Navigating the Waste Land

An Essential Skill

Hi friends. Welcome to the YouTopian Journey. Today’s issue discusses why you must have the ability to navigate the waste land in 2024 and beyond.

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THE WASTE LAND

“The Waste Land, then, is the land of people living inauthentic lives, doing what they think they must do to live, not spontaneously in the affirmation of life, but dutifully, obediently, and even grudgingly, because that is the way people are living.”-Joseph Campbell, Romance of the Grail: The Magic & Mystery of Arthurian Myth.

There are many ways to describe society today, none of them good. Our senses are assaulted with infinite information. The news never stops. People only seem to be getting worse. The world in general is not the place we thought it would be.

There is only one way to describe the world of 2024.

A waste land.

A waste land of opinions, wannabe thought leaders, gurus, influencers, bosses, clowns, and experts. All want your attention. All want to be right.

Make no mistake about it. We are living in a modern waste land.

Where society has become inauthentic.

Where people are driven by the same values.

Where you simply don’t belong.

But there is an escape.

The goal. The journey.

This is what gives you an escape.

It is a reason to step outside the comfort zone, to seek something larger than yourself, to forge your own path to a destiny of your own choosing.

It isn’t the result of some retreat or free e-book or mastermind session.

The journey is the result from something deep within, something that is stirring you to action, because you know you are meant for more.

You understand that something isn’t right. You begin to see through the falsehoods that have been perpetuated for as long as you could remember. More importantly, you realize that nothing will change without you taking action.

Nothing will happen for you unless you take the leap of faith.

The world will not change its ways for you.

Only you can change yourself.

Only you can begin the journey to become who you are meant to be.

“The modern world will not be punished. It is the punishment.” -Nicolás Gómez Dávila

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NAVIGATION NEEDED

“They thought that it would be a disgrace to go forth as a group. Each entered the forest at a point that he himself had chosen, where it was darkest and there was no path. If there is a path it is someone else's path and you are not on the adventure.”-Joseph Campbell, The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life & Work

Beginning the journey through the waste land is no easy task. You must forge your own path through the darkness and this requires an important skill, one that you were never taught.

The ability to navigate.

You must possess this skill.

You must know how to navigate people. Like hazards at sea, you need to know who to avoid and who to seek out. You need to flee from the toxic harbors and instead seek shelter where you can resupply and prepare for the oncoming storm.

You must know how to navigate careers. With the pace of technological advancement, you must be prepared to navigate between future opportunities and obsolete industries. You need to know which port is safe for you to sail to.

You must know how to navigate ideas. We are bombarded with ideas from our screens, from our peers, and from our authority figures. It is madness to adopt them all. You must navigate these ideas, following your internal compass and your own direction. Take in what you think is useful and discard the rest. This is more difficult than it sounds.

You must know how to navigate opportunities. You cannot remain still, rotting away until something extraordinary happens to you. Nothing extraordinary will happen unless you take action to make it so. Opportunities are available, provided you can navigate your way to the ones which are right for you.

You must know how to navigate the fraudsters, gurus, and influencers who attempt to beckon you with their false promises. Don’t be sucked into the latest crypto coin, stock, forex, course offering, or whatever the latest scheme is. You will save yourself the inevitable grief and financial loss you will encounter.

You must know how to navigate the endless opinions of others. People will always comment. They will always share their thoughts on your journey. They will be quick to offer an opinion but nothing else. These opinions are like the sirens of myth, beckoning you to come close, only to become broken and scattered amongst the jagged rocks.

Ultimately, and most importantly, you must know how to navigate the bullshit. With an election taking place this year here in the U.S, you must be able to navigate the narrative that is being shoved down your throat. Navigate the social media algorithms, the alternative facts, the fake news, the clickbait articles, and the constant stream of filth that awaits.

If navigating life is such an important skill, why were we robbed of it? Why wasn’t it taught to us?

Simple.

Because people are easier to control when following a path provided to them. Instead of taking action and creating their own narrative, their own path, facing danger, risking resources, it is far simpler just to remain on the assembly line of life.

Conform.

Submit.

Obey.

Know your place. Know your student number. Your employee number.

Know where you belong in the hierarchy. Know where you fit in the status quo.

“Schools teach exactly what they are intended to teach and they do it well: how to be a good Egyptian and remain in your place in the pyramid.”-John Taylor Gatto, Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

There is a structure to the manufactured life. Don’t you want to follow? Sure you may face doubt, anxiety, dread, and burnout. But that is the price for fitting in.

Don’t you want to pay that price?

Above all, don’t navigate too far from the beaten path.

Because if you do, you may face certain obstacles and uncomfortable truths. Stay in the light. Stay where it is safe. You don’t want to travel through the dark wood.

Who knows what could become of you?

The ability to navigate not only ignores this question, but rejects it. It allows for the formation of new thought processes and ideas that can truly change your life and the lives of others. These new thoughts and ideas could even transform society at large.

But only if you know how to navigate!

“For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must assume responsibility for being here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous time. I want to convince you that you must learn to make every act count, since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it.”-Carlos Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan

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Shaun