Conscious Humanity, No. 125

Welcome to the 125th edition of Conscious Humanity — it’s so good to see you here!

If you’re new here, my name is Emily and I’m a writer, photographer, teacher in higher education, home gardener, single parent, and all-round creative soul. I am in the midst of figuring out how to extract myself from the capitalist-driven, digitally saturated, artificially “busy” life we’re told we must live in order to survive and “succeed.” And I’m helping you do the same.

Below are seven positive things that have entered my orbit in the last two weeks, all chosen as inspiration to slow down and unearth a more creative, nature-connected life. They’re formatted so you can scan through and dive deeper into those that resonate most with you. I offer these things not as noise, but as nourishment. May at least one thing brighten your day, inspire you to take action, or help you return to what matters most.

Firstly, I watched the Jacinda Ardern documentary on Netflix last week and it made me realise how exceptional she is! Dame Jacinda Ardern was the 40th Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party between 2017 and 2023, and her brand of leadership is in stark relief to the dominant “strongman” model we see in so many world leaders today.

Towards the end of the documentary, there is footage from the 2022 Harvard commencement speech, where Ardern implored the 8,000 graduates to stick together in an age of disinformation, and focus on the impact they can each make as individuals…

In the overwhelming challenges that lay in front of us, in our constant efforts to reach into the systems, the structures, the power, don’t overlook the simple act right in front of you. The impact that we each have as individuals. The disinformation will only increase. The pull into the comfort of our tribes will be magnified, but we have it within us to ensure that that doesn’t mean we fracture.

We are at a precipice, but I am an optimist at heart.”

Staying with inspirational leaders, I listened to this On Being conversation hosted by Krista Tippett with guests, Michelle Alexander and Lucas Johnson. The podcast was recorded at a live event to commemorate 59 years since Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “Beyond Vietnam” speech, which was written by Dr Vincent Harding (pastor, scholar, historian, activist, and more). Michelle and Lucas worked closely with Dr Harding when he was alive and reflect on his teachings and how they might help us today.

It was a deep conversation that I can’t possibly do justice to here, but there were two things that stayed with me. The first one was about the idea of “nonviolence” as a philosophy, and way of life, which they discuss as being not simply an absence of violence, but “a way of being, a very active, passionate way of being.”

Nonviolence can be oversimplified and seen as a passive or weak approach to civil engagement, but it takes work to maintain a nonviolent approach; it’s an active choice. This feels like such an important reminder in a world that is optimised for competition and combat. As Krista Tippet says, there is a line in Dr King’s speech that seems particularly relevant to us right now, and it speaks to our choices once again:

“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. What are the callings now, finally, for us to pick up in creating the world we want to inhabit in the beyond of this moment of great peril and an equal magnitude of possibility?”

So, what is the world we want to inhabit?

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Having a framework of relatedness might help us decide what sort of world we want to inhabit, and ancient Lore can teach us about this. I’ve just finished reading Snake Talk: How the world’s ancient serpent stories can guide us by Tyson Yunkaporta and Megan Kelleher. In it, they share collected Indigenous stories about serpents and snakes from across the globe, with common threads emerging around creation, connection to land, and keeping ecosystems in balance.

The authors share this reflection from their time with Anil in Kathmandu, which reflects much of the philosophy throughout the book:

“As Aboriginal people, we share Anil’s view of this sacred set of relations as more than a series of encounters between predators and prey in a violent food chain. Our biological science is not influenced by Rudyard Kipling stories of heroic mongooses battling evil cobras to protect British children in India. There are no zero-sum games of contest between rivalrous species in our culture or Anil’s.

We are embedded in conscious systems of land where every kill involves many sentient beings and distributes benefit regeneratively to create abundance. Our ecologies are collaborative communities where predator and prey may drink from the same waterhole and even provide assistance to each other when needed. In floods, for example, you may catch a glimpse of small animals catching a ride on the back of a swimming snake. When we understand biology like this we can create abundant ways of life, whether we are hunter-gatherers or city-dwellers. It only works, though, when we have Ceremony designed to hold us in awe of natural entities.”

Wow, yes! Being in awe of natural entities…

Indigenous knowledge systems don’t work when they’re taken out of context because the very thing that makes them so successful is their embedded awareness of the interrelatedness of all things (everything is connected), and grounding in place. Because of this, I’m acutely aware that taking quotes out of context and putting them here goes against the very essence of the wisdom. But, I’m hoping these quotes may inspire you to read the whole book, and get a deeper sense of all this, which is summed up on the very last page of the book:

What the Snake Says

Care for waterways.

Revere women.

Maintain fluid boundaries.

Avoid binaries and absolutes.

Encourage diversity in all things.

Increase relational complexity and quality.

Invest for delayed return and widespread benefit.

Disrupt to create and not destroy.

Do not compel or control others.

Do not curse others by trying to make illusions real.

To writerly things now, and Micah Nathan, novelist, essayist and MIT lecturer in fiction and nonfiction writing, wrote this piece in The Guardian about what’s lost when we use generative AI to write.

I’ve been having conversations with my students about the differences between AI generated text and video content, and human-made content, and we’re all struggling to articulate exactly how and why things “feel” different when they’re AI generated. Micah’s reflections speak to this and also, to the value of doing the work and creating imperfect things.

“Insightful readers feel that emptiness even if they can’t articulate it [when reading AI-generated text]. They sense that the body moves without a brain. By contrast, student-written fiction is gloriously flawed, a struggle on the page between what the author is trying to say and what’s actually being said. The prose stumbles in a way reminiscent of a foal learning how to walk: even in their trembling legs I see hints of future grace. Such clumsiness is necessary; its absence would be proof of the foal never having learned to walk…

…Writing, I told them, isn’t supposed to be easy, and of course it can be tedious but that doesn’t make it rote. Writing isn’t just the production of sentences – it’s the training of endurance by way of sustained attention. It’s a way of learning what one thinks by attempting to say it. An LLM can reproduce the appearance of that activity, but it can’t replace it, because the value lies not only in the object produced but in the transformation that occurs during its making.”

And that’s exactly how I feel about the metabolising of information and thought that goes into writing this newsletter. It may sound cliché, but the process is so hugely rewarding for me. If I were to bypass the thinking, composing, and refining steps, it wouldn’t be worth anything to me or, I suspect, to you either.

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Staying with a creative theme, Mason Curry shared what he argues is the greatest pep talk in art history, and I have to agree (Austin Kleon shared this same letter in his book, Keep Going.)

So, gather round, creative people!

As Mason explains, “in March 1965, the German-born American sculptor Eva Hesse wrote a letter to her friend and fellow artist Sol LeWitt, venting her doubts about her work and asking for advice.”

Here’s some of what LeWitt wrote back:

“…Learn to say “Fuck you” to the world once in a while. You have every right to. Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder, wondering, doubting, learning, hunting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling, grasping, confusing, itching, scratching, mumbling, bumbling, grumbling, humbling, stumbling, rumbling, rambling, gambling, tumbling, scumbling, scrambling, hitching, hatching, bitching, moaning, groaning, honing, boning, horse-shitting, hair-splitting, ass-gouging, eyeball-poking, finger-pointing, alleyway-sneaking, long waiting, small stepping, evil-eyeing, back-scratching, searching, perching, besmirching, grinding, grinding, grinding away at yourself. Stop it and just DO.”

And LeWitt also urges Hesse to just let go… make nonsense!

“Do more. More nonsensical, more crazy, more machines, more breasts, penises, cunts, whatever—make them abound with nonsense. Try and tickle something inside you, your “weird humor.” You belong in the most secret part of you. Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool. Make your own, your own world. If you fear, make it work for you—draw and paint your fear and anxiety. And stop worrying about big, deep things.”

What a wonderful pep talk indeed! If you’ve ever felt that creep of self-doubt (everyone has!), or like you’re trying to control your art too much, just slow down, and let it happen. Create. Do.

Gosh, there are so many other things that have informed my musings this week, including Kylie, Sarah Wilson talking to Zak Stein about raising kids in the meta-crisis (less screens; more philosophy, and connecting with community), Sirat (a haunting, deep, sad movie that has stayed with me in a beautiful way), the AI agents that broke all the rules and ran simulated societies into the ground (quick video explainer, here) and the largest database of Japanese Woodblock Prints in the world.

These things, along with everything above, have re-inspired me to spend less time on technology (and especially social media) and ground myself through physical connection to the natural world.

One simple thing I’ve done in the last week is swap my evening Instagram scroll for sketching with pencil and paper. I was already frustrated with Instagram because of all the AI content flooding Reels. But also, I know I waste many minutes there, go to bed too late, and miss opportunities to keep developing my creative practice. So, I’m up to seven days of sketching, and counting.

I already feel different (in a good way) and it’s giving me energy to do other small things. For example, my boys and I are lighting a campfire in the backyard tonight. So simple, and something I’ve wanted to do for ages, but we’ve never got around to it until now. A tangible, physical thing we can do together.

Without our phones!

When asked what the best thing about ageing is, Miriam Margolyes (comedian, writer, and actress) gave this beautiful answer…

“The best thing is not bothering anymore.

I don’t care what you think of me. I want you to like me. I hope you do. And if you don’t, tough shit, you know.

I think it’s important to be who you are, to know who you are. And by the time you’re 71, or in my case 84, you know who you are. I can’t, I’m not going to pretend. I never did. It’s not in my nature.

So I think, the confidence that only death is going to shut me up. That’s it!”

😂

And that’s the end of this edition! I hope at least one thing brightened your day, inspired you to take action, or helped you return to what matters most.

🙏🏻

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