The Frenetic Pace of the Cyborg Age
What's Precious is Finite
I have too many projects on the go—far too many. I believe, God willing, I will do them all, at least those that have made the “shortlist.” We are at a critical societal juncture where many sleeves need rolling up and there is work to be done as we fight off a tide of destruction and seek to rebuild. We cannot be passive. Our love for a suffering world must take on a sacrificial and heroic character.
But I hold this in tension with my human ache for simplicity, and our reality of finitude.
We are small. We are not meant to hold the whole world in mind and heart. We are made for smaller worlds within the expanse, and quickly become frazzled and disjointed and ineffective when spread too thin.
This cyborg age, where machines glitter their promise of extending us into time and space seemingly forever, has given us illusions of terrible and sometimes comic grandeur. We forget that the best approximation to the eternal is in focused depths, and that our best work comes about when we accept a container or specific channel for our burgeoning inner substance that needs to share itself outward.
Back when my creative ideas for projects were still proportionate to my finitude, when they were something I could circumscribe and envision in one thoughtful sitting, I used to think that I would do it all, just in successive seasons, maybe setting up a studio and starting to paint when my hair had turned grey and the kids (which I have yet never had) left the nest. This was to be, of course, after I had successfully navigated the pre-dystopia songwriting world for decades and maybe published a book or two, among other things like learning how to make pasta from scratch.
But by now my plans and schemes have already long outpaced me, and no matter how much I attempt to make myself a machine of accomplishment, I can never win. I am in a process of surrendering in the battle of my bandwidth, energy, and abilities to the chaotic, relentless muse that towers over my littleness. I am yet still a child gushing about the perpetual expansion of possibility within my imaginary world, while my reasoned brain nods sympathetically and parentally and tells me it’s time for a snack.
None of this is bad. It is beautiful. Nothing great happens without it first being dreamt and expressed.
Our flooding ideas, especially in creative people, also match and point to our eternal reality. They are a sign of health—of a connection to joy, goodness, and endless love. We know, in the nucleus of every buzzing atom of our being, that our destinies reach far beyond the lakeshores of this life into an ocean of existence we can’t quite make out from our tiny perch.
But while remaining open to the accomplishment of much through sweat and faithfulness following on these inspirations of possibility, there is also a need for the reckoning and humility of reality. Things must be set aside, perhaps many things, perhaps forever. Here and now, we are small, small, small.
Much can still be accomplished within that little universe—and even more can be, counterintuitively, once we submit to borders, boundaries, and our finitude. It is the highly focused who end up most capable of using our modern technological tools for real expansion rather than finding themselves controlled by them.
And we can, with a smile, take heart in our littleness, too, because in this life, what’s most precious is finite. The good we succeed in doing is more precious in light of what was set aside in its favour.
It turns out gold (and perhaps for the cyborg age, bitcoin) isn’t much to us if neverending. Infinite money printing means money becomes just the paper it is printed on or the expanse of digitally coded zeros it is attached to.
Human beings, too, here have a precious hard stop—an infinitely more precious one.
We build from an acceptance of finitude, and in this way we can stumble into a properly human greatness, tinged with eternity, that is our earthly glory.
And then?
Visceral joy, rather than the lethal mix of stress and defeat characteristic of our strange cyborg age, can take hold, giving real strength for the battle ahead.
Having said all of this, I thought it would be valuable to share with you all exactly what it IS that I am persisting in at the moment, having accepted this personal finitude.
My own artistic work:
Poetic folk music:
I am going in the studio soon to record a live album, slotted to release now in spring of 2023.
(aptly today, this song is about childhood and eternity)
Catholic contemplative music - downloadable for free with PDF guide at: www.catholicsong.com. Two albums are currently available wherever you stream music, with a third coming out in the fall. Search “Cassia & Myrrh” there for a bit of peace in the chaos while you work, study, relax.
Literary “geek pop” music:
We have 7 tracks ready and an album in the queue I will be looking at pursuing later in the year.
My writing:
I periodically publish essays about art & beauty. I hope to do more, but this is one thing that often has to take a backseat.
I have plans to write a companion book to my current in-studio album, about my life in Saskatchewan, Canada, contrasted with where I have come—but it isn’t primarily about me. The personal exploration is just an avenue for discussing some things that should have general interest. (Intentionally vague here while it is still budding in my imagination.)
One essay about T.S. Eliot:
And, of course, this home here on Substack where I share more casually:
Client work:
We source the highest calibre talent for companies who want fresh, excellent talent that has rejected the woke paradigm and wants to build something much better.
We are yet to formally launch, but have already started working with some major clients. We are going to be a home for dissident artists with integrity who want to rebuild our shattered arts & entertainment world, while connecting these artists with real and valuable working opportunities.
Companies seeking talent can reach out to me directly for now at kay@kayclarity.art
More information to come as we launch, but for anyone interested as either artist (any medium), investor, or cultural lover, this is the current place to join our efforts:
https://www.kayclarity.art/movement-of-new-era-artists
Talk soon xx,
Kay