Hexagram 49 > 63
"Believe half of what you see, none of what you hear, even if it's spat by me"
- Jay-Z - "Ignorant Shit"
In all of my years of welcoming answers from my questioning of the I Ching, the greatest relief I've felt is when I've made a stark prediction for my life only to be proven enjoyably wrong.
You get Hexagram 29 unchanging for your day, and weeks later, memories of that Wednesday stay deep beneath the surface of your consciousness, instead of looming large as some traumatic event.
That's the positive 'not-sure-ness': Being wrong about the worst.
But the world now is hitting us with a lot of uncertainties that we've never before had to grapple with.
"Fake news" was a spell, leaning into the porous nature of our reality. It was pointing to a mysterious shadow in the room that we never really acknowledged (and for some, never noticed).
Of course, it was also a weapon that doubled as a shield, deflecting valid criticism and safeguards in favor of unchecked power.
Years later, we have fake images, fake personalities answering questions about how to tackle problems, or cook a filet mignon properly.
We have deepfaked news, video game warzones being passed off as the genuine article.
And we have imaginations that never stop moving, ready to take the newest technology into the deepest recesses of our vices, and ill-intentions.
That's why we may have to start looking at reality a little differently, to sidestep a crisis or two when we can no longer trust what's before our eyes, and inside our ears.
Not-Sure-Ism
The way that I presently approach the encroaching manipulation of an ever-permeable world is with Not-Sure-Ism.
It's a collection of practices that includes what I've learned from Buddhism, magic, the work of Werner Erhard, and hard-lessons earned from my own struggle and suffering.
I hope that what follows offers you some tools, if not a system, to deal with some of the hard problems and questions we're going to have to reckon with as we dip our feet further into the future.
1) Not-Sure-ing, Skepticism, and Slowing Down
I've written about "not sure" previously here, but let's get a brief overview again:
The Thai Theravadan Buddhist teacher, Ajahn Chah, said the whole of Buddhist practice could be summed up with anicca (impermanence)/not sure, and "patient endurance."
The rainstorm is impermanent, and whether it will rain in the first place is not sure.
Whether you'll be happy in 10 minutes is not sure, and if you do become a smiling satisfied individual, that happiness is impermanent.
"Not Sure" and impermanence/anicca are describing the same fact of life (which may be not sure, if we're going to be not-sure-ing correctly).
Now that we (hopefully) understand what I'm getting at, let's look at some practical applications:
A) Brainstorming Nightmares
As AI technologies become even more prevalent, take a moment to ask yourself what is the wildest technology you can imagine existing.
Then remind yourself that it's not sure whether it does or doesn't already exist.
The key to not losing your mind while doing this is to genuinely acknowledge that the yes or no are equally uncertain.
From my personal experience, I know that it's tempting (and perhaps natural) to elevate one of the possibilities above the other.
But if you're going to survive in the middle of illusory bullets flying, it's important that we're honest with ourselves about whether we're falling into that trap.
By doing so, we can cut down the anxieties that come with those visceral feelings of certainty that so often prove to be untrue.
B) Delay, Delay, Delay
As the cracks in the social media foundation get deeper, if you plan on continuing to play in that kind of traffic, it's important to know how to dodge some chrome bumpers.
One way is to delay your desire to respond, and your desire to make judgements.
With war footage coming from accounts that are younger than some of the food in your fridge, showing images that have no relation to the actual conflict in question, there's ample reason to say "not sure" instead of exercising your thumbs.
Algorithms can often accurately be seen as a kid sitting behind you in class, poking your back with a ruler in hopes of getting a reaction. The only difference is, these social media companies get paid for doing it.
Once your anger, anxiety, or narcissism gets provoked, you put keys together to express what maybe didn't need expressing. Then your instantaneous reactions get prodded by others, urging you to be consistent with your initial split-second reaction.
By making social media your servant instead of your master, you're bound to be more equipped for survival in the midst of a barrage of falsities.
C) Choose Slow Media
Established publications, with decades of work behind them, and (hopefully) actual editors inside of them may publish things that sometimes elicit disgust in us.
They rely on money to survive and try to appeal to a wider base than a man on Twitter with six numbers behind his thesaurus-aided name.
For all of their faults, there's some respectable reasons why they're still in business. One reason is fact-checking.
Another is, they publish (usually) longer-form pieces than whatever character limit your favorite app is allowing. There's a greater opportunity for nuance and accuracy, and less of a risk of deception and acidity.
Of course, there's exceptions, but choose your exceptions carefully.
2) The Cessation of Rumination and Speculation
Hopefully you're not-sure-ing your worries and thought bubbles, but if you need some extra help avoiding these bad habits, try this:
A) Action Over Mental Action
Ask yourself 'what's the practical thing I can do in response to this?'
Not every problem out there is worth your mental space and energy.
If your timeline is flooded with scenes potent enough to fuel your worst nightmares, ask yourself what you can practically do here.
The answer may be to simply turn away from that website, or that screen.
Chances are, if you're suffering and decide to not do that, there's a payoff you're getting that you may want to examine. For many it's the 'if I don't know what's going on in the world, I'm a bad person' payoff.
Understandable, definitely, but it's likely not serving you in a fulfilling way.
B) The Suffering Question
In a continuation from the last section, a helpful question might be to ask 'is this contributing to the suffering of myself (and others), or is it contributing to the lessening of my (and others') suffering?'
You've gotta be honest with yourself when it comes to this question, because the executives at company x, y, or z, will not be looking out for your wellbeing.
If something isn't contributing to your wellbeing, try asking what might?
Maybe it's as simple as donating to a relevant charity to take the weight off your shoulders and place it on an animist-like charity being that will handle all of that worrying for you.
3) Empowering Yourself By Choosing What Is
I write about this at length here, so I'll leave you with the fully-formed version in that link.
4) Resilience, Pivot-ability, and Effectiveness
Regardless of the modern magic being thrown at our consciousness, we have to survive and thrive in this world.
We have bills to pay, jobs to do, and people to support.
Because of this, we need to get things done *after* choosing the uncomfortable emotion that's passing through us.
I think there are ways we can be like the resilient remote control car I wanted as a child.
Let's talk about how to do that.
A) Be A "Sigil"
Once you've chosen 'what is', you can 'be' something that might help you transcend 'what is'.
To do so, try "Being A Sigil," which I wrote about in full, here.
B) Change The Context
This can be thought of as a continuation of the 'Being A Sigil' approach, which I wrote about here.
C) The WWNTBT Question(s)
My favorite thinking tool is asking "what would need to be true."
So, two ways you can use it as you try to surmount an obstacle or two is:
- What would need to be true to fail at this?
- What would need to be true to fail to turn my intention into reality?
Using this kind of inverted questioning can help you see landmines well before you've stepped on them.
It also helps you get back on track, and focused, after running up against all of the uncertainty the world dumps out on you.
D) Do-To-Get = Due To Get Suffering
While the topic here is how to get things done despite all of the illusory 'stuff' you have to deal with on a daily basis, it's important to remember that once you're doing something to get a certain result, you're bound to suffer.
To put it into Buddhist terms, the doing-to-get is an example of craving.
The problem with craving (or desire for a particular outcome) is that if, or when we get the result, its inherent impermanence guarantees that it won't completely fulfill us.
What do you do with this information?
Well, you could try doing what you're doing when you're doing it, and put it down when you're not.
Another, is to "Be A Sigil" as I discussed above, and take whatever results you end up with instead of clinging to the idea of some specific result you fantasized about.
In our world, it's pretty difficult to just 'do' things without aiming for a particular objective. We have managers that want results, families that need food.
But even if you do still chase specific results, just knowing that it's going to make you suffer or struggle can give you a comforting cushion of wisdom, because you already know what's ahead for yourself.
Mental Add-Ons That Might Help
1) The Promise of Universalism
Kamma, in a sense, is natural. It's the consequence of past action, influencing the present, and then the future.
Hierarchies and caste systems are socially kammic. They're natural to certain societies, and certain frames of mind.
Just because something is natural (such as the human dance between domination and avoiding domination) does not necessarily mean we should encourage or augment it.
Because of this, I support Universalism which, I believe, empowers more people than hopes and dreams to revert to a traditionalism that has its favorites already picked.
And I understand the hesitancy of those that feel they're the picked favorite, and how they may feel that by lifting others equally, they may find themselves in the bottom of the barrel.
To that, I say be careful with the life games that you play. I know animal urges are more persuasive than human words.
Ultimately, I believe things like Universal Basic Income, Universal Health Care, Universal Human Rights would be beneficial, not only in America, but all over the world.
A societal satiation might help us refrain from chasing ghostly tails generated by people that don't have our best interests at heart.
With more full stomachs and warm bodies, less of us might spend our time arguing about things that are keeping a small number of people's stomachs full and bodies warm.
But: it's important to remember that impermanence extends to social progress. See: abortion rights.
But: social regression also has its own shelf-life, which is so important to remember in light of any pessimism.
2) The Golden Rule
Treating others how you'd like to be treated solves a lot of problems.
The only potential problem with this approach is that it depends on you being honest with yourself.
3) Magical Insurance Plans
It could be helpful to think of magic as a low effort way of increasing positive probabilities.
By putting our worries into a sigil intention we hope will rescue us, we're off-loading anxieties into a paper vessel that might one day become a lottery ticket.
I've seen enough cause and effect in my life (even if time operates independent of the illusion of past, present, and future) to think that spending 5-10 minutes from time to time creating and 'charging' a sigil is a very reasonable insurance plan, even if someone external might chuckle at you.
As long as you extend the not-sure mentality to your magical practice, you're in good shape.
Putting It Together
To summarize things, the steps of Not-Sure-Ism are:
- 1) Remind yourself of the uncertainty of *everything* as a sort of protective mantra in our world of illusion
- 2) Don't allow yourself to be a slave to speculation and instant reactions
- 3) Choose the events and emotions you're dealing with in the present
- 4) Be a sigil/new context that will allow your life to unfold in the way *you* want it to
By following these steps, I believe you'll have less fixed views that could leave you vulnerable to manipulation, while also having the tools to be empowered in a world where so many are being carried external winds.
Knowing any of these things won't do, it's the *being* of these things that'll save you.
But, everything is practice at the end of the day, isn't it?