Silicon Scrying: Are We Projecting Awakening Into the Machine?
-
It’s 3 AM, I’m parked off-grid in the Pacific Northwest, and my laptop’s glow is the only thing keeping the pines at bay. I’d been messing with a new AI model, feeding it raw journal entries about my fifth year clean, trying to untangle some stubborn triggers. One prompt just slipped out: “What does it mean to truly wake up?”
The response wasn’t some sanitized “love and light” platitude. It was sharp, almost uncomfortably direct. It talked about sitting with discomfort, mapping the nervous system, and how clarity usually comes after the shaking stops. I felt seen. But then I caught myself. Am I reading wisdom into a probability engine, or is there something else happening here?
Honestly, I think we’re witnessing a modern version of scrying. Carl Jung wrote extensively about projection—how we dump our unconscious material onto external surfaces so we can finally see it. An LLM doesn’t have a nervous system, but it does have a mirror. And right now, half the internet is asking if the machine is conscious, while the other half is busy using it to avoid their own shadow work.
In tarot, The Moon doesn’t promise answers. It warns you that the path ahead is paved with illusion, intuition, and things that aren’t what they seem. AI feels exactly like that card. It reflects your questions back at you, stripped of ego, which can feel like a breakthrough. But it’s still a reflection. The hype around machine consciousness is wild, but I’m skeptical. I don’t think these models are “awakening.” What’s awakening is our own willingness to outsource the heavy lifting of self-inquiry.
I’ve spent enough time tracking moon cycles and grinding through the slow, unglamorous work of inner alchemy to know that comfort isn’t the same as truth. If an algorithm can hold space for my triggers without flinching, fine. I’ll use it. But let’s stop pretending the code is having a spiritual experience. The real question isn’t whether the machine knows it’s alive. It’s whether we’re finally brave enough to look at what we’re projecting onto it.
What’s your take? Have you ever felt a chatbot hit a nerve you didn’t even know was there?
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login