Amerika

The most damaging aspect of the modern time comes from the assumption that all people are the same, which is what is required to believe that an egalitarian state is any kind of meritocracy. If all people are the same, the one who memorized more “facts” and filled out more triplicate forms deserves success, you see.

But the fact is that we have different dreams, and our dreams reveal who we are. The aspirations of an individual show what exists inside that individual, far underneath the memorized facts, obeyed rules, right noises made in a social context and knowledge of hip trends and pop culture events.

The dreams of the West are its own. We need what others do not: we need to aspire, to reach toward the stars, both within and without. We need to feel the contentment of not having merely done right by the rules, but having shown an expansion of principle. We need a goal of excellence, to match the hidden beauties within this world glimpsed by only those who diligently seek them out.

The rest of the world suffers a different dream. For it, the standards are different. It dreams of basic social order and contentment. But for us — the people who emerged from the caves with an idea of the civilization they would create, borne of endless dreams in the darkness of an ice age — that vision is not enough. We are higher on Maslow’s pyramid, and we need more.

When we stare out into the night, looking at the limitless possibilities of life, our souls stir with this different dream. Where others desire the finite, we desire the infinite. We seek a state beyond stability and wealth; we seek an adventure that most cannot conceive of, created from the struggle within the soul for clarity and a yearning for beauty, reverence, excellence and intensity.

Ours is a different dream. Correspondingly, our society is a different society — when it is healthy. Where others are content with three solids, a little beer and some dancing, our minds wander to the stars. To the infinite depths of the mind. We aspire to that which is unseen by all but a few. And we must pursue our dream, alone, and leave others to their own dreams. The two are not the same, and never will be compatible.