How to spread light.

A visit to the V&A museum was one of the most enlightening moments I've had...

I was walking through the V&A museum last year and came across this sculpture of Shiva.

I don't understand Hindu philosophy deeply enough to unpack everything Shiva represents. But one detail stopped me: Shiva was stepping on the demon of ignorance. Apasmara.

I was fascinated i had never heard of Apasmara, i was astounded that the ancients had a name for the force of ignorance. light bulbs went off in my head and i had the kind of epiphany when you see the world through different eyes. What we are experiencing is Apasmara.

That demon of ignorance is everywhere in the world today. And social media is it's domain and how it spreads. What does ignorance run on? Outrage. The algorithms are built to reward it. We're wired to react to it. But things that actually make a positive impact? They don't get shared nearly as much. Why is that?

Ignore seens easier, it's biological.

So we have to stop and think for ourselves: what kind of world do we want to live in? One where the demon of ignorance runs rampant, or one where there's wisdom, hope, love? Choose.

If you want the latter, you have to fight for it.

Two things I see in how we defeat Apasmara:

1. Stop fueling the demon. When you see rage bait, don't feed it. Feel the reaction, then let it go. Pause instead of piling on.

2. Start actively sharing what makes a difference. The algorithm won't do this for you, so you have to. Take an active role. Share something positive, something that matters, with a real person. That's how you build a better world. You overcome ignorance by sharing wisdom

Here's the thing about ignorance: it's unconscious. It reactive. It feeds on your emotions. Shiva, on the other hand, requires intention. That's the key difference. The path to a better life isn't passive, it's active. It takes intention to hold onto what you actually want.

The reactive, unconscious nature is easy, because it's part of our subconscious. Call it what you want, depending on your framework: Satan in Christian theology, Asparasma in Hinduism, the ego in psychology. The label doesn't matter. What matters is that it runs rampant unless you meet it with intelligence, intention, and insight.

So if this resonates, share it. Let's build a world where people are actually in control of their will. Thy will be done, not the will of Apasmara.