Faculty to Ferment

I do not consider myself chronologically old, chronological age but reflects the number of years one spent on earth. It might be some kind of gauge of character, but only a gauge nonetheless. As I meet more people over the course of my life, my faith in this gauge grow weaker. Personally, I believe that maturity can be best measured by acts. Words and beliefs are one thing, actions are another. If one were to uses acts to gauge the maturity of my generation then, we are indeed an immature generation. Shot gun marriages aside, we can find senseless job hoping, patronization of prostitutes, divorces, squandering of opportunities, and the list goes on. it saddens me, because I feel that those who are enlighten are bounded by some kind of moral inclination, an inclination to bring light into dark places, to guide, show and inspire those who were not so fortunate to be clearly, cognitively conscious.

Since there are an abundance of such displays of immaturity, I could conclude that the conscious are not fulfilling their moral inclination, either that those who are conscious are of such ineffective numbers that they are structurally swept along by institutional inertia. Indulge me, and assume that position that the conscious are not fulfilling their moral inclination to lead, guide and inspire those who are still seeking to fulfil false needs.

Before I move on, let me discuss the concept of cultural industry and the creation of false needs. I cannot take credit for this powerful perspective, it was Adorno and Horkheimer who popularize this idea. The idea that modern capitalism creates via the media and the new institutions false needs, that is capitalism both creates and satisfies these false needs. True needs, postulated by Adorno and Horkheimer are the need for freedom, creativity, or even something so basic like genuine happiness. Simply based on the contrast we can spot some familiar needs, the need to be a part of a social group, the need to blend in, the need to beautiful, etc. capitalism then provides the tools, at a cost, to us to satisfy these needs. This mass enculturation threatens the pursuit of higher human qualities, if nothing else, the grounds of sheer lack of mental fitness. One of the characteristic of mass culture is its low barrier to entry, one need little intellectual labour to gain access to mass culture. Mass culture tends to be easily digestible, homogenous, short lived, easily repeatable and instantly gratifying. Instant gratification is what I personally feel is one of the main contributing factors impeding greater human realization.

A great man sacrifices the present for the future whereby a normal man sacrifices the future for the present. I contextualize this statement against the backdrop of gratification. Maths for example, when taught to children at a young age will almost always be faced with resistance. Maths is not instantly gratifying, it is not immediately useful in our lives. The tempered and steeled mind would lend great insight to a person, but this genre of gratification is many years away from the first 1+1 maths question the child learn to solve. Having a tempered and steeled mind is enormously gratifying, but such a concept would be difficult to grasp in a world of instant downloads and instant messaging. As a society, we are increasingly losing the faculty to ferment our thoughts and ideas. Not everything can be made instant, and not everything instant is necessarily better. Technology has a big part to play in this, I need not elaborate here. Once we lose this faculty to ferment, we lose a valuable channel to true human needs and realizations. To plan meaningful goals, to make sacred commitments to our communities and those we love and those we will one day come to love, these concepts are jeopardized by the culture of our times.

The culture of The Instant, fuelled the technologies of capitalism, given form by the cultural industries, spread by the media and enforced by our peers seduces us into giving up tomorrow for today by eroding our faculty to ferment thoughts; reading, writing, thinking objectively, creatively and independently.

If you are still reading at this point, you already have a greater attention span than the 55 characters generation, there is still hope for us.

I am privileged to have been able to pursue an intellectual discipline, to have been made aware of my ignorant self. 10 years ago, I thought I was a full cup, both my mind and my heart were full. Through my academic discipline I was made to realize that my full cup was in the middle of an empty swimming pool. My consciousness came at a price, a price not everyone is willing to pay, I lost the comfort knowing to gain the discomfort of inadequacy. The only constant is change, but what are we changing into?