Media Is Not Nourishment
Maybe It’s Time to Leap Into a Cold River of New Insights
Are you there?
Yeah, you—with the permanent scowl from viewing too much news and scrolling too many doom-spiral Facebook threads.
When was the last time you sat with a stranger who didn’t sound like you, vote like you, or slice their bagel the same way?
Or even better—when was the last time you were completely, deliciously wrong?
Here’s the thing nobody wants to admit….
Most of us don’t have a worldview.
We have what I call a “worldloop.”
Because it’s not a view if you’re staring through the same damn window every day.
That’s called a habit.
And habit, my friend, is a slow-drip poison that numbs the soul.
You’ve got one news source. One social feed. One emotional color palette.
Red or blue.
Fox or PBS.
Rage or resignation.
Congratulations. You’re no longer thinking—you’re subscribing.
😉
The Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno said, “Fascism is cured by reading. Racism is cured by traveling.”
He’s not wrong.
Because books open minds.
And passports crack open the skulls of smug certainty.
But let’s be real.
Most folks won’t even cross the damn street if it looks like the cuisine might involve cilantro.
🚶♂️
As a nomadic wanderer, I’m here to tell you:
You don’t grow from staying put.
You grow from ordering the wrong thing and loving it.
From getting lost in a forrest and finding your soul in a cup of street noodles.
Anthony Bourdain—our patron saint of culinary epiphany—said it best:
“If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can… Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food. It’s a plus for everybody.”
He didn’t say, “Get really good at arguing with strangers online.”
He didn’t say, “Master the art of smug social media takedowns.”
He said move.
☄️
Now let’s talk about Zhuangzi.
Old man Taoist.
He once dreamed he was a butterfly.
Then wondered if he was actually a butterfly dreaming he was a man.
You think that kind of cosmic looseness happens after scrolling through your social media feed or profiles on a dating app?
Zhuangzi would laugh his ass off at your “talking points.”
He’d probably offer you a mushroom and suggest you stop trying to “win” dinner debates with friends of the opposite political persuasion.
He’d say:
“Let things transform. Step into the strange. Find the flow.”
🙃
And then there’s Epicurus.
Not the hedonist you think.
He didn’t say party hard. He said pleasure wisely.
He’d tell you to unhook from the shrill machinery of modern outrage.
Maybe spend a month in a small village where no one knows your name or your politics—just whether or not you’re kind.
Epicurus and Zhuangzi walk into a bar.
They don’t argue.
They listen.
😂
We’re living in a time where people treat ideology like it’s their soulmate.
They can’t break up, even when it’s toxic.
Here’s an idea…..
Be curious, not committed.
Treat your beliefs like a one-night stand.
Wake up, thank them, and question if they’re still useful.
Because most of what we call “truth” is just over-rehearsed conditioning.
A little sponge soaked in the bathwater of our media diet.
☯️
The Tao reminds us to flow, not cling.
To adapt, not calcify.
To see everything as temporary—even what we know.
The more you walk in unfamiliar lands,
The more you taste silence that’s not your own,
The more you realize how little you know—
And how much is out there to become.
That’s the gift of the road.
The fresh conversation.
The accidental enlightenment.
The weird, fermented drink you’re not sure you like until it’s gone.
🙌
So my friend, get out.
Out of your thought bubble.
Out of your neighborhood.
Out of your damn head.
Put down your punditry and pick up your passport.
Or at least a fork.
Because the world is too big, too strange, and too sacred to spend your life in reruns of your own ideas.
And no, you won’t die from uncertainty.
You might actually start living again.
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Diamond Michael Scott
aka The Chocolate Taoist
...learned to love cilantro. Thanks for the post, beautiful. Our society is programmed and groomed to work and consume but if we can see with our own eyes and rest without guilt we discover much more than we are fed. On another note, finally reading your book recommendation The Dispossessed, THANK YOU
On a good day I can get six pieces from a bagel, slicing on a slight diagonal. I wind up with four thin rings and two crescent wedges. Isn't that how you slice your bagel? Though I keep trying, cilantro never satisfies. And yet, when I reflect that nutmeg or vanilla extract taste terrible alone I would cross the street for cilantro infused food, so long as it was not cilantro laden.