“Cans. We don't have to think anymore. Everything is premeditated, pre-chewed, pre-felt. Cans. All you have to do is open them. Delivered to your home three times a day. Nothing any more to cultivate yourself, or let grow and boil on the fire of questions, of doubt, and of desire. Cans.” ― Erich Maria Remarque
The metaphor of “cans” perfectly captures our tendency to consume pre-packaged, simplified ideas rather than engaging in the hard (because is hard!) process of deep practice.
The trade-off between convenience and depth, between accessibility and true understanding. One of the defining trends of our times is convenience. Everything seems to be designed and engineered to "make life more convenient". Have we become the “1 convenient click” species? Is it really what’s life is all about? Is it really what we are here for: extract convenience from life? Is it really what we reduce human experience to?
Why cook when you can eat canned food? It is more convenient and it saves you time.
Let me ask you: Would you eat pre-chewed food? I guess not unless you are an infant, have a gastrointestinal pathology or are pathologically lazy. With the excuses of making things accessible (to everyone?) we require or provide pre-digested, small bites easy to digest pre-chewed notions. We demand, even for the so called top "executive leadership programs" material and notions easy to be digested. The idea that everything has to be easy to access and convenient for everyone has made care, dedication, practice very rare virtues. There is a place for easy access and there must be a place for hard practice.
AI is accelerating this trend, but it’s not the root cause. It’s like an amplifier. We have always and more and more favoured shortcuts: executive summaries instead of full books, “life hacks” instead of mastery, quick certifications instead of true learning.
AI makes it even easier to avoid complexity, and once people get used to that ease, it becomes harder to tolerate the effort required for real evolution (pathological laziness!).
The more we normalize convenience as the ultimate goal, the more we lose the patience needed for anything beyond surface-level understanding.
Where do we draw the line between helpful efficiency and intellectual laziness? Can we grow into the responsibilities of our adulthood? Can we become the responsible adults of our times and stop being its spoilt children?
Think for example about the ancient traditions and spiritual paths we, in the Western world, have appropriated and exploited in the name of making them accessible to everyone. We have stripped them away of complexity, depth, mystery. These philosophies are spiritual practices not meant to be easy to access. Not because they are reserved to an elite but because they require a lifetime of care, dedication, practice. They require us to grow up into our responsibilities and participate to the mystery of life not control it.
Practice of putting the work before convenience.
If you are looking for a practice of leadership capable of fostering organisational and individual flourishment and not just convenience have a look at our program Artful Leadership and all other Artful Programs.
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