Reality Artistry
Sunday’s events:
The Stoic Breath w/ Steve Beattie. Every Sunday @ 10:00 AM ET. RSVP here. 60 mins.
Vajrayana Now: Sutra to Tantra w/ Charlie Awbery & Jared Janes. July 5th @ 12:00PM ET. RSVP here. 90 mins.
The Dangerous Space @ The Memetic Mediation Campfire w/ Arielle Friedman. July 5th @ 3:30 PM ET. RSVP here.
Metagame Mastermind w/ Daniel Kazandjian.Every Sunday @ 6:00 PM ET. RSVP here. 60 mins.
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July 4, 2020
Things are fun again, and I am feeling that excited potential once more, and I am back to that wildly creative state I had at the start. I was experiencing an existential malaise that lasted for about two weeks. My state was inconsistent, my motivation was waning, and my confidence was strained.
There was a moment I wanted to stop writing, and there was a moment I wanted to stop stewarding The Stoa, and what kept me in the game was you. One of the treats of doing this project is getting random emails, which were encouraging, and I received them when I needed them the most. I am grateful for those emails, and I am grateful for those who come to The Stoa.
What is The Stoa? I have not had a chance to properly reflect on what it is, and what it has become, and what it is becoming. I feel like I am just moving. I have been too busy with administrative stuff, and having a spiritual crisis, then summer sadness, coupled with behind-the-scenes subplots that made life a little too interesting at times.
The Stoa is definitely a thing, a thing with a certain energy. There seems to be a weird mix to my experience in stewarding this space. I feel so fucking unworthy, coupled with this resolute sense that I am the man for the job. This is a weird mix, but it seems to work.
I do recognize how flawed I am, and I am committed to being truthful with my word, which is what this spiritual practice of Stoic journaling demands of me. I sense this tethers me to an unworthiness, and I sense it is important for me to be unworthy in front of you.
I do succumb to things that aggrandize this unworthiness: bad habits, bouts of boyish narcissism, irritated assholery, feelings of inherent inadequacy, and a demotivated lifelessness. I do not want to hide these from you, especially not under some veneer of everything-is-good bullshit.
I really want to bring Byung-Chul Han to The Stoa. In his book In The Swarm: Digital Prospects he talked about dirty reality, which is when we experience a disenchantment with reality when we glamorize the image of reality. Reality is experienced as dirty when your image of reality becomes better than reality itself.
As Han writes: The digital medium is bringing about an iconic reversal that is making images seem more alive, more beautiful, and better than reality itself. This is full enmeshment with the spectacle. I do not want us to experience dirty reality. I want us to experience reality, which can be dirty at times, and I want to be dirty in front of you, and I want to be dirty with you.
I do think we can be creative with our image, and impress upon others something beautiful, while using the raw materials of our unworthiness. I was workshopping a session for The Stoa with Misha Lee, who is an artist here in Toronto, and who is training to be a life coach. We are going to call the session Reality Artistry.
Someone who is a reality artist is someone who is playful with the facts of reality, and arranges them to create a beautiful story. Depressive realism is bullshit. We have optionality in how we think and talk about reality, and we can do so without compromising the truth, while crafting a story that can be beautifully told.
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