psychology

Look For The Avatars

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We’ve often heard the phrase “look for the helpers” from Fred Rogers. I’ve seen this simple bit of advice deconstructed, believe it or not, but instead of adding one, I’d like to add a recent, similar lesson. Look for the Avatars.

Recently I’d been contemplating the divine, as I’m prone to do. As stated previously, I believe there is something to the idea of gods, that there are great powers out there. We “connect” with these great powers and patterns with creative ideas – stories, rituals, and so forth. Art is kind of the bridge (which I need to write about more).

However, there are times my divine contemplations do feel rarefied. There’s those powerful experiences of the divine, those presences that make you realize something is there. At times I wish I had more of them, that personal experience, though I am rather abstract by nature.

A few days later, I was at an amazing exhibit about the amazing Amos Kennedy Junior, an engraver and artist. In his decades of work he’s spoken to issues of racsim, abuse, bigotry, and more with powerful and impactful text and designs. Maps with block text about the oppression of people. Pithy statements on simple posters. He’s a master of many things, but all of them get into your head.

There was something about his work that was deep and powerful. It wasn’t just art, or protest, or history. It was divine in its truth.

On my way back from the gallery, these words came to my lips: This man is an avatar of Thoth.

Thoth, god of writing and magic, of science and art. . The husband or father of Seshat, lady of libraries and archives (and thus I consider her goddess of bookstores). Thoth is the power of words, and Kennedy’s words and text had power.

That’s when I realized that there, in the museum, I had a religious experience. I got to experience the power of writing and words, artistically arranged, a kind of magic, spun by a master of writing and creativity. He embodied Thoth, the principles of Thoth, he had power.

I had a religious experience there, contemplating this engraver. Something powerful. Something unexpected. Something which taught me a valuable lesson.

Look for the Avatars.

If you want to see the divine in the world, look for embodiments of it. They’re all around you. They’re in art studios and making your coffee, composing music and making videos about food. They’re everywhere. There are people who embody the very thing you’re seeking if you give yourself space to see it.

We can argue what gods “really” are, we can argue minutae and we can try to grasp the ungraspable that-which-is. But the power of those things behind the world, the great principles, are there right now. Look for them in your fellow people.

-Xenofact

The Capitalist Messiah Machine

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I’ve heard many people say “Capitalism ends in fascism,” but let me put in my thought – Capitalism seems to create messiahs.  Inevitably.

Lately in 2025 it seems Capitalism is filled with messiahs.  It used to be you’d get a few here and there, but now we’re awash in them and their annoying products, videos, and podcasts.  People who will save us from ourselves, who will usher in the singularity, or take us intergalactic or whatever.  It seems late-stage Capitalism produces an embarrassment of messiahs, and all of them are embarrassing.

This got me thinking.  Because Capitalism in popular imagination is often portrayed as hard-edged, about bargains, and money, and economic growth and so on.  When it’s not, it usually involves drugs (usually cocaine) and sex (when on cocaine), and excess (thanks 80’s movies).  If there was philosophy it was pseudo-Nietzsche/Ayan Rand stuff at best.  If people were Capitalists out to reshape the world they were usually villains fighting James Bond or Superman.

I think these pop culture ideas may have shielded us from the messiah Machine that is Capitalism.

Capitalism allows people to accumulate power in the form of wealth, influence, and public regard.  Capitalism has no restraints, so some people are going to get a lot of wealth and power, which lets them do whatever they want.  Most of them use that to get more wealth and power, since they’re competing with each other and you don’t want anyone to get the drop on you.

Capitalists also don’t face a lot of repercussions as they have money, power, and the backing of our culture.  When’s the last time you’ve seen someone whos rich face repercussions for their actions, even when you hear of horrific accusations of scamming, child abuse, and worse?  Exactly.  It’s easy to get used to that, and start thinking of yourself as invulnerable – and even get used to it.

Lots of power.  No repercussions.  It becomes easy to think you’re special, maybe even a messiah.

But you’re also totally abstract from human experience as one of our hyper-capitalists.  You live in a soft world where cause and effect isn’t what it is for everyone else.  Your world is a world of numbers and marketing, and nothing else. You’re just a suit of flesh around a bank account and a stock portfolio.  How easy is it to spin some messiah story to give your life meaning?

It’s probably much easier when your life is devoid of cause and effect, of meaning, so you come up with a story to make yourself special and not just a money meat suit.

Some Capitalists may not fall into such traps, but messianism is also a useful shield.  People catch on that some idiot who got a huge inheritance is still just an idiot, but an idiot deciding how large chunks of the world run.  Claiming messianism is a great way to protect yourself from people who are starting to realize you didn’t earn anything and figure you shouldn’t have it.

You might even believe you’re a messiah after awhile.  And in the isolation.  And probably the drugs.


In retrospect, Capitalism seems to be a kind of messiah machine.  Sure it may have taken awhile to get to our current state of multiple messianic money morons, but boy have we done it in spades the last ten to twenty years.  We’ve also got a lot of would-be Capitalist Messiahs with their video channels and other grifts.

It’s probably both the concentration of money and power and the media.  We’ve got powerful people with influence over the media, a media filled with bootlickers, and the chance of parasocial relationships.  That’s been a powerful force letting people find someone to worship, inviting both the manipulative and the deluded to indulge.

Capitalism leads to fascism, sure.  But it also leads to messiahs and those are a pretty integral ingredient to fascism.

-Xenofact

Not Alone Among The Books

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As I mentioned several times before, I like to read various Taoist documents as it helps me build a mental “ecosystem.” That ecosystem helps me understand my meditative work, develop philosophical understanding, and better connect to the world. However, I noted another benefit as of late – a feeling of understanding.

I read of historical figures whose tales border on or are legend, often presented by Taoist writers as examples or cautionary tales. I find some of them relatable, in virtues, in flaws, and in experiences. Across the centuries, the aeons, I feel kinship, even in my own mistakes.

There are authors who comment on their experiences, plans, and desires. There, reading a book from a thousand years ago, I get them. I understand what they’re trying to do, what they’re experiencing, and even their mistakes. Sometimes you learn a lot by going “I understand why you said that” and “been there.”

Then there’s all the advice and observations these ancient Taoist writers provide. Timeless stuff, the same observations, even the same issues, are things they wrote about and things I learn about now. It’s not just that it’s useful, someone wrote it down to help others, someone going through what I went through.

Then when you look at these books hundreds or thousands of years old, you realize that you have it because of a chain of scribes and printers transcribing it. Someone made sure you had this book, dipping their pen into ink, arranging blocks on the press. You have that book because of people who did that – and if you’re someone like me, that’s someone like us.

Finally, there’s the translators, some of whom leave their own notes and commentary, sometimes even their own experience getting the book done. These are the people that made sure you can read the book – and make sense of metaphors, cultural tropes, and so on. They did this for a reason.

All these books make me feel not just informed, but less alone. There’s people like me, people who I get and relate to. Whatever wisdom I gain from their works and efforts, I also gain a sense of camaraderie.

Maybe this also explains some of the thrill I get sharing books that matter to me. A book may find someone who connects to it like I do, and there’s one more person feeling that connected to all those who came before.

-Xenofact