A letter after “Dear Drake and dynasts”
This morning I had one of those encounters: fate gives a gentle high five, and the universe slaps me back into the other half of my brain.
Since that earlier letter, I wrote that the hive mind was gone and the alpha had retired to the mirror, busy admiring the view. The mirror has only grown larger.
From hive mind to mirror mind
Whole platforms now exist to polish reflections; entire economies spin on likes, not on value. The dynasts and Drakes are doing well. The rest, less so.
The herd gene is still alive and kicking. We gather for festivals of distraction, for outrage, for the brief comfort of not feeling alone in our confusion. But a herd is not a community. A mob is not a village. A comment section is not a council of elders. And an “alpha” who leads only to feed their own emptiness is just a bully with a fan club.
The leaders we keep choosing
The pattern is boringly clear. We put narcissists in charge, then act surprised when they choose themselves over everyone else. We reward noise over nuance, then complain that nobody listens. We train children to perform, not to perceive, then wonder why they cannot tell the difference between attention and affection.
The future will not be saved by “natural leaders” descending from on high with charisma and a TED talk. It will be carried, unromantically and stubbornly, by people who were raised (or raised themselves) with three unfashionable habits: attention, accountability, and affection.
Strength is not never needing anyone; that is pathology with good PR. Strength is being able to need others without owning them.
Raising humans who don’t devour
So if we do not want tomorrow run by charming sociopaths and algorithmic priests, we have homework to do—nothing glamorous. Sit with your child (or the inner one you inherited by default) and read something that is not optimized for your attention span. Let them see you admit you were wrong and survive it. Practice etiquette as micro‑ethics: doors held open, phones put down, apologies given before they are demanded.
Teach them boredom; out of boredom comes imagination, and out of imagination comes alternatives to “this is just how the world is.”
A small refusal, repeated
We cannot control the next election, the next war, the next unhinged billionaire with a savior complex. We can, however, control the next gesture. The next sentence. The next way a child learns what “strength” means.
May we stop worshipping the mirror. May we stop confusing noise for truth. May we raise, mentor, and be the kind of humans who could lead—but do not need to, in order to feel real.
Read, eat, dance, drink, think, love, laugh, and—for the love of all that is still salvageable—own your impact like an etiquette.
Not which fork to use, but whose life your actions poke. Preferably not with said fork.
As always and for as long as possible,
Irena Phaedra
The Memory Cartographer 
RE: “We put narcissists in charge, then act surprised when they choose themselves over everyone else.”
Why is that?
Because nearly all “progressive” people have a pernicious terminal disease, a “Soullessness Spectrum Disorder” …. https://www.rolf-hefti.com/covid-19-coronavirus.html
To get out of the big horrible mess we’re in means…
First, virtually everyone has to DEprogram themselves from the programing (“official education” or official brainwashing) they’ve received since they were a child. It starts with seeing that YOU HAVE BEEN PROGRAMED ALL ALONG.
Second, constantly analyzing and debating current events is a waste of time. Because it’s not enough to describe over and over the prison cell (and its guards) — the ruling pack of psychopaths AND its many loyal minions — but explain how we got into it and how to get out of it, potentially. Of course, the psychopathic ruling authorities WANT you and everyone to waste your energy and time doing this “clever” analyzing and “figuring out” (and 99% of all “alternative media” is doing this too!) as they had freely told everyone:
“[Reality-based people ] believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality. That’s not the way the world really works anymore. WE’RE AN EMPIRE NOW, AND WHEN WE ACT, WE CREATE OR OWN REALITY. And while you’re studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, ALL OF YOU, WILL BE LEFT TO JUST STUDY WHAT WE DO.” — Former Senior Adviser of the US Empire/Regime, in 2002 (https://archive.is/8wG4Y)
Third, how we got into this deep mess is the clue on how we can get out of it — by learning what real morality is: https://www.whatonearthishappening.com/news/988-mark-passio-interviewed-by-axel-dahi-2026-04-16. It’s NOT the same as religious morality (see previous link).
Fourth, commit yourself to ACT on the principles of real morality (see url at third point)…
“The world is the way that it is because most people do not care enough (even if they SAY they want things to be different) to change it through their actions.” — Mark Passio, Spiritual Teacher
Fifth, spread and teach these principles far and wide..
“Ignorance is the root cause of all Evil. Since only Knowledge eradicates ignorance, it is our duty and moral obligation to educate ourselves, as well as the masses around us.” — Anonymous
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Thank you for taking the time to respond.
On one point, I agree with you: much of what passes for “education” functions as programming rather than as training in independent thought. As a mother, grandmother and anthropologist, most of my life has gone into undoing that—teaching children human values, curiosity and the courage to think for themselves.
Where we part ways is in how you frame the rest.
My piece is not aimed at “progressives” as a diseased category, nor was it written as a clever exercise in analysing the prison bars. Inventing labels like “Soullessness Spectrum Disorder” for whole swathes of people is exactly the kind of dehumanising reflex I am pushing against. It may feel morally righteous, but it is still hive work: divide, pathologise, and then offer one priesthood and one set of links as the cure.
I write from lived practice, not from a single teacher’s system: raising children and grandchildren, trying to model responsibility in daily, boring ways, and using my work as a writer to share insight rather than to recruit to any ideology. If someone is interested in what I think “real morality” looks like, they can read the columns and books; they will find plenty there about consequence, empathy, and owning one’s impact.
You are of course welcome to your framework. In this space, though, my focus stays on what we can change in our own homes, relationships and institutions—without declaring entire groups “soulless” or outsourcing our conscience to any empire, secular or spiritual.
May you find the harmony you quote about, also in how you speak about those you disagree with.
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