The Heart does not forget overnight Sometimes it needs more than one lifetime To forget the way back to the Light And the echo of the last Grail Bell’s chime Again and again it reads the Message Again and again it feels the pull of the Call But the gains and pains of the Modern Age Make it time and again slowly forget it All. A sad day it is time and time again When a soul rises again from its deathbed, And all it’s relatives’ tears and pain Will be nothing compared to its own regret. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of human beings
DON’T SURRENDER IT ALL TO AI
The primary aim of artistic expression is inner clarification of self, as well as personal spiritual development. The secondary aim is communication and sharing of ideas, which in any case always happens automatically as a by-product.
If you outsource all your artistic creativity to Artificial Intelligence, then, yes, finished works of a certain mould will be generated, but your spirit will not grow. And the purpose of your earthlife – the very purpose of life itself – will not be fulfilled. This lies alone in the continuous development of your “I” through self-exertion, self-clarification and the constant effort towards pure and accurate self-expression of intuition via thought into word and deed.
AI will produce works that resemble beauty, but will lead to the atrophy and death of the human spirit – unless you critically interrogate those works and then correct, reject or surmount them with your own personal effort, your own intuiting and reasoning. Don’t surrender to AI. Learn it but remain above it. Artificial Intelligence will make you look good, make you feel good, but only you can become better by yourself, by your own effort. The ancient rule is still the same, there is no short cut to success.
It is very imperative, in this era of artificial intelligence, for each person to remain personally creative, as well as spiritually and intellectually active and independent. Make the effort to think your own thoughts through to the end, and formulate and write them down by yourself. Compose, rehearse and record your own music. Make your own art. Draw the inspiration not just from others, but also, like before, from within the fathomless depths of your immortal spirit. Spend time in the silence of your heart, listening to your inner voice, hearing yourself by yourself and not from the programmed algorithm of an AI companion’s voice.
And also continue to do as many things with your hands as possible. Build. Make. Write. Go out into the world. Use your physical muscles, use your brain muscles, use your heart muscles, use your soul and use your spirit. And also, PATRONISE THOSE WHO DO SO, THOSE WHO STILL PRODUCE BY THE EFFORT OF HUMAN CREATIVITY. When you do this, you are not doing them a favour, but you are doing yourself and humanity and our future a SERVICE!
This is the only way they will grow. This is the only way we will grow. This is how we survived as a species over millions of years. This is how we got here. By the agency of Natural personal Human Intelligence. WE have always been the ones evolving, the ones plumbing our own depths, the ones developing. Thus: Woe betide us today if we now, tempted by convenience, hand that task now over to a self-programming and self-learning artificial algorithm we fashioned. Like the Zauberlehrling who can no longer deactivate or control the witchcraft he awakened. We would thereby have marked the beginning of the end of the story of the human spirit on Earth.
We are the generation that must tame the beast we have created, and ensure that it remains a servant and never becomes the cold lifeless master of our destiny, literally and figuratively. AI is wonderful for sourcing and collating information, and sorting and delivering it coherently. It is also marvellous at generating alternative versions of expressive output. But it cannot see the light. It cannot produce that individual unique recognition that can only come from deep within you. And it cannot produce the NEW, a truly new and different future. It can only regurgitate and re-permutate the past.
The production of Newness is still the purview and the task of the living and active human spirit. Let AI not be our last invention. Let us continue to bestir ourselves to intuit, imagine, innovate and invent even greater creations in the future, greater and higher than AI, and which also come from us – or through us. For WE are human spirit.
Retain your primary art-form in your hands. Don’t outsource it in the name of comfort, or vanity, or convenience, or competition, or materialism. Save and continue to develop that which is most valuable to us – our spirit. Let art, intuition and inspired thinking continue to be tools for personal inner growth through the joy of effort.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
PEOPLE SAY ALL SORTS
When people insist I love you more Put them to the test They won’t love you anymore When people claim I don’t love you anymore Treat them the same They’ll love you once more Don’t base everything On just what people say People will say anything Just to get through another day Everybody wants happiness But not everyone really knows How to get that happiness - We’re all searching and it shows. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE JOURNEY OF YOUR “I”
The miracle of life transcends the earth. The adventures of the “I” Survive many an earthly death and rebirth And a “Beyond” not in the Sky But right here beside you And much too often beneath you. Your Journey is shaping the Real you. This is really the purpose of it all - Not the Earthly but the Spiritual, the true inner personality, you the actual person, you, you, you! Eternity requires integrity, and self-conquest is our path thereto in the struggle with the Material. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
INNER SPIRIT
It‘s not the outer age, It‘s the inner Spirit and Sage That determines superiority. It’s neither youth nor ignorance But lack of humility That determines inferiority. We are not of sand and dust We are spirit and immortal ghost Marching towards eternity. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
HUNGRY FOR HUMAN LOVE
The world is a buffet All you can meet Humanity at the venue All you can greet Kindness on the menu All you can treat Love and pain the entree All you can eat. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
SOLITUDE AND YOU
A part of me still wants to show you Every little flower that crosses my lane Share with you every story and review That get’s thrown up by my algorithm Tell you all the things that cross my mind Numberless times all through the day Reveal my plans and ask you if you also find Them as interesting as they seem to me Ask you how you are, where you are, Who you’re with, what you’re doing there Where it is, if it’s near or if it’s far How long you’ve been and will be there… But then another part of me reminds me That you are gone and gone for good And I lock my conversations back inside me Because I’m getting used to this solitude. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
PASSING RIFFS
Little moments of life In the corners of strife Little stripes of light Hidden out of sight Hope is a melody, a song Where we all belong Sing along, old and young. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
GREETINGS ALONG THE WAY
Every flight is a flight of fantasy Every journey is a journey of discovery Every departure is a departure from routine Every arrival is an arrival somewhere in between Every stranger is of a stranger kind Every meeting is a meeting of minds Every parting is a parting of the Red Sea Every greeting is… Wait! Greetings. The greetings Are the closest we’ll come to most humans. Put into them the earnestness of meetings - They are often our sole communions. With eyes, with words, with gestures, With a handshake or an embrace - Greetings in all their textures Help us to feel our human race. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THAT ONE
You can come as close to me as you want You still cannot get in. You can go as deep into me as you want But still deep within My heart there is a door And if you’re not the one it’s meant for You can’t get in. You can go as far away from me as possible You still remain inside me I can push you as far away from me as possible But still deep inside me There is one tender space And you alone live inside this place That is the home in me. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 