Oblivion & the Dragon

I know why you are here…

I know how you got here.

I know why you are here.

You came to a place full of content, so you could escape. You came here for your endorphin hit. You came here to feel something, you came here for a distraction. You’re here because you are avoiding something. You are here because you were scrolling.

Scrolling induces a state of mental oblivion, a consciousless stupor. We run to oblivion because we are scared to exert the energy required to create. We fear the silence because it may reveal our nature and our nightmares.

Scrolling is the content induced stupor which chokes out our creative selves. It steals our time, mental energy, and fills the silence from which springs creation. Scrolling our feeds limits our capacity to think by giving us something to pay attention to, which seems important, or worthy.

Why do we run to this oblivion?

Oblivion keeps us safe from the nightmare of facing our true situation and selves. We escape to it, and therefore never face our dragons.

But you can’t have the gold without the dragon.

Why do we scroll? Because we fear boredom. Boredom is a dragon guarding the treasure of creativity. It’s the transition space between our current state and the state of infinite creative mind.

Boredom is a sign of something both wonderful and dreadful. Empty Space.

Creation happens in the empty spaces. You can’t create without a certain amount of mental space. Empty space is the blank canvas or sheet of paper or document that waits for you. There is nothing more scary than empty space, because we know deeply that what we fill it with is a reflection of who we are.

Our intelligence or stupidity shines in that empty space, it is the place which shows whether we are a genius or an impostor. We fear that we are the impostor. We fear that we are a genius. We fear that people will reject the thing that we fill the empty space with. And so we avoid it at all costs.

This is not a baseless fear. Chances are that people will reject the first draft and the second and the third… Somehow, you think that’s a reflection of who you are and always will be.

That’s the lie.

Filling the empty space changes you. It forces you to become something new. Creating at the limit of your ability forces you to change, it is the thing that keeps you from being stagnant. The only way to change, to become better is to face the dragon, create, and from that become the thing that is able to create better and more.

If you want to create and become the masterpiece, you can’t do that while you are scrolling. You have to seek the empty spaces. Fight the attention thieves and resist the urge to distract yourself. You have to stop scrolling, induce emptiness, possibly even boredom. You have to create the empty space in which you can begin to create.

Remember, you are the masterpiece, go create!