BIGGEST ASSET

For many years, my ultimate goal was to transform my mind into the biggest asset I could ever have. As I expanded into new fields and explored my creativity, my objective was to gather a vast arsenal of skills that would allow me to materialize my visions. While I still value my mental body as a very important part of me, I understand now that my biggest asset was in me all along: my heart.

It is the home of my spirit, and without having a strong foundation and feeling so connected to it, it is highly probable that I wouldn’t be here typing this now. A big shift in perspective that has allowed me to continue living a happy life was changing my view of the world. Now, instead of thinking, “I am not made for this world,” I say to myself, “This world was not made for me.” It still sounds a bit daunting, but if you break down the phrase, "the world was not made," it is clear that generations before us manipulated our world, and our current situation is an effect of that. Now in this lifetime, we get to be a cause for the world to be kinder to the next generation. We create the future in the present moment! It is part of the responsibility that comes with being alive.

There is a lot of strength and effort that we would have to put in daily to be grounded in this perspective. I wish I could say that as I've grown and matured, the world has treated me with respect. Sadly, there have been points in my life where it has felt like the complete opposite. As I have acquired knowledge, I've learned to perceive and see things that are meant to be hidden in plain sight. Training myself in the "media arts" has heightened my awareness. A couple of years ago, I thought this trait would be valued by the institutions I've had to be a part of and that my input would have been embraced. That was not the case. For some reason, I was seen as a threat.

This was very evident to me during my last year of university. Since I was a child, I have been under a privatized brand of education owned by the same person. This old guy owns the school and university I attended. After almost 20 years of being a user of his system, by the last one, I had gathered enough empirical experience for my input to work as feedback to improve his matrix for the younger kids. Or at least, I thought it would!

For one of my advertising classes, we were tasked with presenting a proposal for a brand of alcoholic drinks that the university was developing. While working on this, a lot of people (especially young women) started speaking out about many instances of abuse that had happened in the institution during the past years. This was a topic that, as a student, became inescapable; everyone was talking about it. I saw the task we were presented with as an opportunity to guide this conversation in the community. The brand of drinks they were developing could work as a touchpoint for these conversations to be had and to avoid reaching this tipping point again. So, I got to work.

The day of the presentation was tough. When I was done with my pitch, I was immediately hit with backlash: “No one wants to talk about this, you are ruining the 'fun'.” That was their main concern. The group developing the alcohol brand sat there giving me the nastiest looks. It’s hard to describe the look on their faces, but it felt just like when you walk next to a house and the dogs start barking at you for no reason from behind a fence. At that time, it felt like the staff and the students were living in two completely different realities. How could that be? That was when I started to suspect that these people might be a bit… brainwashed.

The pandemic hit right after, giving me time away from the matrix to think and analyze what was really going on. Once I gathered my hypothesis, I tried using my voice to let those in charge know what I understood. Once again, it was not well received. That is when a very dangerous label was placed on me; it was easier for the system to call me "insane" than to actually listen to what I was trying to say. Being tagged like that from the top of the chain created a ripple effect in my community and among those around me, which was a great source of pain for many years. Having your agency and voice reduced like that is something that could systematically break someone's heart. Thank God mine is my biggest asset!

And why am I bringing this up now? I have given a lot of thought to what I would say to those at the top of the chain given the chance to be alone with them today. I was at a point in my life where instead of yelling at them, I would actually give them advice. This would be it:

Blindly copying and pasting the educational system you observed in the northeast will not take your legacy very far. It could have benefited you monetarily during your lifetime, but if you leave your matrix to be run by your in-laws, you will just create an echo chamber. Maybe you have been sitting on this one for too long already!

Look at the current state of the system you have emulated for too long; it’s falling apart. By letting the system you’ve worked so hard to build keep on looping, you are risking the same fate, and that would be disgraceful.

You have committed a big mistake by attempting to create an egregore in your institution. This mechanical collective mind you built, by all gnostic beliefs, is feeding off the worst things possible: stress and fear. You have created a man-made being that is sick of being used; it does not like you. Banish it now!

Stop "Harry Potter"-coding your schemes. Your masonry is botched in the land that you are trying to control. You are trying to follow a solar calendar in a place where the sun does not die and is reborn in the winter solstice. You are not in the Northern Hemisphere… you are in the equator.

That is the root of your problem: you never really understood where you are. You brought this system based on artificial natural selection that is beyond you. If you care so much for liberal arts, why are you herding the elites to go spend their fortunes overseas? Why propose freedom of intellect when there is a clear, desired outcome for your students?

You want to really understand where you stand? Climb down Olympus and listen to the people who have been part of your institutions for years. Stop surrounding yourself with "yes people" climbers. Value the teachers and staff who have made you who you are, not the newcomers with flashy Ivy League titles.

Drop the "Dragon" thing. If you actually focus your efforts on actively listening to feedback for improvements instead of making education a "status symbol," you could rest peacefully knowing that you left behind a culture based on self-improvement, not on cheap marketing and campus parties.

It was so dreadful seeing you sell the school and let the new administration dispose mainly of the local staff—true legends who kept you afloat for so long. It’s been so horrible seeing my mom fear for her job every time I try to speak up. I really hope you don’t try to silence me again.

That is the problem with "education"; you train dogs to give their paws and receive applause in return. Never knowing what lies behind the applause and what blindly "giving their paw" implies in the long term. In our current world, education means nothing if we are not given the true knowledge of the game. Humanity cannot handle another loop of this same game. We desperately need to change the rules. We should start holding the people playing the "big roles" in the game accountable.

I’ve decided to share this because it's a lesson for all of us. We must start creating a better future now. For that to happen, we need to make creativity a flowing force. We start doing that by valuing and supporting our fellow creatives. Different perspectives lead us through new paths. We cannot allow humanity to be dragged to the future the ones in charge have planned for us.

Thank you for reading my blog. It's been an incredible experience rewriting my creative path. This is as far as I can go using this medium. Now, it’s time for my art to take over. I have infused all the true knowledge of the game I’ve acquired into it. I am personally stepping into GEYTER, the alternate universe I’ve created, and you are all welcome to come with me and help me build it through purposeful creativity!