media. Thanks for the thought-provoking post. Cheers!
January 12, 2013 at 3:59 am
Awesome! Definitely looking forward to reading more of your posts. It’s people like you that I have been looking forward to when I joined wordpress a few weeks ago. I, like you, despise social media (I must admit, with an almost grim passion) and have closed my facebook account about two years ago and thankfully have not fallen prey to any others.
I believe not every new technology is synonym of advancement. In the case of social media, I find it to be regression. We have been disconnecting ourselves from our environment, and mainly ourselves and what makes us human. It’s cable TVs bigger brother. An easy way to disconnect the human being from it’s essence, to waste away our limitless abilities and divert our attention from the all-important task: to live LIFE, that thing we only have ONE of, the one outside the computer screen and the one within aching to be. What is called “tweeting” or whatever other invented words is simply the morphed art of Interaction. It became too “easy”, hence eliminating the need for “over-thinking” (which really is just “thinking”). We are “dumbed-down”, such a pity. The world around us is spinning in all it’s beauty and too many forget to even look at the moon in awe and wonder…,it’s a pity because it has paved the way for the new generation to come…
Thanks for your thought-provoking post, I am hoping it can have a ripple effect big enough to reach the ones who are in dire need of it. I will definitely let this simmer in my brain and discuss it further with my peers. Keep smiling!
January 12, 2013 at 4:18 am
Truth! Thank you!
January 12, 2013 at 4:22 am
I am right here. Loved this!!!
January 12, 2013 at 10:51 am
Great post right there, I liked it. I am following you now, if you want to Know about Surfski I invite you to follow us back! Regards
January 12, 2013 at 5:30 pm
You just reminded me of the girl I was but wished back; the same girl that I thought was living in her own head (psycho) as she was continuously shoved into “reality”. There might be hope for her to come back.
Thanks.
And social media. Well, we love to hate it but…
January 12, 2013 at 9:49 pm
I completely agree with your views on “social” media. It is making it more difficult for people to form real relationships with others. I am also guilty of losing myself in facebook, pinterest, etc. I realize that it saps the enjoyment and time out if my actual life. It keeps you away from spending time doing actual activities and seeing real places and having experiences.
January 12, 2013 at 11:32 pm
Reblogged this on MelissaMarie411 and commented:
Brilliant.
January 13, 2013 at 2:19 am
My favorite line is this:
“Most people are conforming in some way and I constantly feel like I am talking to people from behind the glass of a prison visit.”
it reminds me of Thoreau’s glass ceiling, and of course, my interactions with many.
Your prose is both poetry and truth. Your words definitely resonate.
January 13, 2013 at 2:35 am
This is fantastic. I’ve been living in Thailand for the last four months, and I wholeheartedly agree with you. It kind of goes without saying, but traveling really does allow you to break free from all the unnecessary bullshit that you’re talking about. Being here has taught me to just be awake, to do all of the things you’ve always wanted to do, to really live life on your own terms and not be trapped in the closed confines of a avatar or something artificial. Talking, living, learning, discovering what’s really important to me each and every day – that’s something that can’t be gained by living life through a Twitter handle.
Thanks for the inspiring post!
P.S. Looking forward to checking out Anais Nin. Amazing quotes.
January 13, 2013 at 6:32 am
Reblogged this on A Different Velocity and commented:
Fantastic post. Shakes the very essence of your being.
January 13, 2013 at 7:29 am
Absolutely loved reading that…!! Great
)
January 13, 2013 at 8:12 am
brilliant post. I havent read much of Anais Nin. But it resonantes more with hedonism from what you shared. But I love to know extremes not just because they are extremes but they help me to relocate my pivot point. About Social change , I am from India and I have seen strong opposition of phones, computers, laptops, internet in past but eventually they got in, slowly though. Which makes me feel
Social evolution is like flow of a river, it cannot be stopped by any barrier, any wall, any rock or any mountain not even by ignorance and complete abandonment. It will eventually break every barrier and every wall, crack every rock, hole every mountain and ignore every ignorer on its way. The key is not in sitting at the bank with your back turned to it , nor in flowing against it, not even in getting carried away in its flow but in swimming at your own pace, with your own values, rules, beliefs; just as you while enjoying the beauty of new world it takes you to as it flows
January 13, 2013 at 11:38 am
Brilliant and thought-provoking. Thank you for putting these thoughts to life.
January 13, 2013 at 5:38 pm
I agree totally. I am making some changes in life, because, at 35, I just realised that our time is gold.
Great post.
January 13, 2013 at 6:06 pm
So glad you’re saying this, and saying it so well. I think many of us sense that the price of all this convenient “communication” is a loss of depth and real connection. It’s hard to stay focused on that, when it’s all so distracting. But we need to remember every moment to at least try to go for the real, rather than the flashy.
January 13, 2013 at 11:00 pm
Great post!
January 14, 2013 at 11:48 am
Love this, I have been saying this for quite sometime. I am trying my best to help my daughter turn away from social media. I will read this to her tonight, Thanks so much.
January 14, 2013 at 7:00 pm
Intimacy is losing out to efficiency. We should all think about renegotiating our relationship with technology.
Great post–enjoyed your thoughts.
January 14, 2013 at 10:14 pm
This is really a god! These words have some effect in me and I like it. Please keep writing!
January 14, 2013 at 11:04 pm
Thank you so much for this – just happened upon it on the “Freshly Pressed” page, and it is EXACTLY what I needed to read.
I’m reblogging this
.
Again – thank you.
I’ve been feeling like a bit of a pointless, faceless zombie the last while, and this has succeeded in shaking my feathers.
January 15, 2013 at 1:15 pm
Reblogged this on Blah blah blonde and commented:
“You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. Then you read a book… or you take a trip… and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable: first, restlessness. The second symptom (when hibernating becomes dangerous and might degenerate into death): absence of pleasure. That is all. It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They picnic with their families. They raise children. And then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, and it awakens them and saves them from death. Some never awaken.”
January 15, 2013 at 1:20 pm
Pingback: Random Thoughts On Living Authentically In Artificial Times « arguablyred
A fabulous read!!And what accuracy on how how human interaction has become mostly electronic!!!Thank you for your thought provoking post!
January 16, 2013 at 11:52 am
I love the quotes! Thanks for sharing and congrats on being freshly pressed!
January 16, 2013 at 1:10 pm
Pingback: Communication. « her name was cassandra
Very well written. I think – I hope – that more and more people are beginning to feel the way you do. I think social media is so popular, because, as Sartre once said “L’enfer c’est les autres” – we’re so afraid of being hurt or disappointed by real connections with people that we just go the easy, digital route.
January 16, 2013 at 4:37 pm
Holy shit! This just sums up everything I’ve been thinking about. It was wonderful for me to read because I can tell this was of utmost importance to you.
January 17, 2013 at 5:00 am
All the blogs sound the same to me. I’m glad I just read this. It’s actually something different. I’m such a technology addict and it makes me rethink it. I just messaged someone I know and told them that instead of just chatting with them, I’d like to webcam with them.
On a sidenote, I agree with holidays being bullshit. I don’t buy into hype unless I feel it’s as good as it’s being said it is.
January 19, 2013 at 11:19 am
Reblogged this on neptune faced.
January 19, 2013 at 11:20 am
Pure fresh air of truth to my ears/eyes! Thank you for this, truly.
January 19, 2013 at 3:05 pm
You have truly struck a chord with so many of us. I have a cell phone but don’t have it on a lot, don’t Tweet, occasionally check Facebook, have no idea what Pinterest is or all the other things talked about. I suppose it is because I was brought up in the 50′s and 60′s when computers were as large as a warehouse, the big deal was a calculator and Heaven forbid, we read books and talked to each other. Now at 66, I feel that technology has advanced so far and so fast that I will never catch up – fine with me. I too enjoy face to face conversations, spending time truly beginning to know someone and still a book nut – not Kindle or Nook – who loves the feel and smell of real bound book. I love writing and am finding my voice at last – texting seems to have eliminated proper spelling and grammar as well as an enjoyment of the language.
I think the problem is the new generations are brought up on all the technology rather than learning the basics so they know how things wrk. It is from there the innovations start and the imagination can expand so much. How many times have you heard someone young wonder that there was a time without cell phones and personal computers. They can’t seem to comprehend it.
How many of us compromise because we want to be part of the group, marching to a different drummer takes courage. I have always felt the odd man out, I don’t fit in the regular life even though for a long time I tried. Strangely enough, I have found the alternative medicine and working with Spirit where I fit in.
You have written so much I didn’t realize I was thinking, thank you so much for putting it into words for me. I am working on finding who I truly am late in life – I know I am a late bloomer but I didn’t know it would be this late. Keep writing because we need you to spark what’s true in each of us.
January 19, 2013 at 5:39 pm
Click a random blog and you get this. Absolutely Brilliant article! I’ve been on a quest to live a more authentic life for the past few years. You are spot on. Keep up the excellent writing. I only hope I can meet more like you in real life.
January 19, 2013 at 8:18 pm
Wow, a brilliant writer articulates all that you wish you could and try to, and here you are. Thank you.
January 24, 2013 at 10:53 pm
Pingback: Random Thoughts On Living Authentically In Artificial Times « Julie Green
Thank you for liking my page
And thank-you for the beautiful things you write
And things sometimes start from nothing
There’s so much beauty to see
If only some people opened there hearts more
Have a wonderful weekend
╔╗
║║╔═╦╦╦═╗*. . *
║╚╣║║║║╩╣* Daniel angel from Cape Cornwall
╚═╩═╩═╩═╝.*.*
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q108/dannybrown666/y1p5-IhdYiVBnNIAQDmbrZHuj5osXw09Yym.gif
January 26, 2013 at 10:42 pm
Reblogged this on Penny for your thoughts…. and commented:
Brilliant – another reason why we must use social media with caution, and wisely. It can serve to connect people that might otherwise never connect. Let’s then take it a step further and meet each other in real space and time. As one commenter, Dan Connor, says “it solves some social needs but it doesn’t create culture, in a world where culture is sold as a commodity we must “create our own culture” to be healthy human beings”
January 26, 2013 at 11:48 pm
Wow, all I can say is wow! I loved, “Where are the people who don’t spend all day on Twitter? Where are the people who are so intoxicated with living that they can still weep at a sunset? Where are the people who can take the time to write a beautiful letter instead of sending a Facebook message? Where are the people who are not afraid to love…” Where are they? They are all around you.
Excellent piece, if one can call such a thing a piece!
January 26, 2013 at 11:50 pm
WOW…In one of my favorite children’s book’s the protagonists talks about being from “the tribe of Joseph”. It was her way of delineating like-minded individuals and spirits from others. You my dear are from the tribe of Joseph!!!!!! (reference Anne of Green Gables). How many times has my soul ruminated on the very thing you espouse here? As connected as we are…we are totally disconnected!!!! When you wrote: “Most people are conforming in some way and I constantly feel like I am talking to people from behind the glass of a prison visit” your words touched my soul. Thank you so much for letting me know that I am not alone!!!!!!!!!!!
January 31, 2013 at 2:06 am
A wonderful post! And most importantly, the use of words is simply astounding!
February 6, 2013 at 9:15 am
I truly enjoyed reading your well-written post! You’re spot on regarding social media, and it should be used to continue sharing our thoughts, but not to stop from us connecting to others. I also loved that you wrote about how holidays are commercialized obstructions in our lives, and how everyone must adhere to these unspoken rules, or be considered nonconformists.
Some of my favorite quotes:
There is nothing that gives more assurance than a mask. ~Colette
“To predict the behavior of ordinary people in advance, you only have to assume that they will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence.” Friedrich Nietzsche
“Humankind cannot bear very much reality.” T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets
February 12, 2013 at 3:59 am
If anias nin had access to social media could you just imagine the pornfest she would unleash, limitless access, endless fantasy. I am unsure that her appetites where not partly a search for such intensity simply because she was too numb to feel subtle connection. Social media, it seems to me, is the ultimate oxymoron. It allows such limitless connection and safety to express whilst completely isolating us all from the real stuff of connection. Emoticons are not expressions of feeling, they simply allow us to ape what we think we should feel in relation to what we say. We do not touch, see, connect, scent or taste one another so we are as good as dead. The Internet is the ultimate creator of appetites, of endless possibilities that never materialise. The risk is still, in cyber space, the same as in life. – What if we should meet and touch, what then?
February 13, 2013 at 10:16 pm
Here’s an award for you.
http://au1688.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/very-inspiring-blogger-award/
Cheers!
February 20, 2013 at 9:32 am
thank you
February 22, 2013 at 3:57 pm
My pleasure.:)
February 23, 2013 at 4:47 pm
Life, reality and all things of value are external to us and our ego. Living and reality comes from physical stuff and interacting physically with our surroundings. Interacting with our self is bouncing around with mirrors. That is making believe.
Interacting via virtual mediums such as this, Facebook or Twitter is a rather pointless unless it leads to physical changes.
Smell the roses and damn well eat a few too, walk with no shoes, when it’s cold feel cold, when it’s hot feel hot. We isolate ourselves too much from the physical (and natural) world. Throw away your air-conditioning and really understand global warming. Stand outside in a storm to feel weather extremes. Eat meat? Go to an abattoir. A vegetarian? Grow some of your own food. Give your pet canned food? Go a factory and see and smell what is really in that can. Don’t hide from reality; immerse yourself, all six senses. sight, smell, sound, hear, touch, taste (well, not maybe not everything!) Be real, be physical.
And share your day with others.
“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough, we must do. Leonardo da Vinci”
February 27, 2013 at 9:32 am
A spellbinding and in a way a quite therapeutic read. I suppose its from spending the best years of my life in the news business chasing events around the world with the jaws of deadlines always snapping at my heels but even now …on my own with cameras and no line editors screaming in phones…….I am swamped with urgency…the need to not waste a second. A line from the immortal Satchel Paige comes to mind….”Keeping moving fast and don’t look back because what it is might be gaining on you.” Oh…and thanks for the follow.
March 5, 2013 at 11:59 am
How true and what a remarkable read! And yes, thank you for liking my post.
March 9, 2013 at 2:58 am
Keep shaking it up, sister! I’m gonna check me out some Anias Nin! Thanks for the enlightening words today. Peace as you journey onward.
March 19, 2013 at 4:46 pm
I loved every bit of your post. You have a passion that I love, and an eye for anything that takes you away from authenticity. Keep posting and I will read. If you like Anais Nin, take a look at the film “Henry and June” about the love triangle between Nin, Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer), and his wife June. Incredibly passionate movie that helps to put her into some kind of perspective.
March 24, 2013 at 10:40 pm
i hear you, and it’s lovely to read thoughts similar to my own.
cheers!
March 26, 2013 at 1:34 am
Pingback: Random Thoughts On Living Authentically In Artificial Times | natalieelliston
Interesting post.
March 26, 2013 at 10:22 pm
Pingback: simply marvelous… | {Wild} fLoWeRs
This: “I have never married, never had children, refuse to adhere to monogamy, refuse to accept a sexuality label and never followed the path of least resistance because resistance is not futile. I have not made any exceptions when it comes to my personal ideas of freedom and the desire to live as authentically and as passionately as possible.”
I got lost in the mire for a while, in a restrictive relationship, but no more, and never again. Nothing is more important than authenticity, and the paragraph above sums up well my definition of freedom and authenticity.
I have to put my hand up and admit that I did make exceptions, and boy did it make me miserable. It’s not a matter of hard or easy, to me authenticity equals living. It takes courage to be yourself, with no compromises or excuses, but it sure is worth it
Thanks for sharing, great post!
Rohan.
April 4, 2013 at 10:34 am
You continue to be so freaking awesome. Thank you. I’m with you!
April 4, 2013 at 2:01 pm
Here I am.
April 10, 2013 at 11:13 am
Your article was timely for me, and really touched me. As I was lying in bed this morning, I was thinking of the state of the world today, the mess we’ve landed in and realizing there is NO way out, no going back, only going forward into an even worse situation. I guess the way out is through the joy we can find in our art, our writing, reading, and passion. .
I definitely need to read Anais, she’s been on my backburner for far too long. And, I’m looking forward to reading your other blog posts. Thanks for the great post!
April 10, 2013 at 11:56 am
Thank you!!
I wouldn’t say I believe in everything you wrote, but man… it’s awesome! And inspiring!
Reading this has reinforced strength into my own convictions. I’ve recently done away with Facebook and I can’t believe the freedom I’m experiencing. But with that freedom there is difficulty, it is lonely sometimes, I’m missing out on interacting with my friends because they’re still connected and they have no idea how to communicate otherwise… Scary stuff! We need to be real again.
April 12, 2013 at 9:30 am
I miss my friends who dissapeared behind a screen. Summed it up perfectly
April 12, 2013 at 3:23 pm
Well written and deeply felt, a way of life that must be actively pursued. I’ll be watching for further posts.
April 17, 2013 at 5:22 pm
See you in the ecstasy!
Jeanne Poland
April 20, 2013 at 2:41 pm
Thanks again for stopping by my blog. Living by design is my passion and my mission.
April 22, 2013 at 9:36 pm
This is a brilliant piece that speaks to me profoundly. I love your turn of phrase, ‘I’m not interested in soul tourism,’,'Where are the people who remember what they were before the world came in?’ as well as your passionate conviction. I for one can honestly say that I can still cry watching a sunrise/sunset and take great pleasure in writing ‘real’ ink and paper letters to those I love. Thanks for sharing this and thanks too for visiting my blog. I’m honoured.
April 27, 2013 at 5:18 am
Love this, your thoughts really reasonate…and I’m also a great fan of Anais Nin.
May 14, 2013 at 1:37 am
Reblogged this on vshanksblog and commented:
You can look at this new technology as devolving but I feel it is one of the things that the universe is asking us to embrace. It is a tool for the world to change the way people think, helping them to evolve. We are still in the growing pains of this but in time it will bring the universal consciousness into play. When you look at social media as just another technical achievement, take a step back and look again. It is one of the tools the universe has manifested for us to achieve greater understanding and bring the neighborhoods of the world together. Some of us can’t travel and spend time in other countries but we can all talk to each through this media. We simply can not throw this into just another electronic device, it is much more than that. Thoughts have created this new way of communicating and that’s one of the keys of creating peace in the world. But it is like all things that wield power, it can consume. Remember the lesson that Tolkien tried to tell us with The Lord of the Rings. It has the power to destroy if we allow it. We are free to chose the higher path and allow ourselves to go to higher ground.
May 16, 2013 at 4:32 pm