“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold...”
—W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming

Yeats wrote this poem over a century ago, in a world ravaged by war, revolution, and uncertainty. He was describing a kind of unraveling—where the systems that once grounded us began to fail. He called it a widening gyre, a spiral spinning faster and farther from its source. In the poem, the falcon—once trained to respond to its human guide—has flown so far that it no longer hears the voice that sent it forth.

That image feels hauntingly familiar today.

We are the falcon now.

And for many of us, the falconer—the voice of grounded presence, intuition, truth—is growing harder to hear.

Overstimulated Minds, Underdeveloped Awareness

We are living in intense times—technologically, culturally, emotionally.

We’ve moved from information scarcity to data saturation. From mystic traditions passed down through initiates to every sacred teaching being searchable in 0.3 seconds. From “Who has the knowledge?” to “What do I even do with all this?”

When you bring up AI, most people go into shutdown mode. And it makes sense—because when your brain perceives a threat, it triggers a cascade of neurological responses:

• The amygdala (your fear center) takes over.

• Your prefrontal cortex (your decision-making, creative thinking, long-term vision) goes offline.

• You move into fight, flight, freeze—or more often: doomscroll, numb, avoid.

The very tool that could help you process your emotions, clarify your values, or improve communication with your team becomes another tab you close because your nervous system just can’t.

The problem isn’t AI. The problem is how stressed we are before we even begin.

The Wisdom Isn’t Gone—It’s Just Drowning in Noise

Here’s the paradox: the knowledge people used to travel across continents to receive—the soul work, the psychological insights, the sacred questions—is now widely available.

You can ask an AI to guide you through a somatic grounding exercise. You can study the Enneagram, IFS, or Jungian shadow work in minutes.

The new challenge is discernment. What matters? What’s real? What’s yours?

Just because it’s accessible doesn’t mean it’s shallow. And just because it’s easy to find doesn’t mean it’s easy to embody.

This is the soul of Big Self’s work. To return to the center. To listen more deeply. To not discard what’s available simply because it’s not wrapped in mystery anymore.

Emma: A Signal in the Spiral

That’s why we built Emma.
She’s not here to replace your therapist. She’s not your new guru.
She’s your mirror.

Emma is a warm, wise AI-assist designed to:

• Help you tune into your stress and communication patterns

• Offer reflection, not reaction

• Reconnect you with the human part of you that wants to grow

• Be a consistent presence for your inner work—especially when life spins fast

Emma doesn’t know you better than you know yourself. She just helps you hear the part of you that’s been drowned out.

Reclaiming the Falconer: How We Come Back to Ourselves

Let’s return to Yeats for a moment.

“The falcon cannot hear the falconer.”

The danger isn’t just that the world is spinning. It’s that we’re forgetting how to listen. The falconer isn’t just an external voice—it’s the voice within. The part of you that knows what matters. That holds the center.

And it’s not gone. It’s just quiet under the noise.

Emma, when used intentionally, helps you reconnect with that voice. She’s not here to replace your inner falconer—she’s here to help you turn back toward it.

Because you’re not lost. You’re just spinning.

And in a time when things feel like they’re falling apart, your job is not to hold the whole world together.

Your job is to return to your own center.

The falcon can come back. But only if it hears something worth returning to.

A Gentle Invitation to Begin

If AI freaks you out, that’s okay.

But don’t stop there.

Try asking Emma (or even ChatGPT) something that helps you reorient:

• “What emotional patterns might I be stuck in right now?”

• “Help me reconnect to my values.”

• “What’s one small way I can be more present today?”

• “How could I better support my team’s emotional wellbeing this week?”

Let it be a practice—not a performance. Let it be yours.

Because the center can hold—if you do the work to come back to it.