Some meditations on my graduation and the future

It is difficult for me to articulate what it is exactly that we are missing, part of the reason is that I’ve only had glimpses of that which is missing, glimpses that reveal there to be something that isn’t being created through our current circumstances. We live in a time that is largely void of reality, that is to say, mostly void of anything that means anything. The world I live in is spectacularly disconnected from most reality, there is this odd lack of discourse, discourse that deals with anything that isn’t simulated. My university refuses to speak with me and will only speak about me, its most apparent showcase the recent encampments to break the silence on the war. Here it also became clear to me that the university is a separate entity from its students, staff and professors. When we were camping there was an individual who was tasked to deal with us, his job description stated that he was to maintain business continuity. Our current political overseers deal in simulations, their lies reflect no reality whatsoever, but our politicians left of center also aren’t capable of even discussing the real issues at hand. I am graduating this year and am forced to make a new step, but the options don’t look very appealing. I can go back into university, follow a masters program, consider a career in academia, but the university is not a good place to be right now, its funding is being cut, its intellectual independence is uncertain and I am not sure if it will deal with any of the issues our world is faced with. To try, in the form of a dance, to approach the issue: the store does not sell anything I need, if I want to give back to the world through my work I can most likely not afford to live, if I want to afford to live I am damaging the world even further. It is becoming harder to be poor. If I want to think, to have the space, time and energy to, I must be living off other people’s generosity, or I must be wealthy. Otherwise, I am only allowed to use my energy to keep this machine running, running where? I am convinced that I am not the only one that feels this, my friends do as well, there must be more, but what are we to do? What institutions do we have left that are willing and capable to invent a new future? The physical architecture is suffocating. I know one thing for certain, we must not turn inwards, we must find each other somehow, reject some level of comfort, try and move out of the alienation. I believe in a double movement, it is most likely already happening, I want to connect to the others who are seeking a way out. In these proto-fascist times we must not forget the hyperreality of our politics, we must find a way. That is to say, we, individuals, must find a way, but also collectively, we must find a way. Reappropriate, take over create an institution that moves away from the old dichotomy’s - I do not believe in capitalism or communism – and has the resources to come up with a new future. As individuals we have to find a way to reaffirm ourselves and others in the real, I think some amalgamation of art, philosophy and political thought should be able to do the job. And, rejecting nostalgia, we have to incorporate the internet in some way. The internet is of course the source for much of the simulation, but it is not going anywhere, it does also retain some independence based on its users – even under the steering of the algorithms. I think all of this is inevitable, the pressure is mounting and this seems a much better ailment than the xenophobic paranoia we’re being offered right now.

I seek out your thoughts, my dear friends, all the best

Tim