Once more to the great void,
Tomorrow again.
Everyone’s pretty up to their eyeballs with celebrities, artists, and whatever cultural figures with millions of dollars “messaging” from their ivory towers. The middle-class version of that is potentially even more annoying—people pretending status while masking in virtue. If those are the standards, there’s more to this sign than that. An opportunity.
No one becomes an activist because they want to. Sure, today’s landscape is full of career activists farming social kudos—like the modern-day version of fake monks begging for alms while wearing borrowed robes. The reciprocity of that process was always felt—guilt alone collapses it, distorting the gift into power for the lesser contributor. This has been going on a long time. Today, we’ve learned more than anyone wanted to about the nature of NGOs.
But the real call? That one wrecks your peace. It’s not a role you apply for—it’s one that ruins your weekend plans and quietly extends into your whole life. Some rabbit holes crawl out of you, and then you just sit there. Looking at each other. Without really knowing what to do.
The process is brutal. Any flame that screams justice will get slapped by the other side of the argument—most often. You might have to rearrange your entire worldview. Not just turn 180 with new evidence, but sometimes toss the whole map into the fire and start anew. It’s potentially unkind to the reason you started in the first place. We humans aren’t great at letting go—especially if our current income depends on what we now know to be a lie.
“Activism” is as internal as it is external—maybe more. Yes, you’re active instead of passive, but any rookie in wisdom knows the real work starts inside. Especially now, when the whole online circus is confused about whether it’s doing good… or just auditioning for a Netflix documentary.
Just like the only people who should hold political power are the ones who don’t want it, activism works the same. You show up because something in you says you can’t not show up. Because if you didn’t, the world would remain forever skewed. The gift of knowing becomes a curse—if you allow it to sleep. Not because you think your brand would benefit. It will cost you, rather than help numbers up.
You bring your insight. You bring your vulnerability. And you accept that this road is littered with misunderstandings, bad faith takes, and spiritual bankruptcy.
Without an esoteric core—without something holding the inner together—there’s no way your activism is sustainable, truthful, or actually useful.
Signal that with care.
Comes with a physical signed print if the collector will pay print + postal costs on top
1/1 on Series: ”Things You Think and Believe but Can’t Say Inside the Arts"
