The Great Erosion
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
We speak of our country's values eroding. We speak of the degeneration of the public school system, the three branches of government, the media. We find fault with everything. In such times we seek someone or something to blame: we often blame the very things we see eroding, forgetting those things are, in fact, ourselves.
The fault does not lie outside of us, it is us. More to the point, I suspect, is the question, what is indeed, happening? We are on surface levels far more relaxed as a society. We have dropped away etiquette, seeing it I suppose as an unnecessary hindrance to familiarity and familiarity is something we alienated people desire.
Salespeople are taught this. Salesman refer to you immediately by your first name with a big smile and just the hint of, "I want to hug you, man!"
From sales staff to grocery clerks, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and even congregants in religious institutions: the word is familiarity, drop away formality, lets get together. I am called by my first name...or worse... by people young enough to be my grandchildren even though I hold a PhD. and am the abbot and founding teacher of a Zen Buddhist Temple..
Problem: familiarity breeds contempt. When we are familiar we lose our distance, our perspective, and often our respect for the person in front of us. Boundaries that were ordinarily assumed are no longer present and people feel free to do or say anything they please. This is a fountain of egocentricity and complete self-centeredness.
It isn't the institutions that are failing us, it is we who are failing ourselves.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
We speak of our country's values eroding. We speak of the degeneration of the public school system, the three branches of government, the media. We find fault with everything. In such times we seek someone or something to blame: we often blame the very things we see eroding, forgetting those things are, in fact, ourselves.
The fault does not lie outside of us, it is us. More to the point, I suspect, is the question, what is indeed, happening? We are on surface levels far more relaxed as a society. We have dropped away etiquette, seeing it I suppose as an unnecessary hindrance to familiarity and familiarity is something we alienated people desire.
Salespeople are taught this. Salesman refer to you immediately by your first name with a big smile and just the hint of, "I want to hug you, man!"
From sales staff to grocery clerks, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and even congregants in religious institutions: the word is familiarity, drop away formality, lets get together. I am called by my first name...or worse... by people young enough to be my grandchildren even though I hold a PhD. and am the abbot and founding teacher of a Zen Buddhist Temple..
Problem: familiarity breeds contempt. When we are familiar we lose our distance, our perspective, and often our respect for the person in front of us. Boundaries that were ordinarily assumed are no longer present and people feel free to do or say anything they please. This is a fountain of egocentricity and complete self-centeredness.
It isn't the institutions that are failing us, it is we who are failing ourselves.
Be well.
