Total Meaning = Number of Human Hours * % of Hours Spent Meaningfully is a profound metric you have there Packy, a subjective, sublime statistic. More meaningful hours to become more meaningful days, weeks and months and eventually lifetimes of meaning. Hail Solipsism!
I loved reading this. This definitely feels like a synchronicity, I’ve been thinking a lot about Jean Baudrillard’s simulacra and Maslow’s theory lately.
I see Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a distillation of the chakra system for the Western mind. He even added self-transcendence later on. In the chakra system, there are seven (simplified) chakras: three below, connected to the material world, and three above, connected to higher realms — all joined in the heart. And the saying goes, “as above, so below.”
I’ve been struggling to understand what that really means until recently.
What I’m noticing is that progress isn’t always linear; it can be more like a leap. As we benefit from technological progress, some of us are starting to feel a pull inward seeking meaning and learning to listen to our own inner guidance (in whatever way works for us). While it can be tempting to stay in that reflective space (intellectual contemplation) there comes a natural urge to bring those insights back into the world: to create and act from a place of deeper alignment, following the principle of “as above, so below.”
To me, that’s the core of it: allowing space for contemplation, but instead of living there, starting to align it with action in the world, however small it may be. It might be messy at first, but that’s how we humans find new forms and evolve. So rather than escaping the simulacra, it’s about rebuilding it from the fringes. The more infrastructure we create in the real world from this place of alignment, the more others will be able to join in.
What a treat this was to read. I made a (very) simplified attempt at a solution to the ‘destruction of presentness’ many many years ago as a collaborative essay with a fellow write of passage student over Twitter DM’s - maybe you’ll enjoy it :)
Scottie Scheffler’s recent press conference echoed the “I reached the mountain top but now what” imagery you lay out in the introduction. Worth a listen as it supports your pov
Some of us were definitely still reading it!! ... this is a brilliant essay thank you so much for sharing... I've already doodled several quotes from it in my bullet journal and I have made a note of so many things I want to follow up on and new essays to read! ... This is definitely part of making being human more amazing, being realistic about the good and bad of the world we do have and finding our own joys and magic in the every day... LOVE 🥰
“It struck me, towards the end (I’m a little slow), that what the book is about is getting what you want and finding yourself asking, “Cool, now what?”
In Gospel of Luke (10:38-42), Mary chooses the contemplative role whereas Martha chooses the 'do it' role. Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better part. Both roles need fulfilling but . . .
The contemplative monasteries and convents are just as, if not, more important than those that interact directly with the world.
I am currently reading Shantaram by Gregory Roberts. Currently at the section which describes the life in the slums of Bombay. It seems to be much more meaningful than the current Western focus on TikTok and other social media. There is a real sense of community, lots of suffering but a focus on the other rather than just on oneself.
When on our honeymoon in the Phillipines over 30 years ago, I chatted to the Dive Shop owner, Jean, an American. He lamented the difficulty of recruiting locals to work for him. He asked Maria 'why people wouldn't stay long?". She replied, "Jean, I can listen to my neighbours radio. I can lift up my blinds and watch their tv. I look at you Americans who work hard all of your lives. Why? So that you can retire and live like us"
"But perhaps even thinking will become unnecessary: a fully smart technology should be able to leap in and anticipate our will, using algorithms that discover the person revealed by our previous behavior"
The first Han excerpt is just an awful take on capitalism. I had to pause for a moment to calm the part of me that was screaming that it ignores that capitalism is a tool and that collectively people control how it might be used. Perpetuating existence was never its sole purpose because the agents that control it can care about much more.
And then followed thousands of words that were very much worth your audience's attention.
The current meme of Abundance Economy and the wonder of technology seems to me something that crosses Ragged Dick’s mind. Abundance Economy in a world that unsafe water kills more people than any one disease, in a world that has 1 in every 165 people fearing/migrating the worsening effects of climate change, civil wars, and geopolitical instability. The ever-greater demands of technology are burning up the world faster than the world can mitigate rising temperatures and oceans.
David Foster Wallace has written great stuff, but Neil Postman’s “Entertaining Ourselves to Death” preceded “Pale King” by decades. But the Attention Economy has given us “students” at Harvard and other “elite” universities who, according to their professors, “struggle to read a sonnet.”
Total Meaning = Number of Human Hours * % of Hours Spent Meaningfully is a profound metric you have there Packy, a subjective, sublime statistic. More meaningful hours to become more meaningful days, weeks and months and eventually lifetimes of meaning. Hail Solipsism!
I loved reading this. This definitely feels like a synchronicity, I’ve been thinking a lot about Jean Baudrillard’s simulacra and Maslow’s theory lately.
I see Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a distillation of the chakra system for the Western mind. He even added self-transcendence later on. In the chakra system, there are seven (simplified) chakras: three below, connected to the material world, and three above, connected to higher realms — all joined in the heart. And the saying goes, “as above, so below.”
I’ve been struggling to understand what that really means until recently.
What I’m noticing is that progress isn’t always linear; it can be more like a leap. As we benefit from technological progress, some of us are starting to feel a pull inward seeking meaning and learning to listen to our own inner guidance (in whatever way works for us). While it can be tempting to stay in that reflective space (intellectual contemplation) there comes a natural urge to bring those insights back into the world: to create and act from a place of deeper alignment, following the principle of “as above, so below.”
To me, that’s the core of it: allowing space for contemplation, but instead of living there, starting to align it with action in the world, however small it may be. It might be messy at first, but that’s how we humans find new forms and evolve. So rather than escaping the simulacra, it’s about rebuilding it from the fringes. The more infrastructure we create in the real world from this place of alignment, the more others will be able to join in.
This is beautiful. Lots to think (and then act) on. Thanks for sharing it!
This is brilliant, thank you SO much for sharing 🥰
Thanks for making being human more amazing, Packy. This one’s deep, thoroughly appreciated, and meaningful.
What a treat this was to read. I made a (very) simplified attempt at a solution to the ‘destruction of presentness’ many many years ago as a collaborative essay with a fellow write of passage student over Twitter DM’s - maybe you’ll enjoy it :)
https://www.adamtank.com/new-blog/2020/8/11/whats-in-a-moment
One of your best.
Thanks Matt!
Scottie Scheffler’s recent press conference echoed the “I reached the mountain top but now what” imagery you lay out in the introduction. Worth a listen as it supports your pov
I've been reading Lewis Hyde's "Trickster Makes This World" and love the synchronicity in the attention to attention. And synchronicity.
An excellent book!
The end was so good!
Some of us were definitely still reading it!! ... this is a brilliant essay thank you so much for sharing... I've already doodled several quotes from it in my bullet journal and I have made a note of so many things I want to follow up on and new essays to read! ... This is definitely part of making being human more amazing, being realistic about the good and bad of the world we do have and finding our own joys and magic in the every day... LOVE 🥰
Makes me very happy to hear that, Sarah!Thanks for reading the whole thing 🙂
“It struck me, towards the end (I’m a little slow), that what the book is about is getting what you want and finding yourself asking, “Cool, now what?”
I recommend Trollop’s “Vanity Fair.”
Seems like a worthwhile goal in one's life to pursue that which is meaningful.
Thanks for this awesome write up! I will be re-reading it.
In Gospel of Luke (10:38-42), Mary chooses the contemplative role whereas Martha chooses the 'do it' role. Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better part. Both roles need fulfilling but . . .
The contemplative monasteries and convents are just as, if not, more important than those that interact directly with the world.
I am currently reading Shantaram by Gregory Roberts. Currently at the section which describes the life in the slums of Bombay. It seems to be much more meaningful than the current Western focus on TikTok and other social media. There is a real sense of community, lots of suffering but a focus on the other rather than just on oneself.
When on our honeymoon in the Phillipines over 30 years ago, I chatted to the Dive Shop owner, Jean, an American. He lamented the difficulty of recruiting locals to work for him. He asked Maria 'why people wouldn't stay long?". She replied, "Jean, I can listen to my neighbours radio. I can lift up my blinds and watch their tv. I look at you Americans who work hard all of your lives. Why? So that you can retire and live like us"
I love that aspect of Shantaram. Beautiful.
"But perhaps even thinking will become unnecessary: a fully smart technology should be able to leap in and anticipate our will, using algorithms that discover the person revealed by our previous behavior"
I'm reminded of the short story iBrain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtV80ZdpTY0
Written 15 years ago but eerily prescient.
The first Han excerpt is just an awful take on capitalism. I had to pause for a moment to calm the part of me that was screaming that it ignores that capitalism is a tool and that collectively people control how it might be used. Perpetuating existence was never its sole purpose because the agents that control it can care about much more.
And then followed thousands of words that were very much worth your audience's attention.
thanks.
The current meme of Abundance Economy and the wonder of technology seems to me something that crosses Ragged Dick’s mind. Abundance Economy in a world that unsafe water kills more people than any one disease, in a world that has 1 in every 165 people fearing/migrating the worsening effects of climate change, civil wars, and geopolitical instability. The ever-greater demands of technology are burning up the world faster than the world can mitigate rising temperatures and oceans.
David Foster Wallace has written great stuff, but Neil Postman’s “Entertaining Ourselves to Death” preceded “Pale King” by decades. But the Attention Economy has given us “students” at Harvard and other “elite” universities who, according to their professors, “struggle to read a sonnet.”
Correction: Thackeray, not Trollop.