How societal framework inhibits our potential for self-realisation.
Frames built by society obstruct human flourishing. Cultures imposes values on individuals and will influence their behavior in order to suit society’s expectations. We therefore construct ourselves through the others expectations and disregard what we truly need to flourish. It becomes very difficult for an individual to fight these social pressures, but it is necessary to expand these frames and push our horizons beyond the expectations of our surrounding.
An important frame of society in our century is science’s domination over faith, and reason over intuition. Thoreau also argues that human is completely dissociated from nature when they are intrinsically linked. The worst aspect is that it is deeply embedded in education; children learn from their parents who are already themselves shaped by society and are disconnected from their true self. Therefore, children are doomed to follow the same path.
I have an anecdote that clearly illustrate our societal framework; I went to fix my computer at the Apple store because it crashed while writing this text. I felt like I was in an ant hole, where each red shirt apple employee had a task and customers were in a zone of consumption. I was surprised by the multi-generation of the customers, there were grandparents who had new gadgets for their iPad, there were students, parents and families.
A special table dedicated for children with iPad was set up to keep them busy. It was actually the saddest thing because we see that children are also disconnected from each other, instead of playing together they played individually on their respective iPad. I was shocked to see that one girl had been waiting for a while to play, but the children were so absorbed that they did not even pay attention to her.
Everything in the store was made to grasp your attention, whether it was the range of products, the computers lying on all the tables to be tested or the screens that promoted the latest version of the mac. Even people who were waiting were on their iPhone or absorbed by one of the distractions. The mac store is the embodiment of our society.
Another crucial framework that constrains humanity is the need for accomplishments. Indeed, there is a constant quest for success to build our persona. Thoreau questions “Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises?”. The answer could simply be because society imposes it on us, and we do not even dare to question it. Instead, we prefer to follow the same pace as everyone else and remain in the flow, or rather the herd.
We need to feel this sense of belonging, because after all we are not the only one following this rhythm, we are all under the same pressure disguised under different aspects. White narrates from his own experience as an accomplished lawyer, that he possessed everything and feared the loss of it all. He kept on pursuing more in order to be satisfied, but every time he would reach an accomplishment, there would be another one to surmount. The ego must create a new objective to keep the mind busy, otherwise we would realize that we are empty. The fear makes us focus on results, instead to look at the process and qualitative aspects of our lives.
To summarize, the life of abundance and the frames imposed by society on people constrains to follow a meaningless path of life. People create their identity from possessions and strive for successes that are recognized by society. This impedes them from finding the true meaning of life.
In my next blog post I will talk about some ways to overcome those obstacles based again on those three authors.
Books to read!
Henry Thoreau, Walden
John Reed, Elegant Simplicity
John White The Ecology of Being