Cultivate, Curate, Create
Capital Reclamation & Identity Recovery
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I think we are all beginning to feel so lopsided. We’ve given too much to the Creator archetype within us. My move? Shift back in my seat and observe, gather information. I have to, in equal measure, Grow, Connect & Share. Much of this is rooted in the energetically responsible economics concept that I’ve discussed in a blog post on this website.
The Loss of Self to The Machine
We spend countless hours on our cellphones. In our pockets are the most powerful computers imaginable. When Facebook launched 20 years ago, most people I knew were covetous of the Razr. (How far we have come…)
Social Media platforms have become egregores that we willingly feed with our creativity, our laughter, our focus, our energy, our time. AI intelligence is nearly ubiquitous and yet we do not actually know how it works. To further the obscurity, we are unable to properly calculate the environmental impacts of the data centers that host these artificial neural networks. Protests around the world have begun to push governments for more transparency. Many of these protests have been triggered by the fact that the water necessary for cooling AI data centers has to be clean, drinkable water; fit for human consumption, during nearly endless water-affecting environmental crises. Add in that recent studies have shown that our understanding of brain chemistry might be terribly wrong, and that things like Serotonin might not actually have anything to do with mental health & depression symptoms.
We’re walking around in the dark, and simultaneously expanding the darkened room - on purpose, because we can. Essentially, the technology we are using to cut corners is as smart as a room full of geniuses and we’re a toddler attempting to raise a question. This is the amusing interpretation.
We have no idea what is really going on but we are being pressured to keep up. The white noise of Content Production is acting like an anesthetic to our wounded spirits. Though this might seem reductive, I believe that attention to the real, beautiful, messy world is the reparative measure.
I have, like many people, begun stepping away from Instagram (my personal drug of choice) for short periods of time to come up for air. When I step back in, I am bombarded with endless short-form videos, often of people dancing and pantomiming to song. This is likely projection, but many of the people I see do not seem particularly joyful. Meta owns and operates vast tracts of my mind. I have lost photographs, stories, connections, bits of myself - willingly, mind you - to a very Hungry Ghost.
It’s becoming apparent to me that this constant growth and escalation is an unsustainable state and my body is responding negatively to the rate of expansion. My work now is in removing the shame that I am experiencing and the addiction I have developed. This is me addressing my own personal variant of cognitive dissonance - disharmony and dissatisfaction. I am no longer in agreement with things as they stand and yet I am not seeking to swing rapidly toward avoidance, disconnection. There must be a middle path. Breath and the body, tangibility and relationality are the cures I am after.
Meme as Self-Reduction
The word Meme comes from Memetics, or the study of cultural evolution. From this concept comes the idea of internet virality - transmission of an idea within a culture. And since culture has continued to collapse inward (as accelerated by Covid Restrictions), we have lost many forms of cultural diffusion. Only recently are the sciences starting to apply empiricism to studying these concepts.
Memes can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.[5] In popular language, a meme may refer to an Internet meme, typically an image, that is remixed, copied, and circulated in a shared cultural experience online.
Simply put, Memes are Viral Concepts. They help us to quickly speak to those who understand us in a simplified and easily digestible format. They are cultural forms of ultra processed foods. Along with helping us to quickly identify in-group/out-group, meme-driven subcultures are affirming, gratifying. They act as a mirror, showing us the parts of ourselves we feel are sacred, profane, private in an externalized and safely contextualized way. We can feed the inner 14 year-old who is perpetually feeling something no one has ever felt before. I regularly subsist on a diet of these bite-sized confections, allowing them to infect and numb me with repetitious oversimplification. Research suggests that our attention spans have dropped by around 30 second in 20 years. (Remember when I said Facebook launched 20 years ago…)
If we slow down for a moment, we can see this Memetic stratification everywhere. Our relationships feel transactional. There are apps that prioritize ‘Good’ news (however that might be measured, I’m not sure). I feel a lot of sympathy for people who have fallen into Q-Anon - the world is wacky, unhealthy, and a bit debasing. I am not alone in dreaming of running off and living in a hut in the woods. Not to be alarmist, but we can steady ourselves against the waves of nonsense, and we must. We can halt the cancerous ‘growth for growth’s sake’ that has overtaken our culture.
Reclaiming Capital
Capital comes in differing forms aside from the spendable kind. Evidently, the procurement of financial capital is as easy as welcoming voyeurism and radical-vulnerability into your routine. By opening ourselves up to constant consumption, energetic sinkholes form. We are beginning to lose structural integrity.
Human, Social, & Cultural capital have been deprioritized. There are echoes of the strain all around us. People are asking tougher questions of their casual acquaintances, Hollywood is straining under hubris, & Tiktok is saving bookstores - there is absolutely hope. We can collectively focus attention and begin to dismantle what no longer feels aligned.
The most uncomfortable realization that I’ve had of all is that I am in an echo chamber of my own making and I must break it. Reading about the news without checking my sources, reposting content and having that be the only form of outreach I participate in. Weeping and moaning at the horror of it all in one breath only to lose steam to the hopelessness in the next. Doing nothing. This is not the Work. This is inaction; exacerbated by the environment I have made for myself. I must gather together with others in physical space, listen to ideas that differ from my own, expand my capacities to hold uncomfortable truths. Once I can manage these tasks, I can shift back into Creation with more grace and self-love. And far less shame.
The Borromean Knot of Cultivator, Curator, Creator
“In mathematics, the Borromean rings are three simple closed curves in three-dimensional space that are topologically linked and cannot be separated from each other, but that break apart into two unknotted and unlinked loops when any one of the three is cut or removed.”
The Triangle is the strongest shape. Equal distribution of weight. Triads are found throughout history, in science, and woven into cultures globally. Our minds, like systems, enjoy predictability. Identity politic is reparative for many individuals, and I think we should push it a stage further. I would like to propose we add another interdependent triad to the mix: Cultivator, Curator, Creator. Participation in Social Media is beneficial in many ways, but our shift into Creator has limited our potential.
Our bodies do many things well. We move and share story; question and explore. We are curious little beings who have become almost inextricably tied to mechanization. I think we should consider slowing down and moving back to a place of softness in order to grow, nurture, prune & maintain.
To Cultivate is “to improve by labor, care, or study,” to support growth in ourselves and others. When we listen with heart, open our minds to deeper concepts, and allow ourselves the discomfort of the unforeseen, we can shift into Cultivator. There is space to grow what we need, but it requires a sense of curiosity. The best teachers are merely cultivating creativity in others by supporting and fertilizing. Sometimes the best thing we can do to repair and heal ourselves is to simply listen and learn.
Curators are traditionally “responsible for assembling, cataloging, managing and presenting/displaying artistic and cultural collections”. These are the networking professionals, the connectors; linking individuals together to share motivation and diffuse responsibility for group maintenance. People can trust these individuals with their vulnerable, blossoming creative ideas.
My own inner Creator has felt stifled and anxious; I am racked by fear of rejection and self-consciousness - many are. So, as a little treat, I’m stepping away from constant consumption for a few months in order to really listen, to show up and focus on resonance. I’m excited to see what comes up for me once I stop comparing & start participating. I’ll occasionally be writing about my experience with this project, Involution, here & on Substack.
Are you a creative or entrepreneur? I suggest checking out:
100 Ways to Share and the podcast Off the Grid by the amazing Amelia Hruby
Or: How to Promote Yourself Online When You’re a Total Introvert
Also this little gem for when you feel like running and are seeking a little genuine quiet luxury in your life: The Power of Showing Up
Wanting to be inspired and creatively motivated outside of your algorithm-shaped box filled with parasocial relationships? I suggest trying out Are.na - it’s like if Pinterest had a hot older sibling who went to Art School and learned how to cite their sources.
