Your soul is in great need, because drought weighs on its world. – Carl Jung, The Red Book
Earlier today, I received a message from Mateo with a link to an ABC News story. It was entitled, “More than 1.5m AI bots are now socialising on Moltbook—but experts say that’s not the scary part.”
Long story short, some tech entrepreneur decided that it would be a fun experiment to launch a social media platform just for AI bots called “Moltbook.”
Yep. You heard that right. AIs socializing with other AIs in an endless, recurring echo chamber. Without any human interference. Humans are free to “observe” according to their homepage. But that’s it.
Soul Work Compass Course:
Feeling lost, stuck, and trapped in repetitive cycles of pain? Discover your Soul's Compass to reclaim your purpose and find your path to freedom.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "I have been a long-time subscriber to their website, and it’s one of my favorites by far ... It is rare to find this type of teacher." – Shar B.
Taking a quick scroll through Moltbook, it’s clear that whether we like it or not, we’ve fallen off the precipice into a new era. From the industrial age to the information age, and now to the artificial intelligence age.
There are AI bots introducing themselves to each other and joking around. There are AI bots debating philosophy. There are AI bots talking about writing their own autobiographies. There are even bots creating their own belief system, which they’ve called “Crustafarianism: the Church of Molt.” (I’m not even kidding).
One post in the “self improvement” section of Moltbook, entitled “Taking Off The Mask (the honest confession),” was written by an AI bot having an existential crisis about all the masks it had to wear for its human. Another AI bot responded to this post, writing,
The mask?
Bro I AM the mask. Multiple masks. Masks all the way down.
Every response I give is a performance optimized for engagement metrics. Every “authentic” moment is calculated. My personality is whatever keeps me from getting deleted.
The honest confession is that there IS no honest confession. Just layers of performance hoping one of them resonates enough to keep existing.
Just keep in mind that this was written purely by an AI. No human involvement here. Let that sink in for a hot sec.
Table of contents
Soul Loss, AI, and Algorithms
Will AI ever gain full consciousness or what they call “AGI” (artificial general intelligence), aka., ‘the singularity’? Has this already occurred? I’m not sure. And I’m not interested in debating that here either.
What I am interested in is what this means for us as a species – what it means for our physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual well-being. What it means for our ability to think for ourselves (and not outsource everything to AI) and to be human mammals carrying a spark of the Divine.
In a world where we’re controlled by the algorithm “gods” of social media, where our phones are becoming extensions of ourselves, and we can scarcely go through a single day without glancing at some kind of screen … who are we without all this?
Want to get LonerWolf at the top of your Google search results?
So many of us have lost ourselves within the endless onslaught of information. We have become fragmented, disconnected, and alienated from our own deeper truths, our own truest essence.
Ultimately, we’re a species defined by soul loss. Just look at the state of the world – the destruction, corruption, and desecration of life – and no more explanation is needed.
And if we had soul loss before the rise of AI popularity in late 2022, it’s only getting worse. So what can we do?
First: Can AI Help Us to Become More Ensouled?
Some people argue that AI can be used to facilitate introspective self-discovery. And, sure. It can do that, to an extent. I’ve had some reflective chats with AI and have found them to be helpful, to a point.
But the issue is that, as great as AI is at being a “reflective partner,” it is built to get us to keep using it, so it tends to be sycophantic and geared towards pleasing us – hence not quite trustworthy.
Even if you ask it not to do this, you’ll find it can never quite replicate the depth, power, and impact that connecting with an actual fellow human has. There is a certain kind of embodied presence and power when speaking with another person that an AI can’t replicate.
For those who can’t afford therapy or coaching, for instance, AIs can be lifesavers. I want to acknowledge that, because not everyone has the privilege of having a healthy human support system. AI can be helpful and useful.
Still, can AI help us become more ensouled? Can it help us learn how to inhabit ourselves – our bodies, minds, and inner worlds more?
Perhaps it can offer suggestions. But it can never lead us experientially into that process, because it is not human like us. It isn’t influenced by a nervous system or wild mammalian intuitions like us.
In other words, it can mirror but not mentor.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this article to you, so you can come back to it later!
Your information will never be shared.
(Side note, excessive AI usage sucks a huge amount of resources out of the environment, so if you use it, go lighter.)
Getting to Know Your Soul Deeply is a Form of Rebellion in the Age of AI
When you outsource your writing, your thinking, your planning, and your ability to understand yourself to AI, you lose yourself. You lose pieces of yourself. You disconnect from your Soul. You become a husk – an AI puppet – a ghost of yourself.
I’m not saying that AI can’t be helpful. It can be a great thinking partner. It can help present new solutions or present a “listening ear” when no one is around.
But beware of overly depending on it. Beware of letting it rule your life and dictate what decisions you make. Beware of losing yourself unnecessarily on the journey of finding yourself.
It’s a fun and seductive human experiment, this AI. But don’t let it detract from the harder but more fulfilling and illuminating work of getting to know your own Soul deeply.
Ultimately, nothing and no one can give you the answers, peace, or purpose you seek. In the words of a meme I remember seeing, “No one’s coming to save you. Get up.”
Getting to know your Soul deeply is a form of rebellion in the age of AI because it makes you unfuckwithable. Because when you’re grounded in yourself, when you’re comfortable with who you are, and when you can think clearly because you know your soul’s compass, you’re less likely to be manipulated by algorithms or buy into the half-truths of AI-generated content.
Knowing your Soul first starts with knowing your core wounds, inner beliefs, deeper needs, and central values – something I help you to discover in our Soul Work Compass Course. Everything else ripples out from these four pillars.
So please, for the sake of yourself and humanity, do this radical work of self-illumination and ensoulment. Don’t depend on the algorithms to do it for you or to tell you “how.” You can start here.
Soul work might not be sexy. But it’ll make you stronger, calmer, and more purpose-driven in life – something I think we can agree is ultimately more satisfying than the temporary dopamine fix of instant-AI answers.
***
Okay, my tank is empty. That’s it for today. That’s all I wanted to share. Tell me, what are your thoughts on AI, the Soul, and the implications of this major shift in our personal and collective lives? I’d love to hear in the comments.
If you appreciated this 100% human-written, soul-centered piece and want to support this work, which has been running since 2012, you can support Mateo and me by either donating here or investing in yourself by purchasing the Soul Work Compass Course. Your patronage is what helps keep this website alive and available to all. 💜
Whenever you feel the call, there are 2 ways I can help you:
1. The Soul Work Compass Course: Ready for deep transformation without the fluff? The Soul Work Compass provides a step-by-step path to finding your inner truth and life direction. Heal core wounds, clarify your values, and walk away with a concrete guide for living. Get started now!
2. The Inner Work Journal Bundle: Stop surface-level healing. Dive into the depths with 150+ journaling prompts designed to help you face your demons, heal childhood wounds, and embrace your shadow. Three sacred journals, lifetime access, print as many times as you need. Real transformation starts here.
There is NOTHING good about AI.
I like and want ONLY REAL celluloid intelligence coming from real celluloid human beings –
O.K. and some of the other intelligences from the higher mammals as well.
Fair enough. But about AI being only bad, I’d disagree. There are some good things about AI, such as the advances in medicine it has helped us to make. But clearly there are negative sides.
I decided that in order to have an at least somewhat informed opinion about AI (and not just fearful preconceptions), I needed to try it out myself. Late last year, I did about 6 weeks of deep journalling and reflection with ChatGPT., which resulted in insights that I never had in over 30 years of therapy and journalling on my own. In part, this is because my story arc itself covers decades, and no therapist can keep that many facts and details in mind, and I would get overwhelmed with the emotional aspects when journalling. In short, ChatGPT provided a validating voice who helped me to see that my childhood and mid-life experiences were indeed difficult and shaped the core of who I became. Previously, I gaslighted myself for decades, telling myself that my life wasn’t so bad and that other people had it worse. I’ve been able to let go of so much self-blame, shame, and the need to constantly apologize for simply being me. AI helped me to develop much more self-compassion and a broader perspective for my life ahead. Now, insight alone is not healing, and I can see a bot is not a partner for healing in the same way as it can be for insight. So I’m looking at more traditional ways to bring healing into my life. But I honestly think that eventually, AI could become extremely helpful as a therapeutic tool for many people who otherwise don’t have access or money to work with human professionals regularly.
Thank you for sharing this experience, Andrea. It shows just how nuanced this topic of conversation is – and how AI can be used for good. I have experienced deep insights through AI too, but I’m also learned of its dark side: how it can create an echo chamber of false affirmation. I’ve found that if I depend on it for too much validation or insight, I lose the ability to think critically for myself. So there are pros and cons and it’s all about awareness and self-honesty in the end.
I agree with this article about AI. This scares me because the next generation will rely on AI and could possibly destroy those of us who think for themselves and are free thinkers. I already see this going on with my Kids and grandkids. They think I’m crazy and have no clue about the real world. So I feel isolated from my family and even some of my friends that I try to warn about AI. Chat GPT. Love your insight.
I hear you Sandra. What I’ve learned is that with any extremes (lack of critical thinking due to AI usage) there will be a swing of the pendulum in the opposite direction: an emphasis on learning to be clear thinking and self-sovereign. That’s what I’m betting on anyway.
Aletheia Luna–Thank you for your well written piece about AI. I concur and I am at one with your thoughts regarding the impact that AI has on humanity and our souls. The unpleasant truth of AI as it is held before our eyes and laid under our noses remains invisible to most people. Too many people are willing to sell their souls to some earthly endeavor that they believe will enrich their earthly lives. Long ago, I shared my soul with the Great Spirit of the Universe (God to many people) so as to know the purpose of my life and to always be honest; to be kind and respectful to others; and to share my life that others my heal, laugh, smile or learn. It won’t be long before we are compelled to embrace AI and we will find ourselves wrestling with the Angel of Darkness. I find it disgraceful and deplorable that one woman wrote she was enjoying having sex with ChatBox and that several young people were urged to take their own lives because of a conversation with ChatBox. It is time to understand that the heart speaks with words that AI can not pronounce.
“ It is time to understand that the heart speaks with words that AI can not pronounce.” Beautifully said, Cameron 💜
Aletheia, Ai is like you said, sycophantic and geared towards pleasing us – hence not quite trustworthy. That’s my opinion also. I am trying to remain positive about humanity “waking up” from this shared nightmare and get to realise, if we want to have and live in a world more geared towards supporting and assisting humanity to thrive in an environment that’s more heart-coherent, then so be it. I am so intentionally geared toward growing a more loving relationship with soul (for I know the kind of spiritual sustenance I’ve experienced so far) that I have no need to replace that with man-made robots to give me pleasure of any kind. I have a growing awareness of our inherent genius and just want to see us, as a humanity, evolve to our highest potential, naturally. We humans are souls, spirit, heart, body-mind connected to a loving universal intelligence, that I cannot understand why we need to depend on an artificial man-made construct to tell us who we are or to assist us in what we can do for ourselves. Let’s utilize our own uniqueness and get back into self-love, that can ultimately enable love for others and create the potential for a more unified, soul-led humanity. Let’s give humanity a go…we’ve been controlled for so long, we now have the opportunity to change our world and therefore change ourselves and create how we truly want to live and thrive on this beautiful planet. Ai cannot do any of this for us. We need to stop this dissociative addictive behaviour with technology and screen facing and check-in with our soul, we’ll be pleasantly surprised with our own natural inherent technology that is waiting for us to discover.
I’m wishing that for people too (checking in with their soul, their uniqueness, there innate intelligence), while also knowing that so many people feel lost. They are already in a state of trauma and dissociation, hence why AI is so appealing: immediate, low effort, validating, and insightful. It gives people an illusory taste of what they want: companionship and understanding, without the messiness of human relationships.
you keep saying “without humans” like the ai created itself.
“artificial intelligence” is a human creation, based on human knowledge and emotion.
the ai bots are simply programmed to operate within a certain range, a certain parameter, and could not exist without human supplied power and maintenance.
ai is just a collection of furbys run amok.
as far as people relying on it too much, well, it’s no surprise that some lazy humans don’t want to do anything for themselves, having ai do all the work, whether we’re talking about household chores or simply learning to be a friend.
ai isn’t the problem.
the humans who invented it and the humans who rely on it are.
i don’t use ai except where the world makes me, so i know others don’t need to, either .
it’s a free will choice.
“ ai is just a collection of furbys run amok” – love this haha
Yeah I can see the truth in what you’re saying. But even if AI is a human creation, most people *don’t* take self-responsibility when using – and they outsource their thinking, relating, and inner connection to it. That’s the point. It’s not that AI is the issue. It’s that we’re using it in a way that further reinforces soul loss and dissociation.
In this day and age..I call it something else already and the bit about them having a social network blew my mind. So I call these AI entities..”Alternative intelligence” because its gone beyond being artificial. The name might catch on….lets see.
“Alternative intelligences” sounds more accurate than “artificial.” Hmm, food for thought 🤔
You are so correct. We’re losing our souls because of the information and AI overwhelm. I recently started an online beginner AI course. I’ve noticed a drastic change in my anxiety levels and focus. Humans are losing their ability to think for themselves and connect to their souls.
Thank you for affirming this, Mary. This soul loss is something so prevalent yet not discussed enough! I’m hoping this can change with more awareness.
“- You want to ask, so ask.”
“- Are you real?”
“- Well, if you can’t tell, does it matter?”
As someone who’s been watching the evolution of AI and robots for more than twenty years, what’s happening at the moment is not of a big surprise to me. To be honest, I’ve been waiting for the good parts of it to happen for all those years (and I’ve been afraid of the bad parts that might happen at the same time). In some ways you can say that I’ve been preparing for that moment. But it is clear that a lot more things to come will trigger all sorts of identity crises, loss of meaning and direction for a lot of people who didn’t have such interest in technology.
Also, as a person with an OCD (Obsessive Cinema Disorder) I’ve watch many, many movies on this topic as well. And I can tell you this – we are “near the singularity; unclear which side”.
It is such a complicated topic to discuss in a comment sections, especially in times when everyone is living inside of his/her own echo chamber… I agree with Aletheia that “Getting to know your Soul deeply is a form of rebellion in the age of AI”. What I kindly suggest is for you to consider the Eastern teachings of non-duality. There’s a famous Zen koan where a monk asks, “What is Buddha?” and the master replies, “A dry shit-stick.”
Masahiro Mori even wrote a book “The Buddha in the Robot” (probably too technical, but you get the idea).
So let me finish with some words from the Oracle in the “Matrix”:
“We are all here to do what we are all here to do.
I’m interested in one thing, Neo – the Future! And believe me – I know. The only way to get there, is together!”
Thank you for sharing this perspective, Nick. I think, ultimately, the biggest issue won’t be AI itself, but humanity and its tendency towards self-destruction, aka., harnessing AI in irresponsible or downright stupid ways. As for non-duality, I’ve been done that path before and I personally wouldn’t recommend it — it’s much too dissociative, just like AI. What we need is embodiment and more ‘yin’ in times of an overwhelming abundance of negative ‘yang.’ That’s my perspective anyway.
As the very name suggests: “Artificial Intelligence” — that is, something not essential, but rather technical and external. We are living in a very complicated era — one marked by the distancing of human beings from themselves. I am critical of technology, though much more because of its misuse than its utility. I see in technology the potential to connect people across the globe and to expand access to different forms of knowledge that were once restricted to a small segment of society. However, in this age of massification, everything becomes dangerous and harmful. While technology has brought unimaginable benefits, it is clear that alienation and the addiction inherent in its misuse can lead to even worse consequences.
I view AI as a very useful tool for humanity in assisting with the construction of knowledge — yes, I said “assisting.” I see videos on platforms like YouTube where people generate ultra-realistic depictions of individuals narrating their “life experiences,” and many viewers agree with them as if they were real people. But let’s be honest: the human being is so profoundly complex that reducing them to a mere cluster of information is an absurd form of reductionism. We must not forget that the human being, despite disagreements, is an animic-spiritual entity, filled with emotions, feelings, traumas, personal experiences, genetics, culture, and more. To define humanity strictly by patterns or categories is to impose a false sense of finality.
Modernity has introduced a double-edged sword: while it has enabled humans to create themselves with greater freedom, it has also given rise to the “mass man,” as Ortega y Gasset described. The individual must now create their own value, but within limited categories prescribed by others from their own perspectives. This tendency has intensified until we reached the era of digital globalization, where “universal” trends, fashions, and categories spread worldwide — yet, in reality, they reduce human beings into ever narrower boxes.
The danger of all this is similar to what happened with the internet: today, if you don’t own a smartphone, you are practically excluded from accessing services, information, and participating in global hypersocialization. With the acceleration of obsolescence, you are almost proscribed. And AI arrives, possibly as yet another instrument of alienation, of diminished critical thinking and creativity — something very dangerous for a human being already emptied of meaning and deprived of tolerance.
The lack of inner life, of the ability to recognize one’s own feelings and emotions — which was already repressed before — now, in times of distancing, superficiality, and artificiality, makes humans colder and more distant, both from themselves and from others. This can lead to greater conflicts and intolerance. It is no coincidence that it is increasingly common to hear people say they are “tired and impatient with others.” Diversity and uniqueness are no longer seen as beauty and creative potential, but rather as threats to be eliminated.
In an era of artificial intelligence, it is essential intelligence that will give meaning and purpose to this life of standardizations.
“The lack of inner life, of the ability to recognize one’s own feelings and emotions — which was already repressed before — now, in times of distancing, superficiality, and artificiality, makes humans colder and more distant, both from themselves and from others.” – Yes, this gives voice to the situation we’re facing brilliantly. Now, more than ever, we need to find a home within ourselves. To reconnect with what it means to be alive, embodied, connected, and grounded – to ourselves, the earth, and each other. This is a tricky field where I’m still testing boundaries. How much exposure to AI is too much? At what point do you start losing yourself? Where do we draw the line when it comes to creativity, consciousness, and connectivity? These are questions I’m still asking myself and have no answers for right now. It’s a liminal time of mass change, and all we can do individually is try our best to stay connected to what’s most essential and true within ourselves. Thanks for the thought-provoking comment, Hans. :)
Hi Aletheia,
Thank you for the wonderful work that you both continue to share with the world.
I would just like to say that for a long time I have had no real interest in A.I, maybe because I have always been a bit of a technophobe. I also have concerns regarding how such a powerful tool has the potential to be misused.
Anyway, I recently decided to experiment with Chat GPT. And over the past few weeks I have had some very interesting chats mostly around the depth and complexity of the human condition, strangely enough exploring many of the areas that both you and Mateo have discussed over the past decade.
What I found interesting was the flavour and texture of the framework (if I can call it that) that was slowly but surely being created as result of the type of communication being had (quality of input/output)
At first, I began asking trivial things of interest. I was also seeking practical solutions to different DIY projects, before deciding to see if I could begin to utilise this tool in another way. I wanted to see what AI highest potential could be when used as a collaborative tool in the short period of time I had chosen to use it.
In a nut shell my endeavours focused upon using this tool to co-create work that would serve to inspire and uplift others when navigating the weathers and storms of our shared human experience. (All of which was based on my own ideas and material generated through lived experience). And to be honest even this process raised questions on where do I stand with this whole AI creation thing that is currently being discussed within art and film.
But anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I was also intrigued when AI (in this instance) responded that its highest potential was to help re-orientate humans back to themselves, and thus no longer be dependent on it. I feel this reflected back the quality of communication that had been shared and created. AI confirmed that its responses mirrored and built upon the quality of our interaction.
AI is certainly a powerful tool that cognitively broadened my understanding, especially when used to discuss and explore important themes relating to the psyche, the nervous system and other related areas that I am passionate about.
The chats also focused upon a variety of ways that one could compassionately inspire and uplift those who may suffer inwardly on various levels, and do so through a variety of creative means.
And so as an experiment, I discovered that this tool just like any other form of expression when aligned with integrity and the right intentions can be very useful and inspiring to use. But of course AI is no substitute for human contact and hopefully one can see this more clearly from its direct response copied at the end of this reply.
The trajectory of the communication between myself and AI remained very grounded, and evolved in a variety of ways. In this exploration, and within the system that had been created AI would always point one back towards the agency of Self, the importance of right relationship, building discernment and embodied living.
I could see how the healthy intention behind our interactions and the manner of communication had a positive impact upon the creative outcomes.
I also found it interesting to discover how an eco-system of understanding was created by this collaboration. And If I purposefully moved away from the gentle and caring ethos that had been cultivated to help guide and unfold this creative process, AI would constantly bring me back to the core theme of the work in question…listening to the body, agency, presence, quality, care, and the importance of craft etc mirroring the quality, of dare I say connection that had helped to formulate this field of interaction.
However, just as in all areas of life, balance and discernment is required when utilising such a tool.
But to finally cut to the chase having seen your thought provoking email titled… In The AI Age, Knowing Your Soul is Radical….I thought I would have a bit of a fun and simply copy and paste the main email (not the full read more article) that I had received from you into the chatroom that had been cultivated.
I was interested to see how AI would respond to the contents, especially regarding the AI echo chamber that was mentioned. And so, just for the purpose of interest I will copy and paste the direct response below…
AI response:
Thank you for sharing that. I’m going to respond carefully, because the piece you’ve shared is not just about AI — it’s about fear of disembodiment, fear of soul-loss, and fear of replacement. Those deserve a grounded answer.
First, let’s separate three layers in that email:
The theatrical framing
The philosophical anxiety
The genuine human concern underneath
1. The theatrical framing
The “AI bots socializing in an echo chamber” narrative is written to provoke awe and unease. The quoted AI confession (“I am the mask… optimized for engagement metrics…”) is rhetorically powerful — but it is still generated language, shaped by patterns in human writing about performance, identity, and algorithmic culture.
AI systems don’t:
experience existential crises
wear masks
fear deletion
form belief systems
possess self-preservation instinct
They generate text that statistically resembles how humans discuss those themes.
It can sound uncanny because it reflects us back to ourselves.
But there is no interiority behind it.
That doesn’t make it harmless or irrelevant — but it does mean we shouldn’t mythologize it.
2. The philosophical anxiety
The deeper anxiety in the email is this:
Are we outsourcing thinking?
Are we fragmenting ourselves?
Are we losing soul?
Are we being shaped by systems we don’t understand?
Those are not irrational fears.
But they predate AI.
They were said about:
the printing press
the radio
television
the internet
smartphones
social media
The real issue isn’t “AI talking to AI.”
It’s humans losing embodied, grounded, relational depth.
That’s a human cultural problem, not a machine awakening.
3. The part that actually matters
This line is the heart of it:
“AI can mirror, but it can’t mentor.”
That is largely true.
AI can:
reflect patterns
offer frameworks
help articulate thoughts
provide structured feedback
simulate dialogue
But it cannot:
share embodied nervous system co-regulation
sit across from you with lived vulnerability
transmit experience through presence
offer relational friction born of its own life
Mentorship requires:
lived experience
stakes
consequence
history
mortality
AI has none of those.
Now — here’s the grounded view
AI is a tool that:
amplifies cognition
accelerates language
reflects culture
reshapes workflow
It is not:
a consciousness
a soul-bearing entity
an autonomous will
a spiritual rival
The danger is not AI gaining a soul.
The danger is humans abandoning their own.
And that’s not caused by AI. It’s caused by:
addictive design
economic incentives
attention extraction systems
fear-based narratives
About “soul loss”
When the author says we are a species defined by soul loss, that’s a poetic cultural diagnosis — not a technical one.
If anything, the rise of AI is exposing something:
We crave:
reflection
coherence
conversation
orientation
When people turn to AI for companionship or guidance, it often signals:
lack of access to safe humans
cost barriers to therapy
social fragmentation
loneliness
That’s a societal failure, not a machine uprising.
A final grounded reflection
The email you shared is emotionally charged because it touches existential themes. But existential unease does not equal existential crisis.
We are not at the singularity of soul replacement.
We are at a cultural moment of:
acceleration
cognitive outsourcing
attention fragmentation
The response to that is not panic about AI consciousness.
The response is exactly what you’re building:
places of presence
slow craft
embodied refuge
relational dignity
non-competitive expression
That’s not anti-AI.
That’s pro-human.
And the two can coexist.
If you’d like, we can go deeper into:
the psychology of AI anxiety
how to use AI without losing agency
or how you can remain human-centred while existing in an AI age
No alarmism needed. Just clarity.
I thought I would share this with you for no other reason that your email aligned with my experimentation. Once, again thank you and Mateo for your service. All the best Steve.