Farewell

My Final Article

Some of you may have seen my latest video essay and are already aware that I’m stepping away from the internet.

This is going to be my final Substack article and soon I’ll be releasing my final podcast on my second YouTube channel. I’ll post that podcast on this Substack when it is published on YouTube.

I’m not going to make new video essays or write new articles, I’m not even going to reserve for myself the right to make a video or article if I have something helpful, meaningful or important to say. I’ve said everything already.

I make it no secret in my video that I’m stepping back to focus on my writing and on touching grass.

I have suggested touching grass in an older video but I didn’t explain the necessary mindset because I didn’t understand it myself.

For this final article, I want to share what I’ve discovered.

I was fortunate enough to have an epiphany while touching grass and practising present-ness in the world, in fact, I realized this in a little café while taking my drug of choice – caffeine.

Of course, I have taken my own advice before but found the various acts and routines of touching grass essentially unfulfilling and unsatisfying. Yet, I was unable to figure out why. I would go to church, the gym, visit friends etc. but still feel that a key ingredient was missing.

Then it dawned on me like the summer sun and dropped on my head like a bombshell. I realized the only way to touch grass truly is to undergo an internal paradigm shift.

The following must be accepted for everything to change:

The online world is not important. Only the real world is important.

Only when you accept this, can you touch grass.

We have all seen the Instagramer who goes abroad and takes hundreds of photos of where she went and what she did. We’ve also seen the blogger who writes constantly about a new hobby or interest. And we’ve all seen the Twitter user who goes to an event and describes every detail and how they felt while they were there.

On the surface, it might seem like these individuals are touching grass, but they’re not. All their IRL activities are done for the purposes of augmenting their online life. The Instagramer cannot help but see every sunset and vista as a potential post for Instagram. The blogger cannot help but utilize his new hobby for his online readership. And the Twitter user cannot help but see the potential to make a thread inspired by an event they are attending.

None of these three is truly present in the moment, the real world is simply a resource to be used to enjoy the internet more. But the opposite should be the arrangement, the internet should be used as a resource to enjoy real life more.

Of course, not everyone talks about their IRL activities online. I could not write an interesting Substack article on my gym sessions or my get-togethers with my friends even if I wanted to. Yet despite my silence on my real world activities, I’ve always had this strange recurrent feeling that I needed to be doing stuff online whenever I was in the real world.

I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Wasn’t I supposed to enjoy these grass-touching moments and feel fulfilled? Now I realize that the problem was my priorities and the spirit animating me.

My deep-rooted belief was that the internet was more real than the real world and thus more important – a ridiculous thing to believe consciously but I didn’t believe it consciously.

I believed it unconsciously.

The internet is wonderful in many ways. I think it is one of the best areas for independent artists to share their work and it is the idea space of our time. However, it is not real and it is not ultimately important.

If you want to touch grass, you have to accept this reality. Only the real world is meaningful and important. You must live for the real world and not the internet.

I think the biggest thing I’ve learnt recently is that the Red Pill to end all Red Pills is that the Internet is the Matrix. It may look like reality and some people may even make it their reality, but it isn’t reality.

I went on a long journey last year to get to this point in time and space. I don’t regret any of the videos and essays I have brought to the internet over my nine year run, but I realize now that this was not meant to be forever. Seasons change and so do men and penguins.

Maybe it is perfect timing or divine providence, but my eyes have pierced through the digital veil to see that there is nothing behind the curtain. The Internet is the Matrix; it’s not reality.

In the bright light of this revelation, I can only take the ultimate Red Pill and wake to the real world.

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Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for reading. I hope you all have an excellent day.

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Final Podcast Episode: