Monday thoughts on the internet age
I should be getting dressed to go to the store. I should be writing pages to send for review. I should be pulling books I never want to read again off the shelf. I should be cleaning my closet out, like I said I would. Instead I’m sitting here feeling like Tasha Tudor/born in the wrong time-longing to get back to my rightful place somewhere in the worlds ages.
Over the weekend I exited a ‘spiritual” community over some memebers and the founders love of AI-particularly chat gpt. I have been seeing more and more people gushing over getting chat cpt to read their akashic records (pullllease! have fun with that!) or tell them how to date… This came amidst me sharing my feelings in a private chat about my concerns of AI and the numerous downloads around what’s to come in the near and distant future I have been flooded with. As a seer, I’ve been feeling isolated in tech Gotham (Seattle) and wrapped in an activated Cassandra complex. I have felt a lifelong kinship with Cassandra. When you’re an oracle, many people don’t really want to hear predicitions, they just want you to affirm their own wishes and desires. When you tell them something difficult, they don’t believe you or just think you’re not an oracle afterall. It’s easier to stick your head in the sand and hide from the truth/potential outcomes that way.
For me, the use of AI is not an option due to the immense environmental impacts now and predicted for the future. As this technology grows, it will damage the earth more and more. This piece from MIT is a good overview if you’re unaware of what I’m talking about. That information alone if enough for me to say- no thank you. Period. But also, I enjoy using my mind and creating and breathing my spirit and soul into work and that is something AI cannot-yet-replicate.
I’m in school (BFA creative writing) and it’s obvious who has used AI to write their posts in the discussion forums we post to weekly. AI feels flat, soulless, without human errors, unique style choices and flavor. AI generated writing has a certain blandness about it. This “spiritual” community I was in started to irk me because people were mentioning using AI and then I noticed that the content from the founder was seeming different and non human. The founder of this system had a unique way of writing and it often contained mispellings, words used incorrectly and often full of grammatical errors but it was human, enthusiastic and genuine. I started to notice a drastic change in the way this person “wrote”. Gone were the human errors, personal touches and flow that I had come to recognize as this persons authentic voice. It felt so chat gpt and irritated me. They are passing it off as their own work. If you use AI to “write”-just admit it, don’t try and pass of chat gpt “content creation” as writing because it’s not.
The internet age has created many “false light” gurus and teachers, people who have no spiritual sauce at all (or may have had a spark of magic at one time-but their gifts were corrupted by hoarding of wealth or other egoic temptations). These grfiters are passing themselves off as leaders of a new age, attempting to cash in on peoples desires for healing and community. Discernment is extremely important and mystery traditions are still mysterious and not easily accesible as the starbucks drive thru/amazon prime model of fake witchery that I see all over the internet.
I love art. Real art that is the work of time and attention. Mental imaginings made into something you can touch and experience, be it a painting, film, book, installation or whatever. People pour their spirit into projects and those works can be magical, trasnporting, disappointing, surreal and a million other things but they are human. An idea alights in the mind of the creative and it can feel like a mission from the Divine. It’s a spiritual journey to transmit ideas into form. Alchemy, Witchcraft, Ritual and Spirits work in the realms of creation.
I bumped into a friend over the weekend who asked me where I was living and I told them we’re still in the North End (Seattle) for now. They said “Oh I thought for sure you were out of the city, lounging by a river in the forest…” If only. I’m creating and birthing a Divinely inspired piece of art from my soul into being.
Don’t give up on your ideas or stop using your mind. Never compare yourself or think what you’re doing isn’t “perfect” or “good enough”. I want the real, messy, human art and the world does too. Or rather it NEEDS human art. Keep creating friends. Stop using google to check every little thing, take a tech break, shut your computer, put your iphone on silent in a drawer and be in the feelings and ideas of what wants to pour forth from your inner fountain. Muses are all around you, begging you to see them and dance with them. I promise. Ask your seven year old self to show you the way if you’ve forgotten.
xoxo Mindy Sue
Beautifully written.