Algorithms or Authenticity? What should I focus on?
Value is subjective indeed, just as the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
That being said, I must get honest here and confess that:
- in a world in which there is such an overwhelming amount of… stuff (!) being shown and promoted or even slapped into your face, whether you want it or not,
- in a time when algorithms are mostly the ones that decide what gets to be seen or heard and such decisions are based mostly on numbers,
- in a society in which quantity too often dethrones quality,
I catch myself so many times feeling tempted to try to make what I share more commercial, more palatable to the many.
Although what I write may often feel to be abstract, all the ideas and conclusions that I share stem from my personal experience. They are all insights that are born from the fire of my own struggles, realizations I came to while burning on the altar of my journey as spirit embodied in this complex, sometimes messy, but always beautiful human form.
Nevertheless, objectively I can see that most of the things I have to convey address a rather narrow niche. Thus reaching the threshold of a large enough number of readers which would place me in the category of those worthy to be heard appears to be rather unlikely.
As some of you may know from my previous stories, I spent 3 years in an ashram focusing exclusively on my spiritual enlightenment and I was blessed to reach high spiritual insights. After plunging back into the world, life pushed me to re-embrace my human aspect fully and to integrate my spiritual realization into the daily individual existence. So, at this point in my life what I mostly feel inspired to do through my writing is to unify the spiritual and human approaches by:
- on one hand inviting people caught in the worldly hypnosis to stop, look within and realize their true divine Self and
- on the other hand, to invite those who have awakened to who they are to not fixate in the transcendental but to fully dive in their human experience with the newly acquired understanding.
I am aware though that from the big cake of the potential audience only a small slice is ready and willing to dive into the deepest levels of spiritual introspection and maybe an even thinner slice has realized who they are and is willing to not bypass the worldly aspects of their existence.
So I find myself wondering: Should I “adapt”? Should I modify the package or even the content of my writing in order for the “final product” to be more widely welcome? Should I start aiming towards quantity and discipline myself to “manufacture” more articles on a daily basis without waiting for the flood of inspiration to roar within me and to naturally overflow from my being? Should I, just like in marketing, first look at the public’s demand and expectations and then create accordingly, instead of just voicing what I naturally and personally carry within?
I understand that if and when one chooses any art as their main job and source of income, a certain degree of practical sense and salesmanship are needed in order to move ahead and, well… make ends meet.
But where do we draw the line? Beyond which point do we “sell our writer’s soul” and exchange the gift of the flame of inspiration with… numbers?
Personally I am not a fan of universal recipes. Everyone has their own path and personal truth, so each one’s answer to these questions will be different and unique, depending on what they are truly looking for.
What I can tell you is that, no matter how many times I look at it and from how many different standpoints, each time an inner voice softly and gently whispers to me: “Remember why you started doing it in the first place.”
I don’t know about you, by I have never truly felt that I was writing. I always felt that writing happened, naturally, spontaneously and magically THROUGH ME. Like a river that suddenly arose inside and I could not contain. I HAD TO let it out. And letting it out was sheer joy.
The sun does not shine for an audience. It shines because it is.
This is the sweetness of natural self expression I gave up my 9 to 5 job for.
And while I may learn to intelligently navigate the ocean of offer and demand, the joy of sharing my authentic self will be my lighthouse.
