"I believe that the problems coming at us are too large to be solved by egoic awareness, even well-intentioned, collectively organized egoic awareness." — Christopher Bache
Frederik, you’ve written so many top-notch essays, and this one is right up there with my favorites. It’s incredibly powerful, maybe because of the times we are living through, but it’s full of ideas and insights worth revisiting with fresh eyes. Thank you for such an incisive and timely piece.
Candidly and sadly, I'm pessimistic. I wrote about this:
"COVID sealed the social contract in amber. For the first time in modern history, a nation declared—explicitly, unequivocally, and without reservation—that the old would be protected at any cost.
Schools closed.
Careers froze.
Dreams deferred.
We inverted the moral hierarchy and tore up the social contract: preservation replaced possibility."
Thanks for sharing and I agree on the issues of gerontocracy, generational conflict, and the explosion of gambling. That's what I took away from Bache: things get worse before they get better, perhaps over multiple generations.
What a piece! I think many would resonate with what you shared here. I agree, "maybe we can’t save the world, but we can create spaces of connection, healing, and beauty." Maybe that is all there is.
"That’s not a hero’s journey, but a healing journey. What if nothing more is needed to allow a greater intelligence to do the work through us?" Beautiful...
Going through this on SpaceX's IPO gives you an interesting lens. Sometimes we project onto the world what we feel afraid of doing ourselves (e.g. they are happy, I am not, and they will always be happy). My logical answer to your question, which still takes time for myself to also accept emotionally, is that we wake up and feel hope that we can change things. Whether we do a job or start working towards a mission, we can wake up and choose to do it good.
Rather than chasing media and attention, we should remind ourselves how grateful we are to be working on things that we like and make a living through it. I am not saying embrace the hero entrepreneur or wait for the collective to act on its own. Some people will stand out, some people will bother, etc. If you are that person, when other people come to join your ideas and missions, remember to not inflate yourself further, but instead the leader should take a step back and try to balance their position with the newcomers (even if they were there first).
The reframe from "who is going to save us" to "what if nothing needs saving, only attention" is either profound or a very comfortable escape hatch, and the piece is honest enough to know that.
Agreed and I like the Taoist notion of subtly working to create better conditions.
I think the Emerald episode on "the Weight" is an excellent listen for anyone struggling with that mission-driven burnout. Do your best but do not assume a weight not meant for you.
Frederik, you’ve written so many top-notch essays, and this one is right up there with my favorites. It’s incredibly powerful, maybe because of the times we are living through, but it’s full of ideas and insights worth revisiting with fresh eyes. Thank you for such an incisive and timely piece.
Thank you so much Shrikant, very kind of you! 🙏
Candidly and sadly, I'm pessimistic. I wrote about this:
"COVID sealed the social contract in amber. For the first time in modern history, a nation declared—explicitly, unequivocally, and without reservation—that the old would be protected at any cost.
Schools closed.
Careers froze.
Dreams deferred.
We inverted the moral hierarchy and tore up the social contract: preservation replaced possibility."
More: https://www.whitenoise.email/p/the-three-gs-of-global-decline-gerontocracy
Thanks for sharing and I agree on the issues of gerontocracy, generational conflict, and the explosion of gambling. That's what I took away from Bache: things get worse before they get better, perhaps over multiple generations.
If that isn’t a macroscopic rule of thumb I don’t know what is.
What a piece! I think many would resonate with what you shared here. I agree, "maybe we can’t save the world, but we can create spaces of connection, healing, and beauty." Maybe that is all there is.
Thank you so much, April. Maybe whatever we need will be born in those spaces . . 🌀🙏
"That’s not a hero’s journey, but a healing journey. What if nothing more is needed to allow a greater intelligence to do the work through us?" Beautiful...
Thank you for sharing your heart, Frederik. Grateful for you.
Thank you, Jeff ❤️
Incredible writing 🙏🏼
Thank you!
Going through this on SpaceX's IPO gives you an interesting lens. Sometimes we project onto the world what we feel afraid of doing ourselves (e.g. they are happy, I am not, and they will always be happy). My logical answer to your question, which still takes time for myself to also accept emotionally, is that we wake up and feel hope that we can change things. Whether we do a job or start working towards a mission, we can wake up and choose to do it good.
Rather than chasing media and attention, we should remind ourselves how grateful we are to be working on things that we like and make a living through it. I am not saying embrace the hero entrepreneur or wait for the collective to act on its own. Some people will stand out, some people will bother, etc. If you are that person, when other people come to join your ideas and missions, remember to not inflate yourself further, but instead the leader should take a step back and try to balance their position with the newcomers (even if they were there first).
The reframe from "who is going to save us" to "what if nothing needs saving, only attention" is either profound or a very comfortable escape hatch, and the piece is honest enough to know that.
Lovely work here - really enjoyed this.
Agreed and I like the Taoist notion of subtly working to create better conditions.
I think the Emerald episode on "the Weight" is an excellent listen for anyone struggling with that mission-driven burnout. Do your best but do not assume a weight not meant for you.