Deepening Dimension
We live in the dimension that we can count and measure until we need to deepen it in the new journey of the unknown.
I believe that we — the people who think about our role in the future — will attached to the sounds of fear while we feel the situation nowadays. Situations in which people use AI are more radical and aggressive to colonise our ethic and our base intention. Intention to insist on free thinking.
I meet a lot of people who I trust most to talk about this, including my mentor, who always sets the best gestures for humanity and the environment. She said, “I will be hard on you, Zaka.”
I don’t know, I just feel relieved to hear that. I just feel we will have the same spirit with different paths in how we face the future, and yes, I feel the battle can be settled in different spaces, nations, and regions with the same intentions.
Nowadays, we have to face a wider, or horizontal, spectrum of battle rather than a deeper, or vertical, spectrum of challenging moments of complexity. I just feel we have the same starting point in battle: to humanise ourselves. It is more important than the battle with artificial intelligence, which has now started to extend its impact into Extended Intelligence.
I have challenging moments and stories that relate to my learning journey as a practitioner. Embodying oneself at every level of scribing in various situations and circumstances is a challenging moment, especially during the literacy session. Especially in indigenous communities, who have their “natural” frequent schedules and engagement to build their capacities. We, the outsider saw it as sacred ritual.
It is a story from one of many memorable stories in the session told by one leader of the community. In 2022, I am in the middle of the jungle with the leader of an indigenous community. He acted as host for the session of the capacity-building workshop for the descendant generation of its native.
He told me that the signs from nature were so strong before we (the facilitators) came to the site. There were two hen standing on the big rock while the sunrise came in two days in a row. The big rock, which is 2m by 3m and has a height of 2,5m, was located near the main building. He said that situations always happen when disctinctive people or people with strong missions come to his place.
I don’t feel important or have a specified mission. I came with my partner from Jakarta and Scotland. The leader came to me and asked me a surprising question:
“I know your name. I just want to ask, Who are you’?” He asked and stared at me sharply. I still surprise and just answer the question with a normal answer, “I am part of you, facilitator”. And then he asked me more deeply, “Do you have any ascendants that relate to our tribe?” He asked me with a stronger gesture.
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Just take another story tour before He ask that hard question. Actually, I have a related story in my family about the correlation between my ancestor and Gowa in Sulawesi. I came from Lombok, and some sources said that our tribe had connections with the Gowa kingdom several centuries ago. Actually, in 1200 AD, when the Samalas Kingdom ruled Lombok,
Our ancestors, especially the spiritual leader from Selaparang Kingdom, were part of the scholars who also learned about the ancient script that relates to the script from Gowa. Especially the script that became the source for setting the values for the societies. There’re two collague that I met said that the script is part of the script from Phropet Idris, or people in another zone said, Osiris.
I have no connection with the reference until I’ve been asked by the leader. And met with the other source that also has the same intention with the similar script from East Java, the early age of civilization before the domination of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam settled in Nusantara.
I still have no intention of deepening the source. Because I am still sharpening and strengthening my muscles to connect to my source: My role in the unknown. It feels so head-level to focus intention on something that I have no background in my learning journey as an art, journalism, design, and architecture enthusiast. But my intention to deepen what I’ve done is so strong. Started with “what’s next?” question, I don’t want to enter the “business as usual” zone. It made me dull and fed my ego.
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We have the opportunity to deepen our dimensions of thought, activities, and responsibilities. Our portfolio or our success story will become a floating iceberg if we’re not connected with the context. We’re just the object at the moment, and we have to become the subject of deepening or widening the container to hold the challenge and opportunity.
Deepening dimension is mandatory if you want to enjoy tension and always see problems as signs to grow.