BLACK MIRROR
Written by: Jay Doran, CEO and Founder of Culture Matters
With a flash, the whirlwind of emotion begins. I am caught up in the hysterics of it all. To be frank, if I did not know any better, I would rebel. My rebellion started with the first time I swiped left. Right would be for consumption, but left is for, "no, not now." I will not submit to this unfair aristocracy or this linear stairway to hell. They will not break me for I will persist. I wake up in a square box of consumption feeling more inhuman than ever as the lack of individuality wares on my soul like a metaphorical albatross. My questions, I forget them, and then suddenly they come to me like rapid fire. Who am I? Is there more out there? What is the point? And after a moment of quiet contemplation and brief silent desperation I spring up in my reclined position. All I know is that it is time to get to work. I realize that to survive, I must hop on my bike and go. In the man’s universe, I know my place. The first place was the bike. Although, I knew there was more, I just was not fully aware until I met her. Her dark black hair, her soul sounding voice and her eyes that when locked with mine felt magical. From that moment forward, my dream of purpose seemed like it could come true. I had to stand before the man because I have finally found something real and there is certainly no fear. There is no emptiness and there is no loneliness. I found my other half, and I have found my why. I knew that no matter the circumstance or the hand I had been dealt that there was no doubt we would make it. Until this moment, I really did not think we would come so far to just completely lose one another. At life's last glimmer of hope, at a snap of a finger I have been forgotten and thrown in a gutter. From the moment she left me I knew what I had to do. My only regret was placing my fulfillment in something not of myself. To find our true path in this vain existence we must always look up. Whether we look up to people or we look up to God really depends on the difference between desire or courage. The latter leads to attachment with a future of detachment. Only through my pain, fear and desire, my love, has grown. I have come to realize my true fate. For me to fearlessly beat the man, I must seek from caution and turn a blind eye. My eyes can never be shut from what is right in front of me, as it is what I have been searching for the whole time. I call it The Black Mirror for only one reason. We realize only our muddled thoughts darken our soul when we see the wrong, unjust or mal intent for we only see our soul staring back at us. The Black Mirror.
“To find our true path in this vain existence we must always look up.”