On Creativity and "Capitalism"
Even when forced to participate, we still have choices to make. Why my work on Substack will never be behind a paywall.
Photo by Justin Lim on Unsplash
I don’t agree with charging for helpful knowledge. This is why higher education’s desire to turn a profit is corny. It's lame. For what reason do they hoard information, forcing people to pay for it when it could be given? In how many ways have we placed a numerical value on a human’s worth? Essentially saying, if you can’t pay, you don’t deserve to live a better life. You don’t deserve access to knowledge or wisdom you’d benefit from. Why do those with excess resources so often loathe the idea of sharing them with those in need? Whether in the form of money, knowledge, wisdom, etc.
How can I charge for what I don’t own?
I am open to receiving donations/gifts for my writing. However, I can’t let material desires keep me from sharing. So you can pay for my Substack if you want, but my writing will always be available for free. I do want people to pay for my books. But on the internet? Nahhhh.
With all the stuff on the internet, people finding my writing at all is amazing haha. It helps that I don’t have a family to support, which could certainly change my mindset haha. Should it? I don’t know… Should is a dirty word, one that’s extremely dangerous in the wrong hands.
I wonder if I’m making a mistake, allowing my idealism to block my pragmatism. Am I overthinking this? Am I handicapping myself with childish desires to “stick it to the man”? Oh well. Ultimately, as an artist, I must follow my instincts. Only time will tell. Fate has the final say. There’s no right or wrong, only what happens.
Writers Deserve to Be Paid
I respect all writers who get paid for their work and seek to get paid for their work. Society is set up how it's set up, and people deserve to be paid for the work they do. If people get paid for jobs that add nothing to society, then writers should be paid for their contributions. We all have to make a living. You can’t be mad at someone for doing so, as long it’s not hurting themselves or others.
Writers are an important part of society. To support yourself with writing is no different from any other career. It’s possibly more admirable than others, depending on how you use the power of words.
I would love to get paid enough from writing to make it my career. That’s still the goal really. But I don’t want to keep my work behind a paywall. I don’t want to strategize on turning free subscribers to paid ones by withholding insight. I don’t want to be a business. I don’t want to be a brand. I just want to be human. A human with thoughts and feelings, who shares them in hopes we can all grow together.
Capitalism Kills The Human Spirit
This idea of considering myself as a business or a brand, makes my skin crawl. We can’t even be fully human because of capitalism’s machinations. We can only desperately sell ourselves, hoping that others will buy.
We curate our existence, seeking outside validation to hide our insecurities, only believing our work has worth when somebody else says it does. When someone else pays for it. Fuck that. My stuff is good. If only because I enjoy making it.
Why can’t we recognize ourselves, instead of waiting to be recognized? Because we have never been taught that’s an option. Society’s indoctrination makes us revolve our opinions around others. We don’t have faith in our own intelligence.
The Buddha was his own guru. The great ones are their own sage. The wise ones are able to trust themselves, because they have faith in fate. Faith that doesn’t rely on the universe bending to their whims.
Our society teaches and indoctrinates based on fear, so we don’t trust ourselves. We don’t have faith in anyone or anything. We rely on the opinions of others to figure out our direction.
The Blessing of Being
But we have been blessed with the ability to figure out directions for ourselves. We can feel what resonates with us, heeding our spirit’s magnetism, using the natural world as a compass. And that’s the foundation of our human experience. It is our way and no one else’s. It is our life and no one else’s.
No one can walk our path for us, and we can’t walk anyone else’s. Judging our steps based on theirs is nonsensical, an attachment to an impossibility that leaves us feeling stuck. Stranded in a life we see as disrespectful, all because it won’t allow the impossible, living a life that is not ours. Human desires based on society’s ignorant judgments and comparisons, set us up for failure. Until we figure out we have a choice, we set ourselves up for failure as well.
Writing is a gift. Thinking for yourself is a gift. Gifts are meant to be shared. To share a gift without expecting a return is love. Real love is unconditional. The universe runs on the dynamic exchange of energy that is giving and receiving.
When you give, it should be out of the desire to help. Because its the right thing to do, not because you’re attached to receiving something. Being able to help is receiving something. We must also remain open to others’ help. Many times we refuse help out of foolish pride, not realizing this also breaks the natural flow of energy.
We’ve reduced energy’s natural flow into something shallow, something where giving is only done with expectations of return. Where our love is conditional and selfish. We egotistically think of what we deserve for our efforts. We measure our effort accordingly, rather than giving our best.
When a numerical value is placed on everything and everyone in the world, this mindset is no surprise.
Society’s Murder by Numbers
These numbers run society and society runs humanity. This general attitude makes people give half efforts because they deserve double the pay. And I can’t help but agree given the context. Rather this, than killing yourself in pursuit of ever larger numbers. Especially when corporations make obscene profits on the back of the everyday worker. The workers at the “bottom” of the company serve as the foundation for their ridiculous profits. But somehow, these workers don’t make enough money to live comfortably.
However, overall, this mindset is toxic. With limited time on Earth, any system that encourages not giving your best, sets a dangerous precedent.
Society looks down on giving for the sake of giving, helping for the sake of helping, and humanity is stuck in a cycle of destruction and negativity. One that seems to be getting worse. But somehow, also seems to be getting better. Just depends on what kind of media you consume haha.
Not Buying Number’s BS
More people are waking up to the fact these systems don’t work. That many people struggle because society’s reduced life to numbers. Reduces what a higher power creates to a prisoner of the human ego.
Numbers are an imperfect explanation of life, invented to help make sense of things, but have become a means of control. They’re used to judge life and our existence, something humans don’t have the intelligence or wisdom to judge.
We will never completely understand how humans came to be. We should resolve to appreciate the gift of life. Instead, society motivates people to take it for granted, whether their life, the lives of others, or the life we see in nature.
What Creating Means to Me
Truth be told, I don't expect fame or fortune for my writing. As I’ve studied great writers and thinkers*, the majority of them were only recognized after death. Their contributions to society acknowledged years after their passing. Many great artists died destitute and struggling. But their work lives on, with their genius eventually recognized. I imagine this being the most likely result for everyone, a demographic I’m no doubt a part of.
In the past, maybe the difficulty of spreading ideas with limited technology kept some from fame and fortune. Today we suffer from technology’s oversaturation, with true genius perhaps lost in the flood of information we drown in daily. Or maybe their genius was ahead of its time. There was never going to be acceptance while alive to appreciate it. Yet they still created. Yet they still took the time to pursue their passions.
I’m sure there are countless examples of this. People whose art* was never recognized during their lifetime. That’s why it's important to never create for outside validation, because that is outside of our control.
Many artists who receive outside validation, remain hollow afterwards. Mainstream acceptance either turns them off or they catch the disease of more. More accolades, more money, more validation. Either situation dulls the creative edge. You feel pulled to satisfy the masses, rather than freely express yourself through your chosen medium. Your intentions and motivations affect the energy expressed in your art.
Organic Oscillations*
One of my major focuses is to let life unfold organically. Only when things happen naturally, can they be sustainable. So I write for my own enjoyment. I explore my perspective and expand myself in a way only writing and thinking allows for. Hopefully my words reach others and inspire them to think for themselves. Maybe they’ll have realizations which enrich their lives. But these words and these thoughts help me make sense of this life, and that's enough for me.
As long as I share myself freely and without fear, remaining authentic to my human experience, I can die happy. This is strength.
The effort shown during the process, not the results, separates the weak from the strong. Results in the form of outside validation are never guaranteed. So I can delude myself by thinking “Well, at least I’ll be famous when I’m dead” and die with a smile on my face HAHAHA.
* Not saying I’m one of them…but also not saying I’m not one of them hehe.
* Science at the highest level is an art form. Scientific innovation requires creativity, pulling ideas from the void and manifesting them in the material world. Lower levels of art and science are iterative, rather than innovative. They seek to replicate rather than originate. Higher and lower levels has nothing to do with “worth” or “right” or “wrong”, only to do with coloring outside the lines vs remaining inside of them. With the lines being what society has already deemed to be “correct”.
* Natural life occurs in waves and the ability to accept natural forces and ride them is what separates those at peace with those in turmoil. Plus I thought this sounded cool lmao.