Ancient societies were tribal;
The group did the thinking.
Current society is splintered;
The individual must be complex.People from old traditions were often less complicated because they had the advantage of a complete culture that did the thinking for them. Everyone had a role that fit the whole. Individuals could concentrate on fulfilling their place, confident that the other needs would be met by the collective.
The specialization of modern times calls for individual roles that do not necessarily form a whole. We often lose sight even of what the whole is. We have commentators, we have critics, but we do not have leaders. We celebrate egalitarianism and consensus, but it is phony : a chaos of voices rather than a democracy; a populace of individuals pursuing their own ends rather than a collective.
The burden thus falls on the individual to fulfill a tremendous range of functions. We have to make more choices, be more informed, act in a wide variety of areas. We cannot simply concentrate on doing our part, because now our part is to compete with everyone else.
Spirituality is more difficult today. In the past, you could become a spiritual aspirant and the people would support you; a holy person was just as much a part of the collective as a farmer. Now, to be a holy aspirant you have to look for your own job and find new ways through a society that barely recognizes the spiritual.
“Albrecht’s Law – Intelligent people, when assembled into an organization, will tend toward collective stupidity.” — Karl Albrecht
“Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.” — Bertrand Russell
“The great creative individual. . . is capable of more wisdom and virtue than collective man ever can be.”
— John Stuart Mill
“What is reality, anyway? Just a collective hunch”
— Lily Tomlin
“Although we human beings have our own personal life, we are yet in large measure the representatives, the victims and promoters of a collective spirit whose years are counted in centuries. We can well think all our lives long that we are following our own noses, and may never discover that we are, for the most part, supernumeraries on the stage of the world theatre.” — Carl Gustav Jung
To all of us who play the spirit of Christmas tonight – blessings to you. May those who find your gifts tomorrow be full of joy and wonder. My 20 and 16 year old are going to wake up to gifts wrapped in Hello Kitty and Care Bear paper. Heh.
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