"Myth is to culture what dreams are to the individual" - Carl Jung
"The most we can do is dream the myth onwards and give it a modern dress." - Carl Jung
Last week I shared a metaphor between slavery, masters, and how companies like Meta, Google, Apple and others are leaching our minds.
My friend Erick Godsey has done a far superior deep dive. In this podcast (from ~1:20:00 until the end), Godsey makes one of the most compelling mythopoetic explanations for what is happening with the internet, social media, and our minds.
First, Godsey starts with a book and movie. He watches Annihilation, recognizes the possible metaphors, and does his own researching and "dream analysis" to produce something incredible.
Before I get into the meat of his analysis, I can almost hear the groaning: How meaningful can it be if he starts with a movie?
Artists are antennas for the future.
Those who channel something are often receiving a signal from the collective unconscious and making it conscious.
Godsey articulates how Meta, Google etc. algorithms (the crawlers) are gorging on our mind giving us amnesia and literally leading to the death of millions (see Haidt and female-teenage suicide).
The most powerful people have the most powerful technology that is being directed at us humans who have no training and no defense on protecting ourselves. At the same time, The Shimmer (the internet) is the greatest tool for knowledge in creating the life we desire to live.
Godsey implores us: learn the ride the shimmer.
One of the tools he recommends is called the Dharma Sprint. It's akin to Cal Newport's Deep Work but more bite-sized and actionable.
For 90 minutes (up to 3-4 hours), focus on one thing. It could be creative writing, it could be a social media post, or simply be a present father. But do only that one thing (no task switching, looking at phones etc).
This is something I already do most days. For the first 2-3 hours of the morning, I don't look at my phone and have pre-planned creative tasks.
What I found most compelling are two additions to the practice:
1. At the end of the Dharma Sprint, journal about the process. Did it feel challenging? What felt good? What felt in flow? Journal whatever feels good and pertinent.
2. Utilize two Dharma Sprints per day. One is for following curiosity (maybe with a book, article, going down a rabbit hole). The second is to create something (anything).
Godsey's hypothesis is, if you can do this for an entire year, you'll be able to create the life you desire. In fact, he created a community called the Dharma Artist Collective, which helps encourage and facilitate consistent practice.
Over the past few years, I've used similar principles to build Sacred Hunting. I've interpreted the myths of indigenous cultures to recreate a portal and way of being connected to the Earth and each other.
None of that has been possible without The Shimmer that Godsey describes. I needed internet tools to create such an organization.
As I prioritize other things in my life, I return to right relationship with The Shimmer to guide my next project.
