Truth or dare?

🤝 Walking the metaphorical tightrope

Listen to a version of this column on the “Poetry in Eden” podcast, episode #33, available on Spotify or Apple podcasts. That version is also attached here for easy listening.

• With rising readership and open rates, please continue engaging here with direct likes and comments. Thank you so much.

• “Poetry in Eden,” my poetry book and audiobook, is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Audible, Spotify, and more.

• Want to stay connected? Follow me at www.feliciaiyamu.com

---

Photo: Tightrope Walkers by Josep Maria Sert, 1931, Spain

---

🤯 Who Plants Ideas in Your Mind? 🤯

I was walking with a friend headed to an influencer event around astrology and fine art. She looked up at the sky and at the glowing full moon. I mentioned the full moon eclipse happening that night, and Mercury and Venus in retrograde.

She let out a long sigh and almost whispered a prayer—she also wanted to see the stars from the city—not just the moon. But with light pollution, this prayer is more of dream. As we continued our walk, she started speaking about Jesus (though she is not religious by any means) and the Wise Men, who knew that something spectacular had happened that blessed night because of the alignment of the stars.

It made me think for weeks: perhaps we once felt closer to the gaseous sky when we could look up and map the milky universe with our pointer finger. Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Chiron, the Moon, Mars . . . the sky was so bright it’d light up our nights just as the sun does during the day, and we would say, “I am made of water and stardust too!” It’s true. It is very true. And it is a deep clue about what we are capable of and what we can do. . .

📚 NEW! Poetry in Eden won the “Cover Crush” award from BookLife, an arm of Publisher’s Weekly. Check it out here.

In one week alone, I had a wedding and then a funeral . . . and wedged right in between was the 14-year anniversary of my mother’s passing. It was as if mom was saying, “This is the dance of time. This is the dance of life. Feel it all and rejoice. From extreme to extreme, there is balance in the middle! Dance towards it. What music are you playing? I think I like it!"

Photo: The author’s late mother c. 1991

The last funeral I attended was my own mother’s. As they placed her body into the Earth, I nearly jumped in after her, unable to understand the meaning of life any longer.

Back then, a million ideas could have been incepted into my vulnerable heart and mind, but the main one was, “I will live on in her honour.” And since my mom was the life of the party, easy-going and forgiving, and just so so loving, I knew what my life could look like. . .it could look like anything, as long as I kept my balance.

---

🤔 Did Someone Say Inception? 🤔

I do not watch television or movies much, but I do love the art of cinema and cinematography, and cannot resist a great film. So the other night, we decided to re-watch Inception. Like always, the movie got me thinking. . .

Inception /ɪnˈsɛpʃn/
noun

1. The beginning or start of something: The moment when something is first established or comes into existence.

   1. Example: "The company has grown significantly since its inception in 2010."

2. The act of instilling an idea or thought into someone’s mind: Popularized by the movie Inception, referring to implanting an idea subconsciously.

   1. Example: "The inception of the idea happened during a late-night conversation."

Actually, I believe inception is real. Since our subconscious controls the majority of our behavior, our perception and the beliefs embedded in our subconscious shape our reality! There is even a concept from cultural evolution and social sciences which has been adapted to quantum physics around the spreading of ideas in society called Memetics.

Memetics is the study of how ideas, behaviors, and cultural practices spread and evolve, similar to how genes transmit biological traits. The concept, inspired by Richard Dawkins' 1976 book The Selfish Gene, suggests that ideas (called memes) replicate, mutate, and compete for survival within human culture, much like natural selection in biology.

Planting an idea spreads like ivy because memes spread from person to person through imitation, communication, and media. Memes change over time, adapting to different social and cultural contexts. Some memes go “viral” because they have in fact become a social virus.

Like propaganda. . .year after year after year. . .we often do not even know how influenced we are.

What ideas have been planted into your mind, and can you even get to the root of them?

---

❤️ Nietzsche and the Metaphorical Tightrope ❤️

In Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, a tightrope walker scene occurs in the Prologue, symbolizing the struggle of humanity between its current state and the "Übermensch" (Overman/Superman).

Zarathustra, having lived in solitude for ten years, descends from the mountains to share his wisdom with the people. In a town, he finds a marketplace where a tightrope walker is performing. As the crowd watches, Zarathustra begins speaking about the Übermensch, declaring that humans are merely a bridge, not an end, and must strive to overcome themselves.

As the tightrope walker crosses, a jester appears and taunts him causing the tightrope walker to fall to his death.

Many say:

• The tightrope walker = humanity

• The jester = disruptive forces that distract or derail human progress

• The fall = the struggle to overcome the Self

The idea that we are strong enough to transcend both our own limitations AND the external forces working against virtue is profoundly empowering. In fact, it echoes another compelling concept: the notion that we can actively shape our own reality. This idea finds a parallel in the many-worlds theory, which suggests that we have the ability to choose from multiple possible realities.

The many-worlds interpretation (MWI) implies that there are many parallel, non-interacting worlds. It is one of a number of multiverse hypotheses in physics and philosophy. MWI views time as a many-branched tree, wherein every possible quantum outcome is realized.

Our minds and our energy are powerful, and we have the building blocks, including the awareness of inception to use it for good. Like in a game of truth or dare, I am skeptical of those who avoid the truth, but of course, dare after dare after dare elicits more emotion and leads to more possible reckless outcomes. . .

So, let’s focus our energy, leaving behind fear or gloating; leaving behind ego or jealousy; to move towards choosing the branch in the quantum field which leads us all towards peace, and at that — LASTING PEACE & FREEDOM.

---

🌙 An Original Poem — a version also published in ArtStack 🌙

I dive into the deep end of the pool

Because loving is the opposite of a chore.

Like cutting wood and piles of lumber,

I carry my secrets barefoot through the forest,

And place them on the living room floor

To burn the wood of conspiracy, legacy, and revelation.

With anarchy comes a curfew,

So we do not fly too close to the moon.

I count back from eight,

Til seven,

Til six,

Til five. . .

Until at four the smoke fills the room,

And I begin to swoon.

Til two,

Til one,

Until the daybreak. . .until today.

I pray at sunrise

Where there is no time or definitions of delay.

There is no rush

In the underbrush of love.