Beyond Algorithms & Empires

week one: return to dust

I close my eyes and try to imagine. We use imagination because of what we already know. If we have one version of reality, what is a possible version of “other,” and how do we create that from what we have now?

Currently, I am imagining this: people able to buy food in abundance for themselves and their families, holidays spent around tables with sacred stories being shared, people having what they need, when they need it, like healthcare six months down the road. I imagine land being taken care of, communities thriving.

The reality, at least in America, is that we are in a government shutdown, and the Trump administration has openly chosen to keep food from people who need it most. They have openly chosen to restrict flights so that people can’t see each other over the holidays. They are actively causing damage, trauma, and pain to millions of people across America, and we are begging Democrats not to join them in it.

But it’s about more than just political parties, how we align ourselves. It’s about the stories we tell, the ones we choose to live into.

Why am I writing about algorithms and empires? Because they are everywhere, controlling and restricting us, making monsters out of us, polluting our very souls. We exist in a heavy and difficult time, and I need us to hold space right here, right now, as we dream of what’s ahead.

Let’s break this down a little.

Algorithm comes from the Latinized name of Persian Mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi.

An algorithm in and of itself is incredibly useful, a way to understand patterns and systems, to use math to understand the world.

But what’s happened with algorithms today, with the rise of social media and an increase in consumerism paired with AI? As creatives, we struggle to keep up with the constant noise, feeling like we have to fight for a space on the timeline.

Empire comes from the Latin imperium, meaning to “command” and dominate, or even to have authority.

So, we see that algorithms, when empty of humanity, become predatory and empty, and empire, when given its full reign, ends in war, oppression, and hate. And in the world we live in today, both algorithms and empires are saying a lot about who we are as human beings.

So the first way, the very first way we can begin to live beyond algorithms and empires, is to return to the dust, aki, earth, to return to our wild selves, to find our relationship with Segmekwe refreshed and refined.

Be wild; this is how to clear the river. In its original form, the river does not flow in polluted, we manage that. The river does not dry up, we block it. If we want to allow it its freedom, we have to allow our ideational lives to be let loose to stream, letting anything come, initially censoring nothing. That is creative life. IT is made up of divine paradox. It is an entirely interior process.

—Clarissa Pinkola Etsés

Want to escape the technological grip on your life? Get to the woods, to the river, to a quiet spot of the house where you can stare at the leaves falling from trees or birds flying by.

Want to more deeply understand how empire works? Study the uses of land, the ways we’ve made a profit off the backs of land care, how we view the earth herself as a commodity.

Surviving Empires

I have lived this dance in my own life, going from being connected to nature when I was young, losing it as an adolescent, and finding it again. I understand the disconnect, the longing, the fear that comes when we realize we have a wild self that’s been waiting for us to come home.

Find your wild river, and clean it up.

Begin writing love letters to Mother Earth.

Start following Indigenous ecology groups or learn about the LANDBACK movement.

Hold acorns in your hands instead of a phone. Carry stones in your pockets.

As Manchán Magan writes

The land holds memories within it.

The holidays are coming, a time when algorithms try to convince us that we need more stuff, when empires try to tell us that our consumerism and fleeting joy matter more than love of our neighbor.

So this holiday season, ground yourself in deeper practices—celebrate the Winter Solstice, practice grounding with Mother Earth, choose to clean up the river that has always been flowing within you.

This is where we begin.

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Book Updates!

A few folks have left some really lovely reviews of the book—chii migwetch! Please leave a review if you can, where you can—it will take less than five minutes and helps me immensely.

We are breezing through Autumn headed toward Winter! I have a few events left this year.

I’ll have some online writing workshop events coming in the winter, so please stay tuned! These events are some of my favorite ways to engage in writing from a spiritual space, so please join us when you can!