Aethereal Appeal

In an age overflowing with information, perhaps the rarest skill is learning what deserves our attention.

Every once in a while I catch myself looking at something everyone else has walked past. 

A bird chirping above me in a tree.

The crack in the cement on the sidewalk that just so happened to grow dandelions from it.

The way a child at a playground will try so hard to get their parents attention, while the adults just stare down at their phones and completely ignore them.

Or how I tend to notice that politics in our country is run by a few small “elite”groups who prop up politicians, and how our media machine is constantly running cover for them by lying to ‘We the people..’ but then again, I’m not trying to make this about politics..

Honestly, I’ve started to understand that life will pass you by if you don’t stop to notice the details. And it’s almost as if everything around us is set up so that we don’t care about the details too.

When you think about it, we’re living through one of the most fascinating periods in all of human history.

Artificial intelligence is changing the way we work (whether we like it or not.)

Robots are getting more efficient and humanoid.

Algorithms on our devices sync to quietly influence what we believe as they tend to create an echo chamber, as they surveil our every move within the digital space.

Politics feels increasingly theatrical and predictable but woefully dangerous as those in power are increasingly becoming more authoritarian and bloodthirsty.

Conspiracy theories are no longer taboo but now recognized as fact. Still, no apologies from friends or family members who called you crazy though.

Truth is; attention has become the world’s most valuable currency and yet somehow the smallest details of everyday reality still escape us due to the inundation of hyper exposure to this unlimited amount of visual content via social media.

This is the problem.

If we drift away into the doom scroll of the black mirror, what will we become?

Who will we be?

We must allow every single moment we experience to be saturated with us in it. We cannot continue to experience this life passively behind the screen.

Let this be your clarion call:

We must notice the world around us and when we do, we must make the world notice us too.

Noticing isn’t passive.

It’s a discipline. To dig deeper. To connect the dots. To connect with others who notice too.

It’s choosing to ask one more question instead of accepting the first answer.

It’s reading history from the victors perspective. Then reading the same story from the losing side. To then use common sense and deduce what really happened. And after all that, call a friend and start the conversation about it too!

The art of noticing is akin to contemplating why ancient philosophers, Christian monks, Taoist sages, and modern neuroscientists all arrived at surprisingly similar conclusions about the nature of mankind. Then offering prayers to the Most High to continue to be your light, strength & guide as you traverse in your path.

As I mature in this world, the less interested I become in people who always claim certainty. The reason being that in my youth I was often deceived by their ability to convince me against my own better judgement. 

I’ve learned to trust the process with patience and do the work with diligence, so that my critical instincts can guide me to an honest understanding and a balanced conclusion. I encourage all those around me to do the same.

And I am still drawn toward the curious because in this way there is no rigidity in the process of learning new things.

I’m also drawn to the people willing to say,

“Maybe there’s another layer here.”

Those are my favorite people.

Over the past few years I’ve realized something unexpected.

The books that changed me weren’t biographies though, they were about self discipline and building better habits.

Old philosophy. Stoic wisdom.

Church history & miracles and martyrdom of saints.

Economics, Cold War & the many industrial complexes.

Holistic & spiritually growth.

Ancient astrological science.

Even skincare and beauty rituals taught me something valuable about caring for myself.

Every subject became another window into understanding human beings and noticing how they are and what they are capable of achieving. In turn, this helped me understand why I cannot hold myself back.

Maybe that’s why I can never stay inside one niche.

Life itself refuses to fit neatly inside categories. 

Beauty isn’t separate from philosophy.

Faith isn’t separate from history.

Finance isn’t separate from psychology.

Technology isn’t separate from ethics.

Everything touches everything in this ever expanding expanse of knowledge and creativity that conditions our paradigm to perceive life.

And perhaps that’s what this little space on the corner of the internet will become.

Not a place pretending to have all the answers. 

A place where we notice things together to exchange nuance and perspectives.

Where current events meet timeless ideas.

Where beauty and good health still matters.

Where seeking truth matters even more.

If one essay I pen here causes someone to pause before scrolling…

to read one more book…

to ask one better question…

or simply to look up from their phone and appreciate the world for five quiet minutes…

then it was definitely worth writing.

After all…

Our lives become what we repeatedly pay attention to.

So let’s be conscientious in noticing how we are doing things.

And choose wisely.

With much heart,

Rosalina Q.