This is part 3 of a 6 part series from an essay which I entered into an essay contest. Over the next several days we are going to be looking at the cult of selfism and postmodernism from a historical, philosophical, sociological, and theological angle. I promise not to get to deep into the subject but get ready to start looking at our culture from a totally different viewpoint. Today I wish to look at the philosophical aspect of how postmoderism and the cult of selfism took over our culture.
How do they relate?
(Philosophy)
The widespread cult of Selfism was basically born from the philosophy of Post Modernism or as some would call it “Ultra modernism.” Postmodern thinking has two basic components: community and language. In terms of community the postmodern thought is not the idea of traditional community, but bracketed community. Community based on age, technological knowledge, style, privilege, status, a cause, or even ideas, but rarely is it based on family, neighborhood, ethnic status or religion. The postmodern community maybe someone who lives across town rather than around the corner causing a loss of connectivity with the surrounding population. Because connectivity is lost in terms of relationship based on close reliability then the community factor which is longed for is not fulfilled. Mobility and freedom to move about as we wish is more important than knowing who it is who lives next door to us. I have experienced this through the years by talking to my peers about needing to belong to a local church. Universalism has overtaken the philosophy that people no longer associate the need of belonging to a local society. It is an inquisitive desire to know people from a distance so that the ugly wart of Selfism cannot be readily seen by those around us therefore we cannot be identified to this cult.
Because community has been redefined there is a loss of base regarding the past and passing generations. Connection is lost so the past is either forgotten or ignored. This shows up in no other place strongest than in the Christian religion. At one time the strength of many local congregations across American was the fact that there may have been three or four generations who belonged to that church. This connection and community was starting to be lost by the Great Generation who began to dabble with mysticism and existentialism. As has already been discussed this was taken up by the peace movement of the “Baby Boom” Generation and embraced. Now the tapering off of the “Great Generation” and the embracing of the “Baby Boom” Generation has given birth to a religiously irreverent and ignorant society which has lost and ignores history.
That leads to the second thing the post modern movement claims for itself, language. The reason for ignoring history and not connecting to community regarding past generations is because there is no absolute truth. Where as one generation questioned truth this generation does not even question it, we just do not believe in it. There is a contradiction which will be seen later, but my generation and the generations directly attached to it have no strong, hard core belief in absolute truth. Truth is what you make it therefore what seems right to me is what I choose to do. Since there are no absolute truths then the law regarding running the traffic light on red does not apply. It does not seem right to make me wait two minutes at a light when I can “safely” go through it. Or as the story illustrated before, if someone won’t let others be with the person they want to be with then they can end the life of those who stand in the way of their happiness. The cult of Selfism protrudes most strongly from postmodernism in this area.
Next we will look at the sociological effect it has had on our culture.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
THE CULT OF SELFISM AND THE POST-MODERN WORLD-Part 2
This is a continuation of a 6 part series from an essay which I entered into an essay contest. Over the next several days we are going to be looking at the cult of selfism and postmodernism from a historical, philosophical, sociological, and theological angle. I promise not to get to deep into the subject but get ready to start looking at our culture from a totally different viewpoint. Today I wish to look at the historical aspect of how postmoderism and the cult of selfism took over our culture.
Where Did This Begin?
(History)
There are a number of places we can start with to find out where this cult originated. In the third chapter of Genesis it talks about the fall of humankind into sin and what it would do. While this cult has belonged to humankind since the beginning of time, recently it has come to the place of preeminence not just in the American society but worldwide. Maybe it’s the fault of the internet, rock & roll or country music. It could also the fault of television and movie entertainment. Blame the retailers and their lust for money and greed or the lack of parental involvement or even the educational system. While these may have played some role the reality is that it belongs with a general flaw and belief systems which were originally spawned by the generation of the Second World War, the Great Generation. This generation began to pick up on eastern mystical religion after the war because of the disillusionment with the status quo of life. They had experienced two traumatizing worldwide events, the Great Depression and World War II. Couple that with the existential movement which began only a generation before and there is a boiler waiting to explode.
Out of that generation starting in 1941 until 1964 or 1968 (depends on who you read regarding sociology) came the “Baby Boom” generation. This generation is composed of over 80 million people. It quickly became the most consumer based group in the world in history. It was also viewed as a generation which could and would spread the American dream to the world. A problem with this was found in a little Southeast Asia country called Vietnam. When this generation recognized the size and force they could exhibit they chose to protest against the war and began to question established authority. This generation bought into the eastern mystical cults for more than the “Great Generation” and mixed it with the “if it feels good” philosophy which would dominate their generation. This is the generation which starts to allow the glue to come apart in the fabric of society. By doing this a fire was being built which would have an impact like none other.
From the “Baby Boomer” generation came the “Baby Buster” or “X-Generation” born mainly from 1964 or 1968 and ending around 1982 or 1988. This generation was at one time regarded as a quiet generation but came into it’s own during the technology revolution of the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s and began to exert its muscle squeezing out the “Baby Boomers” based on sheer knowledge. That in culmination with the “Y-Generation” and the “Millennial Generation” began to make strides toward domination in business, ethics, law and entertainment which the “Baby Boom” generation had not imagined. These are the generations where violence and amoral beliefs begin to unfold. It has now gone from a “feel good, me generation” to an “it’s only about me” generation. Therefore if a person does not like it, they may choose to kill in order to end the turmoil. The cult of Selfism which began with the “Great Generation” is now reaping what was sown.
Next time we will be looking at the philosophical side of this phenomenon.
God Bless,
Steven
Where Did This Begin?
(History)
There are a number of places we can start with to find out where this cult originated. In the third chapter of Genesis it talks about the fall of humankind into sin and what it would do. While this cult has belonged to humankind since the beginning of time, recently it has come to the place of preeminence not just in the American society but worldwide. Maybe it’s the fault of the internet, rock & roll or country music. It could also the fault of television and movie entertainment. Blame the retailers and their lust for money and greed or the lack of parental involvement or even the educational system. While these may have played some role the reality is that it belongs with a general flaw and belief systems which were originally spawned by the generation of the Second World War, the Great Generation. This generation began to pick up on eastern mystical religion after the war because of the disillusionment with the status quo of life. They had experienced two traumatizing worldwide events, the Great Depression and World War II. Couple that with the existential movement which began only a generation before and there is a boiler waiting to explode.
Out of that generation starting in 1941 until 1964 or 1968 (depends on who you read regarding sociology) came the “Baby Boom” generation. This generation is composed of over 80 million people. It quickly became the most consumer based group in the world in history. It was also viewed as a generation which could and would spread the American dream to the world. A problem with this was found in a little Southeast Asia country called Vietnam. When this generation recognized the size and force they could exhibit they chose to protest against the war and began to question established authority. This generation bought into the eastern mystical cults for more than the “Great Generation” and mixed it with the “if it feels good” philosophy which would dominate their generation. This is the generation which starts to allow the glue to come apart in the fabric of society. By doing this a fire was being built which would have an impact like none other.
From the “Baby Boomer” generation came the “Baby Buster” or “X-Generation” born mainly from 1964 or 1968 and ending around 1982 or 1988. This generation was at one time regarded as a quiet generation but came into it’s own during the technology revolution of the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s and began to exert its muscle squeezing out the “Baby Boomers” based on sheer knowledge. That in culmination with the “Y-Generation” and the “Millennial Generation” began to make strides toward domination in business, ethics, law and entertainment which the “Baby Boom” generation had not imagined. These are the generations where violence and amoral beliefs begin to unfold. It has now gone from a “feel good, me generation” to an “it’s only about me” generation. Therefore if a person does not like it, they may choose to kill in order to end the turmoil. The cult of Selfism which began with the “Great Generation” is now reaping what was sown.
Next time we will be looking at the philosophical side of this phenomenon.
God Bless,
Steven
Saturday, April 19, 2008
THE CULT OF SELFISM AND THE POST-MODERN WORLD-Part 1
The following is the part 1 of a 6 part series from an essay which I entered into an essay contest. Over the next several days we are going to be looking at the cult of selfism and postmodernism from a historical, philosophical, sociological, and theological angle. I promise not to get to deep into the subject but get ready to start looking at our culture from a totally different viewpoint.
Introduction
On the morning of March 1, 2008 a family was woken up to a horrifying situation. Their sixteen year old daughter’s boyfriend and a friend broke into their house with the intent to commit a mass murder. Before the event was over the mother would lie dead of gunshot wounds along with the thirteen year old son and the eight year old son stabbed to death. The father lay playing dead on the floor with a gunshot wound to the head and two in the back. He quickly crawled out of the house as the two young men set it on fire to cover the evidence. The father dragged himself almost three hundred yards to a neighbor’s house for help. A mile down the road was an eighteen year old woman and the sixteen year old girlfriend waiting in a car to pick up the two murderers. In less than twenty four hours all were in custody and the sixteen year old girl’s father was in the hospital recovering from his physical injuries. Normally, this would not even be something that I would pay attention too except to pray for the family and for those who committed this horrible crime. I would probably give enough respect to the story to wonder why such an action had occurred then move on. This time the situation took on a new meaning because I work with a distant family member of the eighteen year old young lady who drove the get-a-way car.
On the surface we could speculate that the reason for the murders was over a sixteen year olds fascination with a nineteen year old man. The fact that the families wanted the two to split up because they felt the daughter was too young. We could rationalize that raging hormones had something to do with it. Or maybe a misguided belief that if the family was out of the way they could spend the rest of their lives together. All of these theories and thoughts may be true or it maybe more hideous, more involved or something which has taken a culture by storm and is now invading the very nature of our society. While the above reasons are true I have come to believe that such actions are the result of belonging to the religious cult of Selfism.
God Bless,
Steven
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