Hi,
One of The Dream's power sources is crushing creativity. Creativity is one of The Dream's enemies. The Dream thrives on us following The Dream Pushers' messaging. There's no room for creative expression in that following.
Sure, The Dream Pushers may trick us into believing we're being creative. We can customize our prefabricated house, based on a set of predetermined options. We can choose option packages for our car and even choose its color. We can even customize our sneakers. We pay extra for all this, of course.
Yet this isn't the creativity I'm talking about. I'm talking about the creative expression that's necessary for us to exist as complete human beings. It's the type of expression we need to fulfill our humanity.
Instead, we suppress this creative need. We push it away. We see it as an unaffordable luxury. And we're probably too tired or exhausted from chasing The Dream to manifest the creative side of us anyway.
The Dream keeps us trapped in jobs that grind us down. They exhaust us at the micro level. At the macro level, chasing the next badge of Dream success sucks us dry.
Our minds are locked into the chase. We're "too busy" for anything that doesn't involve it. We tell ourselves that time not spent chasing is wasted time.
I'm aware that I'm framing this issue from my own frustration. As a reformed Dream Chaser, I suppressed any and all creative expression for a long, long time. It's a battle I still struggle with to this day.
When I do allow myself time to create, I feel like a completely different human. I feel lighter and looser. I feel happier and unstuck. It's these feelings that elude us when we suppress our creative instincts. In doing so, we rob ourselves of the joy the expression of the instincts can bring to us and those around us.
Then The Dream Pushers step in again. They trick us into believing that consuming The Dream's rewards will bring us this joy. Then we start chasing all over again, around and around in the vortex that sucks us deeper into it, while pushing creativity further out.
Catch you next week,
Chris
P.S. - If you haven't noticed, I'm experimenting with new ways to build a stronger community around JRWI. This is taking the form of audio versions of this newsletter and posting discussion topics. My hope is these activities help us establish stronger connection among not only me and you but also you and other readers. If something I try connects with you and you'd like to see more of it, please let me know. Conversely, if something I try annoys you, please let me know that too. It's through your feedback that we'll figure out how to build the JRWI community in a way that inspires, serves and supports each of us in pursuing our dreams, not The Dream.
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Current Reading List
My Seditious Heart, Arundhati Roy
Dare to Lead, Brene Brown
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama XIV, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Carlton Abrams
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
Marx: A Very Short Introduction, by Peter Singer
Current Playlist
Check out my Soundcloud profile for more music.