Phetasy News - Meaning Making
Phetasy News - Meaning Making
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Greetings from the Phetaverse!
I’ve been thinking a lot about meaning these days with the rise of AI and all the talk about universal basic income as the humans are increasingly displaced. One of the arguments in favor of it is that humans will be able to do work that is more “meaningful.” The subject of meaning becomes even more relevant on the heels of yet another tragic, unthinkably evil school shooting.
A commentator on Twitter wrote, “We have a crisis in meaning that is manifesting itself as a mental health crisis that is being treated as if it were a political crisis.”
My friend, Nick Gillespie from Reason Magazine, said something in response that I’ve been contemplating all morning. “Agree. Generally high levels of wealth and opportunity have put virtually all of us at the top of Maslow's hierarchy but we aren't good at actualizing ourselves at mass scale. We're all existentialists now but not good at creating/revising/renewing meanings. Politics won't do it.”
When I got sober in 2013 one of the hardest things to face was the lack of meaning in my life. As the party girl persona and the single forever persona and all the layers and layers of drug abuse and alcoholism fell away—I was left with nothing. I had no idea who I was, what I believed, or what my values were and the first two years of my sobriety I struggled with depression.
Much of this psychological suffering was self-inflicted. People who threw themselves into the 12-steps willingly and not begrudgingly talked about experiencing relief almost immediately. As the Big Book states, “What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.”
I can’t find that reprieve in politics although in our religionless culture politics have been elevated as a replacement for the spiritual—and it’s leaving people empty. As much as I talk about “political homelessness” I’ve come to realize that it’s probably a good thing. Politics shouldn’t be a home. We should be grounded in relationships with people. Family. Community. Faith. Purpose. I realize I’m all over the place with this particular newsletter. Meaning is a topic I could go on and on about. Seems like a good Factory Settings episode. Would love to hear your thoughts.
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Bridget, I am SO proud of you! You're finally starting to get it. Politics is nothing but politicians and the media trying to shove their particular philosophies down our throats and make us believe it's important. This country was not meant to have party politics, but the ink was barely dry on the Constitution before the arch-Federals, led by Alexander Hamilton, formed a party and tried to convince Americans that the central government was all-powerful. Not to be outdone, Jefferson formed his Democratic-Republicans. The Federalists fell flat then after Jefferson, old Andy Jackson came along and turned Jeffferson's party into the Democratic Party, although it wasn't the same as the one we have today. Jackson was opposed by the Whigs then after he was out of office, the Whigs fell flat. A few other parties came along then in the early 1850s one of America's premier socialists, Horace Greely, an associate of Karl Marx, formed the Republican Party, which was quickly taken over by European revolutionaries who fled Europe after the 1848 revolutions failed, Mostly German socialists and Communists with a capital C, they settled in the Northeast and Northwest and immediately began trying to recreate their failed revolution here, using the Republican Party to do it. Many of them were high-ranking Union officers and members of Lincoln and Grant's governments. The Republicans were the progressives until the 1930s-1960s when northern Democrats adopted socialism. In the 1960s socialists/communists took over the Democratic Party and the conservative Democrats left and most of them joined the Republicans and made them what they are today.
In short, it's all bullshit. Screw both parties as well as the others. Vote for local politicians who will represent your interests and realize the president will be elected by those who want to tell you how to live your life.
A commentator on Twitter wrote, “We have a crisis in meaning that is manifesting itself as a mental health crisis that is being treated as if it were a political crisis.” This is a very intelligent take imo.