if you had to listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
this is our starting point this week, one of those moments where the mind is more like a piano than a computer. where life is a mixture of staccato and andante and dances through one’s being like a flock of butterflies.
we all remember the butterflies. the way they just streamed down the streets as if they were racing their own carrera with no beginning and no end. just constant movement.
they did not rush, but they never stopped.
i listen to the notes of the wind chimes outside my window, staring at the clouds in the sky. our storms will come early this year. it is a season that tests our patience, as well as our endurance.
we prepare, and then we wait.
that is how i’ve felt lately. it is a strange mirror.
i observe the urge to share all the little things. that is what i value most, the small beautiful moments, the ones gone in an instant, and for this reason i take pictures and write poetry. it is simultaneously a way of seeing and a way of being.
on some level it is an intense mirror, to really look at that which we want to give others. whether it is a lot or nothing. that mirror, reflecting not only our values but our attachment and communication styles (along with everything else!).
there are those of us like to disappear for a while at a time, hibernate and go silent. there are others who want to be in touch nearly all the time. i imagine some of us actually live with ourselves via this potential for connection present in our social networks, the whole media presentation.
perhaps it is all the confessional videos trending on Instagram that make me want to embrace silence even more than usual. we embrace the cringe, sure, but what about substance? what about that filter we decide to create as potentially mature adults, in which we consciously choose that which is ready for prime-time, and that which is not?
not that i’m perfect, of course. by a long shot.
i probably land on the over-communicator end of the spectrum most of the time. it’s not that i want to “be in touch” constantly, and in fact, i quite value time off-line, but in that liminal state where we are online and in service and yet not present with each other… that is what challenges me the most.
some people make the argument that we need to accept people as they are, always, and that this is precisely part of the game — the game of life. the game of communication. the game of relating to other humans.
sure, yes… that game that has neither rules nor referee…
then there are others, of which i am one, that yearn for a time when we had a few more guard rails and commonly accepted norms. a time in which people took the personal responsibility to respond to messages in a timely manner, even if only to say that they are presently unable to respond properly and therefore will circle back.
rsvp.
répondez s'il vous plaît, aka please respond.
ironically, i’ve noticed a trend that many people, specifically Gen Zers, who spend a lot of time posting confessional videos of their talking heads, are precisely the ones who will fail to respond to texts for days if not weeks, if ever.
it is as if the priority really has shifted in the communication realm, from one-to-one, to one-to-many. the higher priority here is the status update to the whole universe, rather than the current needs of a real friend.
c’est la vie, i suppose. such is life.
currently i’m flexing my muscles a bit, doing my best to put in the reps in these media machines, looking in the mirror that they provide and learning from it in a way that feels genuinely valuable.
every language teaches us something.
at the same time, i look a the people i know who don’t spend much time on computers (which by now is an increasingly limited group), and i am keenly aware of the different quality to their energy.
for the most part, they are less disperse. more self-contained. for both of these reasons, their presence, virtual or real, often feels much more powerful than the average social media avatar.
it is surreal to consider that humans are losing our personal power in direct relation to how much we invest in artificial intelligence. and yet, while it is surreal, it does make sense. rather than actually making and doing things, many of us concentrate in forming the most precise directives for all our various agents.
it is a task that makes our minds small.
it would be one thing if we were able to deploy our energy like an octopus’ tentacles, and instead of having 1 brain we had 8… but the distinction remains that the octopus is embodied, and we humans and our avatars are only connected by screens and an internet connection.
it is that unreal. the moment the electricity cuts out, where is all our power?
suddenly we are back to birdsong, if they haven’t cut all the trees down.
birdsong, and then what?
an empty mind with no devices, full of longing for connection.
all those things i want to share with my lovers and friends, imaginary or real.
all those mini moments of beauty, the poetry of a glance.
precisely that which AI can’t generate for us.
life.
…
there are a couple of more substantial articles in the works, and seeing as i missed last week i might just drop one on you by surprise in the next days. let’s see. there are quite a few things cooking in the cauldron that i’m excited share when they are ready.
for now, be well, dear reader.
enjoy the life that is yours.
rsvp, if you please…
vidabierta.
ps. my song is “Stone in Focus” by Aphex Twin, otherwise known as #19 from his album Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994)
what’s yours? leave a comment :)
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