You Will Not Survive the AI Age if You Don’t Have a Personal Myth

I can focus for 12 hours per day because I’m living my myth.

I wrote this in a recent post, and it attracted a ton of attention on both Substack and Instagram. Everyone would like to be able to focus more deeply and for longer. But most people are not familiar with the idea of having a personal myth. That’s why so many people got interested in what I said.

“Here is the secret trick that will help me finally be more focused and productive,” most of them thought.

However, the nature of short-form writing is that there’s little space for nuance.

Having a personal myth isn’t about becoming more productive. It’s about not being overwhelmed and crushed by the rapidly changing AI age. It’s about not being pulled in hundreds of different directions and wasting your potential in the process. It’s about living your unique story rather than sleepwalking through life. In this piece, I will share both the theory and personal proof of why that’s true.

“A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world.”
— Rollo May (The Cry for Myth)

Yes, having a personal myth will help you focus better and longer. Yes, that makes you more productive by default. However, focus isn’t a productivity tool.

A more focused life is, above all, a more meaningful, engaging, and fulfilling one. Productivity is a consequence of living this way, not the central aim. That’s why this essay can be viewed as a companion piece to my essay on not becoming a lobotomized pigeon.

In “lobotomized pigeon,” I discussed how our attention problem wasn’t created by smartphones. It’s an age-old problem of human potential, and it’s “just” been made more complex by modern technology. Part 2 of that essay will be released next week. The concept of the personal myth will be referenced throughout, so I decided to give you the context before continuing the main storyline.

My ambitious goal is for all of these essays to connect into a larger picture of a meaningful life in the digital age.

Let’s dive into it.

The Cry for Myth

My premise is that you must have a personal myth to survive and thrive in our age. But why in “our age”? What’s so special about our age that we can’t survive it without a myth?

Well, it’s not just our age. Having a myth was necessary throughout human history. Let me present a timeline that will make the rest of this essay easier to understand.

1. In the past, collective myths gave psychological structure to human life.

2. Things changed with the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. These deeply connected historical periods initiated the gradual disappearance of collective myths (as well as rites of passage and rituals) from human life. Although some major collective myths have emerged since then, they all lasted far shorter than the myths of the past.

3. Even though thinkers of the 19th and 20th century already wrote about the importance of having a personal myth, our present-day situation needs additional context. Due to the psychological consequences of rapid technological development, finding a personal myth is more urgent than ever.

Now, allow me to expand.

The great Swiss psychologist Carl Jung is arguably the most famous thinker who wrote about the dangers of living in a mythless society.

“Modern man does not understand how much his ‘rationalism’ (which has destroyed his capacity to respond to numinous symbols and ideas) has put him at the mercy of the psychic underworld. He has freed himself from ‘superstition’ (or so he believes), but in the process he has lost his spiritual values to a positively dangerous degree. His moral and spiritual tradition has disintegrated, and he is now paying the price for this break-up in worldwide disorientation and dissociation.” — Carl Jung (Man and His Symbols)

“Man is in need if a symbolical life- badly in need. We only live banal, ordinary, rational, or irrational things- but we have no symbolic life. Where do we live symbolically? Nowhere except where we participate in the ritual of life.”
— Carl Jung (The Symbolic Life)

*In this context, when he writes “man,” Jung means “the human individual.”

Less quoted nowadays but equally important in this conversation is the great American existential psychologist, Rollo May. Especially valuable in May’s work is the straightforward language he often uses. For anyone who finds Jung’s mystical terminology overwhelming and confusing, which is most people, May provides much-needed clarity.

In his book, “The Cry for Myth,” May gives one of the most lucid and concise diagnoses of the modern age ever written. We can use it to understand the origins of the need for a personal myth and why it’s so relevant today.

“Every individual seeks—indeed must seek if he or she is to remain sane—to bring some order and coherence into the stream of sensations, emotions, and ideas entering his or her consciousness. Each one of us is forced to do deliberately for oneself what in previous ages was done by family, custom, church, and state, namely, form the myths in terms of which we can make some sense of experience.” — Rollo May (The Cry For Myth)

Let’s break this down.

Right away, we can recognize that we need to bring order to our consciousness if we are to remain sane. Meaning, order isn’t the default state of consciousness.

Being human is confusing and psychologically demanding. Sorry for the spoiler, but I am guessing that, since you know how to read, you’ve been alive for long enough to recognize this.

Throughout history, humans needed psychological systems to help them deal with the complexity and ambiguity of existence. Myths served the function of those systems. However, as May hints, “in previous ages,” those myths were collective. They were given to the individual by the community.

What are some examples of those myths? Religious myths, both monotheistic and pagan, have been the most powerful myths of humanity. And yes, I will soon explain why religious myths are not alive anymore on a collective level, even though organized religion still exists.

What kind of effect are these myths supposed to have?

At multiple points throughout his works, Carl Jung discussed one of the rare societies that still had a “working” collective myth at the time of his writing.

“I once had a talk with the master of ceremonies of a tribe of Pueblo Indians, and he told me something very interesting. He said, “Yes, we are a small tribe, and these Americans, they want to interfere with our religion. They should not do it,” he said, “because we are the sons of the Father, the Sun. He who goes there” (pointing to the sun) -- “that is our Father. We must help him daily to rise over the horizon and to walk over heaven. And we don’t do it for ourselves only; we do it for America; we do it for the whole world.” — Carl Jung (The Symbolic Life)

The average person today, detached from their symbolic life, would think that the master of ceremonies was a lunatic. But Jung noted that these people were far more vital and healthy than the members of the “developed” society. For example, they had no concept of “mental health problems” or “neurosis.” That’s because they didn’t need one.

“These people have no problems. They have their daily life, their symbolic life. They get up in the morning with a feeling of their great and divine responsibility... You should see these fellows: they have a natural fulfilled dignity.”
— Carl Jung The Symbolic Life

As both Jung and May recognized, modern societies don’t have a symbolic life. There is no universal myth that guides everyone’s lives. What used to be handed down to one by the family, custom, church, or state is now an individual responsibility.

As Rollo May says in Love and Will,

“The old myths and symbols by which we oriented ourselves are gone, anxiety is rampant… The individual is forced to turn inward.”

The 20th century did see multiple attempts to create secular collective myths, like Nazism, Communism, or the myth of the American Dream. All those attempts turned out to be either destructive or short-lived.

You might disagree. Your collective myth is alive and well, you could argue.

Fair enough. Let’s say you’re living in a “Christian country.” Are you and all the other members of your community waking up each morning with the intention of embodying and living out the Christian myth? Or is Christianity, for most members of that community, just a label they proudly carry?

The reality is that the vast majority of religious people are living essentially secular lives.

Let’s consider a more concrete example of this. It is highly likely that your guiding values differ from some of your neighbors’ or colleagues’ values. Well, that would be inconceivable in societies of the past where everyone shared the same guiding myth.

However, the lack of collective myths doesn’t mean our situation needs to be tragic.

In the past, people had the benefit of order in their consciousness being established from the outside. But this also meant a lack of authenticity and individual freedom. In most cases, a person’s entire life was designed by someone else.

Today, we have the responsibility but also the opportunity to direct our own lives and write our own stories. However, we must recognize that the urgency to take on this responsibility is greater than ever.

Why?

The Context of Our Age

Rollo May said that, to remain sane, we must bring some order into the stream of sensations, emotions, and ideas entering our consciousness. Jung’s work carries the same message.

But let’s consider the amount and intensity of sensations, emotions, and ideas entering the average individual’s consciousness when Jung and May were writing versus today.

I am by no means underestimating the turbulence of their time. Jung was writing before, during, and after World War 2. May wrote his main works after WW2 and during the Cold War. For both men, the influence of these events is obvious throughout their writing. Therefore, the average individual of their time had plenty of reason to be overwhelmed.

But can any time period compare to ours when it comes to distraction and overstimulation, which are creating an almost panic-inducing sense of overwhelm?

From the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep, multi-billion-dollar companies are fighting for your attention. Getting through the day without your mind being hijacked and without wasting hours on mindless “entertainment” is a major achievement.

Ours is the age of the infinite scroll feed, brainrot, and AI slop.

Creating a sense of life direction is difficult enough with all the daily distractions. But even after you choose your path, you’re faced with the challenge of infinite shiny objects along the way. Every day, there is a new online side hustle to try or a new AI skill to learn, “if you don’t want to get left behind.”

My point isn’t to share a pessimistic image of our age, but to put things in proper context.

Life has always been inherently psychologically demanding. Humans have always used myths to deal with the complexity and ambiguity of life. But life is more psychologically demanding today than at any point in human history. Meaning, we need myths now more than ever.

And no, I am not dismissing how difficult life was for our ancestors. And no, I’m not taking for granted the comforts and privileges most of us are enjoying today. However, the psychological complexity of life in the past versus now isn’t even up for discussion. No matter how much more physically difficult life was for your great-great-great-grandparents, it was incomparably simpler. We can honor their strength without downplaying the magnitude of challenges we are facing.

Still, we live in the age of possibilities. You have more chances to reinvent yourself and turn your life around than ever before in human history. But this requires you to be focused. And nothing helps with focus like having a personal myth.

This brings us back to my outlandish statement about focusing for 12 hours per day.

The Function of Myth in the Age of Distraction

“Myths are the models by which human beings code and organize their perceptions, feelings, thoughts, and actions.”
— David Feinstein and Stanley Krippner (Personal Mythology)

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the point isn’t to become a productivity machine. Focusing on one task or a series of connected tasks for 12 hours per day is just an extreme example of what I’m able to do, when necessary, thanks to living my myth.

The point of having a personal myth is in having an internal structure that supports you as you navigate this overwhelming world. The point is in having all of your inner resources united and channeled in the same direction. The point is in feeling like you’re standing on firm ground even when the whole world is shaking.

Still, all of these greater benefits of having a personal myth come directly or indirectly from an increased capacity to focus. To be more precise, they come from strengthened micro and macro focus.

Micro Focus

When I’m talking about micro focus, I’m referring to what most mistakenly consider as the only type of focus that matters. That’s our ability to focus on the task, experience, or person in front of us. It’s the focus we need for daily productivity, enjoying art, or having a conversation.

So, how does having a personal myth help with micro focus?

It’s far easier to resist distractions when you know what you’re being distracted from and what you want to return your focus to. And it’s far easier to know what you’re being distracted from and what you want and need to focus on when you have a personal myth.

On any given day, I am not just dealing with the phone, notifications, or the urge to doomscroll. It’s more personal than that. When I notice myself getting distracted, I know I’m being pulled away from my journey and my mission. I don’t care about screentime. I care whether, at the end of the day, I feel like I honored or betrayed the story I am trying to live.

However, the function of our attention is way richer than just allowing us to focus on the immediate task or experience. And it’s precisely this overlooked type of focus that can strengthen our micro focus more than most productivity tips.

Macro Focus

When I’m talking about macro focus, I’m referring to our ability to stay focused on the big picture and our long-term goals. I’m talking about the ability to resist the shiny object syndrome and stick to your path.

This is one area of life where I can say I’m proud of myself.

Back in December 2019, I started writing online and never stopped. Over 6 years later, my writing has been read by millions. I write and speak with people for a living. It will never stop being surreal to say that.

However, my journey was far from a quick or overnight success. In fact, I was “failing” by external metrics for the majority of the past 6 years. Also, there has been no shortage of distractions along the way. Just like you, I’m constantly exposed to new cool ideas and online side hustles that can supposedly change my life in 30 days. And I’ve seen many people with meaningful projects and great potential be defeated by these distractions.

Over the years, I’ve gotten to know many online writers and creators who were on the same “level” as me when we connected. Some of them, or maybe most, had more talent and skill than I did. However, the vast majority of them either pivoted and tried “making it” in 10 different directions since then, or gave up altogether.

I stuck to my path. I kept writing when I was getting little attention, when I doubted myself, and when my attempts to “make a living” off of my writing were failing. And, when things started working out, I was able to say “no” to dozens of tempting opportunities that would distract me from my main mission.

I succeeded, if doing what you’re most passionate about counts as success. It does for me.

You will meet very few people who stick to their personal project, day after day, for even 1 year, let alone 2, 3, or 6. I am not saying this to brag, quite the contrary. I am trying to say we are all capable of this, but most people let their capacities go unused.

There is nothing special about me. I wasn’t born with superhuman patience. You have the same capacity to stick to your path despite self-doubt, distractions, and even failure. You just need to reactivate this capacity.

Both you and I were born as storytelling, myth-making creatures. And, at some point, it’s time to stop being (only) inspired by others’ stories and create your own.

The stronger the image of your personal myth is, the stronger the intention with which you approach your projects, the stronger your control over your attention, time, and energy, the deeper connection you feel with your life.

So, what is your story?

Before we dive into a more detailed (and complex) analysis of different ways you can get in touch with or create your personal myth, we need to start with the simplest question.

What is the story or the myth you are currently living?

We can’t begin discovering or creating a new, more empowering one until we answer this question.

So take some time to think about it. We continue next week.

Below, you will see a visual representation of how the current and upcoming essays connect to each other so you know what to expect and hopefully join me in building this story together.

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