It seems many integral parts of our American society are detrimental to the emotional and physical health of the people. In our country, the bulk of society seems captured by a lifestyle devoid of meaning.

The word philistine defines a type of individual who is at their core, foolish, brash and uncaring. This person is smug and ignorant, as well as indifferent to the matters of the world. They refuse selfcultivation. Intellectual pursuits, moral values, and philosophy are of no importance to this person. They are common people, comfortable in apathy and extremely limited in tastes and ideas. The endless race for wealth is perhaps one of the most disturbing social trends that can be observed in modern society.

An entire nation, it seems, sold on dreams of expensive ‘things’ and exotic vacations, now most of them working hard for barely enough to pay for the gas required to get to work every day. Some flourish in the 40-hour-work-week, for others it is torture. The jobs people don’t want to work are the jobs the eighteen to twenty-one year old seems to inherit. The patterns of living and paying often seem like a form of elaborate control, one we cannot escape because it exists as a requirement for living.

Owning is required for existing; consuming is required even in the most basic needs such as food. Money has been built into the foundation of our society. The transfer of wealth is how our economy works and grows. It’s a tunnel vision sort of lifestyle obsession that doesn’t seem to ever slow down at times.

The social order has all. Morning shower, eat, leave for work. Mid-morning arrive at the job and begin working. Eat a lunch in the workplace commons and then return to work. Smoke cigarettes on breaks and count the hours on the clock. Late evening and first to the gas station to fill up, then home. Get home exhausted and flop down on the couch and turn on the television set. Eat a bit of dinner, brush the teeth, make love to the spouse (or your hand), go to sleep and start it all over the next day.

I’ve heard a lot of defenses against this argument. Most simply say ‘Hey it’s just the way things are, so quit bitching.’ Maybe so. Maybe we were just born with a raw deal. They needed cashiers and grocery baggers, and we needed something to do… badly.

I could understand, though, if the job was one you sincerely loved. Still it seems we have no time left for study, learning. The word ‘learn’ is so often associated with memories of stacks of homework you once had to do on subjects that did not interest you. Thankfully the sometimes downright ugly thought of learning becomes more appealing when the study is of things personally important. It seems in modern culture the idea of learning makes many sick; such as those fresh out of high school. Let the sunshine in. Any explorer understands the importance of learning. Exploring is learning is living. Simply observing things with fresh eyes can bring realizations of the true natural motive behind money and power: Greed.

The only way, it seems, to cure ourselves of this misguided direction in our lives is to redirect our dreams and desires to things that are really important to us. We were sold on dreams that were never ours long before we even understood what a dream really was. Our dreams exist within the framework of the social patterns, and this is the greatest part of the problem. We have to look outside this framework, outside the box, for the things that are truly important to us. Society shouts, “Find a job you love, find a home you love, fill your home with objects you love and build a family you will love, and we promise, yes, we promise you will be happy for the rest of your days!”

We know now this sales pitch is false. These things will not make us happy; they will make us sick in consumerism. They will slowly wear away on us, until we are so lost that we see no possibility or desire of escaping the cage built around us.

I’m here now to tell you now: We can’t let this happen! It consumed our parents, our grandparents, but we’re smarter now, we’re starting to get it. We’re starting to catch on, and that means everything. But it leaves us somewhere cold and uncertain in the end. The pulling questions remain: “What do we do now? Where do we go from here?” It all comes down to a simple question that we all must ask ourselves. That question is: “What am I passionate about?” This question is asking what we love, what we think about all the time, what fascinates us, what we want to do, what we want to spend innumerable hours on. This question asks of us, what do we love, and begs the next question: “Do we love it enough to make it the purpose of our life?” You might think, ‘you’re making too much of this!’ A life is just a life…well, fuck that idea. How can we dethrone ourselves to beggars and peasants when we are, in fact, sentient human beings, with lives and dreams to fulfill? If we would only find them with the same tenacity that we would chase them with, we could take the world..

Get excited about life, pick the real dreams and the right directions and head out into the world to do great things. It’s the only way to do it; think outside the box, escape this mind-numbing social order and create occupations out of the things you love, the things you feel most passionately about. It’s all out there, grab it, and make it your own.