– We’re obsessed with the idea of our selves as humans… you’ll find people talking about all sorts of self-related topics: improving yourself, finding yourself, losing yourself (or your self, as in ego death), and so forth. I’d like to say that this endless obsession brings us no good… it’s pointless. I’d like to say that we don’t have selves to begin with, and that what we have is not an illusion of a self, but an illusion of an illusion of a self. I’m not saying that because it’s necessarily true, but because it makes me more comfortable. I don’t care how you perceive yourself as long as you become something. (Point: embrace confusion.)
– I’m not against social media for what it is or what it represents, but I am against how certain people perceive it. I am fine with people posting whatever they feel like posting online, but I dislike it when that world leaks into this one. I dislike it when people only speak in what I call retweetables (or likeables), which are phrases that are guaranteed to be accepted and welcomed by the people around you. I’m not talking to you so that you’ll share a joke with me that you posted yesterday on Facebook. I’m talking with you because you are a person with a beating heart and a thinking/feeling mind. I’m talking to every nerve and every muscle in you; to your trembling fingertips and brave hands and sullen eyes… so don’t leave me out here in the cold in this whitewashed conversation.
– Life lessons reaffirmed this week:
1) The whole is not a mere summation of its parts.
2) The most dangerous narcissists are the ones who present themselves with good intentions.