In the era of self-entitlement and one’s own happiness, we tend to drown in the current of information. We drown in the intake of information we consume, no longer deciphering if that information is good or bad, we want it all, we want everything on the market and we want the option to have everything. We want ultimate comfort because it feels good and if it feels good, then it must be what God wants for us. There are many problems with this fulfillment. It leads me to believe if I think I know what God wants for me, am I taking the place of God? This innate entitlement and ownership that presides in me over my destiny and my place with others is taking me away from the seeing the “whole picture”. The prevalent theme here is “me” and “my happiness”. How is that prophetic in a consumer culture?
If I am to be part of the social fabric that constructs a community, I must not only be the one who sees the landscape but sees myself in that landscape. Our narcissism levels must be lowered and calibrated. Some of us live in fear that we will be abandoned by God if we do not lead a benevolent life. Some of us live in fear that we will lose ourselves if we are not nourishing our own existence. Some of us take too much and need to learn how to give. Some of us are consummate givers and need to learn how to take. It is a negotiation and the solution is not about being balancing in the middle, but to be in a constant state of self-examination, not self-indulgence. We, as children of God, light, good news, (whatever you want to identify), must think in reverse, “How do I want to give to someone?” In the light of this perspective, we are leaders in the direction of the fragrance of the four cardinal virtues (Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance). Based on those fundamentals, we can then make better decisions and which to exercise instead of attempting all. Our generations do not have more options or more needs than previous generations, it is the sense of American entitlement and consumerism that notions us to fulfill every desire we mistaken as needs.
We cannot commodify humanity. People are not beta. What we can do is compliment those who share the same mission and attempt to understand the differences in those who do not commune so easily. We will not find “the best” and we will never know when “the best” happens. Sure, there will be “other” but that doesn’t mean its “the best”. What we can do is decide to drop anchor and get rooted. If we make a decision that speaks to others, that enables and empowers the well-being of others, then, in that deepened momentum is when the universal God speaks through us.
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