Culture and values.
People talk a lot about culture and values.
Almost always from a collectivist viewpoint – almost never in regards to the personal culture, the subjective values, of the human individual.
And to a certain extent, this is understandable. Culture is something most of us experience socially, as a group; most of us never fully develop our personal cultures, language, idiom, semiotic discourse with ourselves. And it’s quite easy to assume that values are facts of nature, rather than agreed upon claims about resources, let alone the ultimately subjective claim of an object, entity, or idea’s worth, utility, or necessity. We’re conditioned to think of culture and values in terms of the collective.
And the collective has value. Don’t get me wrong – we exist as parts of social units, species, ecosystems. The collective dimension of our existence is inescapable.
But a truly meritocratic society – a truly egalitarian society – a truly horizontal society – cultivates the perfection not just of the collective but of the individual, seeks the perfection of the collective through the self-actualization of its individual members; rewards the development and the expression of the individual’s perspective, insight, culture, and values, which in turn catalyze, influence, become part of the collective discourse.
There are rising forces in the world that seek the suppression of the human individual, made in the image of our Creator, and the individual’s subordination to the culture and values of their collectives. Groups on the political right, now gaining popularity and power around the world, and groups on the political left, also gaining popularity and power around the world, are united in their opposition to the freedom and selfhood that is the birthright of all of us made in that image.
Don’t let them suppress you.
Cultivate yourself.
Develop your own culture and values.
Be free.