Greetings earthlings,

Here's a thought I’ve had for a week. I’ve bounced it off a few people, seems to ring true, so I figured I'd type it out for this fine fellowship. As always, at the bottom, you’ll find the secret exclusive art you signed up for as an enlightened panpsychist messiah. Happy Wednesday.

For long periods of human history, people could live the same lives as their grandparents. They farmed; you farmed; your kids would farm. Maybe the mayor would be bad for a decade, better for a decade. Maybe there would be war and some people would get conscripted. Perhaps a plague if you're unlucky. But generally, life would be, or at least could be, predictable. It might have been painful, but it was simple. Easy. Peasy.

That assumption is about as realistic for us now as imagining America will have drinking water next decade. Or that Instagram’s formula would have remained the same in 2019. Or that iTunes would stick around forever in 2009.

Or assuming that ChatGPT will function the same as it does today, five years from now.

Not going to happen.

Hence, my thesis: we are entering an artistic renaissance. We live in such a transitional time that our imaginations are a requirement for creating our lives. And because our imaginations are required, art becomes utilitarian, not merely aesthetic. The visions you ascribe to are necessary if you want any sort of control over where your life is headed. And more importantly, we need new art.

We cannot rely on the art before us because, by and large, it is simply irrelevant.

 The things we are grappling with are so different and strange that most older works do not address the emergent phenonmenon we are faced with. Nanobots. Neuralink. Algorithms. What????????

Of course, there are metaphors we can draw from art, from history. Frodo’s ring is like the smartphone. Trump is like Vecna. The French Revolution happened amid a wealth disparity similar to that of America now. Luddites destroyed looms the way people reject AI, (though no one has blown up a data center yet, unfortunately). Press gangs are like ICE.

Yet none of these are truly accurate. We are living in unprecedented times. The things that are timeless, those rooted in nature and the human condition, will remain and be reinterpreted through new works. But as our environment changes, and as our situation changes as a civilization, we are brought to a crucible where new creation is required.

So this is a time to step deeply into your artistry. Assess what you value in the art you consume. I’ll add that the line between art and all forms of media, news, podcasts, blogs, posts, has thinned. Media is increasingly synonymous with art. I’ll come back to that later.

This is a time to think deeply about what you want your life to be, from first principles: food, shelter, water, environment, education. As you explore the infinite terrain of creativity, appreciate that life is an artistic practice. The curriculum of your life, the paint on the wall, the food you eat, the books you read, the videos you consume, the music you listen to, these are all mediums. All built on a utilitarian and visionary foundation.

This is why paying attention to artists you personally enjoy is more important now than ever. Because they will pull you into the life that you and your children will live.

The popular lifestyle will not serve you here. Entertainment intent on satiating greed, lust, wrath, envy bears even less relevance in a time when we are focused on how we will live. Listening to Taylor Swift, Drake, anyone who was popular in the past, is the same as following Trump because he was a prominent financial figure and therefore must know how to run the country.

It’s putting the cart full of shit before the horse. It’s ass-backwards. Those people, propagandists, are not connecting the present to the future. They are grabbing attention not because they have a message or a direction, but simply because they want something now.

This is not breaking news. The infrastructure and institutions that have brought us forth are inherently corrupted and corrupting, designed to trade the well-being of future generations, us, for the indulgence of the present. In order to transcend that, and we must, for material reasons that grow more dire and urgent every day, in order to bring forth a paradigm of peace, sustainability, and community, new, intentional, visionary art is necessary.

Thankfully, there are thousands, if not billions, of creatives already contributing toward this new age through every medium. Engineering, agriculture, music, every facet of existence is being engaged with creatively. We are living in a renaissance the likes of which we have never seen before.

So. You.

This is the call. Bzz. Create. Bzz. Participate. Bzz. Join us. Shout from the rooftops about decentralized governance. Throw wildflower seeds into the wind. Behold, and be a genius.

You are already involved in this wretchedly beautiful, infernally enlightening system of creation and destruction and everything in between.

The only question is how you will show up in it, and which parts of the show you will attend.

Phew. On that note, here's the pre-save link to my new song 'FINE". I hope it helps you find what being fine means to you.

— aaaaaaand here it is early, for those who are in the mailing list: 

(EMPTY CUZ THIS IS THE BLOG)

I love having you guys here, listening to this stuff early, reading my words. It's like I'm leaking the Epstein Files. Except it's shoegaze music about heartbreak and inner peace. And anti-imperial propoganda. Way cool. 

I've said enough, I'd say.

Enjoy yourself, 

Panpsyche

PS. When I hit 10k on Insta I'll do something outrageous