Source: [[Reference Notes/Hospicing Modernity]] Vanessa Andreotti: > Modernity conditions us to believe that in order to change reality or our ways of being, we first need to imagine what this change looks like, and then make a plan and act to achieve that goal. That is why many people ask me the question: if not modernity, then what? I usually say that this is a logical question—within modernity’s logic. I warn people who start with that question that they will not like my answer, which is: we will only be able to imagine something genuinely different if we first become suspicious of what we desire and are able to imagine within modernity. This is the first step toward hospicing modernity. In many ways, the only way out of the intellectual, affective, relational, and creative limits imposed by modernity is to intentionally pay more attention to modernity’s death rather than try to fix, replace, or escape it. This is not easy. Modernity has already restricted the parameters of what we can think, relate, imagine, and desire; and our intellect alone cannot interrupt this in time: <span style="color:#64ccf2">modernity is faster than thought</span>. This is why we cannot simply think our way out of modernity. Whatever we imagine when we are still invested in modernity will always only be a different version of modernity that secures the entitlements and enjoyments modernity affords us now. Because these entitlements and enjoyments are based on violence and unsustainability, we are back to a circular pattern of systemic harm. > > In order to create the possibility for us to imagine something genuinely different, we first need to notice the harms we are causing, and become dissatisfied with the things we enjoy that cause those harms (e.g., comfort, security, certainty). Only then might we begin to loosen the relational and affective restrictions modernity has imposed upon our being; and learn to see, sense, and relate otherwise. However, it is extremely difficult to interrupt the satisfactions we have with modernity’s rewards, and it certainly does not happen overnight. <span style="color:#64ccf2">Identifying one’s harmful desires</span>, which can happen through exercises of deep self-reflection or through witnessing the harm one is causing firsthand, <span style="color:#64ccf2">is only the first step</span> on the road. <span style="color:#64ccf2">Interrupting our (unconscious) enjoyment of these harmful desires is another journey altogether</span>, and it is fraught with relapses, sidesteps, and dead ends. It requires long, sustained practice. In the GTDF collective we say that this is not a sprint, but a marathon requiring discipline and training. It is also very easy to think that you are already doing it, when in fact you are still trapped in the illusions and denials of modernity.