Thursday, May 5, 2011

Narcissism?

We all live by our values ... whatever they may be, and that's the question. What are the values by which we live? The values of a Wall Street Banker are different than the values of a 3rd grade teacher on the south side of Chicago.

Religion, in some ways, helps folks of divergent backgrounds and interests to modify their values in the light of something "higher," but what with the diversity of religion, there doesn't seem to be a lot of concrete agreement. Lots of folks might talk about love, but just exactly what is love, and what does it look like in practice?

Perhaps what we've lost in the cyber-age is the courage to reflect upon our values, to be critical of them in ourselves, to ask hard questions of ourselves. In this respect, I think we've become a lot more self-indulgent, assuming that our personal happiness (whatever that is) is the supreme value. Narcissism is rampant in the West and in societies driven by technology!

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