This makes a lot of sense to me. It fits with what I observe. Three points.
1. The culture that you describe I call The Spectacle of the Real - https://edbrenegar.substack.com/p/the-spectacle-of-the-real. There is a sequence of immersion to this culture on a personal level. The Simulation has a Seduction function that separates our desires from the real world. We could say that the real world is the embodied world. When learn who we are by embracing this world. It tests us and creates a kind of self-awareness that is liberating, even it hard. The seduction to follow our desires for pleasure, fulfillment, justice, or any other desire ultimate can not bring fulfillment. The result is a religious-like false consciousness that is needed to protect us from the reality that our desires do not lead to fulfillment, just greater hunger. With this false consciousness, the creators of the simulation have us under their control. This is how I came to understand pornography. It is a simulation of desires for intimacy, yet without the relational components. Sexual pornography is powerful because of what you describe. However, I would say that we live in a pornographic culture that includes politics, sports, entertainment, and globalization. They each are articulations that we are simply sexual beings, political beings or any other. It is not a synthetic view, but a fractured one. And because it is disembodied, the trauma and the lack of genuine fulfillment means that we don't live the lives that is our potential to have.
2. I saw this culture emerging decades ago as I began to study organizational leadership. The CEO biographies of leadership greatness I knew were marketing lies. The reality as I came to see it was that "all leadership begins with personal initiative to create impact that makes a difference that matters." Organizations function as a grand simulation where people are disconnected from the real impact of their contributions. As a result, there is a kind of emptiness that results. People need to find tangible response to their efforts to make a difference.
3. As I have been working through these thoughts over the years, I realized that life / reality is an embodied experience. Trauma, therefore, is real, not some imaginary emotional defense mechanism. We feel it in our bodies, and our bodies function as a memory bank for those moments of trauma that affect us so significantly. Our whole life experience is embodied. But it is not enough to recognize this embodied truth. Because we don't exist as atomistic embodied beings, but rather as relational embodied ones. Our understanding of relationships is very undeveloped. And yet, for both the introvert and the extrovert, we need relationships as a reference point for understanding ourselves. We can't defeat the Spectacle of the Real by fighting it. That draws us further into the simulation. Instead, we need to create physical places where community can be nurtured. Thank you for your depth of perception about this very important aspects of being a human in our time.
This makes a lot of sense to me. It fits with what I observe. Three points.
1. The culture that you describe I call The Spectacle of the Real - https://edbrenegar.substack.com/p/the-spectacle-of-the-real. There is a sequence of immersion to this culture on a personal level. The Simulation has a Seduction function that separates our desires from the real world. We could say that the real world is the embodied world. When learn who we are by embracing this world. It tests us and creates a kind of self-awareness that is liberating, even it hard. The seduction to follow our desires for pleasure, fulfillment, justice, or any other desire ultimate can not bring fulfillment. The result is a religious-like false consciousness that is needed to protect us from the reality that our desires do not lead to fulfillment, just greater hunger. With this false consciousness, the creators of the simulation have us under their control. This is how I came to understand pornography. It is a simulation of desires for intimacy, yet without the relational components. Sexual pornography is powerful because of what you describe. However, I would say that we live in a pornographic culture that includes politics, sports, entertainment, and globalization. They each are articulations that we are simply sexual beings, political beings or any other. It is not a synthetic view, but a fractured one. And because it is disembodied, the trauma and the lack of genuine fulfillment means that we don't live the lives that is our potential to have.
2. I saw this culture emerging decades ago as I began to study organizational leadership. The CEO biographies of leadership greatness I knew were marketing lies. The reality as I came to see it was that "all leadership begins with personal initiative to create impact that makes a difference that matters." Organizations function as a grand simulation where people are disconnected from the real impact of their contributions. As a result, there is a kind of emptiness that results. People need to find tangible response to their efforts to make a difference.
3. As I have been working through these thoughts over the years, I realized that life / reality is an embodied experience. Trauma, therefore, is real, not some imaginary emotional defense mechanism. We feel it in our bodies, and our bodies function as a memory bank for those moments of trauma that affect us so significantly. Our whole life experience is embodied. But it is not enough to recognize this embodied truth. Because we don't exist as atomistic embodied beings, but rather as relational embodied ones. Our understanding of relationships is very undeveloped. And yet, for both the introvert and the extrovert, we need relationships as a reference point for understanding ourselves. We can't defeat the Spectacle of the Real by fighting it. That draws us further into the simulation. Instead, we need to create physical places where community can be nurtured. Thank you for your depth of perception about this very important aspects of being a human in our time.