Individualism is the mark of our times. At no other point in history has such power been given and assumed by the individual.
What has come of this? Today people often have the idea that truth can be discovered by individual effort, sometimes going to the extent that they believe an individual can determine their own truth (as in, all truth is subjective and relative to individual interpretation). Whether we verbalize it or not, many of us live our lives in ways that illustrate a belief that we owe little to our families, tradition, country, culture and religion.
It's empowering to possess this worldview. What could be better than complete independence for each and every person from all ties? As strange as it seems, there are some in the world who can think of nothing more destructive.
Phrases such as: "I believe some things about X religion, but choose to discard others", "It's my body so I should be able to choose what to do with it", "It's my life, you cannot tell me how to live it" and "It may be true for you, but I do not believe it is true for me" are representative of concepts that people of other cultures consider entirely foreign.
So what do you think about the paradigm for our brave new world? There are certainly benefits to it... surely there must be negative aspects also.
In our day and age, it is perfectly normal for the individual to refuse to cede any control to outside forces when the choice is present. When we assume our minds and thoughts to be the final word in our life choices, what do we sacrifice? Are we happier? Is life more fulfilling?
For issues concerning the holy grail of individual choice in our postmodern world, i can think of no more exemplary group of people than our beloved TFP.
