My recent blog on why beliefs are stronger than anything else, was certainly a breakthrough. Nevertheless, something was nagging me: Why is the fourth stage of Awakening so difficult to achieve? Remarkably, two interesting articles which I had saved for future use, were helpful in understanding: (1) The cult of creativity is making us less creative – Quartz, and (2) Negative Capability – Aeon.
For most of my life, I never believed that I could be creative. Today, I am still full of (self) doubt. I “envy” my favourite writers Michael Crichton and J.K. Rowling for their creativity. I doubt that I could ever pull that off, despite people telling me the opposite. On 4 April 2016, I started writing my book but after 10-15 pages I realized that I couldn’t find my “style”.
Creativity, in my situation, has several prerequisites: an absence of stimuli to the primary senses: hearing, sight and smelling. Images, lights, scents and sounds are (very) distracting to my writing. Hence, I prefer writing in silence with an outlook on nature in my garden.
When I have company, it’s very hard for me to write. Editing existing draft blogs is the maximum my concentration allows. Conversation with others does give input to new ideas that start circling in my mind. I have found a few ways turning such ideas into creativity, like lying down on a couch with my eyes closed.
Societies are not like individuals. Silence and nature are often absent due to urbanization. Societies are full of (neon) lights, (artificial) sounds, (unpleasant) scents, and (relentless) notifications from our email and/or social media accounts. Most of us are also busy, busy, busy making money in jobs that are no longer for life. Reports on mental health issues and urbanization suggest that our minds have a hard time processing all those stimuli.
It’s widely expected that Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, the 3rd phase of the Technological Revolution of 1800-2100, will cause massive job losses in the next decades. In order to prevent disruptive social chaos, it’s likely that some kind of Universal Basic Income must be introduced. The resulting abundance of leisure time must find a (creative) way out. Hence, a new Renaissance from 2100 onwards. This is my positive scenario.
My negative scenario is based on the future 7 Belief systems in which a strong Power dimension (ie, Data/Info, Money and Technology) rules over a weak Knowledge dimension (ie, Faith, Philosophy, Science). Such a situation is likely to result in dystopian societies (eg, Altered Carbon, RoboCop, Terminator).
Human history doesn’t indicate the existence of civilizations that achieved the fourth, final and lasting stage of an Awakening. This may imply that an Awakening for societies is impossible.
So Impossible (2010) by Keyshia Cole
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise
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