ThirstyFish

The other day I was thinking about the famous George Bernard Shaw quote: "The reasonable man attempts to adapt himself to the world and the unreasonable man attempts to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all change is created by the unreasonable man". What is reasonable? Who is a reasonable man? Then, I remembered the Jiddu Krishnamurti quote: "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society".

One of the great things about travel is the discovery of how different people live their lives - that is if you don't only travel Club Med. Although we all share a fundamental human experience, where and how we live, and the dominant values of the society we live in, seems to have an influence in our specific experiences. In other words, we are socially semipermeable.

During my vacation in Turkey, I was surprised to discover that there were so many sub cultures. For example, the people of Bolu were down to earth, whereas the people of Ankara, irrespective of their social or economical status, resembled New Yorker's. Bolu natives were friendlier, and seemed to be concerned with their own lives without distracting themselves with what others were thinking, or how they compared to others.

So, how do we end up as a "a profoundly sick society"? By imitating each other without any reasoning or consciousness of why we think and do what we do (meme). Consider, for example, Celebrity Worship Syndrome. With no skills, no talent, nothing to say, Kim Kardashian gets nearly 17 million followers on Twitter, whereas one the most significant intellectuals of our time, Chris Hedges only has about 2,500. Is there any rational reason why we follow/imitate the likes of the Kardashian's - how does that improve our lives? What does that say about us?

Song of the Day: [Who] What am I - Rumi