The Future is a Feeling
The everlasting NOW leaves us losing our memory - both the content and the ability to encode them. The answer is feeling tones.
Nature craves a balance and abhors a vacuum.
You may have already started to feel that vacuum of what I can only call the lack of “the real.” You know you’re lacking the real when you start to notice:
How much time you spend in front of screens
Shows are replaced by scrolling
You spend a lot of time just going through titles on streaming services
Hours or even days go by and you’re don’t have a great memory of them
It’s harder to focus. Watching a full movie (start to finish) feels like an accomplishment
Fact and Fake are blurring. A news flash one day could be debunked the next day
It takes a lot of energy and effort to leave the house
Basic things like errands feel like a big pain in the ass
Many others have said it, but of course it’s a combination of social media, convenience culture and a rate of change and news cycles coming at us at light speed.
So what’s the consequence of this? I think we’re missing out on memory creation, and that comes down to encoding feeling tones.
What is a feeling tone?
Think of a time period in your life you really enjoyed that was really memorable. It probably involved the senses (like music and your surrounding environment), people and a lot of presence.
I would describe it as feeling like you’re in the right place, at the right time, with the right people.
And so the difference between feeling tone and feeling is the difference between flavor and flavor profile.
The first one is common (sweet or savory, chocolate, etc), but the feeling tone - well, it can’t actually be described. It’s like asking someone to describe the color blue without using any examples or metaphors. There just aren’t words for it.
Other ways you have a memorable experience with feeling tones:
1. Presence - You were very present, not distracted, and not thinking about many things at once.
2. Realization - You may have had insights, lessons, aha’s, etc.
3. Synchronization - You’re in sync with people around you. For example, you’re all cooking dinner together.
4. Integration - Post experience. It’s the drive home, the time alone when you feel satisfied and miss it at the same time.
5. The Story keeps being re-told - You enjoy telling it and others enjoy living it.
So that’s how we can reverse engineer it:
How to Create new memories (feeling tones)
Listen to new music (stop the nostalgia)
Get with people you love and/or new people
Pick a relaxed time of day or week - nothing you need to be doing.
Optionally substances (wine, coffee, cannabis)
Create something together (a meal, a project, a vacation, a road trip)
Have a destination or a goal (something to celebrate together)
Or, just go back to scrolling and enter the void.