It sounds like we are both going through a complex process of discernment around the work of writing, writing for publication, and writing for the internet (in some senses three wholly separate things). I resonate enormously with your sentiments especially near the the top of this piece. I have for quite some time been pondering whether authors like us have some kind of responsibility to try and have an impact, or whether that should just not be our problem at all and we should just write when we have something meaningful to share and leave the rest up to the Lord or the forces of the market or whatever is running the show out there.
Unfortunately the endless demands for content of the internet have made the question both much more important and much harder to answer. In a world where even traditional book publishers often expect us to be building followings of tens of thousands is there any space left for slower voices--people who don't just pour out their immediate take on every possibly thing all the time but perhaps have something very significant to share if they can be given the time to be quiet first? I love what you say about needing to learn the skill of *not* just following the impulse to write something. We *must* seek that for a healthy soul, and yet success in the market demands the complete opposite. How much of ourselves are we meant to give in order to try and offer something Good to the world?
I think we are kindred spirits in facing this. Will pray for you, Laura.
“…whether authors like us have some kind of responsibility to try and have an impact…”
I think that desire— to have an “impact”— is such a modern concept, it’s practically a mayfly in the history of what it means to be human. In any case, when I see it in myself, I see it as a symptom that I’m getting too abstract.
One of my personal core beliefs is that there is no good one person can do for “society” or “people” that is more important than parenting one’s children well. No amount of art or brilliance or whatever can make balance on Horus’s scales with the damage one can do if one parents badly. That, I believe, is the essence of the millstone teaching. Better to be a nobody whose children have been nurtured as if it was truly the spiritual priority.
And the next step to that is the slightly bigger circle of real human beings that surround us in real life who need stupid, inconvenient, unglamorous things from us. Invisible, boring, usually non-intellectual things.
But I guess we have to put something out there, right? You can’t win the lottery if you never buy a ticket; you can’t really tell if anyone wants to read what you’re writing unless you find a sandwich board and a streetcorner and say, “Hey! Check it out!”
I will keep you in my prayers, too! Maybe we’ll all figure it out together.
I nodded my head to a lot of this! I'm not precisely sure why, but I feel a lot of us got Internet Poisoning this spring. It wasn't just bad news or scandalous things, though there is always some of those flies buzzing about. It was also that a kind of tipping point was reached for me in terms of sheer volume of stimulation, and I did indeed find myself taking more time to step away from the screen -- to "withdraw and have a cup of tea", or in a less saintly turn-of-phrase, to "touch grass, bro."
As for Dabrowski, I am starting to read about his Theory of Positive Disintegration and there is some FANTASTIC stuff in there. I initially read some chapters from what seemed to be an edited volume of other folks' papers about his theories, but now I'm starting to read Positive Disintegration itself and there is a lot of ideas in there that map onto post-traumatic growth research very nicely! Thank you for the tip!
“…It was also that a kind of tipping point was reached for me in terms of sheer volume of stimulation…”
I think you’re on the money with this. I’ve read that bot traffic has overtaken human traffic now. My own hunch is that we’re about to see the real-human internet make itself smaller again, by getting off of huge corporate social media services and creating smaller, intimate, non-bot communities.
In any case, we all have limits to our attention! I daydream about eternity being the kind of place where we can sit and really listen or read someone for as long as it takes, without intrusion.
I think we need a little more shelter, just in general. Social media always has been like a great big fairgrounds or mall, even— which can be a lot of fun, but will never take the place of a hole-in-the-wall diner or coffee shop.
Tbh, I had somewhat naively hoped that this platform would be more of my hole-in-the-wall. Perhaps it's simply unwise to think that way of any online space.
This is awesome, I love the thoughts you’ve shared here. So timely for me and resonates with a recent post by Father Stephen Freeman too. Can’t wait to read the upcoming posts! And I absolutely must read the book you mentioned too.
You’ve given such a compelling review of The Solitaire Mystery, I had to order it immediately ❤️
I hope it brings you joy!! I had so much fun watching it blow my teens’ minds…
It sounds like we are both going through a complex process of discernment around the work of writing, writing for publication, and writing for the internet (in some senses three wholly separate things). I resonate enormously with your sentiments especially near the the top of this piece. I have for quite some time been pondering whether authors like us have some kind of responsibility to try and have an impact, or whether that should just not be our problem at all and we should just write when we have something meaningful to share and leave the rest up to the Lord or the forces of the market or whatever is running the show out there.
Unfortunately the endless demands for content of the internet have made the question both much more important and much harder to answer. In a world where even traditional book publishers often expect us to be building followings of tens of thousands is there any space left for slower voices--people who don't just pour out their immediate take on every possibly thing all the time but perhaps have something very significant to share if they can be given the time to be quiet first? I love what you say about needing to learn the skill of *not* just following the impulse to write something. We *must* seek that for a healthy soul, and yet success in the market demands the complete opposite. How much of ourselves are we meant to give in order to try and offer something Good to the world?
I think we are kindred spirits in facing this. Will pray for you, Laura.
“…whether authors like us have some kind of responsibility to try and have an impact…”
I think that desire— to have an “impact”— is such a modern concept, it’s practically a mayfly in the history of what it means to be human. In any case, when I see it in myself, I see it as a symptom that I’m getting too abstract.
One of my personal core beliefs is that there is no good one person can do for “society” or “people” that is more important than parenting one’s children well. No amount of art or brilliance or whatever can make balance on Horus’s scales with the damage one can do if one parents badly. That, I believe, is the essence of the millstone teaching. Better to be a nobody whose children have been nurtured as if it was truly the spiritual priority.
And the next step to that is the slightly bigger circle of real human beings that surround us in real life who need stupid, inconvenient, unglamorous things from us. Invisible, boring, usually non-intellectual things.
But I guess we have to put something out there, right? You can’t win the lottery if you never buy a ticket; you can’t really tell if anyone wants to read what you’re writing unless you find a sandwich board and a streetcorner and say, “Hey! Check it out!”
I will keep you in my prayers, too! Maybe we’ll all figure it out together.
Just a lovely response, thank you Laura.
I nodded my head to a lot of this! I'm not precisely sure why, but I feel a lot of us got Internet Poisoning this spring. It wasn't just bad news or scandalous things, though there is always some of those flies buzzing about. It was also that a kind of tipping point was reached for me in terms of sheer volume of stimulation, and I did indeed find myself taking more time to step away from the screen -- to "withdraw and have a cup of tea", or in a less saintly turn-of-phrase, to "touch grass, bro."
As for Dabrowski, I am starting to read about his Theory of Positive Disintegration and there is some FANTASTIC stuff in there. I initially read some chapters from what seemed to be an edited volume of other folks' papers about his theories, but now I'm starting to read Positive Disintegration itself and there is a lot of ideas in there that map onto post-traumatic growth research very nicely! Thank you for the tip!
“…It was also that a kind of tipping point was reached for me in terms of sheer volume of stimulation…”
I think you’re on the money with this. I’ve read that bot traffic has overtaken human traffic now. My own hunch is that we’re about to see the real-human internet make itself smaller again, by getting off of huge corporate social media services and creating smaller, intimate, non-bot communities.
In any case, we all have limits to our attention! I daydream about eternity being the kind of place where we can sit and really listen or read someone for as long as it takes, without intrusion.
Ohhhhh I hadn't even thought about the bots, Laura....!! O_o
Oof, what a weird place the internet has become. The idea of tiny bot-free communities sounds lovely...
I think we need a little more shelter, just in general. Social media always has been like a great big fairgrounds or mall, even— which can be a lot of fun, but will never take the place of a hole-in-the-wall diner or coffee shop.
Tbh, I had somewhat naively hoped that this platform would be more of my hole-in-the-wall. Perhaps it's simply unwise to think that way of any online space.
I think it started that way! But I also don’t think it will stay that way, lol. I think we have to get rid of the middle-men.
This is awesome, I love the thoughts you’ve shared here. So timely for me and resonates with a recent post by Father Stephen Freeman too. Can’t wait to read the upcoming posts! And I absolutely must read the book you mentioned too.
Thank you so much for your note, Holly! I'm so glad you liked the piece!