I once read somewhere that we are living in the 'Age of the Trader'. The age of the warrior came before this when the kings fought and was preceded by the age of the scholar when the ancient texts were written and next up is the age of the worker/creator. I find the notion appealing, and I find it hard to disagree that we are living in a world that is furiously and relentlessly trading everything there is.
"Your resume should be a sales pitch", my boss told me once, "you should hard-sell all your positives and sweep the negatives under the carpet". All employers are looking for supermen in employees, or at least the resumes of supermen and women. But somewhere I find it degrading to my self respect to sell myself as wonderful bag of "team player, independent, original, collaborative, leveraging cross functional domain expertise" goodies.
Whether or not we live in the age of the trader, it is hard to miss the rampant disparagement of everything remotely scholarly in our collective narratives. The philosophy of our times is "that's how things are", we seem to have accepted the indifference of the universe to our plight and are almost convinced that ends justify all means.
I say almost because we say this with a defeatist finality, and when we see someone raise their voices against the moral decadence, we are secretly supportive, sometimes openly supportive, but even our support comes with a little asterix that reads "that's how things are".
When that's how things are, the best we can do is to scramble for the tangibles. The best we can do is to gather a property, a portfolio of stocks, a car, a shiny gadget, weekend retreats, certificate courses for advancing our careers etc. which we can comfortably label as investments and wait for the return on investment. Our hobbies are tangible as well, why waste time painting for a week when you can immediately click a photograph and 'sell' it on social media. Who will take your reading habit seriously if you don't have the Jaipur Literature Festival photographs uploaded.
So what, eh? After all, there is nothing wrong with such a hedonistic pursuit. Do what makes you happy, no? If you want to go sit in a jungle and paint, sing, dance and write about the human condition, who is stopping you? No one.
And that bothers me. That our conviction in how things are is almost a compromise stemming from "that's how things are". If the alternative is stupid, where are the staunch supporters?
Where are the naysayers? What happened to the communists (I don't mean the party members)? Where are the voices of dissent against this blindly accepted, post modern, liberal litany obsessed with what we have and will have more than who we are and what we are becoming?
"Your resume should be a sales pitch", my boss told me once, "you should hard-sell all your positives and sweep the negatives under the carpet". All employers are looking for supermen in employees, or at least the resumes of supermen and women. But somewhere I find it degrading to my self respect to sell myself as wonderful bag of "team player, independent, original, collaborative, leveraging cross functional domain expertise" goodies.
Whether or not we live in the age of the trader, it is hard to miss the rampant disparagement of everything remotely scholarly in our collective narratives. The philosophy of our times is "that's how things are", we seem to have accepted the indifference of the universe to our plight and are almost convinced that ends justify all means.
I say almost because we say this with a defeatist finality, and when we see someone raise their voices against the moral decadence, we are secretly supportive, sometimes openly supportive, but even our support comes with a little asterix that reads "that's how things are".
When that's how things are, the best we can do is to scramble for the tangibles. The best we can do is to gather a property, a portfolio of stocks, a car, a shiny gadget, weekend retreats, certificate courses for advancing our careers etc. which we can comfortably label as investments and wait for the return on investment. Our hobbies are tangible as well, why waste time painting for a week when you can immediately click a photograph and 'sell' it on social media. Who will take your reading habit seriously if you don't have the Jaipur Literature Festival photographs uploaded.
So what, eh? After all, there is nothing wrong with such a hedonistic pursuit. Do what makes you happy, no? If you want to go sit in a jungle and paint, sing, dance and write about the human condition, who is stopping you? No one.
And that bothers me. That our conviction in how things are is almost a compromise stemming from "that's how things are". If the alternative is stupid, where are the staunch supporters?
Where are the naysayers? What happened to the communists (I don't mean the party members)? Where are the voices of dissent against this blindly accepted, post modern, liberal litany obsessed with what we have and will have more than who we are and what we are becoming?
