Take a look at the Facebook Culture, i.e. extreme inter-connectivity. From an earlier and earlier age we are expected to individualize ourselves in an environment that is suffocatingly homogeneous. I say this in relationship to what Alan Watts said back in the 70’s about how one can take a trip to Maui Beach or Miami Beach and have relatively the same experience. That geographic homogeneity has grown exponentially to where we are now – The Facebook Culture.

The pressures of the Facebook Culture are unlike that of any other time period. This is difficult for us living inside of it because this culture is derived from cultures without Facebook. Think about it, not so long ago Arkansas was a very different place than Massachusetts. Now, due to interconnectivity, the values in Arkansas are more or less the values in Massachusetts. This has presented a big change that I think has snuck beneath our noses due to the extraordinary pace with which the change has taken place.

In all societies of the past, a natural harmony evolved between what was expected of you and what you expected from yourself. In the past 5 or 10 years, this balance has been thrown wildly out of whack. Today, if we are not living up to what is expected of us from the Facebook Culture then we are as good as dead - it doesn't matter what we expect from ourselves. The difference between today and the past lies in the breadth and depth in which The Facebook Culture predominates. I say breadth because like the above paragraph, Arkansas and Massachusetts are becoming more similar. But what’s most important to note is the depth of the matter. Carl Jung was big on the collective unconscious, and in particular, how ideologies, leaders, and political movements come to fruition. Ultimately what he pointed towards is that the mind has energy and the more minds pouring energy in the same direction increases the power those minds have to manifest tangible results.

I think this is exactly what we are seeing with the internet. Materialistic values have taken the limelight on the internet stage. And not only have they taken the limelight, but via social media, a very specific sliver of the values have taken the limelight. This is unprecedented in human history – to have millions (billions) of minds focusing their energy in a much more directed current. This has given the values that are highly regarded by the majority a substantial “weight” in which to “sink in” to the collective unconscious. This is what I am referring to when I said earlier that the balance between what is expected of you and what you can expect from yourself has been thrown out of whack. Because of the magnetic draw towards the Facebook Culture, it is extraordinarily difficult not to compare yourself to, and adopt the values of the system. We are being forced to define ourselves based upon a more or less concrete value system that is likely associated with what my colleague has termed “the lowest common denominator”, i.e. carnal pleasure 666.

Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture. -Allen Ginsberg

We haven’t readily understood the effects of the utter obliteration of cultural diversity. This brings me to the power in embracing the difference between being understood and understanding. We all have our circumstances, personalities, ‘divine imprints’, or whatever you want to call it that makes us individuals. Arguably the most humanistic part of being human is the need for expressing this individuation via a form of art. What has happened in the Facebook Culture is that increasingly we all express our individual uniqueness in one tiny corner of the room, forgetting the rest of the room exists. This leads to the shouting-over-eachother effect that is readily visible in every arena of the modern world – politics, feminism, PC culture, Trump (not necessarily him personally but just the general theme), climate change etc… Everybody wants to be understood, but no one is listening.

If you want to see a dramatic change in how you relate with other human beings, change your perspective from trying to be understood to understanding them. The emphasis of the Facebook Culture has put an exclamation on telling everyone how we are individually worthy of being the Ubermensch – profile pictures, college essays, test scores, captain of this and that, resume etc… Quite frankly, and quite depressingly, people do not think about leaving the vantage point of proving themselves to the world, which is a recipe for frustration and keeps us bound in competition.

Furthermore switching to understanding has a wonderful impact on any degree of social anxiety. Social anxiety is worrying about living up to standards (societal or personal). Standards dissolve when you change your perspective to understanding. Because then, the emphasis is put on listening rather than having to speak. What happens next is that you genuinely listen and find that the spaces to speak open organically. Your conversation partner will have no idea that you’re doing this, but because you are listening - both visual and auditory – they will feel the green light to open up. Then a relationship is formed not from opposing energies trying to prove individual worthiness but rather from cooperating energies that are engaged in conversing – a form of art.

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