I live in multiple worlds. I believe many of us do. And as of late, my worlds as a technologist and former journalist are colliding in my timeline and causing a deep yet profound duality. One that I am learning to live within and hold space for.

On the one hand, I see nothing but hope, community, art and opportunity. On the other hand, I see nothing but destruction, polarization, propaganda, ignorance, kleptocracy and the destruction of humanity at the hands of the 1%. And lately, I’ve seen that machinery of destruction unleashed upon the hopeful sector of my timeline-- the technologists.

To see only the beauty and ignore the destruction is to remain blissfully unaware and vulnerable to the world itself. I often envy those who are able to completely ignore the destruction. My ability to process the destruction with a level of detachment is a skill learned as a journalist that serves me well now. My ability to sit with the sorrow and bear witness to the worst outcomes of our human journey also allows me to be a powerful documentarian and show others the impacts of politics and policy through imagery.

But now my past and my present are colliding in my timeline. And while I did purge my timeline last year of most of my political and media accounts, I do still scan the headlines and the conversations. I hold that sector of my timeline at bay, but I still keep a mindful eye towards the chaos swirling around me.

Holding space for the darker side of our human journey is getting harder by the day. By the hour. I returned to school last year to pursue a path in academia at the same time I officially re-entered the crypto space working as a community builder for a web3 protocol. Both are avenues of my dharma-- the truth that I was placed on this planet to pursue. My past photojournalism work is intertwined as well, but I’m no longer a working journalist, so there’s technically no need to follow the news closely.

In my yogic studies, I’m learning to hold space for the intense emotions that surface on our human journey. Holding space for myself and others is a beautiful dichotomy of acknowledgment and detachment-- of releasing our titles, expectations and narratives. The ancient wisdom of yoga and other spiritual practices hold the keys we will need to navigate the coming chaos.

I also strongly believe we must also hold space for the darker sides of humanity. Not everyone can do this, and they shouldn’t if it impacts their well being. But for those of us with the capacity to hold space for the dark and twisty, I feel we must lean in, hold that space and prepare our communities for what’s to come.

And again, as I do this, I often find myself standing in this strange paradox of hope and destitution; of innovation and destruction; of community and utter isolationism. We must know what’s coming at us so we can process and react without fear and hopelessness.

As the world, and the politicians running my country, openly embrace authoritarianism, war and extreme wealth inequality, the duality of my timeline becomes harder to process. I find myself leaning more into the hope and less towards the destruction. That’s a healthy balance and I’ve excepted the fact that my plans past the midterms are tentative at best. And by the 2024 election, I will need to be almost fully sovereign while also deeply embedded in a spiritual community and practice that will help me navigate the chaos that is on our collective horizon.

I do believe that humanity will survive and we will finally learn from the rampant greed and separation that is destroying the world we live within. I believe the technology sector I work in is a major aspect of that sovereignty and survival and that’s why I do this work. I also believe that we must tap into our own relationship with Source, Spirit, Universe, God, Goddess-- whatever deity you turn to in your darkest moments-- in order to survive what is barreling at us with grace and beauty.

All of that said, I still see the beauty in our world. I see it in every smile I share with a stranger, in the banal chit chat I undertake with my local barista, in the natural world just beyond my window and I see the beauty and the hope in the wonderful humans who are part of my timeline and my IRL world.

We all live with this duality and my hope for you, lovely one, is that the duality in your timeline skews towards the beauty so we can all navigate the dark twisty together. And don't forget that some of us are holding space for the collective, just in case it all is too overwhelming for you some days. wagmi.

One project I’m bringing to life in my academic work studying ancient wisdom traditions is archiving sacred wisdom to the blockchain to preserve this priceless knowledge for future generations. You can read about the project here and support the work with this split or by purchasing one of my NFTs.

You can also support this work by sharing or collecting my NFTs. ;)