The Flip, The Formation, and The Fun

I once argued in the New York Times that we don’t actually want to be happy, and I know it’s a bit late to say it, but even so: Happy New Year!

Also, welcome to the second quarter of the 21st century (for those who believe the beginning and not the end of 2000 was the turn of the century). Let’s hope we make it to the third…

This is my first ‘video post’ on The Joyous Struggle. I will experiment with audio posts too, and might even do that extraordinarily original thing called starting a podcast. But there’s nothing like writing, which I think will always be where my heart is.

Part of the point of writing is that the praxis helps us think and speak more clearly, know what is worth reading, and perhaps, because it gives us a nose for details, even listen better. For example, this two-hour video is a recording of a three-hour workshop recorded, produced and edited down to two hours by Ben Jackson - all I think with great skill. The main ideas that informed the event however were all developed through writing. I am grateful to John Stokes and Real Ventures for inviting me to speak to them about “exploring the metacrisis” in Montreal, on August 15 2024.

I chose to explore the metacrisis through the idea of The Flip, The Formation, and the Fun, which I first wrote about here on The Joyous Struggle.

In plain language, ‘the flip’ is a change in our understanding of reality.
The formation is a change in our relationship to what is good.
And the fun is about a change in societal purposes.

There is some bad news. None of these three things will change easily or willingly. These changes are possible though, and the good news is that if we can help usher them into being in the second quarter of the 21st century - our time! - the second half of the 21st century could yet be a time of peace and plenty. The video includes a few practices and lots of audience participation - it’s not just a talk. I am unsure if that makes it more watchable, or if it creates a “had to be there” vibe in the viewer, but I think it’s mostly the former.

As an aside, I loved Montreal, a city at once old and new where it feels like London, Paris and New York were taken back in time and marinated in First Nations seasoning, placed in a pot delivered to an old port and reduced down to a nutritious dish known for its je ne sais quoi, best served on the top of the real royal mountain, the one where the people are sovereign, and where all loose talk of being a 51st state of the USA is banished to the winds with laughter.

In the forthcoming weeks, I have no idea what I’ll get up to, but before long I hope to share how my thoughts on the flip, the formation and the fun are evolving. There will be reflections on what it means to live in three worlds (the metaphysics of the flip, the formation, and the fun) whether the idea of progress is coherent (relevant to the fun) how to tame the smartphone (our main barrier to the formation) why I believe ‘ontopoetics’ might be a growing field of inquiry (perhaps the heart of the flip) and much more.

Watch this space!

For now, I hope you’ll enjoy the video, and please let me know what you think in the comments.

Jonathan.