The Shockwave and the Mirror: Moving from the Unreal to the Real
Wake-up calls come in many forms. We rely on them to move us from complacency to action. Yet history is burdened by the devastating ways our minds and hearts have been dramatically called to attention. At one moment of crisis, I have frozen in fear and confusion; at another, I am enraged by the reality of oppressive systems that design terrorism as distraction.
Looking at the Day Before
The tragedy of 9/11 was a day that cracked open worldly illusions for many of us, especially as the deeper, uncomfortable geopolitical realities of the American empire came to light. Decades later, 10/7 awoke us with extreme horror. But to truly understand the layered realities that brought that day, and the subsequent, catastrophic genocide in Gaza into existence, an un-indoctrinated mind must confront a painful truth. As an American Jew, I had to face what ethno-supremacy systems will do to weaponize trauma and sustain a permanent narrative of victimhood to justify structural apartheid. And with the ongoing crimes against humanity in the West Bank by Israeli settlers and the IDF, stealing land and removing people has always been the mission.
When we look at these historical markers, we do better to look at 9/10 and 10/6.
What led up to those infamous moments? They did not happen in a vacuum, nor did they emerge from the one-sided narratives handed down by mainstream media. What didn’t we know before the shockwave? Where were we falling asleep at the wheel of comfort, dulling our awareness in the distractions of a capitalist culture?
In the yogic tradition, we chant:
Asato ma sadgamaya (Lead us from unreal to real)
Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya (Lead us from darkness to the light)
Mrityor ma amritam gamaya (Lead us from the fear of death to knowledge of immortality)
Moving from the unreal (asat) to the real (sat) is rarely peaceful. It is almost always a shattering experience.
AI as a Mirror for Collective Kindness
Right now, with the unexpected velocity and power that Artificial Intelligence is gaining, we are being invited into another massive wake-up event. While it presents many frightful outcomes, I am including into the matrix, AI’s capacity to serve my business mission: “empower the movers of human kindness.”
Lately, I’ve been asking AI questions that compare human spiritual awakening with the mathematical inevitabilities of a world stripped of capitalism, materialism, and safety sought through supremacy. Because AI lacks our emotional vulnerabilities and sentimental blind spots, it offers an organized clarity based on the collective thinking of human history all at once. Though it’s not a complete encyclopedia of knowledge as it’s built from only the information made available on the internet, it can provide interesting enough analysis as it is. It provides insights that might take a human a lifetime to synthesize through the heavy fog of grief and conditioning.
Technology cannot replace the beautiful, spontaneous spark of human art, creativity, or devotion. We will always need to remember the sacred gift we access when we truly understand the intertwinement of personal and collective well-being. But this specific synthesis of information—when geared toward kindness—can act as a mirror. It shows us the mathematical dead-ends of our current systems and urges us toward a kinder, more unified reality.
The Rhythm of Return and Reconstruction
This weekend marked the beginning of the Jewish High Holidays with the New Year, Rosh Hashanah (the head of the year). It is a new start. A wake-up call for a new day to begin. Because it landed on the weekly period of Sabbath, it offers a special reminder that rest is a vital foundation for the year ahead. This end-of-the-week timing, signals closure to areas that need it, to bring things to their completion. For me, it is a call to deepen my Jewish values of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) and Teshuvah (returning and resetting)—coming back to our highest selves and aligning action with purpose.
Following Rosh Hashanah, ten days later, comes Yom Kippur, the holiday of atonement. What follows the celebration of a new beginning has always been a period of deep self-reflection leading directly to action. This is the rhythm of life I grew up with: we look at the actions that were wrong, and we work to make them right.
It is this exact lineage of Jewish values that has led me to speak up for Palestinian liberation and against the apartheid state of Israel. What I once perceived as real for the majority of my life has become unreal. To move toward a deep understanding of this historical twister of trauma requires a painful but liberating journey of unwinding—one that has led me to a profound clarity regarding why harm happens, and who actually suffers. (Here is a collection of articles that I gathered from 2023-2025 that shares my research journey to more deeply understand Israel/Palestine.)
Beyond the Fabricated Consensus
We often say there are two sides to every story. Some say there are three: your side, my side, and the truth. We are told there is a “right side” of history, yet history is almost always written by the victors—or, in the case of modern crises, by those who weaponize trauma to hold a monopoly on the narrative.
Strong political systems are master designers of moral shielding, allowing them to enforce a manufactured consensus. Untangling ourselves from this takes time, immense courage, and a willingness to look directly into the shadows.
So, while we mark the dates in history where shocking events broke our world open, let us bring our focus to the days after. That is where the shock and horror can finally shift us toward a place of greater awakening—allowing us to see what actually happened, what is happening right now, and exactly who we must become in response.
Let’s stay connected,
Marc Morozumi
