But Why?

In too many respects, social media is a new and wild religion. There are taboos, yet there are alternate cults where taboos are allowed. Most importantly is the phenomenon of “people out in front” who are “influencers” just as much as a TV evangelist were these last 40 years.

Much of it seems ridiculous to many of us, but for some they are the high-priest. And the tithing bowl is brimming over. But why?

As of 2023 we are not yet seeing the revolution of storytelling to reassert agency between equals in public by building empathy. But we are seeing a “revival” of epic scale that is so varied that “Jedi” is an official religion in the United Kingdom. But why?

I posit that religiosity motivation is not in decline anywhere. Everyone still fears death and seeks refuge, but they have found a vast market full of new saviors they can sample in the most banal of moments (e.g. on the train, on the throne, or at family dinner at home), in private.

To many, these words are heretical for the reasons stated above. Thinking is dangerous, its protracted conclusion is we are doomed. Many of us have had the precocious 4 year old asking an endless string “but why?” to every answer we offer; and the unnerving chain leads to the final answer “because everybody dies”.

I offer no refuge, no solace, no balm: you are doomed. Your first breath erupted from your lips  screaming. As if every newborn instinctively knows “THIS WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA!”

Is there meaning that can be derived from common suffering? Maybe we can put aside our own dread—acknowledge that everyone is subject to this dread—and focus, just today, on not making more suffering. Listen to another’s story, as just being heard is to feel not-alone.