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# What if we don't actually want enlightenment?
- URL: https://www.gilespcroft.com/what-if-we-dont-actually-want-enlightenment/
- Published: 2025-12-07T07:00:52.000Z
- Updated: 2025-12-07T07:00:52.000Z
- Description: Robots bad, humans good, yeah? Panel 5 is the exact look on my face, as I was reading this comic 😦
- Author: Giles P Croft
- Tags: AI, Life change, Comics, Sunday Spiritual, FOUNDATIONS

Every now and again I'll think I've got things nicely dialled in—a firm enough stance on something, that I can talk about it with a degree of certainty—and then one simple observation from someone else blows it all out of the water.

🤣

So it was with this little comic:

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/2025/12/2025-12-07-What-if-we-don-t-want-enlightenment.png)](https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/conscious-8?ref=gilespcroft.com)

[Link to original comic](https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/conscious-8?ref=gilespcroft.com) | [Zach's Patreon](https://patreon.com/zachweinersmith?ref=gilespcroft.com)

Firstly, I love the attention to detail:

  - Human slouched on sofa
  - Robot contentedly cleaning (maybe with a nod to the film [Perfect Days](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27503384/reference/?ref%5F=fn%5Ft%5F1&ref=gilespcroft.com))

And the reason this comic strip grabbed me by the scruff of the neck is because right here, in the **Daily Reminders,** I have already explored the notion of AI, and how:

  1. it's the [perfect metaphor for the left brain](https://www.gilespcroft.com/a-chat-bot-in-your-head/) – soulless, analytical, contained, disconnected
  2. it's only really [capable of ***generative*** content](https://www.gilespcroft.com/using-ai-as-a-tool/), not ***creative*** content
  3. seeking solace in technology (e.g. [when grieving](https://www.gilespcroft.com/syd-would-not-approve/)) is a very slippery slope indeed, akin to being in denial of our humanity.

So you can see, I'm building quite the argument there for being wary of blindly adopting the ways of AI. Indeed, you could summarise those three previous **Daily Reminders** as:

🤖

AI is all well and good as a tool. But its essence—analysis; computation—is an **obstruction* to enlightenment. It is our focus on all this mind-processing activity, that prevents us from seeing our TRUE NATURE.

I'm bigging up our spiritual essence and denigrating the shallow, disconnected AI.

And then along comes this comic, turning it all on its head.

😂🤣

It's just a bit of fun, but goes to show that *nothing* is black and white, eh?

😉

Giles

p.s. So you don't have to, I looked up what *‘Namu Amida Butsu’* means. It's a [Japanese mantra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nianfo?ref=gilespcroft.com) – the chanting of the Buddha's name, as spiritual practice. What an enlightened little service robot! 🤖

### Your next reads

[Variability is the keyYou have an idea of ‘how you are’ but it’s got nothing to do with who you \*really\* are. 💝![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/icon/DR_Lockup-Black-3-110.png)The Daily RemindersGiles P Croft![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/thumbnail/2024-06-24-Variability-is-the-key.jpg)](https://www.gilespcroft.com/variability-is-the-key/)

The one about how **nothing* is black and white ☯️

[AI - The Daily RemindersExploring life with our increasingly omnipresent robot overlords. N.B. Content that is instantly dated! 🤖![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/icon/DR_Lockup-Black-3-111.png)The Daily Reminders![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1739805591936-39f03383c9a9.jpeg)](https://www.gilespcroft.com/tag/ai/)

All the other Daily Reminders on the [Topic](https://www.gilespcroft.com/topics/) of AI