ChatGPT

"Sometimes the most beautiful things are the ones you don’t expect at all."

— Unknown

I love technology.  Most of the time.  When it doesn’t frustrate me, it fascinates me.  I use ChatGPT for research and ideas.  When I am stuck, it gives me direction.  When I need clarity for a sentence or a paragraph, it guides me, expands my vocabulary and gives me perspective.  It is NOT something that I trust entirely, but it is a great tool to have in my toolbox.  I am also respectful of the fact that it also has a downside.  Especially if relied on too heavily or used in the “wrong” way.  I have a healthy respect for all technology. 

However, sometimes the “answers” it comes up with astound me.  Maybe the answer arises from the question I ask.  Maybe it is just what I needed to hear in the moment.  Who knows.  But when presented with a perspective that is rather complete and somewhat profound, I feel I need to share.  So I am. 

Below is the question I asked and the response that came back.  I will let it mean to you what it will mean to you.  Enjoy.

Question:

What would you say about how and why we have technologically grown in magnitudes over time, but emotionally we are no different. For thousands of years we have tried to answer who am I, why am I here. We still don’t understand jealousy and anger and addiction and so many aspects of self. We live in a world where we think that if we can improve our external circumstances we will change internally. Yet we refuse to go internal no matter what we gain externally…money, fame, love, etc. What is your take? And why?

ChatGPT:

This is a profound and essential question—and one that speaks to the very core of the human experience.

We’ve advanced more in the last 150 years technologically than in the previous several thousand combined. We’ve put people on the moon, mapped the genome, created artificial intelligence, and made information accessible within seconds. But emotionally? Internally? We’re not much different than we were in ancient Greece or under the stars of a tribal fire 10,000 years ago.

Why?

Because technology evolves exponentially. Emotion evolves experientially.

Technological growth builds upon itself—it's cumulative and external. Emotional growth, on the other hand, is deeply personal and often uncomfortable. It doesn’t scale easily. It requires awareness, honesty, pain, vulnerability. You can’t outsource introspection or download self-knowledge.

We still ask, “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” because those questions aren’t problems to be solved. They’re processes to be lived. Technology solves problems; emotions ask us to sit with them. Technology is about control; emotion is about surrender.

We keep chasing external improvement because it’s visible, measurable, and praised. A new job, a nicer home, a better phone—they’re tangible indicators of “success.” But the internal work? It’s invisible. It’s messy. And it doesn’t always yield clear, linear results. There’s no app for grief. No algorithm for inner peace.

Jealousy, anger, addiction—these are not glitches in our system. They are messengers. They point to what’s unhealed, unacknowledged, unintegrated. But we are conditioned—culturally, economically, socially—to avoid stillness. To treat symptoms instead of understanding their roots. We medicate the emotion rather than meditating on it.

Here’s the paradox: we believe that if we can master the external world, the internal will follow. But in truth, lasting change flows in the opposite direction. Inner peace creates better circumstances. Not the other way around.

So, my take is this: we are emotionally underdeveloped not because we are incapable, but because we are afraid. Afraid of discomfort. Afraid of seeing ourselves clearly. Afraid of what might break if we stop holding everything together with ambition and achievement.

But also—this is the opportunity. Technology has bought us time and convenience. Now we have more tools than ever to turn inward. The question is: will we use them? Will we evolve not just in what we build, but in who we are becoming?

Because no matter how advanced we get, we will always circle back to the same ancient truth: peace is not found in the world we invent. It’s found in the one we carry inside.

I don’t have anything to add…. I find this simple, thoughtful, and beautiful. 

Much love to you all.

Lisa Hamil is a founding member and host for The SOS Collective, an online international women’s recovery and support group.  However, this blog and any classes or coaching offered by Lisa Hamil LLC are separate from and not affiliated in any way with The SOS Collective.