What Are You Really Building Your Life For?

"Who could have imagined the Pope would weigh in to a technology related thing like AI" was my brother-in-law's comment about the Pope's article on AI that has just been published.

It's a fair comment and one that I am sure many people made, but the article has been incredibly well received. The Wall Street Journal described it as "a text that is poised to define Leo's papacy" and The Guardian wrote that it was a message "the secular world can get behind."

The iconic dome of St. Peter's Basilica stands majestically at sunrise, symbolizing the spiritual setting for Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas."

Magnifica Humanitas is Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, it is a formal letter to the Church and the wider world. A Pope's first encyclical is never accidental. It's a statement about the things they believe matters most. The fact that Leo chose AI and human dignity as his opening message tells us something about the importance he sees in this moment.

The letter opens with the story of the Tower of Babel. Humanity, so driven by ambition and the hunger to build, grow and earn that nobody stopped to ask why. Who are we building this tower for? Is it the best thing for everyone? They just kept building. Until it all fell apart.

This is the question and the comparison the Pope asks us to consider - to the tech giants developing AI - are you building for human flourishing, or for power and profit?

A towering structure reminiscent of the architectural ambition of the Tower of Babel, reaching towards a bright blue sky scattered with clouds.

As we consider this huge juganuat of change and deveopment and the morals of those who are building it - it is also a quieter, deeper question we can ask in our own lives. What are we building? Is it the best thing for all of us?

Are most of us building our own version of Babel? A tower so focused on growth and achievements that it risks toppling our lives, our health and the things that are important to us.

We optimise our days, our diets, our sleep, our productivity - we check our watches, gather our data, bio hack, buy the next product, the next app that might help us achieve more... We chase the next goal, the next milestone, the next version of ourselves that helps us to feel enough. We fill our silences. We no longer read the back of the cereal box - we scroll videos. The drive and the ambition to achieve all we can and be our best selves - but are we actually becoming our best selves?

It can be this constant pushing, that leads us to exhaustion and ultimately burnout - we haven't stopped to check in with how we are doing and are we building for a greater purpose.

A lone fisherman skillfully casts his net into the serene waters at sunrise, capturing the calm beauty of the moment.

There is an old story that has been told many times -

An American businessman is standing on a pier in a small coastal village in Mexico when a small boat with just one fisherman docks. Inside the boat are several large yellowfin tuna. The American compliments the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asks how long it took to catch them.

"Only a little while," the fisherman replies.

The American asks why he didn't stay out longer and catch more fish.

The fisherman says he has enough to meet his family's needs.

The American then asks how he spends the rest of his time.

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my friends. I have a full and busy life."

The American scoffs. "I have a Harvard MBA and I can help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, and eventually you would have a whole fleet. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA, and eventually New York City where you would run your expanding enterprise."

The fisherman asks how long all this would take.

"Fifteen, maybe twenty years."

"And then what?"

The American laughs. "That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions."

"Millions. And then what?"

"Then you would retire, move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play guitar with your friends."

We can ask ourselves the question, "for all the good that AI does, the efficency, The optimising of small and sometimes tedious parts of our lives, how do we measure what AI is actually doing? Harder to measure is what we lose: the erosion of critical thinking, the ability to write our own emails, to take time to consider our ideas and share the thoughts and questions that we have been sitting with - without asking ChatGPT to share a speedier version of those thoughts and ideas!

If we are honest and ask oursleves - have things got easier? Maybe? Do I feel better? The body keeps score of relentless pushing. The tiredness that sleep doesn't fix. The low-level anxiety, less time and care for people around us.

Can we stop and pause - take a deep breath in and ask, am I optimising my life for the benefit of myself and those I love?

A collaborative workspace filled with laptops and gadgets, capturing a productive tech-focused environment.

What is your why? Not your goals, not your metrics, not the version of yourself you are working toward. The deeper thing that drives you and does the life you are building actually take you closer to it?

The work I do with people through Active Stillness isn't about slowing down for its own sake. It's about creating enough stillness to hear yourself think. To ask the question the Pope is putting to Silicon Valley, and turn it inward and listen to the wisdom of our bodies and the answer is gives us.

If any of this resonates, I'd love you to come and find that stillness - I have a short audio course that includes mediations, breathwork, affirmations and a yoga nidra to help you find that quiet place inside yourself and ask listen to the wisdom inside.

Quiet Ground