Is life too conformist/predictable, are we losing humanity?

Affable

Let me elaborate. And yes, I will state I am not averse to seeking empathy or someone who can help me through this, not ashamed to admit that because I'm going crazy with this **** in my head. Thought this is stil a philosophy thread first and foremost. Please don't see it as an ego trip, I'm trying to get out whats in my head so the language and meaning won't be perfect, hope you can get the jist. I just wonder if everyone is dancing to the same tune, being forced to. Can I find a fellow dreamer to spend my life with..
Got so much in my head I want to share and not doing so is getting to me.

We all go through the same kind of institutions. The same fairly rigid social structures. People go through the same social routines in teens and beyond and are often dissaproving of privacy and personal space too much. We all absorb the same media. We all go through these communal experiences so that the greatest treasure, the most meaningful experience, the enigmatic, the mysterious becomes harder to attain when people have no moments to themselves, and because people are behaving more and more(as Orwell put it) like cogs in the capitalist machine and not like human beings. People are expected to maximise their potential in the conventional sense, and then the respect happens publicly and they are known upfront. With no mystery left to them. People are almost too stigmatised for not fulfilling others vision of their potential and going down the tracks. People are forced into being thrusting and often vacuous competition. Those who shine the brightest and get to the fore are assumed interesting. But still waters can run deep(people who find anything quiet boring or their won time boring maybe the emptiest) and some people are being forced into this compettition and being noticed that doesnt suit them, they may feel the inner world very deeply despite appearing not so bright on the surface, and not want self-importance or even progress. Or the banality of riding a wave of opportumism. (Iggy Pop-'my heads trying to seel me ambition, but in my heart, I want self-respect, there's a conflict'-profound lyric for me) Increasingly people cannot enjoy the inner life and are stigmatised by not being seen to be striving. It's like they want to keep their own solidity and integrity and are being forced into losing their inner core and sincerity, by the way the human tide is going. If everything is this ottoalyl conventional meritocracy where people want to shine the brightest, it's assumed that all the people of talent, intelligence attractive live in the exclusive cities and no-one else is interesting, if everyone thinks they are better and is alwas on the make for soemthing more exclusive thats kind of dull. Are there still passionate thigns going on away from the limelight and people who don't care about it? I think increasingly, no. Partly because of celbrity obsession, media influence, matieralism, location based snobbery etc.
I'm looking for the enigmatic and mysterious and don't know I can find it.
more cocerning though is people being forced into this thrusting way of the world and self promotion and neglecting the value of the inner life or cultivating deeper emotions. Like I say, the only way I can describe this is it feels harder and harder to hang on to an inner core and this disturbs me. I always wanted to find a fellow dreamer to expereince the inne rworld, the underbelly of life with, to got to some place unstructure and mysterious with. And to have them by my side. Instead I'm being sold self promotion, self love, personal ambition, making myself a public commodity. Letting go of the iner world, and the inner core. It seems everything is cheapend, now friends are commodities on facebook, everything is globalised, demystifed etc. When I want the self-respect of not goin up my own arse, keeping some sincere emotions, having some humanity and succumbing to the universe. Actually its not right that people have vastly more money and dignity than some for pursuing their self-interest(sometimes drese up as the will to serve others), an are living in mansions with secuirty guards while millions of street children fester(an extreme example of capitalims but the point stands). It's pervers and touted as right. This world is heading more and more up it's own arse . I really feel if you are happy to have kids then you must not see the trdgedy of whats happening.

Do any of these modern age 'phenomena' I describe hold water? What do you think?

Oh I live in SE England if thats relevant to the culture thing.

dreamlogic

I'm being sold self promotion, self love, personal ambition, making myself a public commodity. Letting go of the iner world, and the inner core. It seems everything is cheapend, now friends are commodities on facebook, everything is globalised, demystifed etc.

Being sold something requires that you buy into it - a transaction takes place. As for everything being cheapened, well I think this is more a matter of what does the person value.. If I value something but I notice that most of society does not share my opinion on this thing why should this bother me unless I am seeking their approval in some way?

we all absorb the same media

Don't you think this is an odd thing to say considering the current era we live in when we have more variety of information available to us than ever before?

Affable

dreamlogic wrote: »

Being sold something requires that you buy into it - a transaction takes place. As for everything being cheapened, well I think this is more a matter of what does the person value.. If I value something but I notice that most of society does not share my opinion on this thing why should this bother me unless I am seeking their approval in some way?
Don't you think this is an odd thing to say considering the current era we live in when we have more variety of information available to us than ever before?

It wasn't a very precise post, I was feeling mixed up. (To your second point)-more to convey the general jist.

To the first part, it bothers me because of this-

We all have what we know to be wrong and right in our objective minds, but nine of is exempt from social influence, we are social animals that have to be heard and understood. Otherwise our thoughts are like cries down a well, can't be heard and so we end up tormented and confused(taken to the extreme of the point) and alienated. So it's like people can be torn between their objective minds and what they know to be right, and wanting to swim with the human tide to prevent alienation? Make sense?

nobodythere

Affable, all valid points, I'm not here to discuss them but to tell you you might like to read The Ascent of Humanity. There's a free online version here http://www.ascentofhumanity.com/

Affable

grasshopa wrote: »

Affable, all valid points, I'm not here to discuss them but to tell you you might like to read The Ascent of Humanity. There's a free online version here http://www.ascentofhumanity.com/

But what's your view on them?