Notes From Dan is a tiny space I've carved out for myself on the outskirts of the digital "rat race". And by "rat race" I mean all the little rats racing to get more clicks, more views, more likes, more engagement, and more of... whatever new word-of-the-day that has been manufactured or repurposed to mean validation.
It's human nature to want validation. Validation that you are a worthy being prancing around amongst all the other humans. Validation makes us feel as though we belong. That we are protected. That we aren't alone. That we will survive on the strength of the group.
An argument can be made that this instinctive need for validation has outlived it's purpose. Surely a social media "loser" with few friends and social signals to speak of, is under no threat from animal predators and starvation.
I'm just going at the validation game a different way. Something a little more "me", and not beholden to 3rd party social media platforms and all of the hallucinations they provide to the masses.
It is said that we die twice. The first time is when you physically die. The second time is when your name is said for the last time in all of eternity.
Nobody is immune to this fate. I suppose, the only real task here is to prolong the inevitable for each of these, for as long as possible.
As Clint said in the movie Unforgiven: "We all got it comin' kid." (It's my favorite western movie of all time. Out of the few I've actually seen.)
Let's be honest, I'm not promoting this. Very few will ever hear my voice. I'm not pitching this anywhere. It's just me, and it's for those I care about.
With any luck it will outlive me, for many, many years... as long as it's not hijacked by A.I. or held hostage by some strange hacker from a faraway land.
Maybe it'll echo in eternity for awhile... until it doesn't.
And maybe it'll even help someone.
Or at least let them in on me, Dan.
My thoughts, philosophies, hobbies, aspirations, mindfulness practice, musical pursuits, family, my history, and oh so much more.
I know, I know... it's all too exciting.
However, let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's no way you're going to read this. And there's no way you just read this entire page. And if you insist you did, you are clearly insane, or in a dream.
Best,
Dan