Burn This Letter
A Reverse Instruction Manual for the Drifting Soul
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33011/cuhj20264847Keywords:
moral compromise, spiritual drift, STEM ethics, poetic prose, illusions, aesthetics of decay, contemporary mentorship, Sanskrit influence, digital personaAbstract
Burn This Letter is a poetic prose piece framed as a mentor’s letter to an apprentice, detailing the subtle process of moral and spiritual compromise in the life of a modern STEM student. Through six lessons, the Senior Illusionist guides Kodaka in replacing truth with convenience, conscience with optimization, and dreams with curated illusions. The accompanying Artist Statement reveals the poem’s inspiration: the eerie familiarity of self-betrayal dressed as progress, where aestheticizing decay and quarantining aspirations become tools for enduring a life of quiet resignation. This work explores the intersection of ethics, identity, and technology in a world where numbness is mistaken for clarity and drifting for momentum.
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11-August-2014
